Switzerland

Well I’m back in Sevilla after a trip to beautiful Switzerland with Megan. It was a bit of a trek to get to from Southern Spain, but it was well worth the trouble. We stayed the first two nights in a town called Vevey, which is right on the beautiful Lake Geneva in the French speaking part of Switzerland. These two nights would be my first experience in a hostel and to be completely honest, I was a bit nervous. Upon arrival into our room, we saw all empty beds except for one that was housing a sleeping male whose origin we knew not. We must have been a little loud because he awoke in a startle- very shocked to see us. We asked him if he spoke English and he said no, only French and Italian. Perfect. We speak only English and Spanish and you speak only Italian and French. Megan then exited the room to go use the Internet and I was left alone with the Italian. I soon found out why he was so startled to have been awakened by us… He was napping in the nude!!! He said something to me in Italian and motioned something at me, and it took me a second, but I realized that he was asking me to turn around while he got up. I awkwardly turned my head and waited for the ok to continue about my business. He okayed me and then sauntered around the room in his towel for a few minutes before exiting to the restrooms. This would be my first experience in a hostel, I thought to myself.

Later on, Megan and I got cleaned up after a day of traveling and set out to find a nice place to eat dinner. After making a couple of loops around the town, we decided on a crowded Italian place with relatively cheap prices and what appeared to be very yummy food. We went in and sat down, only to find that our waiter was none other than our naked Italian roommate. It just figures. He seemed more than thrilled to see us and was actually a really nice guy. Due to language barriers, we never actually figured out why he was staying in a hostel if he worked there in the town; so I will forever be puzzled by Estefano and his strange or quite possibly, unfortunate situation.

Day two of our travels had Megan and I drinking expensive coffees, or should I say “renverses”, eating authentic Swiss chocolate, and hiking around a few vineyard towns where we actually got to taste wine that was an hour old and wine that was a year old. By late afternoon of day two, we were growing bored with the small town of Vevey and much looking forward to leaving for Interlaken the next morning.

We got an early start on Saturday so that we could catch an early train to Interlaken to have most of the day to spend there. It was on the train that I started to see lots of cows and noticed that Swiss cows really do wear bells around their necks- every single one of them. I found that quite quaint. They made for very lovely windchimes. When we got to Interlaken we stored our bags, had a quick lunch, and hopped back on a train to go to a town about 30 minutes away called Grindelwald. This is where we found the most breathtaking views of the Alps, and basically just walked around all afternoon and gazed at the beauty and sheer majesty they possessed. When we rode the train to and from Grindelwald, we could see the snow-capped mountains and I felt like I was in the movie The Polar Express on my way to the North Pole!

Sunday we woke up early again and had our breakfast outside on the patio in the cold, autumn air. The change of color there was just so beautiful that we couldn’t stand to be inside more than we had to. The town of Interlaken is enclosed by mountains and to be there for the fall colors felt like we were being engulfed in red, orange, and yellow. The only thing that would have made the morning even better would have been a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks. We signed up for a horseback ride that afternoon and were surprised when we got there to find that we were the only two signed up. A cute German girl who looked to be only about 17 took us out on our own private tour of the countryside of Interlaken. I cannot rave about the fall colors enough. It was the most beautiful horseback ride I think I’ve ever been on. Just imagine the mountains with the red, orange, and yellow trees on one side, fields with cows with bells around their necks on the other side, and snow-capped mountains in the backdrop and that is where I was riding. Sunday really was the most picturesque fall day anyone could ever ask for and to be able to spend it on horseback with the cold air whipping by only made it that much more perfect.

We ended the day with chocolate fondue that disappointingly did not live up to the rest of the day. We thought we just HAD to get fondue since we were in Switzerland, but to tell you the truth, I’ve had better fondue at the Melting Pot. That was the only disappointment of the entire trip. While Lake Geneva was beautiful, Interlaken was hands down my favorite of the two. By the end of the trip, I was ready to be back in Spain to get my feet back on the ground again in my life here. I’m not traveling anywhere for a couple of weeks until my mama comes, so I’m looking forward to putting on my running shoes and exploring and divulging into my city further.