December 10, 2006
Ben and I just returned from an amazing trip to Switzerland. We had so many unbelievable experiences. It started on Thursday (Thursday and Friday were city and national holidays in Milan). We rented a car and drove with Catherine and Bryan north. The day was dreary and raining. Milan has been that way for a while now and it does get depressing. On our way, we kept going through mountain tunnels. Ben kept saying each time, that when we got out of the tunnel, it would be sunny with blue skies. But that didn't work, until we went through a 17-km tunnel and when we finally emerged, we were greeted with blue skies, sunshine and the snow capped mountains of the Alps. We couldn't believe it and were all yelling. We got out of the car and took pictures. It was an incredible moment.
We arrived in Bern (the capitol) at dusk and were amazed at the beautiful city. It was like no other place I've ever been. Very medieval and rustic. From our hotel rooms, the roof tops looked like something Peter Pan and Wendy might have flown over. I was especially happy because right away I found some Ben and Jerry's and Starbucks. We went to the Christmas market and looked around. The four of us had some "gluwien" , which is like spiced wine. Everyone stands around drinking it from these green mugs in the market and it was very festive. For dinner we wanted some traditional Swiss food, so I had fondue and the others had sausages, chicken or eggs with potato's that looked like hash browns. It was all very artery clogging, but good. The next day we visited the Munster, which is the big church, and we went to another Christmas market. After shopping for awhile (and finding a wonderful chocolate shop), we got back in the car and headed for Grindelwald, a mountain town near Interlaken.
The drive there was beautiful, but there was no snow on the ground. Our hostel was nestled in between the mountain peaks and our views were of green hills dotted with the swiss A frame chalets. While we hung out and played cards, it started to snow. By the time we went out, it had snowed 6 inches. We went to a nice bar where this british band was playing and it was a lot of fun.
The next morning, it had not stopped snowing, so we had a great breakfast of local cheese and yogurt and bread and then headed up to the town. The walk up the hill was beautiful and fun with about a foot of snow. Every house was so ornate and lovely to see in the snow. We ended up at the sports centre (free passes came with our hostel room). There, we all put on skates and Bryan taught us how to play hockey (he used to play pro hockey). We were the only ones on the ice and had a great time. After that we went to the indoor pool where they had this huge tunnel slide that went outside and shot you back into the pool. Very fun.
That evening, our hostel was hosting an "Opening of Winter party" But since there hadn't been any snow til then, no one was around in the town. For the party, they had a band come to play. We thought it would be like a rock band or something, but no. It was a huge orchestra, like a marching band. They all arrived in santa hats and played strange songs, like by Green Day. We watched them practice outside our window in the snow, and it was very odd. The "drum major" was this girl who didn't conduct at all, just jumped around playing air guitar and then kneeling on the ground and posing with a menacing look on her face. It was so weird.
We ended up staying for the party, which was so fun. Not only was it in the snow (still coming down), but they had made bars and tables out of the snow and had lanterns all around. And the food was served from a huge black cauldron over a fire. So we stood around the fire and met a lot of the band, who were hilarious. We met a guy who actually made cheese and one who made robots. Apparently, most young people who live in a small town in Switzerland are in one of these bands and they travel around some weekends and basically just party and have fun. I never though band dorks could be so cool. You'll see from one of the pictures that I got to learn how to play the trombone. By the end, the band was performing for the four of us and the owners of the hostel who were really nice. Afterwards, we went out to this crazy bar with them all.
What a fun experience and Grindelwald is really a great place. Incredibly beautiful and fun.
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