After almost 7 weeks of travelling from city to city, we were looking for some refuge and relaxation before the craziness of Oktoberfest, so instead of heading to Bern or Zurich we decided to venture into the Swiss Alps. Probably the best decision we had made so far. This was meant to be a fairly simple process. We catch the 9am train from Florence to Milan which connects with a train to Spiez. From there it's on to Interlaken where we get the bus to Stechelberg and then a cable car up the mountain to Gimmelwald. Not exactly how it played out. Surprise, surprise we had issues with the Italian trains. Again. The first train out of Florence was booked out meaning we would then miss all the follow on connections. Our only option was to go from Milan to Zurich, which is past where we wanted to be, and then back to Interlaken via Bern. Basically a complete round trip of Switzerland. Not a favourable option to say the least. I'm pretty sure I actually saw steam come out of Jarrod's ears at this point! Instead of arriving at about 3:30pm it was now looking more like 9:30pm. Just when you think the Italians can't stuff up their train system anymore, they go and sell tickets for 8 train carriages and only put 7 on, one of which was a restaurant car. Unfortunately we were in carriage 7 so we had all the confused carriage 8 people standing or sitting in stolen seats complaining the whole way to the border where we had to change trains. Yet another detail the Italians had left out. From this point though, things started to look up. We were going through some of the most, if not the most, beautiful landscape we had ever seen. The stuff postcards are made of. Azure, glass lakes went straight into snow capped mountains, followed by rolling green hills dotted with cute, stereotypical Swiss chalets and cows with bells on. My reaction of "Omigod, they really wear bells" in a high pitched squeal made the Swiss couple sitting next to us laugh and reply "Your first time in Switzerland?" as if they didn't already know the answer.
At this point we had been on the train for about 2 hours and we were coming up to a little town called Arth-Goldau which showed a train connection to Luzern where we were hoping we could then get a train to Interlaken. We had a decision to make. Do we risk getting stuck in the middle of nowhere and jump off the train in this tiny town or do we continue on to Zurich and follow the original plan. Jarrod consulted the train conductor who spoke 4 languages, none of which were English, about connecting trains in Arth-Goldau. After a conversation of hand signals and charades he was sure we could get to Interlaken, so we jumped off. This proved to be another great decision as the train ride from Luzern to Interlaken was absolutely amazing.

By the time we arrived at the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald it was well and truly dark so waking up to the views we did the following morning was breathtaking. Looking out the bathroom window at the neighbouring snow-capped mountain you would swear it was a painted on! Just too perfect to be real.

We headed out on a hike early with Eric and Warren, the 2 Americans we had met the night before, to the Sprutz waterfall and then up a great big bloody mountain. All in my trusty hiking thongs! The gruelling 4 hour slog was definitely worth it for the views we were rewarded with. I'm not sure how to describe it as no words would do it justice. I'm not sure there's even words that exist that could sum up how magnificent this place is. A quote in the visitors book at the peak comes close. "If heaven's not all it's cracked up to be, send me back to Gimmelwald!".

We headed back down the mountain to the next town, Murren, to get some groceries for dinner. Dining out in Switzerland was well out of our budget. Hell, the most affordable thing in the supermarket was chocolate. No surprises there! Once we had our tin of ravioli for dinner, yes you read right ravioli in a can, we headed to a sports store to hire our harnesses. What for you may ask? Why for Via Ferrata of course. The scariest, craziest and most exhilarating experience of my life! Via Ferrata is Italian for wire walk and it pretty much is just that around the side of a mountain. The brochure we saw in the hostel did not prepare us for what we were about to do. We headed to where the walk started from, put our harnesses on and clipped onto the cable. Luckily for us Eric had done some rock climbing before so we had some instruction on what to do as this, according to the sign at the beginning, was a self guided tour meant for those with rock climbing experience, no fear of heights and nerves of steel. It began with some fairly relaxed walking to get used to the clipping and un-clipping of our safety harnesses along the cable before the real deal set in. The further along we went, the more the side of the mountain started to drop away until the point where the only thing between us and the town 600 metres below us were small u-shaped metal rods stuck into the side of the mountain. My knuckles were white from holding on so tightly! For the next 3 hours we walked up and down ladders, scrambled over rocks and crossed waterfalls on a tightrope and a suspension bridge. An extremely rewarding experience, even if I was s***ting myself for most of it. I think my comment in the visitors book sums it up perfectly. "Most amazing thing I have ever done. I'm so glad I didn't die!"

Oh and I do believe it's the first time a tin of ravioli has made the journey!

Truly Heaven on Earth. Switzerland, we shall return!