Blogging from the Alps

Arrived in beautiful Interlaken, Switzerland last night at about 8 pm. We left Rome at 6:30 am. There were about four trains that were running late, plus at one point, we got on the wrong train and rode it 60 miles in the wrong direction before someone told us. Turns out Genova and Genevria are different places, and although this could be misleading, the train people decided that trains to both destinations should leave at exactly the same time all day every day. But it's all ok, we're here now.

Our hostel is really great. It is part of a larger resort, so we get to use all of the resort's facilities even though we're paying 18 euros a night to stay here. There's wireless internet in the really large common room. There's also a great olympic size swimming pool which I'm attaching a picture of.

The view here is amazing. We're nestled between two lakes in a valley in the alps (Interlaken means "between-lakes" in German). Apparently they speak German here, not "Swiss." Swiss is not a language, I've been told. I guess "American" isn't a language either... Everything here (including food) is expensive. However, the exchange rate is decent. The dollar is actually stronger than the Swiss Franc.

I wanted to fit in with the locals, so I donned the traditional headgear.

This is the river that connects the two lakes of Interlaken

This is the pool behind our hostel. Check out the view!


This is the crazy different kinds of money we deal with. Upper left is US dollars of course. Bottom is Swiss Francs, and Upper Right is Euros. Money never looked so funny...

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I wrote this post, and then went out into Interlaken a little longer. At some point during the day, we decided it would be a good idea to jump off a mountain. They call it "the canyon swing," but I think it in no way resembled a swing. I've included some pictures and a couple videos to prove how stupid I am. The jump was 85 meters, or about 300 feet. The free-fall was incredible, and the swing afterwards was a great view. It had just finished raining, and the sun poked through the clouds. Couldn't imagine a better view. I knew I wasn't going to skydive or anything here, citing the high expenses (and using that to cover up a little fear). I like this as a nice extreme compromise though.

As we were driving by, the lady shouted "and this is where you'll be jumping." My mouth dropped.


This is the peak we started driving towards, I love that you can't see the top.


This guy jumped first, and he had no reservations.

After watching the first guy, I had some reservations myself.

This is the video I took of Brian jumping (from the top). He carried his camera along with him, a risk I decided not to take (heck, I was already jumping off a mountain into a river gorge...)

Once Brian got to the bottom, it was my turn. He kindly took this video for me.

And if all of those pictures and videos weren't enough, there was this guy on a harness in the middle of the gorge who took pictures for us. I don't remember much about the jump, but these pictures made me laugh. This thing was really high.. I mean really high. Enjoy the pics, I'll post something else when we get back to Rome Sunday (six more days left in Europe!)