It feels like every time I write a new blog entry, I claim that I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had. After this past weekend I can say with absolute certainty that for the first time ever, I am positive that no experience I’ve ever had can top the things that I’ve done this weekend.
We’d planned this trip to Interlaken, Switzerland early in the semester because we knew we’d have a four-day weekend and lots of time to enjoy ourselves. Plus, we figured it would be best to go to a snowy climate at the snowiest part of the year. Steph, Tierney, and myself along with ten of our other closest friends boarded a bus (another Bus2Alps trip) for the twelve-hour journey to Switzerland. Interlaken is known for it’s extreme sports and easy access to some of the tallest mountains in Europe.
When we arrived at Balmer’s Herbitage, our hostel, we had the hard, hard task of deciding what types of extreme, snow activities we wanted to cram into the next three days. I’m happy to say that we weren’t disappointed with our choices. Friday, our first day there, we took a quick nap and then did some exploring around town. One of my favorite parts about Interlaken was how Christmas-y and cute it was. It wouldn’t be a far stretch to imagine Santa might live there. Plus, in Rome there isn’t much a do about Christmas, expect for the occasional decorated tree. Interlaken was the absolute opposite. The streets were strung with Christmas lights and the town itself is nestled amongst mountains. The whole scene is absolutely breath taking. Later in the day, we toured Schus, a chocolate factory that was rated the best chocolate in the world last year. We got to see how the chocolate was made, make some truffles ourselves, and got all the free samples we could eat. I never thought I’d say this but I didn’t think I’d ever be eating chocolate again, I was so stuffed.
Saturday was an early morning for me. Carolyn, Amanda, Jill and I headed up to Jungafrau, a mountain here that is known as “The Top Of Europe”. We’d rented snow gear and boards by the hostel and took a train to the top. When we got off the train and looked around at the mountains around us the view was surreal, we were above the clouds!! Amanda and I were teaching Carolyn and Jill how to snowboard and I have to admit I wasn’t that bad. I’m not a teacher by any means, I’m not that good at all but I was doing pretty good and they were learning pretty quickly. Bunny hills in Switzerland are NOT the same as bunny hills at home and one run there lasts a good hour or two. After we finished our lessons Amanda and I went out by ourselves and well we did not do as good as we’d hoped. We pretty much got destroyed by the mountain and ended up walking with our boards for over a mile. It was getting late and dark and we thought we were going to be stuck in the Swiss wilderness until a nice German man on skies came to our rescue. Even though he didn’t speak English he managed to tell us to put our boards back on and he pulled us with his ski poles all the way to civilization.
Saturday ended with a little bit of a scary adventure but it was still totally worth it. I was really proud of myself for making it through the day and still managing to get out of bed the next day. I was sore but we had so many activities lined up for Sunday, I didn’t have a chance to slow down. But before Sunday could even begin, there was a Christmas fair to attend to. The town center was filled with all types of street venders selling Christmas decorations, Swiss toys, and absolutely delicious foods. In addition the amazing foods, especially the donuts, they had camels and sheep and men dressed as Santa. Interlaken just keep getting better and better. I love it!!
Sunday morning Steph, Becca and I got up early to go paragliding. PARAGLIDING! Never in my life did I ever think I would voluntarily run off the side of my mountain attached to a parachute, that’s not my style but I have plans to go skydiving in the future and I thought I should practice. We got picked up from the hostel and driven to the base of the mountain where we met our dive instructors. Initially I was nervous about the jump but my instructor Dominick was the nicest Swiss boy who made me feel super comfortable. When we got to the top I got my helmet and my backpack all strapped up and Dominick told me how we were going to take off, “You run, run, run, when you see that there, you will run, run, run.” So basically I decided I would just run, run, run until my feet didn’t touch the ground. The takeoff was super easy and I had way more fun than I anticipated. The flight lasted about 15 minutes and was absolutely breathtaking. Dominick pointed out all of the sites of Interlaken and I never once felt nervous once I was out there. Before we landed, Dominick let me control our chute and I got to steer us in circles. Then he showed me the cool stuff, he spun us super fast in circles and my stomach did back flips. Then we touched down in the middle of a park, just a park, right in the middle of town. Awesome.
We hurried back from paragliding just in time to make our snowshoeing reservation. Yes, snow shoeing in the Alps. Well it turns out that I had a totally different idea of what that means. I thought it was this fun activity where you play in the snow attached to tennis rackets. Apparently, it’s hiking in the snow. HIKING. Ha. I was super sore and not what I expected. We hiked up this mountain, with our guide Moos, and had to trek one by one through a grade 3 AVALANCHE zone. Moos says grade 3 means DANGER, four means DANGER do not cross, and five means DANGER do not go near mountain. Apparently grade 3 is dangerous but it’s cool to bring tourists through. We reached the top, had a snack, and then got to run, fall, slide, and tumble down the mountain, which made the whole experience worth it.
We drove home from the mountain and then right back there to go night sledding. So cool! We had dinner at this super cute mountain restaurant where we got Swiss cheese fondue and hash browns and eggs, two foods I never thought I’d eat but I wanted the whole Swiss experience. Then we headed back up on the ski gondola and got to sled all the way to the base. We all had to wear glow sticks on our backs so that sledders behind us could see us in the dark, which didn’t really matter because we we’re crashing so often. We couldn’t go twenty feet without seeing someone we knew crashed into a tree or stuck in a ditch. It was great, an absolutely fabulous time.
Monday we relaxed beside the fire at our hostel and headed back to Rome via our twelve-hour bus ride. Even though there is a lot time spent traveling, it is absolutely worth it. This trip was hands down the best experience I’ve ever had. I cannot wait to get back there some day and have more extreme adventures.
** I promise I'll add pictures as soon as there uploaded**
hi,
can we use this for promo purposes? maybe put a link on our web page? maybe quote you with a link?
what do you think? this is the very best advertising we can get.
xxx
simon@bus2alps.com
Posted by: simon | December 12, 2008 at 03:39 PM