This weekend was seriously the
best weekend of my life! On the 10th we ended up having cake first
and then going to a place called Brazil’s for dinner. All I actually got was a
strawberry colda and tortilla chips with cheese on it because I got so full on
cake. We then went downtown to the Irish Pub to celebrate Abby’s and my
birthday ad it was pretty fun. Only a small group of us went and I really
didn’t drink much at all but I still had a good time.
On Saturday we got up at 4 in the
morning for the last time for our final weekend trip. It was our last 5:30 am
train and the last weekend to have such long train rides. It took 7 hours to
get to Interlaken but when we got there I instantly fell in love! Interlaken is
the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life! The mountains were
gorgeous and it was so cool to see some that still had snow on them while
people were also out boating and tanning on the lake. It was honestly the most
beautiful had and everyone was so nice. A lot of people speak English there so
it made it really easy to find our way around (plus everyone knew the hostel we
were staying at). Interlaken is like THE PLACE to go to do adventurous stuff. Of
course we were going canyoning, but we saw so many paragliders, hang gliders,
and tour groups leaving to go rafting, bungee jumping, sky diving, zorbing,
etc. that’s when I knew this was my kind of place!
Our hostel was also the coolest
place ever! It was honestly like its own little village and it was comforting
to know that it has been voted the #1 hostel for a long time. The hostel had its
own bar, night club, restaurant, beer garden, game room, etc. It was awesome! After
we put our stuff in our room and got ready for canyoning we waited out in front
of our hostel to be picked up by our tour guide and got to learn just how rich
people in Switzerland are! There were people flying fighter jets around and
doing cool tricks just for practice and we saw one lady walking her dog while
riding her horse down the street! Talk about insane! Next thing you know this
guy with no shirt on comes screeching up on his bike and asked if we were the 7
girls going canyoning. We had no idea we were just a short walk away from the
meeting spot for our canyoning experience and our tour guide just came down to
walk us over there so we could get ready to go.
We had the coolest guys as tour
guides ever! One was from New Zealand and the other was from somewhere in the
States but I forget where (I think somewhere small like Delaware or something).
They were cracking jokes the whole time and were just about the coolest people
we have met in Europe. After we finally put on all our gear, we took a 20
minute van ride up a narrow twisty road towards Young Frau mountain over near
saxteen canyon.
Canyoning by far was the most
insane and best experience of my entire life! We were jumping off cliffs,
sliding down waterfalls, and making our way through the river and down the
mountain. I could not ask for a better time! I will admit there were a few
times I was scared for my life but overall I was totally in my element and
loving every second of the adventure! On one of the jumps my foot actually slipped
so I did not jump out far at all! I thought for sure my legs were going to clip
the side of the cliff, I would face plant on the water, and just be down for!
It was the scariest moment ever but luckily I did not hit the rocks or the water
hard at all. Also on one of the drops down a water fall I got caught under the
waterfall so the current wasn’t pushing me anywhere! I felt like I was going to
drowned but I finally came up and around the water fall! It was the coolest
time of my life! Nora was even super cool and did a flip off of one of our
extra jumps near a water fall! It was the most fun I have had since I have been
here!
After we canyoned down the
mountain and then had to hike back up in all our wet heavy gear (in the mud and
dirt up the side of the mountain we just came down…. Oh joy…) we went back to
the meeting spot. They gave us free beer (that only cost 50 cents they said),
bread, and real Swiss cheese. Since we were the last group we got to have as
much as we wanted. It was
absolutely insane but I guess it was a good way to celebrate my 21st
birthday! Our guides were also super cool and circled spots on a map of all the
places we should go, what was going on that night, and where to eat dinner. So after
we went back to our hostel and changed, we set out for the Golden Anker
restaurant for dinner. Now normally the food can be kind of expensive (but also
in bigger portions) but we got the back packers menu that was a little bit
smaller portions and only 15 Francs for the dinner. Anneke and I split the
Gnocchi dinner which also came with some werid clear vegetable and asian noodle
soup and a four bite salad with a really good dressing. The coolest thing was
that we finally got free tap water and free bread at this restaurant! The
waitress said it used to be law in Switzerland to get free water and a
newspaper at any restaurant and even though it’s not law anymore, most places
still do free water at least. Even though we had just eaten so much bread at
the canyoning meeting place, we filled up on even more bread here. Our Gnocchi
was super delicious in a gorgonzola sauce with tomatoes, broccoli, and peppers
and it was also amazing to dip the bread in the sauce. It was probably one of
the best meals I have had in Europe… but it could have also been the hunger
from canyoning and the fact that I was just so in love with Switzerland! After
dinner we came across this awesome church choir singing in a plaza and a
Chocolate shop. The choir was amazing and they were singing such beautiful
gospel hymns. Then the owner of the
chocolate shop was also extremely nice. He gave us each a free sample of any
truffle we chose and he even let us take pictures behind the chocolate counter
with our chocolates! Because he was so nice all of us ended up buying something
from there. I got this cute little milk chocolate swiss army knife and it was absolutely
delicious.
After that we walked back to our
hostel extremely exhausted. We didn’t even make it to midnight for my birthday!
We were all in bed by 10:30 and talked until about 11 or so.
The next morning we got to sleep
in a little bit. We had one other girl in our room that we didn’t know and man
she made sooo much noise when she came in and left! She came in probably about
12 or 1 and then was dropping her iphone with an alarm that kept going off and
dropping all her stuff and leaving at like 4:45 am! I was so mad because she just kept making so
much noise! But when we finally all woke up at 7:30 am I just could not believe
it was my 21st birthday and I was in Switzerland! For the free
breakfast we got at the hostel we had more bread and Swiss cheese as well as a
bowl of cornflakes served with room temp milk. I also had about 3 cups of mix
in coffee and made sure I filled up as much as I could because I did not have
any Francs left and barely any snacks left in my back pack.
After breakfast we got on the
local bus system and headed to the lake. They didn’t really have beaches like
we see in California, this area was more grassy or like rocky beaches. We found
a beautiful spot on the water with a grass area to lay out on and the cold
water right near us. It was amazing! The water was so blue and clear, the air
was crisp and fresh, and the sun was so warm. There was a church service going
on down the lake a little ways and so we heard morning choir singing. I feel
like everyone around Switzerland sings or something because the whole
congregation was singing and they sounded so good!
After a while of hanging out in
our bathing suits, Nora got the courage to dive into the lake. I followed her
and did it too because like she said “we are only here once and we might as
well take advantage of every opportunity”. It was soooooooo cold but the
coolest thing ever. I mean come on…. I jumped in a lake in Switzerland and
layed out by the water for my 21st… how cool is that? I mean yeah I did
go to all the bars and have a huge party…. But I know I will still do that when
I get back… but not many people can say they had the adventure I did in
Switzerland. I was still pretty bummed not to be home but I definitely enjoyed
my day.
After hanging out at the lake for
a few hours it was time to head back to the train station and start our 7 hours
journey back. Most of us were still hungry and wanting souvenirs when we got
back to the train station so we started looking around. Another cool thing
about Switzerland…. They take debit/credit cards. Almost nowhere else in Europe
does that so we were all very excited.
Our train ride back was pretty
boring and standard as usual, but on one train we had a group of monster
children behind us running up and down the hall screaming and tackling each
other. It was really annoying really fast. But other than that it was just
crazy to think that we were on our last train journey in Germany!
After we got back Anneke, Nora,
Chikyra, Abby and I went to the ice cream place down the street and splurged on
big sundaes to celebrate my birthday! It was really cool! The place has like a
10 page menu all with these extravagant ice cream sundaes! I got a chocolate
and cookie sundae and it was absolutely delicious! Anneke and I also split a
chocolate and banana waffle…. It wasn’t as good as it looked but hey, who can
turn down bananas and chocolate? We then all went totally overboard and had
more cake when we got back from ice cream and we were all sitting in the hall
way on our computers trying to talk to family.
It was the most amazing trip ever
and I would totally move to Switzerland! I am so happy we saved this trip for
last. It has been extremely hard to have motivation to get to this point and I know
at one point I did not even care about going anymore I just wanted to come
home, but I am so glad I went. I thought Paris stole my heart…. But Interlaken definitely
takes the cake! I want to go back and have more adventures there! Only one more
week until I am home!
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