Plages nudistes, ici je viens!

My lazy days kicked in again. Here is some much needed catching up...

Tuesday, July 16, 2013 12:22 pm

Paragliders EVERYWHERE

There couldn’t be a more perfect place for me to be (except Waffle House). Once again, I’m back in the valley of the mountains with a beautiful lake surrounding both sides of Interlaken, Switzerland. It’s quite a small city with an older population, but plenty of tourists nonetheless. When I arrived Sunday night around 10 pm, the city was dark & dead, & my mind was more than happy to sketch out scary scenarios that involved horror movies like Freddy Kreuger & Jason. But I made my way to the oldest hostel in Switzerland safely. As soon as I turned the corner to see it, all the young people showed up (the other backpackers) enjoying the nightlife at the hostel. Considering this isn’t much of a nightlife kind of town, the hostel provides the party since it has its own restaurant, bar, dance room, pool tables, garden area, you name it. Many of the people come here for the outdoor sports like paragliding, hang gliding, hiking, ice climbing, & sailing. No matter where you look in the sky, there are multiple paragliders above making their way to the park in the middle of the city.

Happy times & cartwheels in the field

The secret field

Interlaken was my choice of city because one of my hostelmates in Venice told me how much she loved it. I figured I’d try it out since it’s in Switzerland & didn’t do any research to see what it has to offer. While I was warned many times that Switzerland is an expensive country, I wasn’t prepared for how expensive it would be (5 Swiss franks for a Coke! $1=1.06 Swiss franc). Unless you have money, there isn’t much you can do here but relax & enjoy the scenery. I set off yesterday morning to do some exploring & ended up walking about 10 miles around Interlaken & Unterseen, just across the river. I happened upon a secret field (hidden by some bushes) & plopped myself down to listen to some Death Cab & 90s rock & bask in the sun. You’ve seen people running through the fields with their hands in the air twirling & doing cartwheels in the movies while music is magically playing in the sky, right? That was me. I let myself loose & did something I’ve always wanted to do. Just like in the movies. As dorky as I looked, the freedome felt great. First time I’ve done a cartwheel in years (mastered it in a dress too!).

The scary fortress

Weissenau Ruins

When I started to feel the burn of the sun on my skin, I headed off & happened upon the Weissenau Ruins, which looks innocent on the outside, but when you get up close & personal, the open dark passageway into the tower looks like it belongs in a horror movie. I slowly forced my way through the dark doorway not knowing what awaited on the other side. Honestly, I was expecting some crazy person to shank me as soon as I stepped in or a ghost to steal my soul, but to my relief, a set of stairs leading to the top of the tower awaited me. I made it to the top ghostless to a beautiful, small courtyard (I say a courtyard because there was a tree in the center) overlooking the field, lake, & trail. Very rarely did someone pass by on the other side of the field, but I was hoping they would think I was a ghost because that’s how I entertain myself when I’m alone. Sadly, no one was scared & only stared at me before walking on.

Once I got bored, I made my way back out & found the Weissenhau-Neuhaus Nature Reserve that hugged the lake. Tons of wildlife filled the area & towards the end was a small lakefront with people swimming in the water. Surprisingly, the water felt great! The water is a beautiful blue, only a few shades calmer than turquoise. The rest of the day, I walked along the river to the other end of the city for some great pictures & headed back to the hostel ready to topple over. It was a late night for me though since one of my hostelmates was suffocating, one had sleep apnea, & the other was having an interesting dream according to the conversation with himself.

View from Harder Kulm

Key to my heart <3

Currently I’m eating a banana at Harder Kulm, one of the mountain tops overlooking Interlaken. Because I’m too poor for this country, instead of taking the 8-minute train, I opted to hike the expert trail that averaged 2 hours & 20 minutes time (sloth time) & made it in 2 hours & 15 minutes. Woohoo! It was not pretty. Blood, sweat, & tears were shed, but I mad it. There were many people, younger & older, that passed & encouraged me saying I was almost there because apparently I looked pathetic. All of it was worth it after being rewarded with a fantastic view of the cities! I’m going to hike my way back down & head over to the swimming area in the Nature Reserve to cool off for a few hours before deciding what city my journey will take me to tomorrow. Only 2 more weeks until I head back to the States. On a side note, the Swiss don't play around with their chocolate...

Wednesday, July 17, 2013 1:17 pm

Only 3 train rides are between my next destination & me. After spending a long while scratching my head over what my options are, I finally decided to head to Marseille for 2 days, then to Barcelona before heading up to Ireland next Wednesday. That will give me a good week to explore the country before I fly out. My legs are paying me back after the horror I put them through yesterday…understandably so. It was a rewarding experience & makes me want to keep up with it when I get back home (we’ll see how that goes). After the harrowing journey down the mountain, I decided not to go swimming after a long morning & headed back to the hostel to be a bum, where I hung out with my New Mexican hostelmate. He’s one of the very few American’s I’ve met since the journey started. Even the few I've met are ALL from California. Otherwise, Canadians are the majority.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013 6:08 pm

As I was waiting in the overcrowded Starbucks at the Lyon station in France hoping to use their wifi, I asked to sit with another older lady that was doing the same thing. Turns out, this lady lives in Las Vegas, is from North Carolina, just started her 2 month backpacking trip around Europe to write an article on the different types of chocolate, & is 70 years old. We struck up a conversation about college football, Couchsurfing, & she even trusted me to watch her huge backpack while she went to the bathroom. Every big birthday, she gives herself a big gift. When she was 60, she went skydiving for the first time. Now that she’s 70, she’s backpacking alone & has been Couchsurfing for the past 3 days. This is who I want to be when I’m older. Very inspirational. Her blog is www.globetrotter-1.blogspot.com if you want to meet a cool lady named Bev Hart.

He's real. Best. Costume. Ever.

View from my train

My next train stop was at a city I’ve never heard before, Avignon. Since I had an hour to kill, I ventured out into the streets & lo & behold, there was some kind of street party going on. Some of the most creative street artists I’ve ever seen filled the sidewalks as a piano playing man riding on the back of a large tricycle rides by me. In between the restaurants are groups of people either singing a capella or breakdancing. What a nice surprise to break up the monotony of my day.