SNOW!

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Thursday, 14 August

Our first big travel day. We boarded the bus early to drive to Lauterbruen, Switzerland. The method to make it a quick journey was to sleep on the bus. I wasn't that tired at this point of the trip, so I actually got to see some of the French countryside. There were some amazing castles on the way.

As soon as we passed the Swiss boarder the fun began with a Champaign party on the bus. I was a little annoyed, as it was this time that I started to feel a bit crook. But I pushed on and had a bit to drink (nothing compared to my normal Champaign standards). It was definitely the way to get everyone chatting and in the mood.

In no time we were at the campsite, and the sights were amazing. Nestled between the mountains was the campsite. There was a nice blue sky and a waterfall. So much serenity. We had four to a cabin, so Kirsty, Nat and Q shared with me, in what would pretty much become our arrangement from this point.

We had some cheese fondue for dinner that was absolutely loaded with alcohol! Very nice though. The rest of the night was spent at the bar at the campsite were everyone continued to get to know everyone else. The drink of the night was Lychee Beer. It was very nice, but really didn't taste like beer at all.

Interesting turn of events for me was that my left ankle decided to blow out to a very large size and bruise up, due to my compensating walking to avoid pressure on my huge blisters. My first sprained ankle in years. Thank goodness I packed my bandage. This pretty much ended my night, but it was also time to get some sleep so I could enjoy Switzerland the next day.


Friday, 15 August

In the morning we caught the train up to Mt Jungfrau, the highest point in Europe. It was misty in the morning and our hopes were that it would clear. This didn't happen, so we got no views up there, but I got to see snow! Real snow! We also got to see Santa. He had beer and a snow mobile (NB This may not have been the real Santa...).

The Ice Palace that was there was incredible. It consisted of lots of ice sculptures. Kirsty and I got to see a man slip over and take his friend down with him. Funny times. We then went out and had a small hike in the blizzard on the Plateau. Very cold, but so much fun. It was about at this point that we were very grateful that we decided on buying some gloves.

It was then time to catch the train back to the bottom, were the rest of the afternoon was spent doing some shopping. The girls bought Swiss Army Knives and Swatch Watches. Nat Kirsty and I then had an iced chocolate.

After dinner, we had a few drinks in the bar. Due to the pain of my stupid ankle, it was an early night.

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Photos

Cheating Photo
What it could have looked like if it wasn't snowing so much