Swiss Fun and New Friends

Day 1:

After arriving by train in Zurich and meeting Mallory who was studying abroad in Dublin Ireland this semester, we hopped on the two-hour train ride to Interlaken Switzerland. Where we checked into our hostel and went out and explored downtown Interlaken were tourists, locals, and landing para-gliders, where enjoying the beautiful 65-degree sunshine. After a few miles of walking, we stopped at a pizza restaurant called Sapori, for lunch.

After finishing our pizza we headed back to our hostel, making sure to hit one of the many Swiss chocolate shops. Using our free bus passes given to us for staying at the Balmers hostel, we hopped on a random bus which took us to Brienzersee Lake were enjoying the weather, the views, and some peace and quiet before heading back.

After relaxing at the hostel and planning out the next day we headed to Bebbis to try the traditional cheese fondue, where melted cheese comes to the table in a pot with a small gas lantern to keep it warm. The traditional Swiss fondue is either served with bread or potatoes that you stir directly in the pot with a long fork-like utensil.

The restaurant we ate at served our fondue with bread, and while it wasn’t my favorite meal I have had, it was definitely worth the experience. We also made sure to pare our fondue with local Swiss beer made very near to Interlaken, one of my favorite beers and definitely my go-to whenever it's available.

After dinner, we were still a little hungry so we headed to another recurrent where we ordered ice cream, followed by buffalo chicken wings. Certainly a weird combination, but definitely reminded us a bit of a taste of home. We then headed to sleep because the next morning we had lots planned. 

Day 2:

Nine o'clock came around and we headed to the hostel's breakfast and ate cereal, oranges, yogurt, and freshly baked bread from the bakery across the street. Many of the guests in the hostel seemed to be students either studying abroad or traveling on vacation. And very many of them were also from the US, in fact, both Mallory and I each had someone in our bunk rooms who were from Massachusetts, certainly a small world, but nice to hear proper English for a change since I have been hearing mainly German and broken English the past month.

We then had a very exciting morning planned, at 10:40 we were picked up by “Paragliding Interlaken” were we had our very own paragliding experience booked for the morning. We headed up the mountain with our instructors while they gave us a quick briefing on how the paragliding would work. My paragliding instructors name was Miki, who has been paragliding for 20-30 years and was absolutely amazing. We strapped into the harness, put on our helmets, gloves, jackets, snapped a few selfies and photos and then take off. We then ran as fast as we could while being tied in front of someone down the grass hill until we were airborne. That moment when your feet lift off the ground and you begin flying is truly an amazing feeling and definitely one I can’t wait to do again. There were 10-12 of us there and all took off in a matter of 10-15 minutes.

We then para-glided down the mountain until we were able to catch a really strong upwind and were able to use that to fly even higher. It was crazy, we were circling around until we were significantly higher than our takeoff altitude, something I didn't expect, and something nature doesn’t always gift you with when you go paragliding according to Miki. We flew down, with great views of the town and what we could see if the lakes and mountains given there was some haze and fog in the sky. And after getting some in air selfies, my instructor began to do some trick maneuvers where we where sideways and even slightly upside down, you could definitely feel the immense wind, stomach drops and the incredible G forces from the tricks, and I loved it. I can see why my instructor does this as a full-time job. 

We landed right back down in the grass courtyard in the middle of town where we had seen para-gliders landing before, and headed back to our hostel to change before heading back out. We purchased tickets to ride the Harder Bahn, a cog railway that brings you up the incredibly steep mountainside, conquering a tunnel and averaging 64 degree incline. A very cool ride to the top where we grabbed some photos and video at the top, avoided the very expensive restaurant and headed back.

We then headed to a cave system where water flows through these incredible rock structures. We were able to walk 1 km or 0.6 miles into this rock. It was truly incredible, parts of the tunnels where very small and tight, requiring me to duck a little bit, while others where big rooms with stalagmites and mirror-like pools of water, along with very large waterfalls.

We then headed back where we grabbed dinner, and of course local Swiss beer at the same Irish restaurant I had eaten at my last visit to Interlaken. We then hung out in the hostel where we met and chatted with 3 other travelers. A photographer from Mexico, a traveler who lives in NY but also from Mexico and another person from Texas. 

Day 3:

The following morning we woke up, checked out of our hostel and headed to Bern, Switzerland's capital where we visited a church, saw the capital building, and relaxed in a coffee shop while we waited for our connection back to Zurich where Mallory headed to the airport and me back to Konstanz. A great trip, with lots of exciting adventures, thrills, and new friends, making me ever so excited for the next trip we have planned, to Nice, France and the independent city-state country of Monte Carlo, Monaco. 

To watch a travel video of our adventure in Interlaken, click here.

To view more of my photos of Interlaken, click here.