Blogs from Interlaken, South-West, Switzerland, Europe - page 6

A long, reclusive stare; the young child had clearly never seen anyone different. I was in a small breakfast restaurant in a even smaller town in Switzerland. Four tables, packed together with strange 1950's themed tablecloth, collecting dust from the lack of hungry customers or the vacant life of the outside streets. His mother and father were cooking me up something from the menu that I had pointed to (ham and cheese...the only thing that looked somewhat familiar), as they did not speak English. The boy’s wondering gaze grew deeper when I murmured up a “hello.” Even this simple word he did not understand (or chose not to speak out of fright). After he half turned, startled from the strange words of this handsome (self-proclaimed) customer, he stirred the courage to continue his wandering gaze. Finally, ... read more

730. BEEEP BEEEP. AHHH its so early and its a tad cloudy. Not looking good but Hoping it turns our great and my body is starting to hate me for going going going. (one more day) Get picked up and the lady drops me off. I get to the room and there are tons of people. about 20 people easily already getting ready. He told me I was late ( in a joking way ) But the lady told be 820 she will pick me up so I was on time MOM. Get my gear and pack and jump in the van. There were three vans and they were all packed. Im not to keen on huge groups like this. Especially when it involves crazy stuff that needs guides to keep an eye on things. But ... read more

well take 2 on the canyon trip. First thing I did this morning was look at the window to check how the weather was looking. LOOKS great. So I get ready and walk to the Alpine base site and suite and on the road. Only 7 of us this time compared to the 14 on wed. Again we get dressed and hike 20 mins to the actual canyon part and all seven of us get ready to get wet. First jump 10 meters High. Tad nervous but what can you do, They guide says, 1, 2, 3..... and Im like one more time please. 1, 2, 33333...... an away I go. Boom hit the cold water and feeling great. As im waiting for the the 5th person to go. She hesitates, gets nervous and slips down ... read more

IT TOOK forever to get here. Left at 7 am in Nice and then Got here in Interlaken Switz. at 530. 4 train transfers and 10 hours later I'm in Heaven. Its so beautiful here. I mean I'm surrounded by mountains all around me. I'm exhausted from the train rides and since I have an early morning tomorrow night to go canyoning Im going to hit the sack really early. The food here is so expensive. Since I'm here for 5 days I went to the grocery store and cooking this week. Saw a few skydivers as I walked along the park. It was pretty neat but I definitely cant do that.. I'm happy with just canyoning and ice climbing. There is also lots of free hiking everywhere so I'm going to the top of some ... read more

Due to poor bus frequency up the Kiental Valley, we flagged that idea and decided instead to go to Adelboden, up the valley from Frutigen. Since the forecast was for rain we figured we could do a lower hike back down the valley. However, on getting to Interlaken it was raining steadily. By Speiz it was raining, cold and blowing and the lake was very choppy. Now the choice of hiking territory wasn't looking like such a good idea. Hmmm, what to do? Go home or go elsewhere? Since we were to go to Mariann's for dinner we opted to stay around the area and instead go down Lake Brienz to Iseltwald on the south side of the lake. We put on all our wet weather gear, covered the packs and set off in continous steady ... read more