Before my post, I’d like to wish my Mommy a very happy birthday! This woman has always been so supportive even when it’s scary to be supportive, but I would not be the person I am today without her love and compassion. Happy birthday, Mommy I love you!
Hello all!
These past couple of days have gone by very fast and it must be because we’re in Switzerland! The land of beautiful scenery, friendly people, delicious chocolate, and adventures that I have yet to find anywhere else in Europe. I love this country. We got in yesterday early afternoon and checked in at our hostel in Interlaken. The day was young enough and the weather was beautiful for a while before it started to get windy, so we hung out and ate some sandwiches outside. By the way I did a terrible job at remembering this place. I couldn’t even get us to the hostel from the train station which was pretty upsetting since I expected to feel like an experienced Interlakenian by now. That’s ok though because Tyler is a very skilled navigator, which is why he’s been declared the local navigator expert on our two person team. We have yet to assign a role for me, but I’m sure I’ll get one any day now!
Well even though it was like we were in a brand new city with me not remembering anything about it and Tyler having only been there for the first time, we still really wanted to check out Bern and I’m so glad we did! The train ride from Interlaken to Bern was less than an hour long and free with our passes, so getting there was a piece of cake. Tyler’s on the tail end of a cold right now and I’m just picking it up, so walking around at first was kind of miserable. Eventually though, I started to feel better and really take it all in. Even having only been in the city for a few hours and even though it was raining, Bern easily made my list of top 3 cities. It was just beautiful. The river going through the city was the most beautiful blue-green color and there was so much nature integrated within the city. There was a lengthy and well- utilized river-walk, one of the coolest kids playgrounds me and Tyler have ever seen, and a fenced-off area by the river where 3 bears lived and were easy to see from the beautiful bridge. It did rain, but it’s almost as if the city was built for it- all along the main street there are shops under the cover of a big terrace. The streets were stone and there were flags and fountains along the street. A cool thing about the shopping area was that there were shops in buildings as you’d traditionally see in a city, but there were also shops underground that could be accessed from the street by stairs that were behind fancy bomb-shelter-looking doors. It was pretty cool and a very enjoyable way to wait out the rain. We stumbled upon the Parliament building which had breakthtaking views overlooking the city, river, and off in the distance incredible snow-capped mountains. Right next to that was the Swiss National Bank which of course Tyler was excited to see being a finance man. It was overall just an awesome day in an awesome city and I would definitely love to make it back someday.
Today we headed up to the mountains for some grueling, but awesome hiking. We hiked up to a city called Wengen, which was just across the valley from where I hiked with my friend Christian last year (up to Mürren). Man, I have no idea how I did that hike last time around because this one was an hour and a half as opposed to 3 and had an elevation gain of around 400m as opposed to the 600 to Mürren. After about 5 minutes I thought I was gonna die and cursed myself for not staying in better shape. Tyler handled the beginning well, and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to keep up with him. Eventually though, I found a good pace and was able to keep going while Tyler got worn out and needed more periodic breaks. It was a classic turtle and the hare scenario and it made me wonder what other fables I can use to make life easier haha. After a while we found our good pace and of course were forced to continue taking periodic breaks so we could take in the amazing views. It was just so beautiful, I can’t even think of words to describe it. Also my pictures will not come close to the real thing. I was really wishing I had my digital slr just for the day because wow, incredible. We hiked to Wengen and then took a train from there up to Klein Schleidegg where we had amazing views of the Jungfrau, the highest point in Europe. It was amazing. Also, there was snow up there even though it wasn’t really cold. We climbed just a little more after getting there and took some pictures then shared a small bottle of wine Tyler got the day before while we admired the amazing views. Oh I forgot to mention we also made the baddest snowman you’d ever dream of. That snowman had some personality. There was a lookout point up the hill and we went up there and looked and danced and engraved our names into the place with hundreds of others. Today was definitely my favorite day, but alas I am sick and I need sleep so that I can enjoy our next destination, Cinque Terre, Italia!
