Interlaken blog (Interloggin'?...)

For the long weekend a week and a half ago, five of us decided to go to Interlaken, Switzerland, for a couple of days. It's well known as an outdoorsy area, a beautiful sub-alpine region noted for its hiking, skiing, and other active pursuits.

I'll let a couple of these pictures speak for themselves -- Interlaken is indeed amazing. Notice the blue color of the water; the lakes are fed by glacial-runoff, which makes them really cold, but really refreshing to have a quick dip in.

We hiked up the Harder Kulm, about 700 metres over 3 kilometers or so. Of course, my usual days consisting of sitting in front of a desk, I accomplished the hike up and down with some difficulty. I really should start exercising more...but I digress -- here's a shot from partway through the hike -- We've overlooking the town and one of the lakes, and it's definitely more breathtaking when we were there. The highlight of the next day was a white-water rafting excursion down the Lutschiene river, a glacial stream that feeds one of the lakes in the area. The water was cold, of course, but it was tonnes of fun. And of course, with me not knowing how to swim, things got interesting when we hopped into the water for a quick dip in the ridiculously freezing water (in wetsuits and lifeys, of course). A couple of pictures follow:

Of course, I had to try some Swiss Fondue. It was indeed tasty -- melted cheese with white wine and some spices, which you dip bread into. Yummy! All in all, the place (and the country in general, as first impressions go) is simply beautiful. It's definitely one of those places that I will want to return to, when I'm a little older and a lot richer -- Switzerland is an expensive country. However, this trip out was worth every penny.