A Swiss Trip: Bellinzona and Interlaken

Day 1:

Before this weekend, the only parts of Switzerland I’ve seen have been the town I’m living in, Riva San Vitale, and another one close by, Lugano. But since we’re staying in Switzerland, we decided this weekend to go out and see more of the country.

On our train ride to our main destination, we stopped on the way in a town called Bellinzona. The reason for our stop: castles! I saw 4 castles right off the bat, all relatively close to each other.

 

We got to walk all through one of them, I believe it was called Castelgrande, and explore the inside. It was so interesting to actually be inside of it. There were two large towers, a long building, passageways, staircases, etc. We were there for just a few hours, but I really enjoyed it. It may be strange, but I had these moments of imagining what the castles must have been like back in the days when people lived in inside and the high walls kept out unwanted visitors. Just was an all around cool experience.

 Afterwards we went back on the train. And let me just say, the train ride itself was beautiful. The whole train ride we traveled through the Swiss Alps. We saw a bunch of cute towns and gorgeous blue lakes in the valleys. Although I kept dosing off, it was pretty awesome to wake up to such unique views.

We arrived at Interlaken around 8 and headed to our hostel. Already I could tell this area of Switzerland is much different than Riva San Vitale. Riva is on the Italian border; so much of the culture is influenced by Italy. The buildings, the language, the food, etc are mostly from the Italian culture. But it was awesome to see the difference with Interlaken. It is closer to Germany, so the language spoken is Germany and the buildings have more of a German feel. It felt like I was in a whole other country.

Our hostel, Balmer's, was so cool and geared for young travelers! On the outside, it looks like a large German log cabin. On the inside, it has a restaurant and hang out area. It had a courtyard of lounge chairs and hammocks! And also, downstairs it had its own bar/nightclub. You definitely wouldn’t be able to tell all this from just looking at the outside.

Since we got there sort of late, we got settled into our room and then grabbed a quick bite to eat! (pizza for me!) Afterwards we got ready to try out this bar/nightclub. And man, I was not expecting it to be as much fun as it was!

I wouldn’t have thought so many people would be there, but it seemed all the people staying the in hostel plus some locals were at this bar. We actually met a whole other studying abroad group from Georgia Tech! We met people from all over the place: Europe, Canada, and USA. So many people spoke English (thank goodness!) and it was interesting to talk to all of them to hear about their traveling plans for the weekend and the future. Me and my friends we’re requesting a lot of songs for the DJ to play, so we had a great time dancing and hanging out. 

Day 2:

Today was definitely a relaxed day. We decided to let ourselves sleep in a little bit and then took this train type thing up into the Harder Kulm mountain!!

 

It was a fun ride up and once we made it to the top we walked a short distance to a truly fantastic overlook. I could have just stayed there and stared for hours. The air was so crisp and fresh. Down below were the clearest crystal blue lake waters I have ever seen. (But for real, I have never seen lake water look that clear.) We could see the whole town of Interlaken! And paragliders as they flew above and below us.

Probably the most dramatic part of it all was the mountains! There were similar beautiful ranges to the ones where we live in Southern Switzerland, but in the gap of two peaks was the most stunning yet daunting mountain jutting out. It was snow covered, stretching up higher than all the other mountains around it. I wish I could have gotten a better picture of it because it was something else. I can’t even find the right words to capture what it looked like.

Anyways, being up there I felt like I was on top of the world. Or perhaps I was.  

This weekend, there was 9 of us traveling together! (Myself, Jenny, Allie, Kristin, MG, Kristina, Angela, Emily, and one boy Ian) Ian took the photo for all us girls to remember our time together on the Swiss Alps.

 

There was a fancy restaurant up there and since it was lunchtime, we decided why not eat here?! We got to sit up right next to the overlook and could see the mountains/lakes the whole time. I ordered a small salad and potato soup, that came with good bread. All together it was quite tasty!

It was time after a relaxing meal to catch the train back down again. Once we got back to our hostel, we showered and napped for a little bit. But we had big plans for that afternoon…

A SWISS CHOCOLATE Show/Factory Tour!

We had to walk to the main strip of town to a place called Schuh! We went inside and there were so many different selections all set up for sale. But our chocolate chef took us into the backroom to talk to us about the origin of chocolate and how its made. He played a video for us, showed a few of the machines used, talked about the different types of chocolate, and demonstrated making a couple different samples of it.

My favorite part: the sampling of course!! Boy did I have so much chocolate in such a short period of time! One of the things he made for us were these chocolate mountains. They were milk chocolate on the outside, caramel on the inside, and little powered sugar on the top to look like snow. And he made chocolate popsicles… they had a soft mint chocolate filling, surrounded by another layer of harder milk chocolate and then dipped into liquid dark chocolate at which point we could put any toppings on it that we wanted! Needless to say, I enjoyed myself :)

 

Afterwards, we headed back to the hostel for dinner there. Now let me just mention the comparison between our wonderful lunch on top of the mountain, to our cheaper convenient hostel meal…

Haha I didn’t mind, it was just funny to me. But hey, the chicken nuggets were quick and easy and saved us a few bucks as well.

After eating we relaxed for a bit. I felt the hammock in the courtyard calling my name so I went to lay out on it for awhile. Then a couple of us decided to go to this “tent village” just up the road with the kids from Georgia Tech. It was really neat! It was a whole other bar area, with a live band playing German songs, a pool and hot tub, and a bunch of other things. It was fun to be in a different environment like that, but I didn’t stay out late. I wanted to make sure I got plenty of rest for the next day’s activity…

Day 3:

Canyoning… dun dun dun. Interlaken is known for its extreme sports, like rafting, canyoning, sky diving, bungee jumping, paragliding, etc. So we decided to go big or go home, and since we couldn’t go home for 3 more months, it was time to go big!! We signed up for Canyoning Grimsel… the description says it includes repelling down a cliff, jumps, slides, and a zipline into the waters of the canyon. Alright, sounds intense enough.

On a side note, we had to pick up our gear at Outdoor Interlaken’s center. We got helmets that all had different names on them. Well of course, being the smallest one there, I happened to get the one with the name “Hulk”. Instead of using our real names, our instructors called us by our helmet names the whole time. So I was known as the Hulk haha.

Anyways, we take an hour ride in the Outdoor Interlaken’s van to our destination. All of a sudden the van stops and our guide says “This is where we begin.” I’m so confused, because all I see is the road, the road railing, than a sheer cliff just beyond the railing. I peer down the railing and say “Nope, this has to be a joke.” But next thing I know, our two guides are setting up the ropes on the railing and getting everything all set up. At this point, I’m about to pee my pants I’m so nervous.

This was the first thing we had to do, repel down a 150 foot cliff side. I was like, “Wait, I thought I signed up for intermediate canyoning.” Nonetheless, this was indeed the starting point and I had to suck it up and do it. Needless to say as soon as I was harnessed to the rope and had to step over the railing to be on the edge of the cliff, I started crying. Gosh I can remember the instructor saying to me “Let go Hulk. Come on you have to let go of the railing. Let go of the railing.” Haha they had to keep coaxing me but finally I let go and leaned back and started walking down the side of the cliff!!! So crazy and scary! Thankfully I made it and am alive to tell the tale.

From there we moved on to a series of canyon jumps off rock edges and into the freezing waters of the canyon. Thank goodness we were given head-to-toe wetsuits otherwise I would have froze! There were certain rocks that were smooth enough to actually be able to slide down! And then one of the craziest things we did was a zipline from a high rock edge and exactly when the instructor yelled “Let go!” we had to let go of the line and fall off into the water. There wasn’t a way to bail out on this one because if you waited a moment longer than when the instructor said let go, you’d find yourself falling onto rock instead of into the water!

At one point, I was the one leading the whole group through a series of obstacles… I was unsure how I got to this leader position haha. I was the one figuring out the best way to navigate walking through the canyon and having to attach on to ropes to make sure not to slip and fall. And I had to lead one of the jumps into the water! It was fun to be in the leader position, but during the next series of obstacles I let others get a chance to lead.

My favorite physical part of canyoning was the jumps off the cliffs. So much build up right before, but the free fall and rush of water was unlike anything else. Mentally, I loved the feeling of accomplishment after completing each jump or slide and then at the end, completing the whole course!! This was the group of us that went! 

 

Such a crazy time, but so much fun. Definitely worth it!!

When we were finished, our instructors rewarded all of us with a couple beers and sandwiches. Fresh cut bread, cheese, tomatoes, and cucumber. So good, I had to have two sandwiches!

After that we had an hour van ride back to our hostel, grabbed our backpacks, and then made our way to the train station. I passed out on the train ride back home, so tired from the craziness of the day and the fun from the weekend in general.

Can’t believe how time is already flying!! 3 weekend trips done and soon I’ll be heading out for my first long trip! eeeek :D