If you can't find me, I will be in the Swiss Alps. Interlaken, Switzerland was a dream. I found myself already planning my next trip before I even got on the train home. No matter where I was: in the town, on the mountain, or in my hostel room, the views were breathtaking. The combination of Swiss Alps and mountain lakes made everything picture perfect.
On Friday I flew into Zurich then met up with my friend from high school, Christine. We hopped on a train and made our way down to Interlaken. The train of the Swiss countryside not only gave us a good view of the towns along the way but also a panoramic scene of the mountains. With no time to spare before sunset, we made our way to the hostel to drop off our bags the second our train pulled into the train. From our hostel, we walked to the cable car that took us up the mountain to Harder Klum. This mountain top lookout gave us the best views of the two lakes. We then hiked around a little then headed into the mountain top restaurant to warm up with some mulled wine. When the sun faded out behind the mountains we headed back to the town below and enjoyed some applesauce mac and cheese for dinner at a highly recommended restaurant. I would have never thought of combining the two dishes but it was delicious!
Saturday was filled with dairy. Switzerland takes great pride in its many cows. As great as Iowa is, I think I would prefer to be a cow in Switzerland. In the morning we stopped in a cafe for some avocado toast and smoothies. We ran into other girls studying abroad and soon picked up that the whole town was just filled with American college juniors. This made it fun as we started to run into people again and start up conversations. I've also learned that the six degrees of Kevin Bacon is very real as we somehow found a mutual acquaintance with every study abroad student we met. After breakfast, we walked around the town and eventually made our way to an old castle. The castle offered great views of the mountains. From the castle, we continued on a little hike where we found a random mountain slide. This slide is now at the top of my must-visit playgrounds list. In the afternoon we made our way to the Funky Chocolate Club in town for a chocolate-making workshop. The workshop taught us about where chocolate comes from, how it is made, and the different types. Most importantly, we got to eat a lot of chocolate. For dinner, we continued on our dairy diet and had some famous Swiss fondue-- delicious of course!
On Sunday morning I fulfilled my adrenaline junky side. Known for a hot spot for adrenaline sports, we had to do as the locals do and paraglide while we were there. With views like Interlaken, it seemed like the perfect place to fly through the sky! Running off a cliff to jump into thin air wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. While in the sky it was actually very calm. After taking in the sights from the sky we spent some time at our hostel. Our hostel was perfect. Being the first hostel I've ever stayed at, I know it set my standards too high. There were many fireplaces and places to relax in addition to a room filled with hammocks which we took some time to relax and read in. We also made friends with the other study abroad students who filled the hostel. After gathering up our belongings we checked out the Christmas Markets (collected many free samples of swiss cheese, jams, and bread) then boarded our train.
Interlaken reminded me a lot of the Colorado ski towns and made me feel right at home. I loved every second of my trip and hope to return sometime in the summer to take advantage of more hiking and kayaking in the lakes.