Swiss-land

Wow, what can I say about such a place? It was incredible.

It's been a couple weeks since I was there. I just haven't gotten around to putting anything online. Basically my friend Dan and I decided we wanted to go to Switzerland one Wednesday night, so we got online, bought plane tickets, and eight days later were sleeping in the Heathrow Airport waiting for our 6:05 a.m. departure to Zurich Flughafen (that's German for Airport...my three years of high school German were finally put to use).

Sleeping in the airport is not the most comfortable thing I've ever attempted. I slept from 12:30 to 4:00 a.m., waking up about every hour or so. Around 4 I just gave up and went for a stroll around the terminal.

The trip itself was AMAZING. We spent a couple hours in Zurich before taking a train to Luzern and then out to Interlaken, a popular destination for backpackers. We made several stops along the way, including a stop at Aareschlucht, a huge gorge with a walkway along the side of the cliff. We also stopped in Brienz, a delightful little lakeside town famous for its woodcarvings. I wanted to get myself a little wooden musical box, but after turning it over and seeing the 99 CHF pricetag, I decided against it. Swiss Francs are at about the same level as the US dollar, but I didn't have that much money anyway.

We finally made it to Interlaken on Friday evening and started looking for a place to stay. We headed for the cheapest hostel we could find, and booked two beds in a 32-bed dormitory. I'll be honest, I'm not usually picky about where I sleep. I'm just fine with cots or ground or couches...but these bunks made me a little nervous. I mean, it's hard to say when the last time those blankets and sheets were washed...

Travelers Tip: Always bring along a sleep sack/liner, especially when you are concerned about the cleanliness of the sheets. I was so glad I had mine.

On Saturday we rented mountain bikes and loaded them on a train to Lauterbrunnen. We got stuck in the bike car because we didn't get into the normal second-class carriage in time. Later the train conductor found us...we basically got kicked off the train because we didn't have money to pay the extra fee for the bikes. Fortunately, we got kicked off at our stop: Lauterbrunnen. We rode through the town and up to Stechelberg. The ride was gorgeous. There were waterfalls everywhere, on both sides of the valley. We hiked up behind one of them to get a better view of the town.

We rode some cable cars up the sides of the cliffs to a peak called the Schilthorn, which provides an INCREDIBLE view of the surrounding Swiss Alps. It is also the site of the world's first revolving restaurant, and James Bond made an appearance there in one of his movies...

Anyway, we hiked back down part of the Schilthorn, then rode our bikes back down into the valley. It was a day full of amazing pictures, scenery, hiking, biking, and exploration. We were exhausted that night.

On Sunday we went to Grindelwald and Kleine Scheidegg by train, but didn't have enough money to finish the train loop to Wengen, so we walked the rest of the way. Cheap, and much more rewarding, I'd say. The scenery was incredible, and aside from a slight panic when we got lost and didn't know if we'd be able to make it back to civilization in time to catch our train back to Zurich for our flight, we had a great time wandering through the mountains.

It was another one of those trips that totally wore me out, but recharged my battery for the last two weeks of my stay here in London. It was a week and a half ago, but I still can't stop talking about it. Switzerland is such a beautiful country. It's quieter, it's cleaner, the people are friendlier...I want to go back.

For some reason my blog doesn't like it when I upload pictures (it makes them really small...and it takes forever). Click here to see a few of my Swiss pictures.