Switzerland

First off, we finally made it OUT of Spain. I think that once you’re in Spain, she will do everything in her power to keep you there, as was demonstrated by the ten bajillion little trains we had to take to get to Bern. I believe it was Barcelona to Cerbere to Narbonne to Arles to Basel to Bern… And there might have been one other stop in there, but I don’t remember.

It was an adventure, especially when Dane didn’t reserve the overnight train from Arles to Basel and the ticket office at Arles was closed. I was upset, though he assured me it would be fine and to stop sulking (I know, I worry too much). So, for lack of any better plan, we just got on the train like we had tickets. The conductor asked us for our tickets, and we said that the lady at the station had said our Eurail pass was the only ticket we needed. He smiled and told us (this is in very broken English, since he spoke French and neither of us do) that we needed an extra ticket to reserve the overnight train, but he’d sell it to us right there (this is where Dane gave me the “I told you so” look). Did €1.20 each sound about right?

We tried not to smile or give each other incredulous looks, since usually overnight trains cost a bit more than that. We said that yes, that sounded fine, and the train was off!

So we finally got to Bern. We had decided to take this day easy and decide what we wanted to do for the rest of the trip, since we had been talking about the “go home” feeling since Barcelona. We called Dane’s dad, called my dad, and then decided to explore the city a little. Downtown Bern isn’t terribly exciting, or big, but it’s very quaint and very Swiss. Plus the streets had names like “Spittalgasse”. How could you not love it? We wandered up to the northern area of the city and walked down a beautiful path surrounded by woods. Then the trees cleared and we saw this:

I was in LOVE. And that is the honest-to-goodness color of that water. I really wish we had jumped off the foot bridge into it, like so many of the native people there were doing. (and their dogs). We ate lunch there, talked, and just enjoyed the beauty around us. After a couple hours, we wandered around the main city some more. Again, there’s not much to see in the way of buildings, but the views and surrounding countryside are just GORGEOUS.

One thing I’ve always wanted to do was see the Bern, Switzerland temple, so we did. It’s gorgeous, and amazingly close to the city. We walked around the grounds, then knelt down on the cool, green grass in the shade of the beautiful trees and prayed about our decision to come home early. We stayed there a bit longer, then went back to Bern and called Dane’s dad, and he set up our flights home. What an amazing man.

The next day we went to Interlaken. It’s this little town nestled in the Alps, about an hour outside Bern. It is, quite honestly, the most beautiful place on earth. The sky was blue, the mountains were green, and in the distance the larger ones were snow-capped, and the air smelled so fresh and clean—a nice break after being in cities where everyone smokes like chimneys.

We went up a little further to Laterbrunnen, which has this fabulous waterfall that just jets straight out of a cliff. It was the toughest, steepest little hike I’ve ever been on (and the high altitude didn’t help), but it was one of the more amazing and beautiful things I’ve ever experienced—to stand in a little carved out section of the cliff behind the waterfall, to feel the spray of the water on my face and arms and legs, and to look out over the entire valley… Dane commented that, despite the glorious and beautiful things man has made, they are nothing compared to what God has made. I echo that statement. Standing there in that setting made me feel closer to God than a cathedral ever would.

We went back to Interlaken and hiked along the lake a bit before finding a little beach. We ate our lunch, then decided to go swimming. The lake is pure glacial melt off (think Lake Tahoe, but colder). It wasn’t so much swimming as it was Dane coaxing me in inch by inch for about 15 minutes, but eventually I just took the plunge. It was freezing, but I’m so glad I did it =D Then Dane pretended to propose to me as a tour boat full of Japanese tourists went by. We were definitely pointed at and had pictures taken of us. It was awesome =]

Sadly, we had to leave Interlaken much earlier than we would have liked. I could have spent a week there and not gotten tired of it. I think I’ll have to go back and hike all the trails we couldn’t.

Back in Bern, we had just enough time to get our tickets to Venice, stock up on food for dinner, and get a TON of Swiss chocolate. We ate it slowly over the next few days, but it was some of the best chocolate I’ve ever had.

(Yes, that is a 4.5 kg Toblerone bar)

I really liked Switzerland. The food and the internet cafes were crazy expensive ($1 for 6 minutes?!), but that’s because its charm lies outside the cities. I think everyone should see true beauty like that at least once in their life.

Next post: Italy!
When: TBA…