Interlaken in Da Rain

Less pics here because my Wifi is bad sorry!

Last travel day when I was writing from the train from Lugano to Lucern went a lot smoother than the Como day. The Swiss trains run on time. I’ve also noticed the people here are a bit nicer in general, and more willing to go out of their way to help you. I loved Italy but they did lack some friendliness in places. 

Another first impression of Switzerland is that it is expensive as hell. The CHF is very strong right now 1.25 USD to 1 CHF and on top of that Interlaken just has high prices ($6.50 for a small cappuccino that I got for 2 bucks in Italy). On the other side of that coin, you get what you pay for and everything we’ve bought here has been top quality. 

We had a fantastic meal after checking into our hostel (which is also very unique and cool, Balmers Interlaken). Again we hadn’t eaten all day so we feasted on a burger for me, octopus for debar, and ribs between the table. Hit the spot to say the least. We walked the town in the drizzling rain and scouted the Aare river. The views here look just as fake in person as they do in pictures. We called it an early night to get ready for an adventurous Friday. 

The quiet town in the morning was unbelievable and the cuckoo clock houses are just as pristine as the landscape. We had some delightful eggs and back bacon (??whatever that was) at a place called the Aarburg hotel with a view of the river. The water color of the alpine lakes and rivers is nothing I’ve ever seen before.

We were then supposed to paraglide at 1030 but the town was in a full cloud dome not enough visibility to fly. We rescheduled it for the afternoon and hoped the rain would hold off then went to hike and find a fly fishing spot.

We trekked on down next to the Aare towards Lake Thun. The wilderness there was clean and picturesque. I hiked around and checked out the ruins of the Weissnau castle which was pretty sick and debar fly fished to no avail. We did see a Swiss guy catch a grayling (type of fish found in these rivers) and learned that they were sitting at the bottom unlike trout. He gave debar a weight but we didn’t have enough time to give it a good shot at catching one. We had to get back for the next doomed attempt at paragliding. 

This time we took the van with the pilots all the way up the mountain to the spot where we’d jump from but none of the guys were hopeful we’d go as it was raining. They wanted to see what it looked like though because the weather changes fast there. The dudes were hilarious and bantering back and forth about going. They were speaking three different languages though so we could not keep up. 

Our one guy could tell that Debar and I were prepared for the weather unlike the other 3 people in our van so he asked us if we’d still want to go get soaked and have a shorter flight in the rain. We said yeah and he was cracking up because he thought we’d say no. They game planned some more but it wasn’t to be. Back on down the mountain. 

We hit up a couple places for food and drink and the German beerhall Husi gave a good taste of Oktoberfest for us. It was popping and the workers were decked out and drinking too. Debar had some schnitzel and the liter of beer and we took in a little Ryder cup action and talked to a British couple. We got some souvenirs and Swiss chocolate and called it a night in the rainy 45 degree weather. Tough end to the trip for my guy but we had a great time. 

Hoping to get the paragliding in today (sorry debar) as the weather clears up in the afternoon, and possibly a hike on top of it. I’ll also add some pics from here when I get back to reliable wifi. On to meet Tommy boy in Zurich tomorrow and I’ll check back in when I feel like it.