Friday night Aaron and I accidentally found ourselves in France... now that's something you don't say everyday!We flew into Basel, Switzerland, but the airport is right on the border so there's a France side and a Switzerland side. It took us a stop at the cash machine which confusingly was only dispensing Euros and a trip to the Information desk to realize that we had ended up on the French one. After crossing over into Switzerland, we took the bus into town.
We didn't see much of Basel, only spent the morning walking around, but the city is unique because three borders meet on the edge of the city - Germany, Switzerland and France.
Saturday we took a train to Interlaken, our actual destination. The town sits in the Swiss Alps between two lakes (how it also gets it's name). It was gorgeous - lush greenery with beautiful snow-capped mountains on opposite sides and the calm, clear teal waters of two lakes on the other ends. It reminded us of Whistler/Leavenworth a bit with Bavarian style houses and lots of tourists.
The town is known for it's outdoor activities- paragliding, skydiving, hangliding, canyoning, the list goes on and on. It's the perfect place for extreme sports or hiking trails.
Our days were packed with exploring and activities:
- Harder Kulm - the closest mountain to Interlaken, it takes ten minutes to go up to the top in a cable car. We rode the cable car up and then took in the sites - watching paragliders jump off a nearby hillside and taking panoramas of the city and two lakes since this is the best spot to view them both. At the top there is a restaurant which looks like a small castle so we grabbed a beer and then headed back down.
- Chocolate Making Class - Why is Switzerland famous for it's milk chocolate? Well the locals think it's because the Swiss cows are so happy being in the beautiful alps drinking the glacier water and roaming the gorgeous green hillsides. I'm not sure if that's the reason, but the chocolate sure did taste amazing! We had plenty in our chocolate making class where we learned the process of making it, mixing it and decorating it. And we even got to take some home!
- Bier Haus - We stumbled upon this place the first day, and came back a second and third time because it was so great. Plus, we saw people ordering a beer tower, and we just had to try it. I'm sure you'll be proud to know that we did finish it all despite everyone's shocked faces when just the two of us ordered it. We did America proud.
- Ringgenberg - This is the next town over from Interlaken. It's located on one of the lakes and has ruins of a 17th century castle. We took the bus to the town (all the public transportation is free in the area) and then explored the castle ruins. The tower is still pretty in tact so you can walk to the top where there are some beautiful views over the lake. Then we walked back on the lake path towards Interlaken.
- Bönigen - On our lake walk back to Interlaken, we stopped in this town for some fondue! When we went to the restaurant and asked if they had it on their menu, they looked at us like we were crazy and said, "It's summer though!" We will try Swiss fondue any time of year : ) They actually had a fondue and raclette room that is ventilated because otherwise the whole place would smell of cheese.
- And last but not least... Canyoning - more to come on this in my next post though!
We just got back to London, but I am still thinking about the gorgeous scenery in Switzerland. Both Aaron and I had terrible allergies while we were there, but the sneezes were worth being in such beautiful nature (and then finding somewhere to grab a beer inside). The weather, while it was sometimes cloudy, held up for us, and the chocolate and cheese were divine! No wonder those cows are so happy in Switzerland : )
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