The Lab Outing to Wasserfallen

 In early  October,  Austin and V had the opportunity to meet almost all of Jon's lab-mates on a beautiful fall hike to Wasserfallen.

Austin tried very hard to keep the whole group together, herding us the best he could.

At one point, some of us took the more difficult route, which afforded us many breath-taking views.

One the the many waterfalls we saw along the way.

Once we reached the top of hill we stopped in at the local restaurant for a few refreshing beers.

We then headed further up the hill for some traditional fondue.

We ordered some locally made beer. Jon's was delicious, unfortunately V's was not. It was contaminated with many alcohol-loving bugs. Jon did not want to believe it as first and tried to prove that it was fine, much to the dismay of his taste buds.  The good news is that he managed to communicate the problem to the waiter in German and ordered a fresh beer for V.

Oh delicious Fondue! Enjoyed best with many glasses of white wine.

Jon and a couple of his lab mates also tried the traditional schnapps called Kirsch (cherry).  Schnapps here is not the relatively weak, American sugary liquor, instead,  it is about 80 proof and has fruit on the front and a nice tequila/whiskey burn on the finish.  Local farmers are allowed to make one liter of schnapps for each cow they own...to aid in the cow's digestion.

V discovered that the slide was extra fun after many glasses of wine.

After a couple hours of enjoying fondue, white wine, and Kirsch, Jon's lab adviser decided it would be best if we all took gondolas down the hill as the daylight was waning, and so was everyone's willingness to hike down the hill with a cheese baby on board.

Austin enjoyed his first gondola ride!

We had a great time on this lab outing, and we look forward to many more.  All of Jon's lab mates are great fun and we feel like we already have made many good friends. There are a few more photos of this hike on our flickr account:
More hiking photos here

Cheers!
EuroFadoks