Interlaken, Switzerland

When we got to Switzerland, we knew right away that this place was going to be different than any of the other stops we had. We walked out of our train station, went to cross the street, and you´re not going to believe this! But people stopped to let us cross the street. The clean, quaint, small-town feel of Interlaken was just what we wanted. When we left Italy, we thought it couldn´t get any better...well, we were wrong. Just look at this place.


We arrived at Balmers - the most well-known hostel in Interlaken. The design of the hostel was so nice in itself because of the old-fashioned Swiss feel, complete with its own beer garden in the back. Ashley was very excited about the water...the fountain had the coldest, freshest, alpine water.

Upon checking in, we decided to book our canyoning trip for the next day. Then we went up to our private room, which reminded us of a cabin you might go to at camp when you´re younger: hard wood walls and floors, slanted ceiling, and our own skylight (that part was a little modern). We were excited to check out the happy hour in our beer garden (they have two a night!) and so we got ready and made our way downstairs. We grabbed our two-for-one beers and sat on the wooden picnic benches outside. Almost immediately, we met a pretty fun group. The two Canadian girls broke the ice with a deck of cards, offering to bridge both sides of the table with a fun game of F**k the dealer. Definitely broke the ice, and we became a group that would stay very close for the remainder of our stay.

The next morning we woke up, grabbed some breakfast, and got ourselves mentally prepared for our canyoning experience. We have to admit, we were a little bit nervous at first, mainly because we didn´t know what to expect. But mostly more excited and curious than downright scared. We jumped in the van and made our way to the Outdoor Interlaken base, where after we signed our lives away, Stanford (one of the dudes on the youtube video) briefed us on what to expect, and had some of the other guides help the group get our gear together. This included wetsuits, wetsuit jackets, helmets, life jackets, and booties (Liana was very excited about these.) Each of our helmets had different names on the front so our guides could identify and call out to us...they meet too many people every day to learn all of our names. So...Liana was COOL!! and Ashley was Paris! There were some other interesting names as well we stayed away from...among them - Shocker and Schlong.

After all our gear was together in our bundles, we hopped in the van for a 45-minute scenic ride through the mountains known as Grimsele Pass. It was beautiful. Our two main tour guides for the day were Stanford and Tim, who quickly became known as DJ Tim as he provided a great soundtrack up the mountains.

We were dropped off on what was pretty much the side of the road. We noticed there was nothing more than a steel bar separating us from a 160 meter rock cliff...a little unnerving, especially when our guides hopped over and told us THAT was how we were getting into the canyon. The two of us decided we were going to try to repel down this cliff at the same time. So they hooked us up through a carabiner and rope, Ashley guided by DJ Tim and Liana by Stanford. We got about 10 meters down when they told us to stop and pose for a picture.

Once we got over the initial worry about trusting the equipment and leaning back, it really wasn´t that bad. It was really a lot of fun...by the time we got to the bottom, we were confident that we could trust our guides and we could let loose. We knew we got to the bottom when our feet were in the water - freezing cold glacier water...thank God we had the wetsuits. But the day itself couldn´t have been any better. In fact, our guides said it was perfect for canyoning.

We made our way through the water, climbing over rocks, jumping off of cliffs of all hights into the white water, sliding down natural waterslides and freefalling, zip-lining, some minor rock climbing and even swimming at times. All the while, we enjoyed the most unbelievable views of the Swiss Alps and the Jungfrau (the glacier covered mountain you see in the back of the pictures.) We even really enjoyed our group. We canyoned with 8 of us, and by the end of it, we were all very close and helped each other out whenever possible. Unfortunately, the only names we have for them are the ones on their helmets...Bambi, Mr. Park, Rambo, etc.

When we came out of the canyon, we were sad that it was over, but anxious to get our wetsuits and gear off because it was very warm. We were met with bread, cheese and cold beer. The perfect ending to a great time.

That evening, it was decided we needed to celebrate Ashley´s birthday at midnight. We were happy to see that the group we hung out with the night before was excited to celebrate her birthday with us. We started the evening with a large group card game, where Renae (one of the Canadian girls) started coming up with funny names for everyone. Being teachers, Renae and Charisse (sorry about the spelling) decided alliteration would be the best way to remember each others´names. By the end of the night, Renae was Wrecked Renae, to give you an idea of where the night was heading. And it all started with our drinking card games that began the fiasco. Among many other things, the night included a minute-by-minute birthday countdown, tequila shot for Ashley at midnight (she didn´t learn her lesson the first time,) after which Dirty Dave pulled her hair back in preparation for what could have been a disastrous evening, and 25 birthday spankings compliments of Jackass Jordan.

Apparently, this particular hostel is where everyone (even locals) come to hang out. We were psyched to see Stanford, our canyoning guide show up to join in on the fun. There really isn´t much else to do in Interlaken as far as nightlife is concerned.

The next day was reserved for relaxing in the sun in the beer garden, and catching up on some reading in the "hangover recovery room," also known as the hammock room. Renae and Charisse joined us after their canyoning trip in the afternoon. We had a pricey, but satisfying dinner with the girls.

The next day, at the top of our list was to walk downtown with the girls, shop a bit and try the Rosti, a traditional Swiss dish pretty much made up of potatoes, cheese, bacon and onion. Not exactly the most healthy meal, but absolutely unbelievable.

We were so sad to have to leave Interlaken, but we slowly and grudgingly made it to the train station to head off to Lucerne. Our farewell from Interlaken was a scenic train ride through the mountains...what a way to remember such a gorgeous place.