Note : Please read the previous blogs to catch up on any of the adventures you may have missed!
Friday, September 8th
We got up, showered and left Bern by 9:00am. We were staying the night in Luzern but wanted to stop in Interlaken on the way. The drive from Bern to Interlaken was about a ½ hour. Interlaken is what you imagine Switzerland to look like: a small ski village in the mountains with rivers and lakes, cottage looking homes, etc.
Interlaken is situated between two lakes, and the water in the lakes was this greenish-aqua color. Again, this was another thing I have never seen before. It didn’t look dirty, just a beautiful random light -greenish-blue.
Anywho, we sat at an outdoor café and had breakfast. So far, everyday had been close to perfect weather, in the 70’s and sunny. This morning was a bit foggy and overcast, so we were a little worried and were hoping it would clear up….and it did! By noon it was partly cloudy and warm.
We could tell that something was going on in the town because there were banners over the streets and tents and stands were being set up. We found out that the Jungfrau Marathon was that upcoming weekend. Of course, my dad and I went into the Casino to check it all out (yes, the Casino in this small ski town is where you register for the race). As we were looking around, I ran into my next door neighbors from Luxembourg, Mick and Petra! They were running the race…such a small world. The race had an amazing course….amazingly hard! The first 5-6 miles were relatively flat. Then the course began a gradual climb and then BAM! The last 18 or so miles were seriously straight up the mountain. Probably one of the hardest courses I have ever seen.
After breakfast and gathering marathon info, we just shopped, talked, walked around, etc. We found a pretty cool shop and, when the dust settled and the credit cards were put away, we most likely had single handedly ensured that it would stay in business for the next couple of months. We also saw some kids doing crazy stunts and handstands, so we got some pictures of them. Then, we talked Andrea into overcoming her fears and we all took the cog train up the mountain for a awesome view of the city, the two lakes it‘s nestled in between, and the majestic peaks in the background. All in all, we were about 3,000 ft up there.
There was a bar and restaurant at the top of the mountain and after clicking some pictures, we sat down for a refreshing beverage. Andrea got her apple strudel, Fred got a milk mustache, we were all having a fun time. We headed back down to town around 5:00pm and decided to drive onto our next city, Luzern.
The drive from Interlaken to Luzern was about an hour or so through the mountains. Mountains and pine trees were everywhere and the roads just winded through them. Every so often there would be a lake or river along the road and a small town just sitting there, tucked into the gorgeous scenery around it.
We found our hotel with no problems. Hooray!! (I was determined to not let what happened in Bern become standard protocol. In fact, I became anal-directions-man for the remainder of the trip…which, as you will see, didn‘t really do me much good anyways!) So, we checked in and were amused to find that the “quad” room we reserved was more or less an attic with four beds. It was just like me, Josh and Zach’s room back on Andover! Laughing, we threw our bags down and headed out to explore and grab dinner. Like most of the places on our trip, there were not a lot of “must-do’s” in Luzern…the experience is in just walking around and taking in the culture.
We walked into town and walked across the Spreuer Bridge, a pedestrian bridge built in 1408. The river was lined with restaurants on either side and there were lots of people walking around the town area. The streets were really clean and the sight was very pretty. On a side note: all sorts of flowers grow over here and people definitely take advantage of their beauty by putting up flower window baskets, etc., absolutely everywhere.
Anyway, we headed into Old Town to do some window shopping on the cobblestone/pedestrian streets and then found a restaurant along the river for dinner.
After our crazy server in Bern, we were a bit worried about the tall lanky dude that was approaching our table a minute after we sat down…he looked like he had just taken a few bong rips with his buddies in the back of the restaurant. However, to our surprise and relief, he spoke awesome English and had a great attitude. He definitely made our meal enjoyable and fun. After a few beers, brats and sauerkraut, we decided to head back to our attic and retire for the night.
We had a long day and the next was going to be just as fun-filled!
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