My Birthday by Kayley

A few days ago, my birthday, was really fun, it was a lot better than my tenth birthday. On my birthday we went to the top of Mt. Schilthorn to the circular observatory which is in Her Majesties Secret Service , a 007 movie. I'm sure that every body had lots of fun on my birthday especially Daddy because he loves the Swiss Alps.

My family and I took the early bird ticket up Mt. Schilthorn. We woke up on my birthday at around seven and walked from our camp sight to the small town of Lauterbrunnen to catch the cable car up the mountain. The view from the cable car was incredible, we saw the tall snow capped Swiss Alps and the green hills that we were swinging over. After a short ride on the first cable car, we got off and hopped on a one car, yellow and green train. We got off the train at a train station in a really cute town that was on a flat spot of Murren.

We had to walk fifteen minutes to the next cable car station thru town. The following cable car ride was breathtakingly gorgeous, because we were now on the final leg of our journey up the the observatory on top of the mountain and we were up close and personal with the Swiss Alps.

After a breath taking ride, we hopped of at the observatory at the top of Schilthorn. The first thing we did in the observatory was walk down the ramp to a circular room with burnt sienna carpeting and smallish windows along the wall. I thought that this room was pretty dull. We later watched a video in this room. The video hade some really pretty pictures of the Alps and the high lights of the James Bond movie.

The viewing deck wrapped around the circular building and branched off to a big circular platform. We walked down a metal stair case that was right to the left of the circular platform and clutching the cable that ran along the foot or two thick dirt trail, we walked down to a flat spot where there were three benches facing the Swiss Alps. That's where we stopped to eat and where I got my birthday presents. I knew I would get a pomegranate that I picked out at the grocery store in Zurich, but I had no idea I'd get a watch and a chocolate bar too. I ate half of my chocolate bar there and saved the rest for later. The watch is white with a really pretty shade of blue face. In the London airport, on the way back from the bathroom with Mommy, I spotted this watch and instantly wanted it. After looking at some other watches, I told Daddy that I wanted that watch and the price, but he said that he wouldn't buy it for me. Before Daddy gave me the watch, he told me that Mommy had convinced him to buy it for my birthday present. I was really happy that I got a watch, finally.

After we ate and I put on my watch, I walked away from the bickering Sarah and Zander to join Mommy, Mia and Daddy who were watching two guys setting up their yellow and blue parachute. One of the guys asked this old lady who was sitting nearby to hold part of the parachute and to let go when he told her to so that the parachute could catch the wind. Takeoff was great, the old lady let go at the right time and the two guys went soaring into the air and caught an up draft and gained a few more meters of altitude. We were talking about how good the view from the parachute would be, while we walked back to where we ate lunch earlier and where Sarah was reading her new Harry Potter book,The Prisoner Of Azkaban. Zander was chucking rocks. Daddy asked Sarah if she had seen the guys take off, but she hadn't. Mommy got mad because she was reading and not looking at the great view of the mountains. I see why Mommy got mad at Sarah, because we had a great view of the Swiss Alps and Sarah had her head buried in a book.

Then we took the cable car to Murren. From there we walked down the mountain to Gimmelwald, a really small town that was really cute. We walked through Gimmelwald which took like five steps. The reason why we walked half an hour to Grimmelwald was because it was supposed to be really cute and small. Then we walked down the hill a little more to a cable car station and a park. On the way, we saw a telephone booth with Obama in it. Obama was saying," I shower in here but I drink at the P..." I forgot the name of the B&B, but it started with a P. It was a really funny add for a bed and breakfast.

At the cable car station we decided to walk the rest of the way down the mountain to Lauterbrunnen. Which, according to a little brown sign was 24.7 kms away, but the lady at the cable car station said it was about and hour walk away. I ate my pomegranate on the way to Lauterbrunnen. It was delicious, especially, since I haven't eaten one in almost a year.

When we got back at our camp site Mia, Daddy, and Mommy went grocery shopping and probably ate, because they were away for about five hours. I was really board during those five hours, but right when Zander and I were walking over to play chess in one of the buildings mommy, daddy and Mia came back. By that time, it was dinner time and Mommy, Mia, Sarah and I made dinner while the boys went next door to the kitchens to play chess. We had tortellinis in tomato sauce and salad for dinner. I ate two towering helpings of pasta and one serving of salad. But the time I had swallowed the last tortellini, I was stuffed. When we all finished eating, Daddy sent me over to the camp site shop to look for desert. Since I didn't have any money with me, I looked for ice cream and candles and ran back to the kitchen where everybody was sitting and asked daddy for some money. Sarah and Mia came with me to buy the desert stuff.

We bought ice cream, candles, and little Magnum ice cream bars. We went back to the kitchen with desert, and I stepped out the door, while they lit the candles on the ice cream. Then I came back in and they sang "Happy Birthday". I blew out all the candles except one in one blow. Mommy served me first. She gave me a mountain of whipped cream on my ice cream and I got Mommy's ice cream too. I took three bites and I couldn't eat any more. It was a shame to have to throw away all that ice cream and yummy stuff.

Now that I look back on things, my eleventh birthday in the Swiss Alps was probably one of my best birthdays yet. And I think the rest of my family had lots of fun, too.



By Kayley Rolph