SWITZERLAND: INTERLAKEN & ZURICH

This past weekend, it was my school's winter break, so we decided to spend it in Switzerland! It was everything that Wisconsinites love: cheese and skiing! It also happened to be my birthday weekend, and I wouldn't have wanted to be in any other country. (Maybe in the US with my family...) I was done with class earlier than the rest of the group. So, I left for the airport early and was able to FaceTime all my grandparents! I met up with everyone, and we ate a quick dinner before going to our gate.

I was stuck in a middle seat, but I was still able to get a little bit of homework done during the flight. Once we landed, we said goodbye to Grace, Alexandra, and MK, and Sarah Jane, Karly, Katie, and I walked to find a place to sleep in the airport.

Yes, you read that right. We had a 5:30 am train the next morning, and we landed late, so it didn’t make sense to me to pay for a ₣70 capsule hotel room for a few hours of sleep. 

We found a small corner in a quiet area and set up camp. We had a very nice custodian clean up the floor around us, but thankfully we were still awake. All of a sudden, someone over the intercom said that the gates would be closing and we wouldn’t be able to exit the airport until 6:00 a.m. and our train was at 5:30 a.m. We speed-walked out of the airport as quickly as possible and went to the train station, which was connected to the airport. We found another corner and tried to get some sleep. 

I probably got a terrible 1 1/2 hours of sleep, but it’s better than nothing. It is safe to say that I will not be doing that again. The next morning, or basically the same day, we boarded our train and were on the way to Interlaken! 

 

The second I saw the Swiss Alps outside the window, I knew I was going to love this trip. We arrived in Interlaken a little before 8 a.m. and went to Aarburg Cafe for breakfast!

I ended up getting the French toast, and it revived my sleep deprivation. After, we went to the Coop, a nearby grocery store, to grab some snacks and food for sandwiches before our big skiing day the next day. Close by was our hostel, Balmer’s, so we walked there after to drop off our backpacks. If you are ever in Interlaken, stay at Balmer’s! 

It was beyond amazing; we had an adorable room, it was in a great location, and there was so much to do in the hostel. 

They also had a wall with postcards where people wrote where they were from! Once we dropped off our backpacks, we walked to Lake Brienz, which is one of two lakes in Interlaken. The weather was a little rainy, but I was so excited to be in Switzerland that I didn’t phase myself.

Of course, I had to add one to the wall.

The walk to the lake was stunning, and I will never get sick of looking at the mountains. I'm almost positive that the reason my neck hurts so much is because of how often I've looked up at the mountains.

We spent a good amount of time by the water, taking pictures and attempting to skip rocks, before walking back to the hostel. 

Once back at the hostel, we ate lunch from Coop, and I waited for Caitlin’s train to get into Interlaken so I could meet her at the station.

Where's Caitlin?

Another reason I was excited for this trip was because my friend Caitlin was staying with us for the weekend! We grabbed all her ski stuff so we could walk back to the hostel to check in.

The view from our window.

Next door was the place where we were renting our skis, so all of us walked over to get our gear to bring back to the hostel. 

After relaxing for a while, a small group of us went out to dinner to eat one of Switzerland’s greatest delicacies: fondue. It was delicious at first, but my stomach and fondue quickly realized they were not the best for friends, so I didn’t get to eat that much of it.

What was worse was that Grace, Alexandra, and MK ordered chocolate fondue, and I wanted to eat it so bad. 

Since my stomach was still hurting, I took an indigestion pill and went straight to bed. We woke up bright and early the next morning go head to the Alps to go skiing! Grace and Katie made PB&J’s for everyone so we could have a “pocket sandwich” on the hill. 

After taking a bus and a train, we made it to the mountain! We got our boots and gear situated before taking the gondola up!

The more we went up the mountain, the more snow formed on the ground. But someone told us that this was the least amount of snow they had seen in years!

Once we got to the top, we took a few necessary photos.

Seriously, these are some of the prettiest views I have ever seen. I could've stayed and looked at it all day. 

As you can clearly tell, Karly and I were excited!

Shoutout to Caitlin for bringing her camera and taking lots and lots of photos.

I’m surprised I only fell once while skiing because I could not stop staring at the mountains the entire time. I would compare the runs to being sort of like when I skied in Utah, but I honestly think they were a little more difficult.

The altitude was also getting to me at the right time, and constantly changing altitude made me feel nauseous most of the day, but how can I complain when I skied in the Swiss Alps?

Around lunchtime, we took a break to eat our sandwiches and snacks. 

We also had the best weather ever for skiing, and it was the perfect temperature. We spent part of our break basking in the sun.

We ended our ski day by taking the longest run possible, going from the very top of the mountain all the way back down to Grindelwald Terminal. It went from having extremely icy conditions to perfect snow to practically skiing on mud. My entire body was exhausted.

Once we made it back to the hostel, Caitlin and I relaxed our muscles in the hot tub. I did forget a swimming suit, but Caitlin came to the rescue as per usual. We ended the night by eating a homemade dinner made by Karly and Katie before ending the night early once again.

Pasta with pesto, salad, and garlic bread!

The next morning, we woke up around 8:30 a.m. to drop off our ski gear and get breakfast. 

We went across the street to a little bakery, and I got a chocolate croissant and a Zigerkrapfen, basically a cheese Danish. Around 10:30 a.m., we got picked up by Paragliding Interlaken to take us up the mountain to go paragliding! This is one of the coolest experiences of my life, and it still shocks me that we did this. The drive-up was gorgeous, and once again, we had great weather.

The whole takeoff process was super easy, and I wasn’t nervous whatsoever.

Once we were up in the air, I don’t think a smile ever left my face.

Once we landed, we grabbed our postcards at a nearby souvenir shop and walked back to the hostel to get ready for our hike. Grace, Katie, Karly, Karly’s friend Brianna, and I hiked up the Harder Klum. Hand’s down, the hardest hike of my life.

I think it would’ve been a lot easier if it was warmer and the altitude was lower, but I was so out of breath. 

By some miracle, we all made it to the top! Even though it was tough, I’m so proud of myself for getting to the top because it was, by far, not easy.

In total, the hike was a little under 7.60 km (5 miles), and we walked up 767m (2,516 ft).

The walk down was a lot easier, but do not hike 5 miles after skiing. My legs are still dead. For obvious reasons, I relaxed in bed for a while before walking next door to get pizza for dinner! Since I didn’t eat any in Paris, it was time to get another. Plus, it was one of the cheaper options for dinner. 

No surprise, after eating dinner, I went straight to bed before our quick day trip in Zurich. The next morning, we walked to the train station for our 7:00 a.m. train ride. I was able to get a little bit of homework done while going to Zurich, so that was a success. Once we got into Zurich, we dropped our backpacks off at the lockers and walked to a few different churches.

The first church was St. Peter's Church, and then we saw the Fraumünster Church.

Lastly, we walked past the Grossmünster Church before heading to Lake Zurich.

The lake was super pretty, and we walked around the outskirts of it for a little while.

We found a souvenir hut and grabbed a Zurich postcard before we forgot.

After walking for a bit, we ordered an Uber to take us to the Lindt Factory for our tour. 

During the tour, we got to taste test a bunch of chocolate, and we all had major stomach aches after.

We also got free Lindor Truffles of a few various flavors and tried to stuff our pockets as much as we could’ve.

The rest of the afternoon we spent grabbing a late lunch or early dinner at Firehouse Subs, sitting at the train station, and waiting to go to the airport. Once at the airport, I tried to get more homework done while on the flight, but I had an emergency exit seat, so it was hard to focus. But once I got home, I went straight to bed before my birthday on Monday morning! Switzerland was by far the place I wanted to be for my birthday weekend!

Best Part of the Trip: Without a doubt, skiing. I mean, who gets to say they skied in the Swiss Alps?!

Worst Part of the Trip: Everything in Switzerland is extremely expensive. I wish prices were cheaper, but besides that, everything about this trip was amazing.

Overall Thoughts: I think I left a piece of my heart in Switzerland, specifically Interlaken. I had the absolute best time, and I cannot believe we did some of the things we did. Everything about the trip was picture-perfect. It was also so nice to have a familiar face to spend the weekend with. However, be warned: Swiss chocolate is addicting. Pizza was last week, but this week I don’t think I can even look at chocolate without getting nauseous. All jokes aside, I will without a doubt be back in Switzerland at some point in my life.