Adventures in Interlaken, continued

My new friends Susy and Michael left for Italy today and I am awaiting my white water rafting trip this afternoon before setting off for Berlin on the night train tomorrow night.  Interlaken has been simply ah-mazing.  Gorgeous.  A blast.

Top left: just a friendly game of giant chess where I obsessed over the "ponies"
Top right: Susy and I walked to the eastern lake (Interlaken = between lakes) and marvelled at the gorgeous colors of the water and immensity of the mountains...but were not brave enough to get into the frigid waters
Bottom left and middle: The three of us went on a hike to Schilthorn Mountain and stopped to see some waterfalls along the way
Bottom right: one of the magnificent views over one of the many lakes on the train ride into Interlaken

Interlaken: Outdoor adventures by day, party underground at night.

For the first time I met girls to hang out with!  YAY!!!  As soon as I entered my dorm room Susy was asking if anyone wanted to take a train up a mountain Friday and I was like "Yes!!" so that is the plan for tomorrow.  She also showed me the supermarket so I got to make my own food for the first time since leaving Romania (God I missed non-mass produced deliciousness), and introduced me to her friends Jill and Scott.  At dinner we also met Shannon and Michael.  Yay for meeting people!!!

The theme at the hostel bar the first night was "beach party."  Half price drinks if you were in your bathing suit.  Susy and Jill were lucky enough to score free shots, I just settled for my half-price hard cider.

Today I went on my canyoning trip: rappelling, zip-lining, jumping off of cliff edges (flash backs of Angela's accident kept me from trying one high jump), and sliding down nature-made slippery rock slides for a couple hours.  And then a nice picnic of bread, cheese and veggies (and beer, of course, I may actually come back to the States a beer drinker at this rate!) at the foot of the Alps.

Now, a walk around the eastern lake, a trip to buy wine and chocolate, and then more partying in the underground bar (the hostel's way of taking care not to break the Swiss law saying no loud noise after 10pm).

On the streets of Switzerland

Zurich!

I probably should have taken a tour because I have no idea why there is a clothesline in the water and I got so tired of hunting for cheap food in the freaking expensive city that I settled for spending over 12 USD on blasted McDonalds.  But those fries did taste like home.  Tasty, deep-fried home.

I spent a good half hour on the roof of my hostel (at which, btw, I had to climb six flights of stairs to get to my room) talking to AJ -- a guy from South Korea.  I have met sooooo many Koreans!  It's nuts!  That bottom center picture is the view from the roof.

The right bottom picture I took of the street where my hostel is located.  And right as I took it a couple guys started street fight dancing.  It was pretty cool and I managed to capture a few seconds on video before people surrounded them and made it impossible to see anymore.  There was also a random parade right by my hostel when I first got here, and a few hours ago the group providing musical entertainment for the customers started singing Sweet Home Alabama.  Which was surreal, and really funny, especially when everyone started singing along.

Tomorrow I get to put my traveler's insurance to work: Interlaken! Canyoning! Rope courses! Rafting! Climbing! Hiking! Parasailing! Bungy jumping!  NOT ENOUGH TIME MONEY TO DO THEM ALL (for which my mother is more than thankful).