Hi!
[disclaimer: this post took me 2 days to complete, so the present tense that I use will have some inconsistencies. Also, I finished it 3 days ago so it’s all completely behind me]
Today, I find myself in Nice, France relaxing by the Mediterranean Sea. It’s hard to believe it, but yesterday I was in Interlaken, Switzerland surrounded by giant mountains and some of the friendliest people I’ve ever met. I realize I haven written in a while and so obviously I’ve got a lot to cover so I’ll start my story in Florence, 5 days ago. As I described in my other post, me and Christian had plans to travel to Cinque Terra. That ended up not happening because even though we were up at 8am, we didn’t get to the train station until close to 10. With 3 hour train rides to and from Cinque Terra and the last bus back to the campsite being at 8, we would have had 4 hours to see Cinque Terra and 8 hours of travel for the day. So as much as I wanted to go, and as disappointed as I was to miss out, we decided to just stay in Florence. So we went to a little cafe we found that had wifi so we could start looking for things to do in Florence. I feel kind of foolish going to a city without having done my research first, but at the same time, I don’t like over preparing and closing off options for myself. So we’re sitting in the cafe for about 30 minutes when Jodie and Rusti Anne walk in! Talk about a small world.. So we had our croissants and juice and espresso’s and headed out. We pretty much just walked around all day and saw the sites. We went to a Cathedral that was huge and ornate and old, a gelato shop (of course) and a plaza with a bunch of statues. I must admit, I spent much of the day neglecting to learn about what I was looking at- but in my defense there were no descriptive plaques or signs or anything so all I could really do was stare in awe at the human statues and take pictures of them. There were lots of statues of naked people, and the detail was shocking at first but it really is amazing how accurately the human form was replicated out of stone by one person and his/her own two hands. After seeing those and some pretty buildings we went to the Galileo museum which was surprisingly not great. Now I’m the kind of person that goes to a museum and looks at every last item and reads every last plaque. I want to get my money’s worth and learn something. But this museum was disappointing. There was plenty to see and it was clean and organized, but I didn’t know what most of the stuff was! The museum basically houses a collection of tools, instruments, and other scientific inventions that have helped shape modern technology. There were some pretty cool items, like a chemistry cabinet that looked like a regular dresser but opened up into a fully operational lab desk. There were a ton of telescopes, globes, and randomly they also had Galileo’s tooth, middle finger, and thumb preserved in glass casing. Me and Christian both killed a lot of time there, but Rusti Anne and Jodie were way ahead of us by the time I finished the first room. When we were just about done with the museum, we got kicked out because they were closing. All in all it was ok, but I didn’t think it was worth the 9 euros because most of the items were left a mystery to me. After being kicked out, we realized Rusti and Jodie were gone, so we just moved on to our next destination. On the way there, we ran into the girls as they were leaving. We walked around a bit more, and before we knew it it was almost time to catch the last couple of buses back to the hostel. Me and Christian split from them so we could go to the cafe to use the internet and try to find somewhere in Switzerland to go. At this point, I didn’t care where we ended up, I just wanted to see Switzerland. So we were looking for the cheapest hostels we could find. Switzerland is NOT cheap, by the way, so this was a challenge. We didn’t have a lot of time, do we settled for a place called Zermatt that was supposed to have good hiking and a decent place to stay. So the next morning, we woke up at 5:45am so we could catch the first bus out of that terrible place we were staying in Florence. That place was awful and I hope never to have to sleep in a place like that again. Even with bug spray, I still had to swat at mosquitoes in the shower! And Christian swears that he had killed at least 50 before he could even go into the shower stall. So I was more than happy to awake at the crack of dawn if it meant getting out of that place sooner. So we went to the train station and got tickets to the closest city to Zermatt, which was a place called Visp, Switzerland. The ticket woman could only book our tickets that far and told us that we’d need to get tickets from Visp to Zermatt once we arrived in Switzerland. When we arrive to Switzerland and asked for tickets to Zermatt, we’re told that it costs 55 euros to get there and back! Time to change plans. I felt sorry for the girl that told us because we were both like, “What?! That’s ridiculous!” haha and I’m afraid we made it seem like it was her fault when it obviously wasn’t. So confused and somewhat lost in a town called Visp, we were lucky enough to find the most useful tourist info center in the world. Free food, free coffee and tea, and more importantly, FREE WIFI. I can not stress enough how valuable wifi zones are to the backpacker. Without wifi, we have no information. I can even guarantee that I would have enjoyed the Galileo museum twice as much had I been able to access the Internet and look up a lot of the objects in there. So with a new goal on mind (goal 1: find a place with a cheap hostel. goal 2:
find a place that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to get to), we began a new search for a place to go. We found a city called Interlaken, Switzerland that turned out to have a pretty nice campsite right outside of the town. So I hesitantly made my way back across the street to ask how much a ticket to Interlaken was for us (I think I forgot to mention, since we have Eurail passes, many train rides are free for us with the exception of a few.. places that are hard to get to, popular to travel to, etc.) I would’ve sworn I heard angels sing when the girl happily told me that it was free and that the next train was in half an hour. Relief! So we got the details for the campsite in Interlaken so that we could find it once we got there and used our few remaining minutes to talk to people from home. We got in the train to Interlaken and spent our time there marveling at the scenery and taking an obscene amount of pictures. There were huge mountains, part of the Alps, and two big, beautiful lakes with the prettiest deep blue water. We got out at the station and started to make our way using a map we got at the train station. As we were walking, we ran into some other American backpackers that seemed to be just as lost as we were and were looking for another hostel. At this point, we were lost ourselves so there was no way we could help them, but I was happy because its always a good sign to see other backpackers around. It’s pretty much validation that the place you’re in is worth going to, and having chosen Interlaken so sporadically, I needed that validation. Wow I totally forgot to mention how beautiful it was when we got off the train and started walking. It was a cloudless, hot day and we could see paragliders and snow-capped mountains off in the distance. Ok so we’re kind of lost but are able to follow street signs leading to different hostels (the Swiss are extremely accommodating to tourists) and end up stopping at a place called Balmer’s herberge, which is the sister hostel of the place we’re headed. We learned that for only 4 francs more, we could sleep in a building instead of a tent, get free breakfast, and have free access to the local bus system. Also, the place was very clean and well-maintained and the people at the front desk were very friendly and helpful. So we decided to stay there. We were settled into our clean and comfortable 8 bed dorm and ready to get food and explore the town, all at 4pm! We were both pretty tired, but the place was beautiful so it would have been criminal for us not to go explore. We found a little grocery store and got food and water, and also snacks for the next day because we planned to go hiking.
After we dropped our stuff off at the hostel and picked up a more detailed city map, we ventured off into the great unknown. Haha there were trails and signs everywhere and we really just followed a path next to the lake, so it wasn’t quite as adventurous as it sounds. It was very pretty out there, but I was also completely worn out by the end. We got dinner at a pub right by our hostel and dozed off after talking to our Brazilian roommates about their hiking adventures of the day. The next morning, I was still dead tired when it was time to get up at 8am, but that free breakfast was calling my name, so that made it a little easier to get up. We ate and met a really friendly guy from Vermont who was traveling Europe and helping sustain his funds by finding jobs in places he liked and staying a little bit longer. This hostel was pretty much full of recent college graduates from America, so it was pretty easy for us all to relate to each other. We chatted with this guy through breakfast and he recommended an awesome hiking trail for us that a local had told him about the previous day. Another thing that is very valuable to the backpacker, by the way, is advice from locals. Nobody knows a place better than the locals. So after breakfast, we went to the front desk to buy our train tickets to the town where the hike began. Some of those train tickets were extremely pricey (90 francs round trip) because of how difficult the destinations were to get to. Since we were beginning our hike at the bottom of a mountain, our train tickets were much cheaper. So we took the bus (bus stop was right across the street from the hostel, the list of good perks that came with staying at Balmer’s just never ends) to the train station and took our train ride to a small town called Lauterbrunnen, which was right at the base and beginning its way up the mountain. So up we went, following the signs directing us to our destination, Mürren. Within the first 3 minutes, I was already out of breath. After 5 minutes, I was ready for a break. After 10 minutes, I was starting to get pretty sweaty. 10 minutes into what was supposed to be a 2 hour hike, and I was starting to wonder if it was physically possible for me to climb this mountain. The walking surface was so inclined, I had to lean completely forward to keep my balance. It was absolutely crazy. Me and Christian decided to take breaks every 10 minutes to make sure we were hydrated and had time to eat the nuts and apples we’d bought the previous day. The higher we climbed, the louder my legs screamed at me. Fortunately, the views also became increasingly more beautiful, so we stopped more and more often to take pictures of the mountain range across the valley and the several waterfalls we were passing. The terrain of the hike was very diverse. We’d be in shaded woods on a rocky path, then find ourselves trudging through mud and over a tiny wooden bridge made out of a piece of wood to keep us from plummeting down the mountain. As scary as that bridge looked, I was more than happy to take my time crossing it because bridges meant flat surfaces. As the day went on, it got hotter and we were both pretty disgustingly sweaty. I finished one waterbottle of water before we made it to the top and was already working on my second 1.5L bottle. I think the best part of the hike (besides the end) was definitely a point where we emerged from the woods and out into an open field that lent us an incredible.. absolutely BREATHTAKING view of the snow-capped mountains across the valley. We could clearly see the clouds forming from the snow melting and evaporating and had a great view of the many networks of smaller waterfalls feeding one larger one. It’s amazing to think that all of these waterfalls are constantly being fed water from melting snow at the top of the mountain. So much snow, the waterfalls keep going and going but the snow never appears to melt! Another thing I adored about this part of the hike, and this is going to sound weird- is that i smelled cow poop and could hear cow bells. Cows with bells=civilization! This was about 2 hours into our hike and i was ready to be done haha. So we kept climbing, with me giddily thinking we were close. Wrong. From that point on, we had spectacular views any time there was a break in the trees, so we stopped several times, but it took us about 45 minutes to start seeing other signs of civilization. A happy Swedish (maybe German?) man asking us, “It’s wonderful, yes?!” was the first person we’d seen since we left Lauterbrunnen. So we keep climbing and we see the railroad tracks that bring people to the top of the mountain. Success! The climb from here was still slightly uphill, but not nearly as extreme as the past 3 hours. My legs were HAPPY to be walking on a flat surface. The last portion of the hike was definitely the hardest because for the last 10 minutes before we reached the train tracks, there was pretty much a constant and very steep slope. I was so relieved! After making it up to the town, we decided to go to the tourist information center to use the bathroom and ask about things to do in Mürren. After using the bathroom, I sat on the couch and was out like a light within 2 minutes. I don’t think I’ve ever fallen asleep that fast and have no idea how long I was out. Christian was looking at a brochure when I fell asleep and was still looking at it when I woke up, but he said he fell asleep too. Haha I felt pretty pathetic at this point but was just really glad that climb was behind me. Now we could reap the rewards of our labor and get sandwiches at the local supermarket and go stare at the incredible views! So we did just that for about an hour and a half before we decided to start making our way back down. On our way out of town, we ran into two guys from Balmer’s and talked to them for a little while. They were really cool and funny so we agreed to hang out later. The hike downhill was pretty tricky because walking down a steep hill is hard enough without rocks and slippery mud. Thankfully, I only fell once and the cut on my knee wasn’t bad at all. I forgot to mention, on the way up the mountain Christian picked up a piece of wood from a shed we ran into and used it as a walking stick. I was afraid he was going to accidentally fall on it and spear himself, but he didn’t! Walking downhill was much faster, but we still stopped to take a few breaks because it was pretty hard on our knees and we were in no rush. We made our way to flat land then back to the hostel where we both took much needed showers. Did I mention the hostel had a restaurant and bar outside on their patio? That’s where we ate that night. We got vouchers when we checked in for a free drink with the purchase of a meal. I got fish and chips and an orange Fanta. I was excited because the Fanta in Italy tasted very orange-like, but that wasn’t the case in Switzerland. We sat at a picnic table next to the guys we met on the mountain, a couple of girls who ended up being Canadian, and another guy from Texas. We chatted and ate and drank and we were merry. I still had a 1L bottle of white wine from Florence that I needed to get off my hands, so I shared it with all the friends. There was also a beach party in the downstairs night club that night, so there were festivities for all that night! I, however, was extremely tired and desperately wanted to talk to Tyler because it has been days since we’d talked, so I went to bed at around 10 so that I could wake up at 2 and Skype with him. I woke up very easily, it honestly felt like Christmas morning when 2 o’clock rolled around. I went downstairs with my iPod and was greeted by 3 drunk American guys that weren’t done partying yet. Did I mention that Balmer’s has multiple buildings by the way?? So I went to another, quieter building and spent the next couple of hours skyping with Tyler and watching drunk people drag themselves to bed haha it was actually kind of funny. Anyway, the next morning it was time for me and Christian to leave Balmer’s so we headed off to the train station to get tickets to our next destination, Nice, France. We had a few hours to kill before our train, so we souvenir shopped for our families and then headed back to Balmer’s to use the hammocks and free wifi. Our friends from Canada were on their way out as we were making our way back in so we got to say goodbye to them, and all our other friends were hanging out outside so we hung out and chatted with them for a while. Christian played chess on the giant outdoor chess board with the guy from Vermont while I booked us a hostel in Nice. Eventually, it was time to go so we said our goodbyes and we were off. The train ride was long and uneventful. When we got to Nice it was around 10pm, so we headed straight to the hostel, about a 15min walk from the train station. My first impression of Nice was that it was like a smaller version of NYC minus the skyscrapers. Lots of buildings, small shops, kind of dirty. We got to our hostel which ended up being really nice and we were off to bed! The people in this hostel weren’t nearly as friendly as the people in Switzerland. Our roommates were quiet and didn’t seem at all interested in getting to know us. The next morning, we decided to go to the train station to see about a night train to Paris, which we had to stop in to get back to London. The best we could get was 5:55am the next day. After getting this terrible news, we went to the beach where the water was a lovely shade of blue, but the beach was rocky and very uncomfortable to walk and sit on. So we sat up on a bench overlooking the beach. There were a bunch of ironman tents and fit looking people around, so we could only assume there was a convention of some sort. The two guys on the bench next to us were actually there for it and told us that there was an ironman race on Sunday, two days from then. They were both competing and had just arrived to Nice. They were there to check out the water. Since they were from Scotland where the water is freezing, they weren’t used to swimming in rough, wavy waters. They were very cool and easy to talk to. I asked them a ton of questions about their training and such, and wow they’ve been working hard to prepare! The ironman is a crazy long triathlon that involves 3.8km swimming, 180km biking, and 26.2 miles running, all back to back to back. The two guys were aiming for times of 10.5 hours and 12 hours- crazy! After talking to them for a while and wishing them good luck, we went to get lunch which was really good. I had salmon lasagne, which was pretty delicious. We pretty much just hung out around the city until our train in the morning. There was a huge music festival and the streets were packed. There were different bands playing on about every block or so. Local groups. This one band was pretty good but the lady singing was just terrible. Her voice was raspy and nasally and totally off key. It was strange because most of the music being played was American but the singers didn’t seem to understand what they were saying, so they butchered a lot of the lyrics. This one band was pretty good, I stood and listened to them for a good 30minutes. French people as a collective group have the WORST rhythm I have ever seen in my life when it comes to dancing too, so I was pretty entertained. It was a long night out on the town, especially since we had to carry our packs on us, so I was very happy when it was time to board the train. This leads me to today: the travel day from hell. I won’t go into detail because I don’t believe I can do so without using some words that I’d rather not use here. All I can say is that I hate France and have no plans to ever return to this country again. The stereotype about French people being rude and unwelcoming is totally true and i have no interest in subjecting myself to the torture of surrounding myself with such people. Ever. Obviously there are exceptions, but I’m fine with not meeting them as long as they are in France. Anyway, it’s been a long day and I am now on a train to London, where we’re going to get a hostel for the night and then move into our dorms tomorrow. Classes start on Monday, so hopefully I’ll be able to recover from the long day that is now THANKFULLY behind me.