-AwA-AvwvA-

the title of this post is not so much a name...but rather a picture of the swiss alps. :) As i look out the window of our hostel room in Interlaken the snow-covered mountain peaks poke in and out of the clouds and surround us on all sides. its absolutely gorgeous here! we got in around midnight two days ago and followed the directions we had to the hostel. we got a little lost along the way, as it was very dark and foreign to us. we flagged down a taxi to ask if he could point us in the right direction and he said he would take us for 14 fr. we asked if he could just point us in the right direction and he said no...then drove off. we knew it was less than a mile away, we just werent sure which way to walk. a nice man on a bicycle rode past and we flagged him down for directions. he was very kind and gave us directions. Balmers has been a great place to stay with lots of people coming to ski and snowboard in the best snow this part of switzerland has had in 10 years.

the first day after we got here we walked around the town and visited shops along the streets. we got bread, cheese and yogurt from the grocery store and ate lunch next to a pretty river that runs through the city. it was crazy to, after only seeing the town in the dark, wake up to the glorious alps surrounding us. after getting off the train in the dark emily pointed in some direction and said- is that a mountain, or just some clouds. i said-no, i dont think thats a mountain, it must just be dark over there. we felt so stupid to find out that the "cloud" was a giant mountain towering over the city.

theres a list of activities they offer at the hostel including: ski/snowboarding, paragliding over the alps, skydiving, canyon jumping, bungie jumping, night sledding, bowling, ice skating and other extreme sports. we decided to try nightsledding and went last night. it was soooo much fun. we got all geared up with special boots and ski pants then they took us up the mountain at about 630pm where we collected sleds and rode a gondola even farther up. after a quick tutorial the 15 of us started down the mountain on our plastic sleighs. the course was a summer driving road that had been snowed over this winter and it wound all the way down and around the mountain. the views of the mountains and little villages were breathtaking, and the sledding was a blast. we crashed a couple of times and had to walk our sleds through the flat parts. our guide showed us a frozen waterfall on one of the cliff faces, and led our group as we flew down the mountain. sledding in the dark is something ive never done before, and it was a little scary at first, but we loved it. we all wore glow sticks on our backs so we would know where everyone was.

when we got to the bottom of the course there was a yummy swiss dinner awaiting us. we started with salad then shared a swiss cheese fondue with bread dippers and ended with a fried egg-hashbrown plate (a little strange but i guess its a traditional dish). we finished our food and beer and headed back to the hostel.

today we took a bus and conglomeration of trains up one of the mountains to a town called wengen. there emily, victoria (an australian girl we became friends with on the sled ride) and i walked around admiring the views from high up in the snow. it was beautiful, all blanketed with white. we ate lunch at a cute restaurant and talked a bunch.

Interlaken has been a fun little town. and it is a very little town. tonight were going to a chocolate shop to see how they make the chocolate and taste a few. tomorrow we will see a little bit of bern, the capitol, and make our way to lucerne.