Switzerland!

^^Big lift we were NOT supposed to go on...

^^^Up on the mountain where we were not supposed to be. oops! maybe the yellow and black checkered flags were a sign?

^^Ready to go skiing!

^^^This is early in the morning before we went skiing. The view from our little balcony was awesome! There are more mountains but the white kind of blends into the sky.

^^Night sledding!

Interlaken and Geneva

Oh what a weekend! I guess I will just start way back at the beginning when we tried to leave Sevilla...

Thursday afternoon was our big departure for Geneva/Interlaken, Switzerland! We were to fly out of Sevilla through Barcelona and onto Geneva. In Geneva we had arranged a trip with the company Bus2Alps (they pick students up at the airport and bring them to a great hostel in Interlaken, they also assist in signing up for different excursions in Interlaken, great deal!). They would pick us up at the airport and bring us right to our hostel in Interlaken, about a 2 hr drive.

After I finished class on Thurs I headed back to my house to wait for my friends Cameron and Kerry Anne to finish class. As soon as they were ready the plan was to head to the airport bus station and make our way to the airport. Well of course things were not going to go as planned...

The phone rang from Cameron and i grabbed my bags to head out the door as I answered. Well what a little surprise it was, our flight from Barcelona to Geneva had been cancelled. We planned to quickly head to school and get on the computers to look for more options. In a matter of 15 miuntes we had booked new flights from Barcelona to Geneva and headed to the airport. (if we had not made it to geneva we would have lost a lot of money in the trips we had booked through this company!-nonrefundable!). We were made it to Barcelona and had to run from one flight to the next. Cameron was the first of the flight and waited for Kerry Anne and I too get off. First thing she did was head to check what gate our flight was. When Kerry Anne and I made it to Cameron she had a worried look on her face and yelled in the most southern accent- "yall our flight is cancelled." AGAIN.....

This time we had booked through swiss air as opposed to easy jet. We ran to the swiss air desk to see if there were any other options for tonight. We had to make it to Geneva by 11pm in order to catch our Bus2Alps trip. We made it to swiss air along with every other person that was on our flight. While we waited in line to reach the desk i noticed 3 boys with university hats on from the united states. I went to ask them if they happened to be going to Bus2Alps in Geneva and they were! Not only that but one of them happened to be the Bus2Alps guide trying to make it to Geneva as well. We told him that whatever he was doing we were going to do as well because we knew that he had to make it to Interlaken and he knew the way to do it. We made it to the desk and were put on a flight for the next morning. Big bummer. Joey assured us it was not going to be a problem because he was on that flight as well and would make sure that we made it to Interlaken. (We were so glad that we bought the swiss air flight because all of the easy jet flights the next day were cancelled as well, so we would not have made it if we stuck with easy jet!)

We found out at the desk as well that the reason for all the cancellations was that the French air traffic control had gone on strike. We would not be able to fly into Geneva because Geneva is basically entirely surrounded by France. Of course.

On the bright side-Swiss air was great! They scheduled us on the first flight in the morning and put us up in a great 4 star hotel! We also had vouchers for a dinner and breakfast at the hotel. We were so excited to get to this hotel (which reminded me of space mountain at Disney) and just lay in bed and watch the Olympics. When we went down for dinner there was an HUGE buffet dinner just for swiss air, it was great! The following morning we got up and also had an AWESOME breafast with crepes and much more.

Our next adventure began Friday morning, that was making it from Barcelona to Interlaken. Our flight from Barcelona to Geneva was great and on time. When we made it into Geneva we then had to purchase a train ticket because we had missed the Bus2Alps transportation. Joey lead us in the direction of the train station and got us all squared away. The train ride was absolutely beautiful!!! We cruised through the swiss alps and dozens of blue lakes all the way there. Great opportunity for some pictures!

When we made it into Interlaken, Joey helped us to our hostel and gave us a quick tour. He showed us some places to eat and also got things worked our for us at the outdoor company we had booked our excursions through. All though we had made it there half a day late they were wonderful in allowing us to rework our schedule and still manage to do everything that we had planned on. First thing we did was rent all our ski equipment because we were going night sledding that night and then skiing the following morning!

We headed back to our hostel to get ready to night sled and grab some hot chocolate. After this we went to happy hour at our hostel and had a little drink to celebrate that we had finally made it! 6:30 rolled around and it was time to night sled!

There were around 30 of us total on the night sledding trip. We wound our way up the mountain to the course that we would be sledding at. On the drive up we were through a little tunnel that basically spiraled up the inside of the mountain. It was a single lane but had cars coming in both directions! Of course our driver was used to this and sped his way right on through. Meanwhile the van full of girls is continually reminding him to honk his horn because someone may be coming around the curve. At one point we were surprised to see a car coming in the opposite direction- we all screamed!

When we made it up the mountain, our next trip was a little gondola ride to the very top. Once at the top we had incredible views of the town below. Unfortunately a picture could not do this justice because it was too dark to show up. Ready to go sledding the instructor was going to tell us what to do. Of course we were thinking this was going to be a super safe course because they there has got to be a ton of liability in taking people sledding at night. NOPE. There were not lights what so ever. We did wear little red flashlights on our backs to see where eachother was but thats it! The only instruction we had was to stay on the white and stay away from the black--people, trees and cliffs. Very comforting. And if we couldnt stop to fall off the sled. I was ready to go! I am not going to lie though..it was a little scary at first because it was super steep and there were times we had to round some pretty sharp corners. If we didnt stay on the track it was probably a sure thing that we were going WAY off the mountain. My sledding skills might remind you of my driving skills...fast and a little out of control! We flew down the mountain and it was SO much fun. Such an adrenaline rush. We had a few stops along the way to make sure that everyone was accounted for. One of the stops was at a huge frozen waterfall. It was so pretty but once again, couldnt see it in a picture! After about an hour or so of sledding we finally made it to the bottom. Here we indulged in a yummy fondue dinner! When we finally made it back later that night we were exhausted! It was time to head to bed because we had an early morning and big day of skiing ahead of us.

We woke up Saturday moring around 7am to try and hit the slopes early. We had a little balcony off of our room that offered a beautiful view of the sunrise over the alps. Cameron and I were going to head to the mountain on our own because we had both skiied before and felt as though we did not need a lesson. Kerry Anne had not skiied before so she opted for the lesson (probably a smart idea...). We went our separate ways and were to meet up around 5pm after a day of skiing.

Cameron and I took the bus to a great mountain to ski along with some other people that were heading there from our hostel. Once we got to the bottom of the mountain we boarded a train that would take us way up top. It was about a 40 minute train ride just to the top of the mountain! The other boys that we were heading up with were an interesting crowd. One of the boys had never skiied because and was going to try and learn in the alps (really bad idea) as we commented on how high we were going in the train he kept saying "the higher we go the more i regret this decision." The other two had both skiied before and we were all giving him a quick little lesson on the way up the mountain. Once we go off up top we headed to the beginners park to warm up. HAHA beginners park......I wish. This was not Virginia!!! Bunny hills, beginngers areas, warm up--dont exist in the alps. At this point i realized i probably should have just stuck with Kerry Anne and taken the lesson so that i would not have to stress about killing myself all day. Too late now! We were so excited when we had made it to the bottom of the couse. Slowly but surely we did it. Poor Zack (this is the one that had never skiied before), he made it to the bottom alright, after running into some trees and tumbling down the mountain on several occasions. He was great at skiing but could not stop. In order to stop he would just wipe out and tumble down the mountain. I was scared watching him, i thought for sure he was going to get hurt or something! It was horrible but hilarious at the same time. We went after his skis in the trees on many occasions. There were times i had to sit and get control of myself because i was laughing so hard at his tumbles. I guess I can't say that i was much better myself... I definitely took some wild tumbles down the mountain. After this run we were so excited and hopped right on the lift to head back up to the top and go again (it took us over an hour to reach the bottom).

BIG MISTAKE. BIG MISTAKE. Did i mention we hopped right on the lift without looking to see where it was going????? It was such a scenic ride! As we headed up the mountain we noticed that where we wanted to be was quickly fading in the distance..way DOWN the mountain. As we looked forward we realized we were headed to the highest run. OOPS. I cannot even describe the fear that was running through me. We were headed up the mountain to the highest point and i had just wiped out in the beginners park. We had not clue what color runs were going to be awaiting us at the top...When we jumped off the lift we noticed all three BLACK runs and one RED (all of which are far from beginner level, the colors here are different from home). I was terrified. and so was poor Zach. But hey atleast we had the opportunity to take some great pictures! We took a ton because we knew that we were not going to be up nearly that high again. We actually had the opportunity to hop on the train from that point to head up to the tallest point in all of Europe, we were to nervous for our own good at this point and competely forgot how close we were to that train...i regret not going! It was time to head down the mountain! Of course I wiped out on the first try....and this point I had twisted and fallen on my knees so many times that i decided my safest choice for making it down this mountain was to slide on my butt. I proceeded to do so skis in hand! I know i looked ridiculas but at this point i didnt even care! I had so many people stop and ask me things in german and french. I am assuming it was an are you okay but i just laughed and kept sledding. It was actually kinda fun! I got going pretty fast at points! When i made it down further Cameron and the rest of the crew were laughing so hard and my means of transportation. Oh well atleast i made it!

Finally at the bottom it was time for lunch. We went and ate burgers at the little teepee on top of the mountain. As my knee grew larger and larger i decided i needed to rest for a bit after lunch as the rest of the group went to do some more runs. I didnt mind sitting out one bit. I had the opportunity to people watch and look out over probably one of the most beautiful scenic views i have ever seen. I took SO many pictures. My camera actually ended up breaking by the end of the day---maybe the falls had something to do with it. As the day came to a close we headed back down the mountain on the little train that brought us up. After making it back into Interlaken, Cameron and I met Kerry Anne in a little restuarant and grabbed a drink. We shared stories about our days and laughed until we cried over the events that had happened. Although it was a little scary at some points it was SOOO much fun and absolutely beautiful.

After our day filled with skiing we were excited for our fondue dinner that night. The three of us headed to a cute local fondue restuarant and ate ate ate. After a huge dinner we went into a local chocolate shop and filled up on swiss chocolate. By this point we were absolutely exhausted and ready for bed!

The following morning we were going to explore interlaken. We took off early once again. We strolled though town and walked around the river. Interlaken sits between two beautifully blue lakes. They have such a strong color because they are glacier water. Actually, they have had instances in Switzerland where the water is too clean for fish to survive in. There are little natural water fountains all over the towns and you can drink any of the water because it is so clean. After walking around the river we walked in and out of shops and made our way to the Metro Pole Hotel. This is the tallest building in Interlaken. There is a restuarant up top that you can eat at and overlook all of interlaken and the get great views of the alps. We went up for some hot chocolate and to simply enjoy the view. After this it was time to head back to our hostel and get ready to go. We took the 2 hour bus ride back into Geneva where we would spend the next 24 hours.

We intentionally scheduled our flight for Monday afternoon so that we would have the opportunity to explore a little bit of Geneva. We made it there Sunday night and headed into town for dinner. We didnt walk around too much at night because we were exhausted! We stopped at a local brewery for a drink and then headed to a yummy italian restuarant for pizza. We each had our own pizza and they were excellent. After dinner we wandered around a little bit in the expensive shopping area of Geneva. Definitely my taste, definitely not my price range! But it is always fun to window shop. We headed back to our hotel shortly after this to watch some of the USA v Canada hockey game.

The following morning we were going to explore a little bit of Geneva. The first place we headed was to the UN. Kerry Anne had visited Geneva previously and was a great little tour guide getting us through the city quickly. We simply got a look and a picture at the UN and were on to our next stop. Next we ended up near the harbor. Geneva is right on Lake Geneva and has some stunning views of the lake with the Alps in the background. It was nice to just walk around part of the harbor and enjoy the sparkling water and snowy mountains. We also got a great view of the Jet d' Eau or Jet in Geneva. The jet is a large "fountain" in the lake and a landmark in Geneva. We continued on our little journey to also see the clock made of flowers. After this we kind of wandered through the streets and touristy shops and eventually made our way back to the hotel to depart for the airport. We gave ourselves plenty of time in case we needed to rearrange flights for any reason!

My trip to Switzerland was unbelievable! The swiss alps were more than I could have ever imagined and the chocolate was great :) I would definitely go back to Interlaken again! unfortunately i dont have the time to do so again in this trip...It was great to be able to get out of the hustle and bustle of Geneva and see the sites of a little swiss town. I am sure that this will end up being one of my favorite trips!

I am so excited for my mom to get here tomorrow!!!!!!!! It is a little overcast now so I am crossing my fingers that the weather will shape up in time for her arrival.