Cowbells really do exist...

We’re in Switzerland for the fourth night, this time in Gimmewald (sounds like Lord of the Rings, right?) and we’re staying at Mountain Hostel. When we say Mountain Hostel, we mean Mountain hostel. We had to get here by gondola. Gimmewald is a quaint community, to say the least: population 100. Within the last century, the population has declined 50%. Also, a little fun fact, all the families in this community share one of two last names. But, we love it here. It’s breath-taking. The Alps are surrounding us, with snowy tops through the clouds. We got here this afternoon, after spending almost three days in Interlaken.
Before we came to Switzerland, we heard it was expensive. Considering the small towns that we’ve been visiting, we weren’t sure where our money would go. However, Interlaken is an outdoor adventure hub, and we are now adrenaline junkies. We wanted to do it all… but we settled for just three (one per day). Kristen is still fighting to bungee jump, but we’re holding off for now. All we heard about before we came to Interlaken was something called canyoning… it’sonly offered here because they don’t have insurance policies here for high adventure sports… so of course we signed up to go yesterday. However, due to the weather, it has been cancelled for the past few days. So, logically, for fear of not being able to go canyoning before our time was up, we went paragliding instead!
Yesterday afternoon the three of us strapped ourselves to a pilot and ran off the side of a mountain… to fly over Interlaken. It was BEAUTIFUL. It was pretty easy on our part, we just glided over the town from an amazing height.

The rest of the night we ate a meager meal in our little hostel room that included: a block of brie cheese, a loaf of fresh bread, apples, and crackers. But, let us not forget our dessert: a jar of chocolate “ovomaltine”… we decided it’s like a jar of melted crunch bar, but we were hoping more like nutella.
This morning Kristen and I finally experienced the long-awaited canyoning! As we piled in a van to the top of a hiking trail, we were forewarned that if we didn’t follow the instructions the guides offered, we could potentially break some limbs. When Kristen asked one of our guides what the worst thing he’d seen out there was… he only offered a funny look and said he would tell us after our trip was over. Apparently we didn’t need to know before hand. For anyone who doesn’t know what canyoning consists of (we, too, were just in your shoes) – it’s a combination of jumping off waterfalls, rapelling down cliffs, and riding natural waterslides. It was so incredible! Imagine being surrounded by the Alps, hiking through a white water river, jumping from canyon tops into pools of rushing water. It was amazing. Kristen and I had a great time. She would like to mention her award winning back flop that everyone clapped for. (It’s true, it received applause…)
So tonight, we find ourselves at the Mountain Hostel. It’s a very unique place. We love it. It’s a typical Swiss wooden house with backpackers galore. We went to a market to buy food for dinner -a mere 50 minute hike to the next “town”. We used the kitchen here and cooked a great meal with vegetables and all. Not to mention another selection of cheese. We’re becoming quite addicted with every meal.
Our time in Switzerland has been refreshing –it’s been very relaxing and amazingly beautiful. We can see why people love Switzerland so much. We’re off to Spain tomorrow by gondola to bus to train to train to yet another train to plane. We’re ready for a little warmer weather.

Note to self: outdoor adventures are definitely better with Swassie guides

Note to public forum of male readers: Kristen has already booked her honeymoon here. Any takers?