Interlaken and Geneva - Switzerland

We landed in Geneva at around 10.30am on Wednesday 26th of June. From the airport we caught a few (very scenic) trains to get to Interlaken, a small town amongst the Swiss Alps, known mostly for the adventure sports you can do there. 

View from our hostel room

Once we checked into our hostel, Laura was off to do her bungee jump! Josh, Bren and I decided to go on the 'Harder Bahn', an insanely steep train (surprisingly close to a 90 degree angle) that took us up to the top of a mountain (altitude 1321.31m). There is a big viewing deck up the top which gives a view of the whole of Interlaken. Also, if you looked straight ahead, amongst the many other mountain peaks you could see the top of the huge snow-covered Jungfrau mountain, the tallest mountain in Europe. It really was one of the most beautiful views! 

It almost looks flat...but this is uphill - so steep

Interlaken

You can see Jungfrau to the left of Bren's head just above the clouds

We then went and had lunch at an Irish pub because it was the cheapest food we could find. Switzerland is RIDICULOUSLY expensive. At Maccas it's $15 for a McChicken meal! What jokers. 

We then went to meet Laura who was high as a kite after her bungee. We roamed the main street of Interlaken and got a hot chocolate before heading home. 

The next day we all had some kind of sport planned. The boys left in the morning to do white water rafting and Laura left to do sky diving. Unfortunately the weather wasn't good enough to do the sky dive so she joined me for a kayak. We were kayaking for about 10 minutes and I tipped over into the FREEZING cold Interlaken river....that wasn't the greatest experience but it was pretty hilarious. 

The river..

So I went home to have a warmmmmmmmmmmmm shower and then Laura and I went to this AMAZING swiss chocolate shop called 'Laderach' and bought a feast to drown my sorrows. After a hot chocolate and another Irish pub lunch, we packed up our stuff and caught a train back to Geneva. 


 

We arrived to a rainy Geneva late afternoon. After some dinner at a pub, we went back to the hostel to watch more of the Confederations Cup and play a bit of monopoly deal. We were all pretty tired from our 'sporting' adventures. 

The next day we got up early to go for a tour at the United Nations Headquarters. It was pretty cool to see! Especially all the different gifts each country has given the UN and being able to sit in the rooms where huge decisions where made. 

                        

We then walked down to the Geneva lake to see the big garden clock and the fountain (which pretty much looked like the one in Lake Burley Griffin - I think one was inspired by the other?) 

After an expensive McDonalds lunch, we searched for Swatch watches and chocolate and were successful in both quests. I bought myself a new swatch watch! 

god I was white back then...

Switzerland was beautiful, it was just so scenic but super expensive (except for their watches). Our quick trip to Switzerland ended that night when we caught a very delayed plane to Madrid!