Interlaken, Switzerland

View from the train

Before I decided to study abroad for the semester I got all kinds of advice from friends and family that had been to Europe. One of the most popular places that I heard about was Interlaken, Switzerland. It is a town in the shadow of the Bernese alps with amazing views and all kinds of extreme sports to do. My weekend to go experience Interlaken is finally here. We caught a train from Riva around 12 on Friday and went the farthest north I had been yet. It was such a relief to be off Italian trains for the weekend. The Swiss trains I have been on this trip are much cleaner and everyone is nicer than on Italian trains. It's just an overall better travel experience. The amazing views of the alps along the way doesn't hurt either.

People gathered at the finish line,
paraglider landing in the field

After about 5 hours we arrived in Interlaken to the best introduction to a city yet. There were tons of people crowded around this huge field where there was a finish line for the Jungfrau Marathon. The first thing you notice when you walk through Interlaken is that at  any given time there are paragliders flying through the air and landing in the big field. We stood there for a couple minutes just taking it all in and watching the paragliders land. We had been in Interlaken for less than 5 minutes and already experienced some of the extreme sports they offer. Checking into the hostel was another pleasant surprise. The world famous Balmer's was all booked up so we stayed in a hostel called Funny Farm. It ended up being a hostel connected to a 4 star hotel that was really nice. The room wasn't anything special but it was a place to stay and had an amazing view from the porch. After getting settled in, we walked out into the town to a place to get dinner. One of our friends had told us about a pizza place next to Balmer's that we ate at.

LA-Hollywood Pizza

I got a 'LA-Hollywood' Pizza that had bbq sauce, bacon, ham, french fries, and two hamburger patties on it. Believe it or not it was excellent. I still consider that taking in European culture because I had never seen a pizza like that in the U.S. before. After dinner we went into Metro Bar & Night Club underneath Balmer's. It seemed like Metro is the place to be in Interlaken because in no time it was packed with locals. After a while I went up to the lobby of Balmer's with a friend of mine to cool-off and ended up meeting a Chinese man who just finished his doctorate in London. He wrote his dissertation on the effect of exchange rates on the credit card industry. That might sound boring, but it is almost exactly related to what we are learning in International Finance these two weeks. We ended up talking to him for almost an hour, getting our friend Fan to translate anytime he couldn't explain in English. I also met a Engineering student from Bern, Switzerland who plans to study at Virginia Tech next year. What are the odds?? One of my favorite parts of this trip is being able to talk to people from all around the world, the fact that we have this much in common is just a plus.

View of Jungfrau from our Hostel

On Saturday we woke up with no plans since Canyoning wasn't until Sunday. Walking through the town of Interlaken was a great chance to see all kinds of shops and once again people flying through the air above us. We stopped for lunch to get Doner Kebab's, my new favorite food. It was a sandwich with chicken, lamb and an amazing mixture of vegetables and sauces. After lunch we took a train to the other side of town to go up on the Harder Kulm, which is a mountain peak that gives a view of the surrounding alps. We took a funicular train up the mountain, and after a ten minute ride and a bit of getting yelled at by locals for being too loud we were at the top. At the top of the mountain is a restaurant and a platform that goes off the edge of the mountain. Even though it was solidly built, I was still scared when I walked up to the edge. The Harder Kulm itself is 'only' 1,322 meters high, but has perfect views of the mountains on the other side of town. The tallest of which is Jungfrau at 4,158 meters high. The landscape of mountains was perfectly situated right across from the Harder Kulm, with Jungfrau flanked by other huge peaks. Another unreal coincidence was meeting a traveler from Roanoke, Virginia. On the top of a mountain in the middle of Switzerland and we run into a guy who is from 40 minutes away from Blacksburg. It turns out he had just quit is job from Facebook and was traveling the world for 5 months!! - talk about loaded. He may or may not have spent 50 bucks on flaming shots later that night for the group.

Chocolate show

After taking pictures and walking around the peak as much as we wanted we headed back down the train to make it back into town in time for a chocolate show at Grand Restaurant Schuh. A chef that worked for the chocolate company told us the most information about chocolate than I have heard since the Chocolate Ride in Hershey, PA. He then showed us how to make a hollow chocolate cow and caramel filled chocolate mountains. The ticket for the show also allowed an 8 franc credit in the store so I was able to sample a variety of what they make at Schuh. My favorite was still the caramel filled chocolate mountains that he made in the show though.

View of Jungfrau from the top of the
Harder Kulm

After another night at the club under Balmer's we woke up at 7:30 am for our Canyoning trip. We had to be at Outdoor-Interlaken to get all our gear and meet with the guides at 8:30. We each got a pair of water proof shoes, full wetsuit, life jacket, rappelling harness, and helmet. My helmet name for the day was 'Cartman'. They put funny names on them so they can give you important instructions without having to learn everyone's names. After getting geared up we took a 45 minute van ride into the mountains to our canyon Chli Schliere. After a 20 minute hike we were in the canyon and ready to go. The next 4 hours consisted of sliding, jumping, climbing, repelling, swimming and a whole lot of 'graceful falling' down the canyon. Being the over confident American tourists that we are, my group chose to do Chli Schliere even though it is considered the advanced of the three choices. While it was challenging, everyone made it through without injury. Some of the highlights included a 9 meter jump over rocks into a water fall. Another one was a rock slide that you have to jump into so your back hits it before you slide down. My personal favorite was a repel down THROUGH a waterfall. This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was definitely challenging but you can tell these guides are professional for a reason. They are in the canyons everyday and are very helpful with each jump or slide, always telling you exactly where to land or what to do with your arms, legs, and feet. It was my favorite part of the trip so far and I would recommend it to anyone. When we finally finished we hiked to a spot where they drove the vans and were served a traditional Swiss after canyoning meal of fresh bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh cheese, and beer. After the van ride back we had about an hour before our train so we stopped by the Doner Kebab place one last time and headed for the train station. To finish our weekend and continue the theme of Interlaken being over the top and awesome there was a parade going through the streets as we walked.

The group getting ready to jump down some mountains