Yesterday morning around 10:30 I arrived in Bern. The directions to the hostel were confusing and took me over an hour to find the place when it really would have been 15 if I knew where I was going.
The culture shock of northern Europe has arrived. Before Switzerland, I was able to get by in the previous countries with my knowledge of Spanish. Here it is a completely different game. Part of the reason why I was so lost was because all the street names end in -gasse, with a prefix that is just as confusing. Luckily most Swiss know English and are willing to help out. Yes! America triumphs again.
Check in was not until 3 pm. With a solid three and a half hours to kill I set out on a mission to explore the city. Food came as first priority though. The problem I have with Switzerland is it is so expensive. Everything is twice as much as elsewhere in Europe. How do these people afford to live here? Later I found out that minimum wage is 20 Swiss francs/hr.
A supermarket has carry out sandwiches and wurst. I ate a smoked ham on pretzel bread and a Swiss pig in a blanket. Those items and a coke were over 15 Sfr.
Afterwards I was really in the mood to find a park along the River Taene to sit and read. My city map had a botanical garden outlined on the other side of the River, so I headed that way. Crossing the bridge I looked down at the ice cold, fast moving water and noticed people floating in it. Alright, reading can wait. It's hot, I'm sweaty and haven't showered in about two days. Time to take a dip.
I made my way down to the riverside, hid my pack in some bushes, and found a lower bridge people were jumping into the water from. The great thing about the Taene is that the city of Bern built concrete steps in to the shoreline every 200 meters so you can float for as long as you wish, swim over, and hop out. I jumped in and floated about half a kilometer three times, then decided to move on.
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| Ice cold swim in the River Taene |
Later that night we ended up getting dinner. The choice: Kebap. We paid about three times as much for kebap as we would have in any other country. Afterwards I was full and ready to call it a night. Nick however had different ideas. I think I was one of the few English speakers he has met on his trip, who also liked to party. So we walked around town and drank a couple beers while searching for a pub. Find a pub proved difficult in this UNESCO World Heritage Site city. Eventually we settled on a pub he had previously been to. The place sucked though. The patrons were all male ages 15-20, and the bar was playing some kind of German deathmetal screamo music. We each had a couple of beers then called it a night.
Canyon Time
This morning I woke early and caught the 7:34 train to Interlaken. Nick was heading to Zurich for the day so we both walked to the train station. Once there he asked if I wanted to meet up in Brussels later on in the trip. Sounded like a plan to me, then I set off for my train. I arrived in Interlaken West 30 minutes before the scheduled pick up. Once there I met a couple from Zurich who were doing the same thing. The van arrived a little after nine and whisked us over to the canyoning tours shop. Inside I was fitted for a wet suit, jacket, shoes, life vest, harness, and helmet. At some point in this process our tour guide informed us that canyoning was in fact illegal in the U.S.A. Liability coverage must have been out the wazoo.
Our group consisted of the Swiss couple, 4 people from New York, 4 LSU law students, the tour guide Mustard, and myself. The helmets we wore all had nick names written on them for the guide to call us by. Mine was Bandit.
Bandit and the ten desperadoes loaded into a van and rode up a winding road into the Swiss Alps. About halfway up we stopped, got out, and hiked our way to the starting point of our three hour canyoning adventure.
Once we were at the top of the canyon our guide went through the usual when it comes to safety talks. Keep you helmet on. Follow my footsteps. Do exactly as I say. Blah, blah, blah. Bandit was ready to get is canyon on.
We started out hiking back and forth across the stream we were to follow on our experience and climbing over some boulders. The air was warming up and the neoprene suit had me sweating bullets. This is no surprise since I have been sweating nonstop on the mainland continent. I needed to get wet quickly.
Our first slice of action was rappelling down a 30-40 foot ledge. The guide had control of the descent and speed of the descent too, yet it was still exhilarating going down the side of a cliff next to a waterfall. I waited in some wading water for the remainder of our group to come down. As I am wading one of the girls going to LSU law breaks some terrible news to me.
She attended UGA for her undergrad, therefore she was a bulldog at heart. The news was shocking yet came as no surprise. Isaiah Crowell has been kicked off the football team. Our Heisman hopeful apparently got in a bit of nasty trouble warranting his expulsion from the team. Dawg girl wasn't exactly sure what he was charged with but something along the lines of weapons charge or domestic dispute/violence. Why are our athletes stupid enough to pull these kinds of stunts every single year? Something about their obliviousness for the law or sense of entitlement tells me that there is an environment which nourishes this bad behavior. I do not doubt the headlines blew up when the story broke. Could the education system be blamed for this atmosphere? Man I wish I could check the fake Isaiah Crow twitter account right now.
Back to canyoning. Next we rode down a chute for a brief moment before gathering once more and heading to our first jump. Mustard was really stressing the proper technique and form for cliff jumping while canyoning. Legs bent, arms across the chest, and you wanted to land on your back. If you jumped feet first then you could really injure yourself. Quite a lot to remember when thousands of gallons of snow melted water are gushing past you. The adrenaline was already pumping and then went into overdrive when Mustard informed me that I would be the first to make the jump. I suppose he thought I was a confident swimmer and responsible person because he tasked me with the duty of pulling the other participants out of the water and directing them to a safe spot. No problem, it seemed like a pretty cool job. After the third person jumped, the cold water began to get to my lower extremities. Whatever, this is still an awesome trip.
Everyone made the jump safely without any mishaps. Next we were doing the big jump. Our group was to be the first ones of the season to do it now that the water was at a safe enough level. From 20 feet above we were jumping into a V-shaped chasm pool with a very deep bottom. This jump was a little more tricky because if you did not jump out far enough, the backwash of the waterfall would sweep you into an underwater cave. A tad scary, but another guide was below to prevent that from happening. Once again I as chosen to go first.
The jump was intense and I landed correctly, then I got to do what I know best when canyoning, fish the rest of the group out of the torrential waters. On this jump the water was moving much quick and one could easily have been swept down a nearby chute. Once I was at the bottom I held onto a hanging rope with one hand and used the other to shag the other desperadoes out of the swirling stream. A couple of the girls wussed out and opted for the rappelling alternative.
Once more assembled we hiked a hundred meters or so through water and over rocks. Our trip was nearing its end. The guide yelled at a girl for not following him and getting herself stuck in a pool. Then some guy tried to go a separate route, and slipped and fell. He seemed to be alright but that ticked off the guide even more. Mustard stopped and gave us his he-is-the-boss spiel and told us to do exactly what he commanded. Gotcha bro, that set everyone straight and nothing bad happened for the rest of the trip.
To top off our Outdoor Interlaken adventure we slid down another chute into a backwash. Adjacent to it was an awesome waterfall that was dumping tons of water into the pool we were standing in. Walking behind the waterfall was fun. Walking through it, on the other hand, was a beat down. Good thing I had a helmet on or else it would have been super painful. One thing I forgot about waterfalls is that beneath the water in the pool there are boulders. Very large boulders. When I walked through it the force of the water pushed me into one of the boulders and tweaked my knee. It felt funny and sore immediately but not it's fine. That would have sucked to get airlifted out of that canyon.
Next we floated through a couple more chutes and our trip effectively came to an end. It was a short three hours but fun for every minute of it. It was good timing too because the cold water was beginning to give me a headache. The van arrived and we rode back down the mountain to base camp.
A hot shower was in due order and it was the cure for my shivers. The rest of the afternoon was mine to kill since my train out of Zurich didn't leave until 10:40. Lunch consisted of a cheap, hearty Thai plate of noodles. Cheap by Swiss standards is less than 20 francs. The guide told us about a festival happening today. Interlaken's Truck and Country Festival was happening right outside the town. I had time to kill and figured why not.
Setting off on foot, I soon became disoriented by the signs pointing me to "Festival". Somehow I wound up in another village and explored the town and gazed in awe at the mountainscape.
After buying a miniature Swiss flag and an Interlaken sticker for my water bottle I caught the earlier train to Bern. One last walk around the town was in order before moving on to Austria. With 7.65 Swiss francs in my pocket I wanted to make my meal stretch a long way. This meant hitting up the Migros carry out. To my shock, Migros was closed. I forgot it was Saturday and they closed at five. Instead I ate a curry chicken salad sandwich and a chocolate bar. The sandwich has inspired me to create a curry chicken salad of my own except make it spicy.
My feet took a pounding today. A nice long soak in the Taene did them proper. As I sat gazing into the sun, enjoying my chocolate bar, and watching the occasional raft float by; the reality of being in Europe was finally sinking in. An opportunity such as this will not be available for quite some time. Certainly not in the next two or three years. Its been an odyssey for sure so far. Obstacles have gotten in my way but I have figures a way around them. Traveling alone has taught me to be weary, but it has also introduced new people into my life. If I traveled with a group or someone else those individuals may have just been another stranger on the street. The halfway point of my trip is here. With the next eight or so days planned it's about time to decide what to do with the remaining nince. Brussels and Amsterdam seem like cool places to check out.
To sum up the rest of my day, I watched the Bernstein bears for one last time, got rained on a little, and caught the earlier train to Zurich. I have one more hour to kill before my train departs overnight for Vienna. Tomorrow may be a chill out day, if the hostel has A/C. Two more days and I will be in Prague with Ratboy having a helluva time for the 4th.
Time seems to be going slower as I wait. I'm done spending cash in this country, it's too rich for my blood. Being back in the Eurozone will be nice. One of the things I keep putting off is asking my rents for more dinero. It is inevitable. Europe has cut my femoral and I'm dying at a quickening pace. Tomorrow will be a super cheap day for sure.
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