Switzerland 5/30/11

My foot is on the way to recovery and I was off to Switzerland on Friday. We lugged out bags int he ridiculous heat all the way to the train station and loaded up on the bus. The ride was about 8 hours and I did my usual magic and slept for about 7 hours and about 34 different positions occasionally opening one eye to check what movie is on. The rest stations in Europe are so cool and nice! They are like a maze but they sell paninis, coffee, meat, meat, meat, cheese, cheese, cheese, and so much more bread. Anyways we arrived to the Funny Farm Hotel and Hostel at about 4 am and our room looked like a 1970s trailer park with 4 bunk beds. The next morning unfortunately it was raining :(. I still wanted to get the best of my day so we went out and explored the streets and tried to find shops. We ate at a cute irish pub and met three brothers from Texas who were traveling around and staying at a hostel next to us. I looked around the shops and discovered they do not sell regular sweatshirts. There symbol really is the red cross sign, which i would assume the red cross took from switzerland maybe because theres so many adventure sports and people get hurt a lot. There were also a ridiculous amount of swiss army knives which i was so tempted to buy but realized i really probably have no use for. Anyways we tried to toastie (a grilled cheese sandwich) instead of the roastie (switzerland famous hash brown cuisine) on accident because the R looked like a T. At about 7 we went on a swiss chocolate tasting tour which of course was amazing reminded me of the good old days when i worked at Leonidas. We tried all kinds of liquor chocolates and i continued my made hunt for the perfect alps beanie. At night we went to Balmer's a close by hostel with a club, where the 3 boys we met stay. We had a great time dancing in the disco club! The next morning (saturday) I was woken up by the beautiful snow covered mountains and bright sun. You know me an early riser, i started to get excited and I guess i was shaking the top bunk too much because the bottom bunk was shaking and woke up not early riser Maddy. It was time for her to wake up and smell the roses anyways, not to mention i never learned the bunk bed courtesy rules. We went down and ate our free breakfast of huge loafs of bread and jam. I consumed a ridiculous amount of bread and cheese on this trip. We went to the canyoning office and got prepared for seriously the best day of my life. I was so enthralled with the mountains, crisp fresh non smokey air, and the humble friendly people with goofy aussie accents. We drove an hour into the canyons and loaded about 30 pounds of wet suits and gear on us creating the lard goofy smurf look, but hey I could be thrown around like luggage. We repelled down a 200 foot wall to start and continued to zip line, climp, jump, slide, swim and scream. At one point me and maddy literally could not breath because the water was so cold we had visions of the titanic in our heads. Check Out my pictures to see what a great time we had. To take the wet suit gear off our instructor instructed us to peel eachother like bananas. Me and Maddy took that literally and mad complete fools of ourselves dragging eachother across the grass stripping our wet suits off as Australian men laughed at us. After we were rewarded with fresh sandwiches and beer in the beauty of the alpine mountains. Our other friends decided to go canyon jumping and as we got back they were so nervous so we jumped in the van with them and rode along for moral support. I am soo happy I did not go Canyon jumping because you literally are throwing yourself off a cliff to swing? It lasts about 30 seconds and there is not enjoyment, great pictures, or laughter just pure adrenaline and preparation for suicide. Anyways we had a great time video taping everyone and having our own 2 person dance party on the cliff of the alps, we even found a secret trampoline and bounced in the mountains of the ALPS, have you ever heard anything cooler than that?  Anyways that about completed the best day of my life right after I finished a warm spinach soup and cheeseburger. By the way cheese fondue is the WORST smell in the whole world literally I thought the smell was coming from the Huge wet saint bernard hanging out in the foyer. The next day was just as beautiful and we headed up to Lauterbrunen to go hiking and we discovered lots of cows and waterfalls. We tried the roastie which was good but I felt so gross after so much cheese bread and potatoes. I learned Swiss people love adventure, bread, and to talk about sex. I have planned my next trip in the winter and my life as a doctor and adventurer in my new home!! i am in love!