Switzerland: Overpriced Chocolate and Big Mountains

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December 26th- 30th: Switzerland

Friday morning was not a good one for us. So far, we have not had one glitch in our trip, but this morning is when it began. We woke up around 7 to get ready for our 9 o’clock train to Gryon (our chalet in the Alps). We rushed to the train station because we had cut the time a little close…we look at the board and see the 9:10am train to Geneva and Mitch is like “oh yeah, that has to be our train”. We both glance down at the ticket, jaws drops, mouth goes dry, cold sweat….Geneva Train: 7:10 am departure. WE are idiots. Complete and total ignorant idiots. In that moment, we were so frustrated and angry there were no words either of us could say to lighten the moment. We had blown it. We now had to pay 77 Euros each to get to Geneva, and we didn’t even know if we could get there that day. In our old age of 22, we had gotten to comfortable and didn’t check the ticket time. SO ANGRY. Somehow, we got on a train at 6 o’clock that night which meant that we had to wander around Paris for another 10 hours until our train that night. In other words, we kind of wasted a day that we had planned to spend in Geneva. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it definitely taught us a serious lesson. We got to Geneva around 9 pm, and checked into our hostel. We had to sort everything out for the remainder of our time in Switzerland, so we stayed up pretty late. We were planning on spending three more days in Switzerland, and we were headed up the Alps in the morning to see check into our awesome hostel Chalet Martin in Gryon.

We woke up in Geneva to another cloudy overcast day. We left our baggage in the free lockers and decided to walk around Geneva for a few hours before getting on the train to the Alps. We looked at all the awesome Swiss watch shops and chocolate stores. We both weren’t too thrilled with Geneva overall, and decided that the best idea was to got on the noon train to Gryon which was abut 2 and a half hours. We were both really excited to get up in the mountains and the be little snow bunnies. It was a little weird because nobody we talked to had heard of Gryon which could make things interesting, BUT I have been spot on every time thus far on the trip so I’m not too worried…I think its going to be incredible. The train ride was beautiful through the mountains and the valleys. The lake was right next to the train on the right and on the left these huge hills with little Swiss villages and wineries. It was beautiful, and the sun was even out. We arrived into this little tiny town called Bex and we jumped on this strange train/trolley thing that took us up into the mountains to our stop “Gryon”. There was not near the amount of snow that we were expecting, it looked as if it hadn’t snowed in a while. There were patches of dirt and dead grass and then there were patches of 1 or 2 feet of snow completely iced over. Not quite the winter wonderland we were expecting…Our hostel was incredibly weird but really cool. By far the most unique place we have stayed in yet. When we walked in it felt like we were walking into someone’s house who has having a dinner party or something. The town here is so small there are no restaurants or anything so you have to cook all your own food. There were like 15 Aussies in the kitchen laughing and eating and they just kind of stared at us when we walked by. The place is really homey with a big huge kitchen, dining room, fireplace, ski shop etc…It was perfect for our little adventure, we got our ski rental squared away, did some socializing, and got ready for our first day of boarding. Unfortunately, the hot water thing had blown out that morning so there was no heat or hot showers so our little dorm room was FREEZING. It was like the frozen food section in Costco. Sweet, icey, Alp dreams! ☺

Woke up early to an absolutely beautiful clear morning with the Swiss Alps just reaching to the heavens and the sleepy little ski town with the snow piled high on the rooftops…perfect morning for snowboarding. We grabbed some breakfast, got our gear and jumped on the little train up to the top of the mountain. Mitch is a pro snowboarder, like really, and I am well not a pro. The last time I did it I was 12 years old with my cousin and it was more of a crash course type thing…no lessons, just pure instinct. Mitch was thrilled to play instructor and teach me how to carve into that Swiss Alp snow. We took the gondola up the mountain and the views were just breathtaking, absolutely incredible. We were on one of the hundreds of peaks that you could see for miles. The resort wasn’t too crowded so we didn’t have to wait in any lines or anything like that, really awesome. I was a bit hesitant at first once I strapped the board on, but Mitch is such a good and PATIENT teacher that I was flying down the mountain in no time. I was surprised at how fast my body remembered everything and it really was no problem for me. I thought I would be falling every ten seconds but I only fell a few times the whole day…only 2 major crashes were I thought I almost died (not really, but it hurt like hell). Mitch was extremely proud of his little snow bunny girlfriend and he was a such a good sport snowboarding in front of me and making sure I was comfortable. I know he could tear that mountain up, but he never left my side. He is so incredible, thoughtful, and just amazing…I am so lucky. We got hungry around noon and realized that we were going to have to shell out 17 dollars for a hot dog and fries. I mean we definitely were not thrilled about that but really had no choice. The food in Switzerland is the most expensive in Europe. One US dollar is equal to 1.06 Swiss Francs and for instance…a can of Pringles is 5 francs, an egg is .80 francs, Needless to say, we have been eating just about nothing. The life of the budget backpackers. After our expensive much needed food, we hit the slopes again. We went all over the mountain and I even went on a black diamond a few times, it was kind of scary but I had gotten good enough that I could slowly but surely make my way down. I mean I did face plant twice which did not feel good at all but hey that’s part of the fun, I guess. We were both absolutely dead by four o’clock ( we have not worked out in like 4 months, intense soreness definitely in the future) and we headed back to our little chalet in Gryon. We ate our small little dinner of noodles and hot chocolate and after socializing a bit with the infinite amount of Aussies in our chalet, we went to bed in our freezer room. We had to get some rest, I mean we were hitting in the slopes one last time tomorrow (if our sore, weak little bodies can make it)!

I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a semi truck…every fiber in my body was in excruciating pain. I did not know how I was going to rock out on the slopes today. Mitch was fine because he had just taken it easy at my pace and he didn’t fall once…Even though I didn’t fall that much, my two bad falls and other little bumps and bruises really added up. I was a hurting little snow bunny. However, I got my act together and we went and boarded for another 5 or 6 hours. It was another gorgeous day, sunny and not even that cold. I did ten times better today than the day before and Mitch was very proud of me. I would get super angry when I did fall and Mitch would pick my spirits back up by telling me I’m the greatest and all this other false information that made me feel good and get off my butt and clean the snow out of my goggles. Snowboarding for me has become a hate/love relationship. I love it when I’m cruising, I hate it when I’m on the ground eating snow. My quick progression is due to Mitch’s continual patience and positive energy, he is so incredible. I only took one bad tumble in which I knocked the crap out of my head on the snow, but I made it through…I was very glad to be back at our lodge and in a hot shower after these 2 days of just beating my body to shreds. It’s not used to this much physical exertion. We are headed to Italy in the morning for New years and then about a week or so extra. Our first stop is Roma, it will be interesting to see if we even make it there because our Al Italia airline we are using already cancelled and rescheduled our flight as they are on the brink of being bankrupt. Also our accommodation in Rome is with this Italian woman who speaks like 2 words of English and we never saw any pictures of the apartment, just a good price and location. Oh the joys of traveling on a budget. Here we come Italy…with our fingers crossed!

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