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"Switzerland- life inside a postcard"
As our bus arrived from Paris into switzerland I was absolutely blown away the alps were everything I could have ever imagined, it was surreal almost like being in a postcard ! The mountains are massive, words can't describe the sheer size of them... Getting off the bus it actually wasn't as Cold as I thought it would be, shorts and tee shirt was fine at 7pm! Our accomodation at camping jungfrau was amazing at the base of so Many cliffs with waterfalls streaming down the side and base jumpers launching off risking their lives, our room backed onto a rapid flowing stream! By 8pm the cold set in and gee did the cold set in ! It was freezing haha, thermals, jackets and pants it was ! We tried a brutwurst Swiss sausage... Yum yum
The air here is so fresh and revitalizing... Loving it already and it's been less than 12 hours. Haha
Day 2- Ryan has convinced me somehow to catch 6 trains and a bus to bungee jump the 007 James bond bungee jump in Vervasca dam. 220m and a 8 second free fall ! He is crazy and had somehow dragged me right into his land of craziness ! Sitting on the train on the way there as we speak and well lets say I'm a little nervous :p but who wouldn't be, knowing in 3 hours time I will be throwing myself off the highest free standing bungee in the world.. Arghhhhh
After this we have a skydive tandem with a professional on Tuesday ! I cannot wait for that.. But right now the mind is on this jump haha
Over our 5 hour journey to the other side of Switzerland the views from the trains were sensational, huge cliffs, waterfalls, lakes, forests, tunnels, paragliders, rock formations, little villages made of of brown little cottages with white cross skirting boards on the windows ! Just like ginger bread houses.
Arriving in Locarno we knew we needed bus 65 but to our frustration there was no such thing, we asked for help from a few locals however they couldn't speak English, however we found hand signals to be a gem and walked onto the bus 30 seconds before it departed haha close call !
Okay back on the train now... Did I jump or didn't I ? ... Yessss but wow it was dam excuse the pun scary jumping off a 220metre dam wall ! Crazy crazy stuff, didn't quite realise how high it was until I got to the edge of the platform ! What an adrenaline rush, both Ryan and I will never ever forget that leap of faith... The speed the ground approaches is rather scary with the dam wall flying by at a million miles an hour ! So so happy right now. And still 3 full days to go !
Last night after the bungee let's just say Ryan and I may have taken the wrong connecting train about half way back to our camp site ! Instead of ending up in laurerbrunnen we found ourselves in another country "Italy" and boy did we choose a ghost town that didn't speak english! Ideal at 10pm at night :s nottttt
There was no accomodation available at this hour and trains had finished for the night; 1 country and about 300km off route, and no English speaking people... We made a positive out of the situation and found an Italian pizza shop at least, they lived up to expectation, very Tasty !
With no options we found a bunnings warehouse with a quite little dark area and good tree cover above, a sloped embankment that provided a back and head support and a masssive cardboard box ! Our survival skills were great, we had a verandah type area, retractable door that we could fold open and closed in sections, a lamp and music inside haha what an adventure ! With the first train being 5:55 am we only needed to kill 6 hours. And that we did, slept very well.
Just to reassure you we are Alive and kicking and back on the train to where we orinally set out to be last night ! Haha back to to the camp site we go.
Wow what a 48 hours! Bungee, sleeping in Italy and then getting back to the camping ground to see base jumpers leaping off cliffs over lunch. We hit up the high ropes course known as the seilpark that afternoon, it was one of the most challenging things I have done in terms of self trust and belief ! You had to hook yourself on and off the wires with the 2 carribenas on your safety harness ! 20m above the ground in tree tops if you did this wrong it could make way for a rather unfortunate situation if you were to fall, so each and every move was vital to ensuring your own safety ! The concentration and balance needed was insane. My favourite course was the flying fox as I have loved them since I was a little kid so doing this 20m above the ground Provided a kick :)
Okay here we go again another adrenaline pumping story to tell ! Tuesday the 13th September, I woke up to blue skies, fresh Swiss alps air and knowing that I was going to be jumping out of a plane 13000 feet above the ground and over some
Of the most naturally surreal mountain ranges in the world ! and with Europes highest peak in sight mount blanc ! Wow oh wow ! The drive out to the jump site was rather quite on the bus with everyone clearly thinking about what was to come! I wad feeling amazingly positive and excited, hardly nervous which is unusual for myself ! However as I found with the bungee, maintaining a positive mind set can really make a huge difference.
The jump site was awesome, planes, parachutes, jump suits and clear skies. So so excited. We had been blessed with the most glorious weather, not a cloud in the sky !
Our time came after watching 4 planes and 4 loads of jumpers prior to myself Ryan and Sandra ! We choose the combo option which means we receieve a 100 photos and video footage of ourselves, cannot wait to see the views and share the fun and adrenaline rush I had with everyone back home :) yeww.... The flight up to 13000 feet provided the most spectacular views I had ever seen, you could see forever, felt like a bird just floating through the sky. The jump roller door opened and I watched Ryan get sucked out ! Wow the heart was going, but boy was I ready and excited for this moment.... Legs tucked under the plane, head back, pelvis forward my turn was up ! Whoosh; we were off, tumbling and turning..: 45 seconds of the most fulfilling fun I have ever experienced ! Mountains in the background, falling towards the earth at awesome speeds, I was on top of the world ! The parachute opened and we got pulled back up into the sky.... Gliding down from here was graceful however a lot more twisting and fasting then I thought... It was insane, All round the experience gave me the most amazing rush and excitement ever ! The bungee and this were 2 extremes, ryan and I had completed both within a 72 hour period in the swiss alps :) wow wee.. This place is just unreal, "life inside a postcard"
After our bungee we Hired some mountain bikes and explored the jungfrau region ! Trummelbach falls- what can I say 20,000 litres of water being pumped down though the mountains every second. The sound here, was unbelievable. We caught a lift on 45 degree angle up through a mountain, taking us high above the ground... There was 10 different chutes to visit, each one provided different perspectives on how powerfall these falls were ! Inside the mountain it was freezing in shorts and tee shirt, however beautifully lit, showing the rock formations and crystal glowing water rushing down the chutes !
After this we rode to the cable car and caught it up to murren; this was 2300m above sea level and wow the views were something different up this high, rolling along sometimes we forgot we were on the bikes and became entranced by the view haha so we had to be careful or we would have been doing some serious down hill riding after falling over a cliff edge ! Haha
It was my little brothers birthday Tom, today 13th September so special mention to him here and also a special congrats to my older brother mike and his long time girlfriend Amy... They got engaged during the week yahh so wrapped for them :) cant wait to celebrate on my arrival home....Tom sorry I didn't message, for Some reason my messages weren't sending !
Our last day we tried lunch at the restaurant on the camp site, swiss rosti, potatoe grated with swiss cheese, onion, bacon, fried egg. It was delicious!
Our last night in switzerland Lauterbrunnen was full of fun and adventures, we hit up the pub with Catherine and renaee, chilling out and chatting over a few brews, realizing that we had many many friends back home in common.. Small world! We headed back to the campsite, Ryan and I sharing our silly videos off our camera with them
And getting up to other hilarious antics !
What a blast Switzerland was and I can safely say it's my favourite place yet ... The alps really are breathtaking ! Ross
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