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Interlaken, Switzerland
By Hany Eissa | October 4, 2008
Hello from Geneva! We are here for our last night in Switzerland and are laying low, because WOW is this an expensive country! To catch you up on our travels, after leaving Brussels we arrived in Luxembourg, which is absolutely stunning! We stayed in a hostel up near the casemates and old town which was very clean and comfy. After we arrived, we immediately went to the casemates which are the remains of a tunneled fortress that went beneath a huge castle. Beginning in the 900s they tunneled into the mountain and now it’s a museum where people can explore by themselves. We ventured down twisting stairways and into creepy corners… very cool! From the top there are also panoramic views of the valley below. We even went back at night to see the view again! All in all it was a very refreshing experience after the gloominess of Brussels.
From there we travelled to Basel, Switzerland, which is right at the north of the country and is next to Germany and France. It definitely isn’t a stereotpyical Swiss city but it was fun nonetheless. With not much time in town we opted to explore on foot and get a feel for it. We visited the town hall, old castle remains and found a cute beer garden on the banks of the Rhine River where we relaxed for an hour or so.
Next was Interlaken! Interlaken is nestled in between two beautiful lakes with the stunning Jungfrau Mountain not to far off. So with all the lovely scenery we decided the best way to see the area was to throw ourselves off giant cliffs. Within an hour of arriving at Balmers Hostel we were tandem paragliding around the Swiss Alps. Thomas was able to catch a huge updraft and soared up 1400 meters. Miha on the other hand had the chance to fly the thing and it was pretty cool seeing as he has mad paragliding skillz. The next day we blew even more money (sorry about the visa in advance mom–Miha) by going canyoning. The basic principle of this is the jump of waterfalls, rock ledges, and use rocks as a slide while in a glacier river. The water was absolutely FREEZING! We were given full wetsuits with two jackets even, but we weren’t given gloves and our hands hurt from the cold. It was still really wicked though! And the hot showers after were fantastic! Other than the activities, we mostly hung out at the hostel with some cool people we met. They had a full games room with ping pong, fussball and pool which we took advantage of. They also had an outdoor grill and beergarden, a backyard for suntanning, and a nightclub in the basement (we visited it the first night but it was very smoky).
Right now we are in Geneva and we able to see the sights and sounds of the city. Geneva has a huge water jet which shoots the lake water over 100 meters in the air. And yes Miha ran through the fountain. No wallets were destoyed this time. We attempted to tour the UN but misssed the tour times…. alas! We also attempted to visit the Canadian embassy to look into voting overseas and we discovered that their opening hours were from 9:30 to 11 on weekdays. Seriously. Working hard or hardly working? Tonight we are staying in a private room for the first time since we left… i look forward to sleeping without any snoring.
Topics: Travelers Stories |
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