Interlaken!

Interlaken, Switzerland is a small town nestled pretty deeply within the Swiss Alps.  Some of the things it's famous for are the extreme sports. Because of the gorgeous scenery, Interlaken has become a destination for young backpackers.  The big activities, which are advertised everywhere, are canyoning, sky diving, paragliding and gorge jumping.  This trip had been planned by a few of the other students, and we had a trip of 8 GTL students: Whitney, Eric, Joe, James, Ethan, Curtis, Kevin and I.

Me, in front of the Jungfrau, the highest mountain in the area

My adventure for the weekend started off on Friday, when we took an 11:30am train from Metz.  I intended to get up at 5 and go with a group of people a little bit earlier, but I was way too tired to when I got up. Unfortunately, on the train in, I pulled out my camera to find I had grabbed the uncharged battery instead of the charged battery.  All the photos here are courtesy of Whitney :)  Eric, Whitney, Joe and I all arrived in Interlaken at about 5pm and made our way to Balmer's Herberge.  It's one of the "Europe's Famous Hostels" line throughout Europe, but this one is worth it.  Mom, I'm pretty sure that this is the one that Pat Murphy stayed at while he was there, because there are signs for it all over, and the main joint at night is the club right under the hostel.  The walls of the game room are covered in photos of the founder with Bill Clinton, a letter from a representative of the Queen and a bunch of other photos.  The place has really built up a great reputation.

Balmer's Herberge, the hostel we stayed at

Friday night wasn't too busy for us.  We arrived, checked into the hostel, and then played pool in the game room until we met up with everyone else that arrived there earlier.  Our dinner was Thai at the place next door, which served up some pretty good Pad Thai.  Afterwards, we headed down the Metrobar, the club under Balmer's for a few drinks, and then an early bed for our adventures in the morning.

Saturday morning was an early rise and then everyone but Whitney, Kevin and I went canyoning.  Essentially, they wrapped themselves in three wetsuits, a helmet and life vest to go jumping through slot canyons in freezing Alpine streams.  It looked like a lot of fun, but not quite worth the $150 to me.  I wanted to do something a little cheaper and see a little bit more of the area, so Whitney and I decided to try a high ropes course while Kevin went for an intense hike in the nearby mountains.  The ropes course was really intense with some really demanding elements.  Some of the platforms were 85 meters up, which translates to 27 stories.  One of the coolest parts was that, after the staff taught you how to clip in, you were completely on your own and responsible for your own safety.  I spent a good 4.5 hours on the course, and Whitney headed back to the hostel a little bit earlier than I did, since she was a little cold.  We met up at around 2:45 and had a quick lunch next to the hostel and then walked around the town for a while.  The architecture looks almost straight out of the Sound of Music in some parts.

A blurry shot of the high ropes course.  Some of the platforms were 85 meters up!

Whitney and I met up with the canyoning group and Kevin at 7:15 for dinner, where I split a fantastic pizza with Kevin, and then we headed back to the hostel to meet up with a group of girls Whitney and I had met earlier.  They were lost and looking for Balmer's, so we told them where it was and had agreed to meet up at the bar for the tail end of happy hour.

In downtown Interlaken.  

Sunday wasn't as exciting or intense, but definitely the most picturesque of the three days.  Whitney left early in the morning so that she would have some time to do work when she got back to Metz, but everyone else went to Lauterbrunnen at Kevin's recommendation.  There was supposed to be a 2 hour hike that was going to fit into our schedule perfectly, so we took a cog train up deeper into the valley that Interlaken sits in.  The vistas were amazing.  It's impossible to take a bad picture here.  Once we got out, we were supposed to walk down a road to this hike that would take us back into a narrow gorge to check out some waterfalls, but we got waylaid by a visible trail up through a cliff face behind a different waterfall.  The little side trip threw off our timing, so we contented ourselves with walking as far as we could along a road that led deeper into the valley before turning back.  From there, we took the cog train back to Interlaken, then picked our bags back up from the hostel and walked over to the train station and headed home.

I also got the chance to grab some patches of places I've travelled to, so I'm going to stitch them to my backpack when I have the chance.  Here's what it looks like so far!

Here's a link to the rest of Whitney's photos too.  The photos at the end of the set are of the cathedral in Metz.