January 30th- February 2nd
Next stop: Switzerland! I was so incredibly excited about this trip and so eager to get on the plane. My friends and I planned our trip through a program called Bus2Alps. The whole experience was super seamless and we were really happy with the staff and the company as a whole. When we arrived at the Geneva airport we were greeted by the staff and they split us, and the gobs of other college kids, into groups. We got on massive charter buses for the 2.5-hour drive to Interlaken. While en route the staff told us that the weather in Interlaken is completely unpredictable and they warned us to be flexible with our activities that we had pre-booked. The weather app on my phone said that it was predicted to rain the entire weekend, so I kept my fingers cross and an open mind. When we finally arrived at our hostel, very simply called Youth Hostel, it was nearly 3 am so we went straight to bed. The next morning we woke up early and hit the ground running.
The first activity that we chose to do was going up into the Swiss Alps for snowshoeing, sledding, and a fondue lunch. A van took us up for about a 20-minute drive to a gondola where we collected our snowshoes and sleds and took them up the mountain. After that, we abandoned our sleds at the sole establishment up there, which was a restaurant at the gondola’s end. From there, our guide showed us how to put on our snowshoes, gave us a brief safety talk, and also some tips on how to snowshoe efficiently. I didn’t expect snowshoeing to be easy but I also was totally unprepared for how difficult our climb would be. When I had imagined this activity I thought we would be taken all the way to the top of the mountain to explore and walk around, but I was very wrong. What we did was an intense hike (keep in mind that I am indeed out of shape) up the mountain for about an hour. On the way up most of us took off our jackets and gloves because the sun was beating down on our backs. When we finally reached the peak of our hike, I was finally able to take a look around and I was overwhelmed. It was a beautiful sunny day in the middle of January and I felt so lucky, so happy, and so sweaty! It could have easily been snowing or raining or foggy, but it wasn’t. We lucked out with the best possible conditions to go snowshoeing up in the mountains. All my friends and I kept saying was “Best day ever!!”
Another thing that surprised me was that we would be snowshoeing down toward the restaurant too. I found that with each step down the steep decline the fresh snow was coming up to my knees. It was very easy to slip, and I did, many times. I even got stuck so badly that the guide had to hike back up to where I was and yank my leg out of the snow. (He was thoroughly annoyed with me)! This was super difficult but so much fun. The whole group was smiling and laughing while slipping, sliding, and falling all at the same time. When we reached our starting point where we had left our sleds we took off our snowshoes and sat down for a traditional Swiss lunch. The lunch consisted of hot tea, cheese fondue, bread and potatoes to dip. The food was amazing and the view made everything taste even better.
After our lunch was over we sledded down to our original starting point, which was the distance that we had taken the gondola up. This, yet again, highlighted my nonathletic abilities but I still enjoyed every second. Throughout the course of sledding down our guide often stopped the group to let us all catch up. The group consisted of 8 college kids and 2 Korean women. Each time the group would meet up again the last person tagging behind was either me or one of the Korean ladies. We all were in the same boat as far as our athletic abilities. The other reason why the group stopped multiple times throughout our trail down the mountain was the large number of spots that the snow had melted and the bare pavement road was exposed. At one of these stopping points, our guide took the time to point out the glaciers and say that if they continue to shrink at the rate that they are now, they won’t be there in 10 years. I felt so lucky to be experiencing something that climate change is destroying. So surreal! Also on our way down, there was an avalanche on one of the neighboring mountains. That was pretty scary to see but we weren’t close to it at all.
After it was all over we all couldn’t stop smiling. The next thing that we did was go to our hostel to freshen up a bit and then we walked to Lake Brienz. It was about a 15-minute walk through the cute town. We got to the lake at perfecting timing right before sunset. The mountains looked golden as the afternoon sun beamed on them and the sky turned cotton candy pink. We had just enough sunlight to snap a few pictures and enjoy its beauty. All we kept saying was, “Best day ever!” over and over again.
From there we walked to around downtown Interlaken. Even after the sun had set we weren’t cold at all. I never even needed to use my big scarf at all during the trip. We topped off the day with ridiculously good chocolate-covered strawberries from Funky Chocolate.
Our activity for the next day was to go kayaking on Lake Brienz. We first got all strapped up in heavy-duty dry suits, we got our paddles, and picked out our boats. Our guide Maria was the most amazing teacher. At first, I had a really hard time with the kayaking. I was trailing behind the group, per usual and positive that I was bound to fall in the ice cold water. But Maria came back to where I was, gave me a little lesson on technique, and I was able to get the hang of it. After kayaking past cool rock formations and a waterfall we beached our boats and walked up to a mini “castle”. Maria surprised us with the amazing view, berry tea, and oatmeal cookies. So fun! When we got back in our kayaks and started to head back to shore, it started to rain. Yet again, I felt so incredibly lucky for the weather conditions that we had during all of our activities that weekend.
That night was filled with more Funky chocolate-covered strawberries, passion fruit apple cider at Husi, and another traditional meal at Hotel Krebs, so so good! We had wine and cheese fondue of course but my favorite thing that we had was a dish called Potato Rosti. It is hash browns with bacon, cheese, and a fried egg, and crispy onions on top. Best way to end our trip! “Best weekend ever!” is truly the only reason that I could describe it. This trip is going to be hard to beat.
Nicole Danigelis 