July 2008 - Switzerland

• Jul. 21st, 2008 at 1:28 PM

INTERLAKEN (July 4th - July 8th)

We arrived in Interlaken, Switzerland on the 4th after a 4-5 hour train ride (where we all discovered a love for buttered yeast cake...sounds nasty but DELICIOUS). The train ride was just ugh...such a preparation for the beauty of Interlaken. It means between two lakes, which it is and they're lakes of such a crystal blue that are breathtaking. The water is straight from melted ice/glaciers in the mountains so it's cold and crisp and does wonders for your hair!
The Banks were a lot closer to us here than in Paris so we got to see them a lot more. They stayed at a place just a few streets over from ours. My parents and I had an apartment at Swiss Inn Apartments. They lady who owned it was so nice and sweet and pretty much dying to help us in anyway. I had my own loft upstairs and the place had a kitchen and it's own terrace which had an amazing view!


The first day, Mom and Dad were poopies so I walked around the city with the Banks (it was good to have people who were actually doing stuff! I think my mom felt bad that they would do one thing and then need to go take a nap). We got ice cream and looked at stuff (OMG THEY EAT HORSE IN SWITZERLAND wahhhhhh) and found where the Nissan Sport thing was being held (it was a competition of extreme videos). It wasn't really in full swing when we got there but it was pretty much an American hosted event and they had kid rock climbing walls for the girls to do.
Then that night after we retrieved my parents, we went to a restaurant for fondue and realized too late that it was the biggest tourist pot hole ever. The waiters dress up in cow pants and they have big tour groups come inside with a contest for blowing that really big, long horn. Then they all conga lined around the restaurant. It was a huge group of Australians (AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE - OY OY OY).


Jungfraujoch
On saturday we took the most anticipated journey of our trip to Jungfraujoch, the top of Europe. When we were in the early planning stages of our trip, I had seen an episode of Passport to Europe on the Travel Channel where Samantha Brown went to Interlaken. She took a trip up to the Jungfrau where they had an ice palace and gorgeous snow covered views. I knew I had to go there. Aunt Christine had also seen it so pretty much it was a set deal.
The train ride up was pretty eventful. It takes about two hours and you have to switch trains quite a little bit but everything was so much easier because we decided to take the guided tour. Annemarie was awesome and so knowledgable. The train went up one way (through Lauterbrunnen) and down another (Grimmelwald) and once you get up into the mountains you have to pass through the mountain. They make two stops along the way so you can look out onto the glacier. This is where Uncle Livingston started to have a hard time. The man, pretty much a line backer mind you, is afraid of heights AND claustrophobic. He almost puked but he got to sit up front with the driver haha. He did not have fun. Don't worry though. The rest of us had enough fun for him.

The ice palace was by far the best part. Uncle Livingston stayed up in the station the whole time, poor guy. Unbeknowst to us, while we were down here having fun, he was upstairs fainting :(

They had outdoor activities like sledding and skiing (see the picture above of Madison mid flip). It's a really great place (although the food was really expensive since you can't exactly go anywhere else)! But I was happy to leave in the end. As soon as we sat down for lunch, the room started spinning and everyone started to feel sick. We were all happy to get on the train and get outta there. I mean, we were only over 11,000 feet in the air.

Of course, the pictures don't do it justice. While I love the architecture of cities like Paris and Barcelona, there's nothing like natural beauty. Switzerland is officially one of my favorite countries, even though it's expensive :)

Thun Castle
Our beautiful weather started to get a little down at this point. But we decided to march on and take a day trip to Thun, just a twenty minute train ride away. Thun Castle is pretty awesome and it's supposed to have its own ghost, although I wasn't introduced.


On Monday, the Banks proceeded to leave us for Heidelberg. It was strange without them. The weather was still drizzly so we continued to be extremely lazy and sat around all day. We read...I read a lot. On this trip alone I read Girls In Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood (again), Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood, Twilight, The Secret Life of Bees, and the majority of New Moon on the flight home. I had read the first three books already by the end of Switzerland.
Side note: I really like the Twilight saga. I'm halfway through Eclipse but taking my time since Breaking Dawn doesn't come out until the 2nd. I mean it could be better...Meyer definitly draws everything out to a poop shit pace to fill lines (and make a quad series when she could have had 2) but I don't mind that much.
Can I also just make another major side note and say how much I've read this summer? I mean all the books besides the ones I listed above have been rereads but...
First two Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books to prepare for the 4th and for the movie, first three books of the Alvin Maker series to continue reading 4, 5, and the never read 6. As well as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. That's 12 books (13 in a few days) by July 21st. Not too shabby...

But yeah, that's pretty much the end of Interlaken, Switzerland. Stay tuned for one last post regarding Germany and the end of the trip!