Yesterday, Bernie and Ed told us that the weather for today was going to be pretty foggy and paying the 140 franks to go up to Jungfrau (the highest point in Europe) wouldn't be worth it because we wouldn't be able to see the views. Plus, it's almost a whole day trip up there by the time you ride the train up, spend time there, and go back down. So we had to figure out what to do instead for today. We had walked past this rental company who rented out 4-wheelers, scooters, motorbikes, and these mini-cars slash mix of a go-cart thing so we decided on renting one of the "fun cars." Definitely not renting scooters cause we all know what happened in Mexico with those...It was cheaper to rent the fun car than both of us each paying over 100 to go up to Jungfrau cause we could split the cost of the fun car and drive wherever we wanted. The lady told us multiple places we could go as well that sounded awesome.
So we woke up and had breakfast and then walked next door to the rental place. It was quite an adventure to be in it! It's tiny and we had some trouble switching gears and starting up...anytime we had someone behind us we pulled over to let them pass because it was a little intimidating being in front of huge ass trucks and cars. We named the fun car Stacy, in honor of the crazy child we watched at the US Embassy in Paris. We headed out to Lauterbrunnen Valley, where the Trümmelbach Falls are. There are 10 glacier-waterfalls inside a mountain that you can go see via a lift and tunnels throughout. They are the only glacier-waterfalls in Europe inside a mountain that is still accessible. It's pretty incredible and unlike anything I've ever seen. Pictures cannot do it justice. It's huge waterfalls just running through the middle of a mountain, all natural. At one part, there's what's called the Corkscrew Falls, because the water literally goes in a corkscrew fashion down the waterfall. So awesome!!! There were incredible views from up outside the waterfalls too, and you could see the small towns and the other waterfalls cascading down the mountains in one long fall. Eeek!! So perfect. I loved it. At one point, this lady stopped Chad because of his A&M shirt; her husband went to A&M anddd she's from Midland. Never ceases to amaze me what a small world it can be!! Once we had finished taking pictures, we decided to head over to the lakes. While heading that way, we almostttt got on the highway, which is forbidden for those fun cars and could have been reaaaal bad. Chad had to basically pull over in the entry lane and then reverse up to the road when there weren't any cars there! We got a little lost and turned around but eventually made it to one of the lakes. There are two major lakes that surround Interlaken, and we thought we were driving to Lake Brienz, when we really ended up at the other one. However, it was a breathtaking drive and we drove at all different levels, from right down by the water, through rock tunnels, and into little towns buried in the hillside by the lakes. I am in love with the little towns hidden along the sides of the lake. They'll come along and go up along the mountain side, and then no development above. It is so beautiful! We stopped multiple times along the way to take pictures of the lake and at one point, sat down by some rocks and took pictures with our Aggie rings with the lake, sailboats and mountains in the background. It is so incredibly peaceful and the water is a blue I have never seen before - it is almost an aqua and SO clear; we could see straight down to the rocks at the bottom before it deepened farther out. After stopping at that one part for a bit, we kept driving until we got to another pretty spot. It was a place where you could pay to go see some caves in the mountainside and also had some pretty viewpoints so we parked there and walked around. When we left, we had to reverse into the street, and the shift kept on giving us a hard time so we ended up reversing into the middle of the street of a windy road not being able to shift into drive...I think my life flashed before my eyes a bit! Thankfully, we got into drive before anyone came around the corner.
When we started to get hungry, we began to look for Coops to get some food. We found what looked like a grocery store so parked Stacy and walked over...turned out to not have many options so we kept walking and found a pizza place. Somehow we ordered a pizza with pepperoni and bell peppers on it. We had passed a picnic table area right on the lake a little farther back so we drove back that direction and parked and ate our pizza right there. It was beautiful! There were tons of ducks walking and swimming around us and it took us a while to force ourselves to leave. The weather was looking a bit cloudy so we decided to head back into Interlaken. We figured out that we had actually driven to Beatenburg, which we had been recommended to go to by the lady at the rental place...we weren't intentionally headed there but somehow did and I'm glad we lost our way there because it was incredible! We drove back through the tunnels and alongside the lake; I'm still amazed at the beauty of it all! There were sailboats anchored by the shoreline everywhere that created picture perfect views! Oh so prettayyy.
We headed to Interlaken Ost to pick up our train tickets for tomorrow and then saw signs for Bönigen and Iseltwald, where we had originally been trying to get to so we decided to make our way there. It was a beautiful drive as well, right along the lake on this winding, narrow road. There was a public transportation bus driving in front of us and I'm still amazed at how it went around the turns and corners when it felt like such a small road for our miniature car, let alone a huge bus. This lake was just as beautiful, but didn't have near as many towns along it, nor sailboats. The lady had given us directions to Chalet du Lac which we had no idea what it was, but we kept on going towards the signs that pointed in that direction. Turns out its just a fancy hotel with a pretty view. The road we were on started going uphill and we were literally right by the cliff edge with the lake on our left. When we had gotten pretty high up, we decided to turn back around before we got somewhere that we couldn't do that. On the way back down we drove by some goats (!!!) with a little bell around their necks and the lake in the background...obviously had to take a picture of that! Right in the middle of the lake was a tiny island of mostly trees. A boat had made its way over there and you could see people on the shoreline. Right next to the island was an area that jutted out into the lake, with some really pretty historic-looking buildings. We drove down towards it and I stopped to take a picture of an old man sitting on a bench looking out at the lake...it was too cute! We stopped a little bit later on the way back and watched these brave little boys get in the cold water, and then took some pictures with Stacy and the gorgeous scenery.
We made our way back into town so I could find a shotglass (I'm getting one for every country/city) and some chocolate. Parked in the #12 spot, whoop! I found myself a good shotglass and we went into the chocolate shop that we had been eyeing before. It was a bit difficult to decide what to get because everything looked mouth-watering and there were so many choices. We ended up each getting a couple of small cake-ball chocolate round things and then a package of bar chocolate. We then filled Stacy up with gas and returned her. The lady working didn't speak much English and ended up charging us 10 franks less than she was supposed to, as well as not charging us the 25 franks for insurance. No complaints there! It was definitely a good decision to rent the fun car. I feel like we got to do the extreme sports side of Interlaken, while also experiencing the beauty of Switzerland!
We still had a lot of the day left so we waited by the computer for these Asian guys to get off so that we could look at our pictures from hangliding. After waiting for atleast an hour for the computers, we gave up and went to Coop to get some dinner. We had around 19 franks left to spend and didn't want to have to get any more money out since we wouldn't be using franks anywhere else we're going. Shopping on a budget! We were able to get two rolls, tortellini, pasta sauce, two Dr. Peppers, and a pretzel mix all for 15 francs. Yeaaahhh! When we got back to Balmers, we were able to upload our pictures and videos and then we made our dinner...turned out pretty good anddd it was cheap! We had some change left so we got our two beers for 4.50 francs! It was still relatively early so after we showered, we decided to walk around for a bit. It was really pretty to see everything at night. We had about 1.80 franks left, plus Chad found .01 on the ground, so we stopped at the Coop Pronto, aka the convenient store version of Coop and found we could get one roll and two yogurts for the francs we had left for breakfast. Holla! Except when we got to the counter, turns out the yogurts were a bit more pricey and we could only afford one!
When we got back to Balmers, we packed up and kicked the Asians out of our room and attempted to sleep until they came in and were obnoxiously loud again. But I didn't have a bunk mate next to me tonight! Hurray!
-Thoughts on Switzerland-
*So many Asian tourists
We were not expecting that many in a place like Interlaken! There were so many and constantly oblivious to everything going on around them...didn't have the best experience with them in this city.
*Old town
It is such a historic, old-fashioned town. Whenever we were walking to our hostel the first day, this old man was literally leading his cows down the street with cars behind him into his yard. Speaking of cows, they LOVE them here! There are cow-themed souvenirs of all types and cow statues and figurines...a little crazy.
*I want to live here!
It is so beautiful and I love the culture. However, I would definitely want to live out of Interlaken in one of the small towns bordering the lake, soooo pretty! Can't imagine waking up to that view everyday.
*Everyone's super friendly
Locals, tourists - everyone was really nice and went above and beyond helping us. Whether it was simply letting us cross the street, or giving us directions, or starting a conversation with us in the hostel, every person we met went above and beyond any other place we've been.
*Overpriced food
Everything was SO expensive. Like 20 franks for a plain burger! Lots of people cooked at our hostel to save money.
Switzerland was by far my favorite! It's the prettiest place I've ever been in the world and the culture and people here make it even better. I was really sad to leave and hope I can make it back there someday!