Emily and Cody's Eurotrip: Interlaken, Switzerland

Tuesday-Thursday- 6/14-16/11- Interlaken

Mom and Dad,

We left Paris yesterday at 7:00AM! That meant a wake up time of 5:00, just to be on the safe side :) We caught a train to Belfort, from there we jumped on one to Mulhouse Ville, then on to Basel, finally we boarded our last train from Basel to Interlaken. It was an eight or nine hour trip, but after arriving in Interlaken, it was all worth it. Interlaken in a small village surrounded by the Swiss Alps and enclosed on both sides by beautiful Glacial Lakes. These lakes are made of water melted from two huge glaciers. I have never seen a place this beautiful. It is literally breathtaking. After getting settled and oriented in our very cool, very old, hostel, (I will post pictures) we began to get oriented with the village. Everywhere you look are old, Swiss style, wooden buildings with flower boxes, set against the backdrop of snow-capped mountains and green trees. We walked to the nearest lake along a walking trail we discovered, and were blown away by the clear blue water and giant mountains on every side. After our walk we found a place to try Swiss fondue. It was actually in the restaurant attached to our hostel. This is where we ran across our first rude individual. The restaurant was very expensive, so we decided to share a serving of cheese fondue (20 Swiss Francs, which are worth more than the dollar). The waitress was very rude about this. Oh, well we didn't let it ruin the fondue or our night. We just walked down the road and paid twelve franks for a pizza :) We tried McDonald's first, and would you believe that a #1 costs almost thirteen Franks! That's a good deal more than fifteen US dollars! We skipped that and chose the pizza. We slept well in our single room bunk beds. We left the windows open and breathed fresh mountain air all night. Cody got a little cold, but the weather here is PERFECT! WE MUST all come back here. I know you would love it. We have said a thousand times, "Mom and Dad would love it here!" This has been a welcome break from the big city life we have experienced so far. We are sad, but excited to move on to Munich tomorrow. After sleeping in a little, and eating a great free breakfast, we went on our white-water rafting trip. This is probably the coolest thing we have done yet. We had to wear wet suits because the water is so cold coming from the glaciers. We were two of three people on our eight person raft that spoke English, which meant we were pretty much the only ones following commands haha, and the only ones doing any real paddling. This is partly my fault because I asked a group of Koreans, who were looking a bit lost, to join us. Then, because it was obvious we would be in trouble if I didn't, I volunteered Cody and I to take the lead. He was not happy at first, but he soon discovered that the front of the boat was much more fun :) We paddled on our own the entire way while our new friends looked around and enjoyed the sites. We went down a few rough rapids, but we handled it like old pros ;) and the rafting trip concluded with a beautiful entrance into Lake Brienz, one of the glacial lakes (the one we walked to last night). We were able to jump in and experience the cold water a few times which felt AMAZING after sweating in those super tight, thick, black, and hot wet suits. It was so much fun, and both of us are so glad we did it. I never imagined I would be paddling a boat through the Swiss Alps! SO COOL!! We head out of here at 11:00 in the morning, but before we go we are going to check out the Yodel Festival that happens here every year and starts tomorrow! Apparently, thousands of people from all over the world come to this thing haha. Should be an experience :) As usual please forgive my typos and weird spelling. These keyboards just keep changing on me, and they charge us by the minute! I love you both. Tell all of Misti's babies we love them. I hope Six Flags is good to you all especially you Mom!!!! I will write again soon.

Love,

Emily and Cody