Beautiful Switzerland

Interlaken Switzerland

What can I say, this place is simply gorgeous. The train ride into Interlaken by itself was enough to set the standard for the views to follow in the next 3 days. As the name may suggest, the town is situated between two lakes on the east and west, with two mountain ranges to the north and south. Been saving up for an adrenaline rush? Come here.

Think of a sport or activity that's not for the timid and they have it; Bungy jumping, paragliding, canyoning and white water rafting, alpine skiing, mountain biking and not to mention being rated as the number one place in the world to go skydiving.

Moments after hoping off the train and seeing half a dozen parachutes open and come down between the two glacial mountain ranges it was clear that skydiving and such activites were a major source of income for this place.
Randomly picked Balmers Herberge Hostel, and did I ever pick right. The most charismatic receptionist with a funky mix between a Swiss and Ukranian accent, but also said "Cheers mate!" as an Aussie would, as she handed me a free bottle of a new brandy-cola mix to guinea pig for them.

Hot tub, best nightclub in Interlaken below the hostel, snow capped mountains all around with blueish-green glacial runoff water canals flowing through the town.... I think the train stopped in heaven, or something like it.

One of the best things about hostels is the effortless manner in which you become buddies with the people you share a room with. Our rustic log cabin style room with bunk beds and a loft you had climb up into, was shared by just myself, a mid 30's New Yorker, and two UK girls that flew in for the weekend to jump out of a plane sporting a magic marker Movember Mustaches.

Night one:

• Steak and beer with the UK girls, followed by happy hour and a busy night at the "Metro" club downstairs with backpackers, sky divers and locals.

Day two:

GoPro goes everywhere

• Rented bikes from a shop down the street that was a strange mix between bicycle/scooter/car rental, coffee shop, and Thai food.... Strange, but the owners were happy to sit down and talk about how they sometimes see cows that wandered or fell into the wrong valley and have to get extracted, hanging from helicopters in the sky above.

• Biked along on of the emerald coloured canals towards the west lake after taking a gander at some ancient ruins situated along the canal.

• Lunch with the new buddies inches from the crystal clear lake water surrounded by mountains.

Girls headed for home and I headed for supper. Felt like diving right into the Swiss food culture, so the obvious choice was nachos, at Hooters.

Being a bit of an adrenaline junky myself, it was incredibly tempting to go sky diving while there. However, being on a travel budget and currently riding solo, it just didn't seem worth it to go and not have any friends there to do it with and a decade later say "Hey! Remember that time we went sky diving in Switzerland?!"

It's the awkward part of the season before it snows so most exhilarating activites despite skydiving were closed. I'll be back!
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Last day in Interlaken with no plans so might as well make the most of it and go get high, into the mountains. Trained it up 6762ft to Klein Scheidegg, home of some world famous Swiss skiing championship, or something like it.

JungfrauJoch, the "top of Europe" can be seen another 7000ft. up

Words, or pictures will never do justice to the magnitude and beauty of the sights available here, so I will not make the effort, aside from a picture or two.

I could take the train right back down, but the sun was shining and the sights like this do not happen daily, or yearly, or even a lifetime for a lot of people.
One "Max Relax" playlist on my iPod and 3000ft later I meandered my way down the mountain past chimney smoking log homes on hillsides, and strategically placed viewing points along the trail to the town of Wegnen.
Home of the ski world cup this January.

Long day in the mountain followed by a night in the hot tub. It may be early yet, but I'm putting my dibs on this day as one of the most memorable.


Next up, Italia...