Swisserland

More photos to come soon.

Interlaken, Switzerland: probably one of the best trips I had during my eurotown adventure and for so many reasons. Since train and plane tickets were expensive so I decided to go through the tour group Florence for Fun. Thursday night the bus left from Florence and it was an 8 hour trip to the swiss lands. For the first time on one of the bus rides I actually fell asleep and around 3 in the morning I was awoken by head jolting braking and turning and the coldest toes I've had in awhile. I drearily looked outside the bus window to see mother nature giving the land little white flakes of joy. An hour later we arrived at our hostel and I went straight to bed not waking up until 10. After waking up and getting breakfast, Danny, Stefan and I decided we were going to go cliff swinging. We signed up and walked around the town until the bus came and took us up to the canyon. A 40 minute drive in a clutch-worn red van with a cute little lady driving. We got up to the canyon and after being strapped into the harnesses and listening to the deathly screams coming through the canyon of fellow jumpers we made the walk up to the jump area. After a very inconvenient detour, we made it, signed away our lives and strapped in one by one for the plunge. After watching everyone else go it was my turn. Strapped in, I could feel the cold darkening air against my cheeks as I looked down the 300 foot canyon, ironically with excitement and thrill rushing through me rather than fear. Without hesitation I ran and jumped, getting that all familiar rollercoaster rush in my stomach... except about 100 times more intense. Being in a free fall and not being able to breathe, I raced towards the ground as fast as a sack of potatoes would be falling if they were dropped from the same height. Thankfully the rope caught me, swinging me 10 meters from the snowy rocks below and through the canyon at an incredible speed. I swung back and forth until eventually I pulled myself into the side. Most fun experience of my life. That night we celebrated by going to dinner where we drank Swiss beer and I got to try Ostrich. Nom. After dinner I went back to the hostel to get some rest for skiing the next day.

I woke up at 7 the next morning so I could grab the earliest bus and head up to the mountain. With my rental equipment in hand and a belly full of cereal and a strange assortment Swiss foods I walked to the bus station with Stefan, which would take us to the train, which would take us to the other train, which would eventually take us to the mountain. We surprisingly didn't mess up and made every train, seeing some amazing views going through the towns. We took a warm up run, getting used to this new thing called sharp ski edges. Stefan and I met up with this snowboarder from San Diego on the chair and we rode around with him and eventually found the main hill with untracked luscious white fluffy powder that I wanted to bathe myself in. It was amazing. Fresh, light, untracked powder in the Swiss alps all morning. Does it get any better than that? Actually, surprisingly it did when Kevin and I stopped for lunch at the little shack, where we met up with some of his friends. Right place at the right time I suppose. Funny how life works.. Anyways, after receiving remarks about my mysterious mustache and how untrustworthy I am, I separated from Kevin to explore the mountain some more, with that moment on my mind. I ended up taking a wrong turn somewhere and found myself on the complete other side of the mountain by myself with absolutely no idea how to get back to where I needed to be. And apparently the Swiss don't believe in maps. I didn't really care though cause the views from the mountain were incredible. Just as long as I got back to the locker before 4 so I could get my shoes. I skied around aimlessly for about an hour or more and eventually found myself back in familiar territory to see a familiar face. Exactly what I was hoping for, for the last 2 hours. After talking for a bit I rode the chair up to finish the last few runs of the day, and stopping on the last run to admire the sun which was setting beyond the Swiss alps. I wish I had my camera. Next time. When we finished we took the train back to town and went out to paint the town red and help someone with their search for snickers.

The next day I woke up early to walk around town and take pictures, eventually finding myself in the christmas market and all the shops. After seeing my Swiss alps cutie in one of the shops, I walked up and into the mountains and found a hiking trail to I have no idea where, but I went up it anyways. I almost made it to the top until I heard weird animal noises and saw a bush rustling. So I turned around and walked back to the bus and went back to Florence, where I would make the best of the next 2 weeks.