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Luzern
The water tower and bridge. We didnt plan to come to Switzerland on this trip, but after hearing stories from other travellers, and looking at those pictures hanging at my desk each day while at work, I just couldnt help myself...
All the photos hanging at my desk really do Switzerland the justice that it deserves! Its a spectacular place!! There was still snow on the alps, beautiful lakes, cows with bells around their necks, watches and chocolate!
Luzern
We only stayed one night in Luzern. We arrived at about midday, made our way to the hostel to drop off our bags, then went out and about. Luzern was very expensive in comparison to any other place we visited, but we enjoyed it!
We walked around town - there wasnt much to see in Luzern unless you were interested in buying a Swiss watch or army knife but we saw the water tower in the middle of the lake and the old wall.
We then went to the next town, and from there caught a cable car up to the top of a mountain called Pilatus. It was about 2100 metres above sea level. There was still patches of snow up there, and the view
Pilatus
Playing in the snow! (without skis!) was absoultely amazing! They say that on a clear day, you can see right into Italy and Germany from Pilatus.
The cable-car ride up was fun. Nathan thought he might test his yodelling skills, and surprisingly, the locals were yodelling right back!
Interlaken
We originally planned only one night in Interlaken, but ended up staying three... Interlaken is the adventure capital of Europe. 2nd adventure capital in the world. Queenstown NZ is apparently 1st. Interlaken looks very much like Queenstown, except it is surrounded by two lakes, and the alps are more spectacular.
Our first day was spent wandering around Interlaken. Its only a small town, and mainly contains tourist shops, hotels, chocolate shops and watch shops.
On our second day, we decided to hire bikes, and take them on the train to a town called Grindelwald, then ride back down on the mountain bike trails to Interlaken. Grindelwald is a beautiful town about 2100 metres above sea level, and is the base of skiing and snowboarding in this region in the winter time. We walked around Grindelwald for about an hour, had some lunch to charge up, then hit the trail... It took us about 2.5
hours to get down to Interlaken. Over 1.5km vertical drop, and about 6km in length, and the best part... IT WAS ALL DOWN! A mixture between road, and gravel tracks, passing through forrests and farm land. We reached speeds of about 55km/h - keeping up with the cars on the road at times.
Without a doubt, the best ride I have done on a bike yet... And, thats a big call! I only wish I had did it on my own bike.
The hostel we stayed at was great. The bar tenders boyfriend works for a canyoning adventure company in Interlaken. So after a good chat and few beers, he convinced us to come along on a canyoning adventure for our third and final day in Interlaken. He convinced us to sign up for the most extreme canyon you can do... We took his advice and did without thinking about it.
So, they picked us up from the hostel bright and early and took us to the canyon. They checked the depth of the water at the end of the canyon, and because of all the rain it was too high to go canyoning, so they took us to
the *intermediate* canyon.
The canyon started in a place called Grimsel, which is high up in the alps. It was cold, and there was snow around us. We put on our wet suits and harnesses, and we started a 50m abseil down a slipry cliff from the road and into the freezing alpine waters of the canyon. This was more than a wake up call! From the starting point, we had to climb over rocks, jump down waterfalls, slide down chutes formed by rushing water, climb ropes, and ride flying foxes to get to the bottom of the canyon. Ive never been so cold in my life, but it was a fantastic experience. Unfortunately, we did not the the camera for obvious reasons, so there are no photos of our canyoining experience to share with you.
Luckily we ended up at the intermediate canyon. The jumps and slides were quite extreme in my books!
Canyoning took alot of energy out of us, so we had an early night, and caught the train to Milano the following morning.
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Kevin
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Bikes and Booze
This trip seems to evolve around bikes and booze a lot. Good stuff.