A Vacation from a Vacation

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We are in the best hostel in the world right now, with a couple of the coolest people we've met so far, in the most beautiful country that we've seen yet.

The town is actually called Lauderbrunnen (it wasn't listed, so the blog says Grindelwald--which is somewhat nearby). It is located at the floor of a valley in an area called the Berner Oberland, surrounded by roaring waterfalls and the daunting Swiss Alps. It's quiet, apart from the cowbells that we can hear jingling 24/7, and the air is fresh. There are little glacier-water creeks all over the place. I can't imagine a better place for us "country-bumpkins" to relax for a few days.

To make the experience even better, our hostel is AMAZING. It's a tiny family-owned place that is run by a sweetheart, named Martha. I am convinced that she opened the hostel because she missed having children to take care of after they grew up and moved away...Basically a Swiss-version of Lisa Friese. She even makes us take off our shoes before we come into the door. :) Never in my life have I stayed in a hostel with fluffy down-comforters and feather pillows. Our room even has a balcony that overlooks fields of scattered houses and cows. I feel like I'm in a real-life fairytale story being taken care of by Mother Goose. :)

Our room has three bunk-beds and accomodates six, but there are only two other people in our room at the moment. Lauren and Jesse are an Australian couple, not at all unlike us. Lauren is talkative and spunky, and her dad is a football coach. Jesse has a furry "backpackers" beard that Nick is totally envious of. He is also quite obsessed with the NBA. Nick, who has been having extreme withdrawals from watching basketball, took full advantage of having someone to talk sports with. Last night we joined them at the best pub in town (and the only pub in town) to enjoy some laughs and good company.

Our plan for today is to relax as it's Sunday and just about everything is closed, but tomorrow we are planning an extensive cable car/mountain biking trip to see a couple other towns. I'll post some updated pictures tomorrow!

Thanks everyone for all the comments!
xx Laura

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