Ali – We woke up Sunday morning in Engelberg at our still lovely hotel Edelweiss. The plan was a hike followed by an overnight stay on a sailing yacht in Mühlenhorn, on the Wallensee (AirBnB lucky find #2!). The problem was which hike? I had identified 3 potential theme trail possibilities, sticking with our theme trail theme… Our theme theme as it were. We had the Bannalp Dwarf theme trail, the Wirzweli witch trail (aka the Hexenweg) or the Toggenberg Tone trail (aka Klangweg). After vigorous debate about the merits of Dwarfs, Witches and large musical instruments, we opted for the Hexenweg 20 minutes up the road. We arrived to a parking lot full of small children and baby Björn-bedecked parents, which was a strong sign that we were at the right place. We hopped on the Wirzweli gondola, growing ever more sure that we were headed the right way. 
At the top, signs directed us to a second gondola where we encountered a line of 60 or so parents and kids and a two small gondola cable car system with a 10 minute turn around time. My math skills quickly determined that this was going to be an untenable wait in the burning Alpen sun. Undeterred, we decided to hike up to the Hexenweg trail… I should note that by ‘we’ I mean Joe and I. Maya was not onboard. Just about the time our ears were bleeding from the incessant complaining, we reached the spooky door at the edge of the forest marking the beginning of the Hexenweg. Here, I also passed a German language milestone: I recognized my first pun. ‘Herzliche’ means warm, as in Herzliche Grüße- warm greetings. Check out the punny sign on the Hexenweg! You get it???? You get it??? Who says the Swiss are uptight and humorless?
So I won’t go into details on the Hexenweg, which was mostly a hexendud. However there was one trail activity that made it worth the 25 CHF gondola ride, Alpen cooked skin and bleeding ears. A theme trail design genius had attached a broom to a zipline so kids could fly in witchy fashion through the trees. Brilliant! 
Once we finally re-emerged from the witch woods, we took a short cut down the 45 degree pitch hillside. Joe choose a running, serpentine descent while I choose a lumbering-sliding, direct descent. Maya was embarrassed by both of us and took off on her own down the regular path. She was just putting the finishing touches on a daisy chain by the time we came careening down to the bottom. The gondola took us back to the car and we got the hexen out of there!
Done with theme trails, we headed towards our evening destination: the aforementioned sailing yacht. What I didn’t mention was that the boat was named Maya.
What I also didn’t mention was that it came with a 10 year old girl named Eileen. So we arrived in Mühlenhorn and were greeted by our delightful hosts: Miriam (Swiss), Gary (Scotish) and Eileen (Swistish). We quickly became best friends and it was decided that Eileen would spend the night on the boat with us, faking illness on Monday morning so she could skip school (only Zurich has Boys Shooting Holiday).
The boat was lovely with two sleeping cabins and all the boatly amenities minus any toilet facilities as this is strictly Vorboten on Wallensee boats (but there was a toilet and shower in the marina so only a minor hardship for the weak middle-aged bladder).
The evening was spent swimming and drinking beer on the bow virtually childless as Eileen and Maya were tucked in their cabin, coming out only occasionally to raid the minibar. The next morning Gary and Miriam arrived with breakfast and we all sat down to a splendid feast. By the end Gary and Miriam had invited us back for sailing and scuba diving and Maya and Eileen were planning their next play date. I’m not sure one can have a more successful AirBnB experience. We headed back to Zurich and turned in our rental car, fully satisfied that we had achieved Swiss road trip excellence. Maya declared it was the best weekend yet in Switzerland. The bar has been set…
