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We ended our 3 week Easter holiday in Interlaken, Switzerland. We didn't really know a lot about Switzerland, or even where to go in Switzerland, but we just knew that they had some extreme outside activities (sky diving, canyon jumping, paragliding, etc) and we wanted to end our trip by doing something like that. Caitlin and I split from Greg and Eric in Rome. Greg had visited Interlaken with his family and Eric really had wanted to see Florence and Pisa, so we went separate ways. We left Rome on Saturday night and took an overnight train to Interlaken.
The train stations in Switzerland were pretty funny. Everyone in them was wearing ski boots and snow pants and either carrying skis or a snowboard. The trains even had built in spots for the skis! We felt pretty out of place to say the least! By the time we got into Interlaken and found our hostel, it was probably 9 o'clock in the morning. Plus, daylight savings happened so we lost an hour. But anyway, we both wanted to go canyon jumping (pretty much bungee jumping off of a canyon and then swinging through canyons), but when we asked the lady at reception if we would be able to, she told us we needed to have a group of 5-7 people and we were the only two that wanted to go that day. So we had to make a different decision. I knew right away that I wanted to go skydiving and Caitlin decided she wanted to go hang gliding, because her boyfriend had gotten her skydiving for her birthday for them both to go this summer when she gets home. We both wanted to go together and the only sky diving there was was at noon, so the plan was for her to come with me and then us to go straight from sky diving to her hang gliding.
There were 3 of us from our hostel that were going sky diving, me, and then a boy from Canada and a girl from Massachusetts. The drive out to the "jumping spot" was about a 20 minute drive and there was nothing around us except for the swiss alps, so, needless to say it was beautiful! Once we got out there, we had our "sky diving lesson" which I thought would last a good 30 minutes, and actually it lasted about 30 seconds. we laid on the floor and pretended to be opening up our arms on his command and then pulling them back in, and right after we did that, we put on our jump suits. There were so many people out there that were either workers or just "fun jumpers" so it was pretty crowded. Right when we got there, a plane had just taken people up so they said it'd be about a 20 minute wait until we got to jump.
It really never hit me what we were about to do! I was so excited! The person I was attached to when i jumped was named Haans and he was really nice. All of them messed around with you and would make the jokes of someone not being able to jump with anyone today because they lost too many people the week before and so on. But they were all a lot of fun and really really nice!
There was probably 11 of us that fit into a plane that looked like there should only be 5 in. I was sitting on Haan's lap and there was a boy sitting on mine! It was crazy! But the flight up was really rocky because it was so windy out! A lot of times we would fall probably 10 feet and then stair step our way back up. It was beautiful though! We were so high that Haan even pointed out Italy to me! It was crazy i have never seen such a beautiful view! All I could see were snow covered mountains and little lakes, but by the time I got to our jumping height, the ground looked like earth does from a satelite! But it was incredible and I really can't even describe it!
But I was the last one to jump, so i saw about 8 people just roll out of the plane before me. It was crazy to watch because they really looked like they just rolled out! And then i would watch them go for about a minute and would see their parachutes open up. When it was my turn to jump I really didn't know what to think. I definitely didn't realize I was about to jump out of a plane! But it was incredible. The camera guy was right in our face the entire time so i have a lot of pictures from it! But you really didn't even realize you were falling! We were in free fall for about 55 seconds and the view was amazing. You never even realized that there was potential you could just crash into the ground. It really didnt even barely feel like we were falling so fast!
But once he pulled the shoot open, you began to feel how windy it was. We had been floating for about 3 minutes and he asked me how I was feeling and i said I really don't feel good and he asked if i was going to throw up and handed me a bag and i did!! Who would have thought! He told me it happens all the time and especially on days like that when it was so windy! They actually ended up canceling all flights up after ours because the wind was so bad they said you could literally die trying to do it! So although I ended up getting sick, it really didn't ruin it at all! It was just another element:) But it was really one of the coolest things i have ever done! Everyone had SO MUCH fun and it was well worth it and i am sure ill be doing it again soon:)
But since they canceled sky diving because of wind, they obviously canceled Caitlin's hang gliding as well. So we rescheduled hers for the next morning before our train left to take us home back to Hull. So to fill our afternoon, we rented a fun car. it is a convertible barbie sized car with no doors. it looked so funny! But we got it for 2 hours and drove up into the mountains to see little villages. We saw waterfalls and really close up views of the mountains. in a lot of the villages, people were again, walking around in their ski gear and sitting out with their snow boards. but it was so beautiful! it is definitely one of the most beautiful places i have ever seen!! But the fun car was a lot of fun and allowed us to get into the mountains and see more of Switzerland.
After we got our fun car, we tried some swiss cheese and challenged each other in the milk gallon challenge (drinking a gallon of milk in an hour). we didnt quite have a gallon, so we made it in 20 minutes. we figured nothing is better than swiss milk! we both made it and yes, the milk was good We went to bed pretty early because caitlin was supposed to hang glide at 9, but when we woke up it was raining! It kind of shows our luck! so caitlin didn't end up getting to do an extreme sport, which is really disappointing, but it is a good thing we were able to rent the fun car and go into the hills because it helped make up for it a little i think. So we left Interlaken at 9 and caught a flight from Zurich to London around 340. It was so weird to be relieved to be in London because it was familiar to us! It is crazy to think that is how used to England and homey England is to us!!
But we both agreed that Interlaken was one of our favorite places just because how beautiful it was and how quiet and quaint.
I really cannot believe our easter holiday is over already and that it is already april!! Time has gone by so fast!! But my family comes on Monday, April 7, so I am very excited about that and to travel england, scotland, and ireland with them. But Spring break is over! Enjoy the pictures. I love you all. Miss you all. But am having a little too much fun over here to come home just yet
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