Cows, yodeling, hippies, and great times; these are just a few words that describe one of the best weekends of my life, or perhaps the best weekend in my life. We arrived in Switzerland late on Thursday night two bus rides and six train rides later. Writing a paper was much less stressful than watching your next train going by as your very late Italian train is inching into the station. I would describe this whole weekend as being completely insane and ridiculous fun!
It is quite amazing to go from Italy to Switzerland in only a day and to be in a completely different world. Upon arriving in Switzerland everything was in German, the people looked different (many actually had blonde hair!) and it was colder. We arrived in Interlaken around 12:30 and we walked to our hostel called Balmer’s. We were very tired so we just went to bed. At this point I had not really experience Switzerland because most people had gone to bed by 12:30 (unlike Italy where the party is just getting started around this time). There is a law in Switzerland that there must not be loud noises after ten at night. In the morning I awoke to the most beautiful surprise seen directly outside my window; the snow capped Swiss Alps glistening in the morning light. I had never seen anything so magnificent in my life, the night before I had not seen these mountains because it was dark and I was so exhausted from traveling. After breakfast, we proceeded to Lauterbrunnen by train. Lauterbrunnen was a small mountain valley town with traditional German architecture and mountains on either side of it. Walking around, we browsed in a few stores, most of which sold cheese or other food products. The smell of the cheese did not tickle my fancy but I did find some Swiss chocolate. One of the nice things about Switzerland was that English was spoken everywhere; it was strange at first not to hear Italian but then it was quite nice to understand everyone. Most Swiss have to known many different languages to communicate with the many different people that come through Switzerland. As people were walking onto the bus, the driver said hello in French, English, German, and Italian. We went to Switzerland with no itinerary, and most of the trip was spent wandering around Switzerland. I spent half of my money on train, bus, and gondola tickets going back and forth across the Swiss Alps. Traveling around Switzerland enabled us to find random places that most tourists don’t know about. We ended up eating in a pub in Steckelberg, where we ordered French fries and chicken nuggets.
We stayed in The Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald, a small little village up in the mountains. We had to take a gondola up to reach it. Our first impression of our hippie hostel was a group of shirtless guys running around on the playground and playing Frisbee. It looked really fun but it was not what we expected at all. We explored our new home for the next two days. This hostel could be described as a hippie commune; all the beds were pushed together, all the windows were open, and the bathroom was downstairs and we later found out that it was co-ed (which was a bit awkward especially for Meredith girls!). Despite all of the “amenities” that were foreign to us, the location and view from the hostel was the selling point. Gimmelwald is officially my favorite place in Switzerland! It was how I pictured Switzerland; cows, goats, and sheep grazing on the mountain side with bells hung around their necks, green hillsides leading down to a beautiful valley, snow capped mountain tops painted into the background, and Alpine style houses. Everything was very peaceful until we turned a corner where groups of Asian tourists were chattering on about the cows and sheep. They were snapping pictures of everything including us because they wanted a picture with American girls.
This weekend was full of new experiences; the hostel was certainly one of them. The “night-life” in the hostel was non-stop, every night the hippie commune came to life with guitar strumming and singing, people playing cards and talking, and people downing beers and clapping along to the accordion folk music. I have come to the conclusion that hostels have their own atmosphere and population of people that inhabit them. There was even a hostel cat named Shadow, who decided to take up residence in my bed for the evening on the last night of the trip. He stayed at the end of my bed the whole night, cuddling under the blankets beside me. At one point in the night I forgot I was in a hostel in Switzerland and not at home in my bed snuggling with my cat Dutches. While in the hostel I met many Australian and American backpackers who were on excursions around the world. At night we hung out with our newly made acquaintances, playing Uno and Spades and discussing the differences between American culture and Australian culture. The Australians were fascinated with our North Carolina accent and they asked us about country music, in response we pulled up YouTube and let them listen to Zac Brown Band’s rendition of “Chicken Fried.” They were amazed at the music video and were asking us questions about the South. I’m not sure if they left with the impression that we are hick rednecks in North Carolina or not!
This trip was very different from any other travel break that I have been on since I have been in Italy. I was a lot more adventurous on this trip and I was a lot more dependent on myself. Hiking in the Swiss Alps was a work out and I felt more like a “world-traveler” hiking through the snow beside cliffs that looked out into the Swiss Alps. This trip felt more like a camping trip without a tent. I have not done a lot of hiking in my life but this trip inspired me to do a lot more in the great outdoors. The weather was rather cold and I was glad that I had brought many layers to put on, especially on top of The Schilthorn. The Schilthorn is a platform on top of a mountain peak with a panoramic view of the Titlis, Jungfrau, Mönch, Eiger, over the Bernese Alps and the Jura mountains up to the Vosges Mountains and the Black Forest. The Schilthorn is at an elevation of more than 10,000 feet. There is a rotating restaurant on top of the Schilthorn called the Piz Gloria. We ate at this restaurant which was rather pricey but it had some of the best hot chocolate that I have ever had! We hiked down the mountain which took us about 3 hours and 20 minutes. The hike was very scenic although it was cold and the terrain was very steep.
I was very sad to leave Switzerland! I wish I could have had more time in the beautiful Swiss Alps but coming home to Italy was familiar. Going back to the US will be exciting but Italy will always remain as a second home to me! Going to Italy will not be going to a foreign country from now on; instead it will be like coming home!
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