Switzerland

Awesome place.  Well, near the end it was.  We arrived on Friday in Interlaken.  The plan was to stay in Interlaken a night, do some canyoning on Saturday, then go to Bern on Sunday to look around and maybe see the Pope if we were lucky.  As it turn out, it rained a lot that week and on Saturday, causing the water levels to rise.  Our trip was cancelled for Saturday so we had to make a decision.  We ended up going the next morning and staying an extra night in Interlaken.  More on that later, though.

So back to Friday night, we get there around 11 and check into our hostel called Balmers.  Now, this is the first time here that I've actually stayed at a hostel.  It was okay.  Nothing can compare to Youth Camp conditions, so I guess I don't expect much in terms of living conditions haha.  Anyway, the only bad thing about it was that they didn't supply towels, which quite frankly sucked.  The place was very American, meaning that there were a ton of American college students there.  Almost forgot you were in Switzerland.  It was cool, but also lame because it was way too touristy.  On Saturday we ended up wasting a lot of time because we couldn't figure out what to do (everyone had different plans) and the trip was cancelled.  The only cool thing we did was ride bikes out to the lake, and I have a nifty video of me doing a powerslide!

That evening we went to a casino (a first time here that I could actually play).  That crap is ADDICTING.  Remind me never to go to one again, or at least make sure I spend like a few bucks in the slot machines for kicks.  Something very psychological about not quitting when you're down, and it kinda snowballs and by the time you realize what happened, you walk away with nothing.  Out of the 5 of us that went, only one of us gained money.  I mean, come on, even the Tech nerds know that statistically the Casino will always win.  I guess people think they can beat the odds.  Luckly we didn't go all out, maybe a meal's worth of cash.  So because we failed to reserve the space for Sat night, we end up staying in some tents that were also Balmers property.  It was different, but not bad.

On Sunday we had to wake up early to go canyoning at 9:30.  This made the whole thing worth it.  Basically, canyoning is just going down rapids/rivers without the raft.  You walk down, cross certain parts, rappel off others, jump off cliffs, etc.  Very fun.  The water levels were at the maximum they told us (don't know how true that was, but they DID cancel the afternoon trips because it got too high, so I guess it is) and they even said it was stressful for them.  The current is a LOT stronger than I thought it would be.  Basically, you're putting your feet down and tryin to get footing where you can't see.  This is harder than it sounds, because 1) you can't see the rocks 2) the current is going at you and if you don't find your footing quick you will be swept away.  A couple times I slipped and it was only because my foot randomly caught a rock that I didn't totally lose it.  Some of the girls we went with kept getting swept away but luckly the guides had them haha.  Overall, it was awesome.  Rappeling, jumping off mini-cliffs, zipline, going down rapids head first.  I want to come back and do the 6-hour trip.

We ended around 1:00.  Got a photo-cd.  Shopped a little bit before catching the train back at 3:30.  Fun times.  Now I'm not sure whether to go to Paris or Interlaken again.  I really want to try Para-gliding too.