Switzerland

Hey everyone!

So this weekend I traveled to the amazing country of Switzerland. Allison, Bintu, Claire and I headed out on Thursday night on a night train to Interlaken, Switzerland. We had to switch trains in Zurich and in Bern to get to Interlaken, though. We got in the town around 9:30 on Friday morning. As soon as we got off the train, we realized we were surrounded by the Alps! They were magnificent. The clouds covered the top, but you could see that the peaks had snow all over them. By that point, we were really hungry, so we headed off to find some food. We walked to the nearest cafe - Des Alps - and had the best breakfast ever. We finally got to have bacon and scrambled eggs. After we ate, we just sat and read coffee table books and had some hot chocolate until we were warmed back up. It was pretty cold up there in the Alps... Once we were full and warm, we headed outside. In the middle of the town is this park/field area. In the field there is a fenced in area that holds about 10 Swiss cows, complete with cow bells. It was so funny to see these cows just wandering around in the city square!

We walked through the town for a little bit, stopping to get the occasional post-card or patch. We eventually ran across this flier that advertised trips to the waterfalls near Interlaken. We were intrigued, so we found the place and went to talk to the people. Well, it turned out that the same place did Vespa rentals for really cheap. So, we decided to rent two Vespas and ride around Interlaken for a while. I rode on Allison's bike, and Claire rode on Bintu's. I was too nervous to drive, and I didn't have my driver's license, so it fell on Allison to drive. It took us a while to get the hang of it, but eventually Allison and I got it. We sped around town for a while. Then we headed to the train station and waited to catch our train to Lauterbrunen. From there we took a cable car up to Murren. We went right up into the Alps on that cable car. It was kinda scary to see Interlaken fade into the valley as we rose higher in elevation.

Once we got to Murren we tried to find some food. Murren, however, was a ghost town. I am not even kidding - we saw one person out in the city - and all the lights were off in the town. It was only 7 at night. We eventually found a restaurant that was open. Apparently all of the town was there. It was like a scene from a movie when we walked in: four girls with backpacks enter the local watering hole - only to be starred at by the whole town (30 people) as the room becomes suddenly very quiet. We ordered the traditional cheese fondue and ate until we were full. Then we caught our bus down to Gimmelwald where our hostel was. Once we checked in, we hung out for a bit. We played cards and Scrabble until we were tired.

Saturday morning we woke up to the Alps. I mean, we looked out our room window and were surrounded by snowy mountains. Once we got up and going - we waited to catch our bus to Murren - where the food was. We ended up going to the same place we had gone to for dinner. We sat and ate and drank hot chocolate for a while.

Funny story: So, Bintu and I got really excited that this place had bacon. It was called "Swiss Air-Dried Bacon". So we decided to split and order of it - because it was rather expensive. So when our bacon came - we were shocked to see that is was still raw. They gave us raw - air-dried - bacon to eat. It was so gross. Lost in Translation at it's best right there.

After eating we decided to wander the town for a bit. We had thought that the ice rink would be open for us to ice skate- but it was closed and melted. We were there in low season- so most things were closed. We hung around and played in the snow for about 2 hours until we were freezing. We went back down to Gimmelwald and got our packs and then headed to the cable car station to go back to Interlaken. There, we ate a huge Chinese dinner and got on our train to Bern - then from Bern to Zurich - and then from Zurich home to Vienna.

It was such and amazing trip. Switzerland was by far the most beautiful place I have ever been. The mountains are amazing. We had so much fun just hanging around and playing the snow for a weekend. I would definitely go back there.

The Christmas Markets opened yesterday- so last night we all headed to the Rathaus. We got to see all the Christmas stuff (Think Gatlinburg except less cheesy). We had traditional Christmas food and cider and walked around for a bit. They are open until we leave- so we just did a little last night. There is actually an advent calendar in the windows of the Rathaus - so I can't wait for the first days of December - so we can see what comes out of the windows.

This week is just another school week here in Vienna. This weekend I am going to try and go to Germany- probably Berlin. Other than that, we are all just preparing to head on back to the States. I think the count is 15 days now. I can't wait to see everyone!

C