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Published: August 23rd 2007
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My night train arrived in Zurich Switzerland at like 8:00. The day before Zurich had a big party called The Street Parade. From reading about it online it sounds like a big rave type thing. But when I arrived in Zurich, you could definately see in peoples faces that they had a great night. I took an early train to Interlacken, Switzerland, which is at the base of the swiss alps. I couldn't get into my room until later so locked up my bag and headed out to see the city. As I was walking thoward the city, the hostel was just outside of it, all you could see where mountains. It was a beautiful site. They even have these little faucets all over the city that constantly flow with fresh mountain water. This place was beautiful. Then as I turned another corner and began to head closer to the city, I saw something I did not expect to see, a Hooters Restaurant. Why there was a Hooters in the Swiss Alps I have no idea, but there it was.
Once 4:00 came I was able to check into my room, Room 17. Now the thing to realize about Balmer's
is that this place is built around good öle fashioned american bravado. Which fits this hostel, since there were more Americans here then any other place I had been at to date. For better or for worse. So basically here is how my first day and night went in Interlacken.
By 4:30 I had met everyone in my room. At 5:00 pm happy hour begins. 2 for 1 beer, Rugenbrau was the local beer. And this stuff was absolutly terrible. It also left you with with worst hangover of your life. So from 5:00 to 8:00 every one sits out in the picnic area drinking and eating their dinner. At 8:00 Happy Hour part 2 begins downstairs in the Hostel's club called The Metro. Everyone still pretty much just goes downstairs to buy their drinks and then bring them upstairs. At about 9:30 everyone gets forced out of the common picnic areas. You either need to go inside to bed or downstairs to the club. Well after 2 happy hours most people go downstairs. When you get downstairs they are playing all the videos from that day. What videos? The videos of everyone who went skydiving, canyoning, or rafting
Getting ready
This is my group getting ready for a 20 minute hike to the first jump earlier in the day. The best way for me to describe what that evening, and then the subsequent others at Balmer's was what I would imagin a Frat Party to be.
Day 2...Good thing I passed out in my clothes because I woke up at 8:56 and needed to meet the van to go skydiving at 9:00. I honestly have no idea what time I passed out at. I think I may have still been drunk when I woke up. So down I went, smelling ripe and feeling worse, to jump out of a plane. You don't get a heck of a lot of instruction. You are tandem so the guy attached to your back does all the work. After seeing the movies from the night before I already knew I was going to pay an additional 190 francs for the video and photos. Brilliant marketing. Force me into the bar, get me drunk, show movies of people jumping out of a plane. See that guy be the man of the hour. Then ask me if I want a video. Do I want to be that guy? Um yeah! Make sure you get my good side. And no Amoroso
Profiles. So next thing I know there I am. I watched the two people before me essentially fall out of an airplane at 11,000 feet. It is my turn, so I do as I am told. I hang my feet out the plane and lean my head back and then out I go. "Put me back! Put me Back!" Then about 45 seconds later you are safely on the ground. Sick to your stomach and with the worst headache of your life. They dropped me back off at the hostel at 10:30. The Hostel has a lockout from 10:00 - 4:00. They say it is to clean, but I think it is just another marketing tool to get you to do their adventuring sports. I tell you, these people are business geniouses. So after puking my brains out. I find a nice couch, in a common room, curl up and pass out until 2:00.
That night, wash, rinse, repeat. Only this time we started at hooters and missed the first happy hour. That was quite an experiance. But we made it back to the Metro for the second Happy Hour and there I was jumping out of a plane.
Canyoning
The first jump was nothing. I was thinking, this isn't that bad. At some point during the night, the guys in my room had convinced me to go canyoning. Feeling invincible since I just jumped out of a plane, I didn't think anything could phase me. Canyoning started earlier in the day, so I was a bit smarter and was in bed by midnight.
There is really no way to describe canyoning. I loved it and hated it the same time. You basically go up to the top of one of the mountains where the glacier water begins to rush down. Then the only way down is to jump, slide and repel down the side of the cliff. I will try to add some photos here, since I am typing this from my friends computer. Just one word of advice...don't ever do a back flop from 30 feet up...
Night three was our last night there and by then we were the old pro's of Balmer's so we decided to tear it up. I don't know what time we partied too bu all I know is I woke up the third day in a row with a terrible hangover and I blame it all on Rugenbrau.
Next stop...Gimmelwald.
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Tylert
non-member comment
ahah, canyonning is so cool!! that was a good idea!! nice photos!!