Interlaken, Switzerland - July 11-13, 2009

Luckily when we got to Interlaken at 11PM, there was a shuttle bus ready and waiting to take us to our hostel - Balmer's Herberge.

The hostel was just booming, reminding me of first year residence (yay Saugeen!) on a Saturday night. APril and I were too tired to join everyone for the festivities so we headed to our room and went to sleep (we're fun, I know).

The morning came quickly and as I woke, I was greeted by a stunning view of the Swiss Alps out the window - not too shabby I must say. The two of us got ready, ate breakfast, and were off to explore the town. It was 8:30 by the time we left the hostel on a Sunday morning, so all of the shops were closed and there was barely anyone in sight. It was a nice change from the hustle and bustle of Nice. What wasn't a nice change was the temperature!!! After acclimating to constant 30 degree sunny weather, the 17 degrees in Interlaken just seemed extra cold to us. We had our sweaters though, so there was no need to worry... just complain I guess.

Interlaken is bordered by two lakes and the mountains, so we thought it would be nice to walk to on of the lakes to have a looksee. After walking a good distance, and passing by some cows and a dairy farm, we realized that maybe the lake was a little further than we initially thought.... so we turned around and headed back to town. On the way back, we met two lovely goats - one of which was so happened to be named Julie - obviously my new best friend.

The town of Interlaken is gorgeous... however, it's very small - something like 6,000 people. Therefore, the sites (other than the nature around) were quite limited. After spending the first few hours of the morning watching paraglider after paraglider gently sail down from the mountain, our minds were made up that we had to do it too! You can't go to Interlaken and not have an adventure!

Packed in a van with a handful of Koreans and Swiss pilots, we were headed up for our take off. The views were amazing, our outfits even better, and we were ready to go. A quick run and the wind was up my shirt and we were flying. I took a bunch of photos and videos, and Richi (my pilot) even let me drive for a little while. April had a pilot who had just gotten his tandem licence 2 weeks earlier - but she couldn't tell the difference. Needless to say, the experiene was well worth it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

With the adrenaline rush winding down, April and I grabbed lunch from the nearest Coop (grocery store), bought some madatory Swiss Army knives and just chilled out. We eventually made it out to one of the lakes (turns out the one we didn't walk to in the first place was closer). We then schooled a couple of boys from Houston in a game of pool where the boys definitely lost some man points.

We ate dinner and like the old ladies we are, went to sleep around 9:30..... need I mention, before the sun had event set. Embarrassing, yes.

Monday morning graced us with its presence and we packed our bags, at our breakfast, and made our way to the train station to catch the next train to Zurich.