Switzerland was just… WOW. Clean air and pure beauty! I could almost compare it to the beauty I experienced in Japan… but different cuz it’s not japan We decided to leave a bit later than we normally do on our weekend trips and left around 7am Saturday morning. Arrived at the train station, Interlaken west around 2pm. The city we went to, Interlaken, means “between two lakes” and it was located right between two gorgeous lakes: Lake Thun and Lake Brienz. We checked into our cute little hostel called “happy inn lodge” and tried to contact our paragliding people. Our plans were to go paragliding around 3pm that day, but due to high winds, they asked if they could cancel and go Sunday morning at 10am instead. We didn’t mind as long as we got to do it, so we were fine with it and decided to just spend our time exploring and walking around and even do some shopping. The Swiss uses Francs, so we had to exchange our money, and the franc is a closer equivalent to the US dollar than the euro is, so while we were walking around I kept getting confused by the prices cuz I would still try to convert it as if it was euro to dollar. Anyway, so walking around was just SO beautiful, we took pictures, tried to find the lake, but it got dark pretty fast and we decided to find at least one of the lakes the next day. It was quite relaxing and we called it a night pretty early.
Sunday, we got up excited for paragliding… even though it’s $$$ to go. We got picked up outside of our hostel, and they drove up the mountains to a town called Beatenberg. It’s amazing how these people are just living on the mountains like it’s nothing, and they all seem to have their own cows… just an observation. Anyway, I think we went up about 2500 ft, give or take some, and we could see soo much from our take-off area. We each had our pilot cuz it was tandem paragliding, and we got strapped in and they even provided us with shoes, jacket, helmet, and all the other equipment we needed. They set everything up, and the three us got into position, and we all took off within 5 mins of each other. I was in the middle, so I was able to get some pictures of Cat, in front of me, and Julley, behind me. Our pilot person had a camera and this huge extension stick thing so he got pictures of us with the scenery, and he put it all on a cd which I later bought. I wasn’t planning on getting the cd, but after looking through all the pictures I figured it’s an experience and this is a memorabilia.
Picture of me and my pilot Anders (pronounced "Andrews"). Words cannot describe the beauty and excitement of paragliding. Next on my list is bungee jumping and eventually sky diving! I was pretty freaked out by the whole thing though, cuz the take-off area is a huge patch of green that slopes off a cliff, and when I was strapped in, Anders told me to start walking when he says go, and then start running when he says run, but not to stop until he says stop. So pretty much I’d be running off a cliff… =/ Anyway, it wasn’t too bad, I did it didn’t I? it was pretty crazy though cuz when he said run, and I started running, I was already getting lifted off the ground, but I kept moving my legs so I was kinda running in the air, and every so often I’d touch back down on the ground until finally we were over the cliff and our parachute caught air, and we were in the sky!
We were in the sky for about 15 mins, we went over some mountains, saw the AMAZING scenery and even went through the clouds! There was a kind of seat attached to me so after all the running and we were in the air, I just had to sit back and I was coasting. Lots of fun. This is just one of my many favorite pictures that I took from the sky.
The landing was even more fun! It was pretty chill in the air and we talked and I had said I’m from California, so right before landing, he asked me if I like Disneyland. Of course I told him I LOVED it, and he said “good, here’s the real thing” and OMGOSH I wish I recorded it cuz it was so much fun, he steered us left and right I guess to slow us down, and it was like being on a roller coaster, but in the air with a beautiful view that’s real and just wow. When we got closer to the ground, he told me to stand up and when he said so, to start running, so I did that, we landed and I was just ecstatic from such an amazingly breathtaking experience. =D
After we thanked them, and paid them and realized how broke we were, we decided to find the lake. Julley’s pilot told her which of the two lakes were prettier, and we took a bus to the lake. With our hostel, we received a vistor’s pass that allowed us on any and all buses within Interlaken for free, so we just hopped on the bus and went to Lake Brienz.
My pictures are the only way I could remotely describe the beauty that lay before us. I almost felt like it was a backdrop that someone had painted, but it was all real, and perfect. Like every mountain, every peak, every tree was purposely placed where it was and it created such a feeling of tranquility and peace. I was happy. =)
We got on a train and came home, and I could close my eyes and just see that beauty. Definitely the BEST place I’ve seen so far. Only bleh is that it gets SO dark SO early cuz it’s winter that it sucks. I thought it was like 7 or 8… and it was barely 5pm… -.- not cool.
Random stuff:
-I still have to blog about paris and amerstdam… I know. I’m working on it, but I figure I’ll work backwards?
-I have about one month left! Not sure how I feel about it… part of me wants to go home, and part of me would rather not…
-I have been to McDonalds in 6 different countries on 3 different continents… and trust me not all of them are as crap quality as the US.
