Crater Bread

For Travers' birthday, we went with our friends Shelley and Mike to Interlaken, what some consider the adventure capital of the world (or at least of europe).  Its about a 2.5-3 hour train ride from Geneva. We met Shelley and Mike at the train station and off we went. The boys sat in the 'lounge' area while the girls sat in the seats with all our luggage (typical). But we all enjoyed the trip as we got to see a new part of Switzerland, the Bernese Oberland region, which we hadn't been through yet.

Each tent is named after a city

We got in on Thursday afternoon, and after getting some snacks and drinks at the local Coop, we started walking to our hotel, The Balmers Tents.  Now for all of you that have been to Interlaken before and know what Balmers is, you know its a hostel with a club below it. But, we actually stayed further from that in the Balmers tents, which is an area that has about 50 tents on wooden platforms, with actual mattresses and lights inside. Sort of like luxury tents in a way. There was a hot tub, hammocks, and a bbq that everyone staying there could use, as well as lots of games and activities you could play, like badminton or bocci ball.

We got settled into our tents, and got ready for the evening. Our big night plan? Hooters!!  Apparently there are three Hooters restaurants in Switzerland and Interlaken has one of them. Hot Wings here we come!  The food was delicious but our waitress was the most non-hooters waitress in the place. Plus, she was the least friendly waitress I have ever seen at a Hooters before. And she didn't write her name on a papertowl for us. Boo. But the food was great and it was all worth it. I would go back (Shelley and Mike did go back that Saturday!).  We were all so full from dinner and knew we had to get up early the next day, so we called it a night and headed back to our tents.

The next morning we woke up early to go Canyoning.  As we're getting ready, Travers opens up one of our bags that had our bathroom stuff, a half a loaf of bread, and some peanut butter. We brought it from home so we could eat something for breakfast before canyoning.  As he pulled out the peanut butter and bread, he said "What the..." and I turned around to see him holding our half loaf of bread in his hand, in the plastic bag it came in, with an entire corner missing. It looked like a mini crater had hit the bread and taken out an entire corner of it, including the plastic.  He then looked in the bag and noticed some tiny little poops and some fur/hair. GROSS!  We don't know for sure, but we assumed the bag was left open, and either when we were at dinner (I hope), or when we were sleeping (I really hope not), a mouse climbed into the bag (which was right next to my head that night) and ate its way through the bread, shed a little, pooped a little, then climbed back out. SO GROSS! I was horrified. I immediately emptied the bag, threw out my brush which I just couldn't tell if any mouse poop or hair was on it, and threw out anything else that it may have touched. I washed everything else off I could and emptied out the bag....I'm still debating on throwing the bag out but its an Herve that my mom brought my from Paris that I've had for years and years. I might just wash it, but still, so GROSS. I wish I had a picture of the bread, but I just couldn't stand to look at it so we threw it out.  You'll just have to use your imagination :-)

So we got picked up by AlpinRaft company, one of the main adventure companies in Interlaken. After going through a brief overview and getting all our equipment we headed out in a van to the Grimsel Canyon, about an hour outside of Interlaken.  Now canyoning is illegal in the U.S., mostly for liability reasons, but it is SO much fun. I was worried at first thinking I was sure to get hurt in some way, but I survived with only a few minor scrapes and bruises.

We start with a 50m (150ft) rappel.

Travers says "Look no hands!"

I say "Look no hands and no feet!"

 



Then we slide...

I'm sliding practically straight down this rock!

Travers goes flying off the ledge of this rock!

We zip...

I go ziplining through the canyon.

Travers shows the peace sign as he zips through the canyo

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We Jump...Or at least Travers did...this one was a bit high for me.

Travers jumping off a 10m high platform

And we survive and smile!

Happy together under the waterfall

Our fearless group!

 

 The rest of the day was spent lounging at the Balmer's tents, taking a hot tub, and getting some sun. We went to a nice dinner at a mexican restaurant (yeah, mexican in switzerland! can you believe it?), then danced the night away at the Balmer's club.

Cows just soaking in the sun

The next day we took a train to a nearby town called Lauterbrunnen and walked to the Trummelbach falls.  These falls are actually just one waterfall, and has 10 connecting chutes that are all within the mountain. The only one you can see partially is the last one where it ends in a river. 

There is a house in there.

We started with about a mile walk from town to the falls. We passed by other waterfalls, cows, and beautiful fields. We came across a house who's roof was covered in grass that it practically was hidden in the hills. 

There is a tiny bee sitting on the sunflower

We got to the falls and went up an elevtor built into the mountain to the level of the 6th chute. We then had to walk up the rest of the way to the 10th chute. Here are some photos of the falls.

We left the falls and headed back to town, caught a train and returned to Geneva. I think overall Travers had a great birthday weekend. We got to see a new part of the country, got some action adventure canyoning, and then beautiful sites in the falls. We will definitely return.