Stayed in Bern the first night. Got in way late because of all the delays getting out Italy. Christ, I was so happy to get out of that country after Florence. Tourist traps, lines, delays abound. Fire on the tracks, thus I had to switch trains about 3 times. Lost my light blue Express jacket and some peaches in the process. I bet whoever found that was extremely confused. It was during one of these switches I could have been very screwed, literally having nothing but the clothes on my back.
In love with this country. Really, I could live here for a very long time. The one thing is though... I feel like I have no money aka poor. The Swiss franc = 1.25 USD or so, but whatevet that is the exchange rate. more significantly everything is 2-3 times the price in the States. Can you say $20 for a big Mac meal at McD's? No joke. Even all the other Europeans I have met say the same.
Anyways, got in late into Bern. Immaculate tram system. Brand new, clean, etc. It is damn near futuristic. So happy I didn't have to worry about wandering around at night, getting pick pocketed, and so on. Also, bunch of party animals toting alcohol and getting wasted on the trams.
Delia was extremely welcoming when I found their pad. She is truly remarkable knowing about 5 languages, just finished a 1.5 year trip around the world, among other things. Oh yeah, also great cook. Heated up some of this corn bread-pizza stuff which I have long forgotten the name of... Really felt like we were old friends catching up. She is officially the most expert South American traveler I have met, so I will be talking to her about my future travels (hopefully next February) in Peru and Brazil.
We all got up around 11 because of the drinking (of a popular Nicaraguan drink which was basically OJ and rum, which I would never think to do in a million years), smoking (I have smoked a few times on this trip whenever everyone else is which is all the time and I feel like it which is only some of the time) , and convos late into the night. Had an awesome Swiss breakfast with fancy breads and sausages. Walked into town for a brief tour. Gorgeous view from Rosenplatz on top of a hill. Had beers with Delia and her brother. Great weather and seemed like everyone was out enjoying it. Walked down afterwards to the Biergarten... Too cool. A public park where they had Viennese bears frolicking around by the river. Also, when it is warmer people swim in it. I was tempted too, but it was a little too chilly. A very picturesque scene. Hung around a lot longer than expected. Headed out after returning back to their apartment to grab my stuff.
Got into Interlaken without problems. Thank god.
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Interlaken = Amazing.
I am sure to return when I have A LOT more money. Canyon jumping, hang gliding, or just hiking and so on.
If you imagined a small touristy city amidst the Alps, this would be it.
Stayed at Balmer's Herbege which is on the list of "Famous Hostels." bumping place with a lot of activity and people to meet. The club gets out of control a lot, so they have some bouncers. Anyways, stefanie mentioned she met the sisters who run the place at a hostel conference.
Talked quite a while with the older American guy in my cabin who had a ton of travel stories. Some of them are pretty good. I was not pleased to know that the guy who had left was uber-drunk last night and couldnt find the bathroom or get out of the room and promptly pissed all over the front door and unfortunately for the guy whose bed was nearest the front door, his backpack as well. Maybe you can hear me retell some of the other storie sometime!
Also interestingly enough there were a million Indian FOBs when I was there, which was out of the blue.
Met some Googlers late that evening, one of whom knew Neil Parikh. Small word. Anyways, we became friends really fast. They shared the same entrepreneurship goals and real passion for life. Guys who wake up every day and think to themselves, "Let's do this shit." will meet up with them in Barcelona and of course in San Francisco.
Told the Johns Hopkins Indian bros about canyoning Chli Schliere the next morning with the AlpinRaft company I heard about while messaging some CouchSurf hosts. One of the girls' dad had worked with that company for a while so it seemed legit enough.
On the note of bros, I swear almost every American guy around the age of 20 I have met in my travels here is the same bro personality. "doing the pub crawl tonight?" "yeah, man go see this, it was awesome." I like that they are having a good time, but their personalities... not so interesting and not very open-minded. I have much preferred meeting a lot of the solo travelers (even more preferably from other countries) on this trip who are always up for trying new things and not being a prototypical tourist.
Anyways, I digress.
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Canyoning Chli Schliere
Unfucking believably awesome time. see link on FB and watch the video! Every leap of faith and hitting the cold watwas felt like taking a shot of adrenaline. Our guides were a couple of chill Kiwis. Seriously, i have yet to met an uncool Kiwi or Aussie in my life. Cool people on my group. I hung out with the guy who went to Brown and found out he had laundry coins for his hostel which he wouldnt need so i promptly jumoed on the chance to clean all my clothes there.
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