Das Ist Schön--the Weekend I discovered I am an ALPaholic

Friday morning came quite quickly.  After a whole week of little sleep and lots of activity, I wasn't certain how a full day in Bern with my art history class would go over.  The morning started off with a brisk walk to the Gare Cornavin and then a 2 hour train ride to Bern.  Talk about a picturesque train ride!  Views of Lac Leman, vineyards, and gorgeous green countryside the entire time...not too shabby!  Upon arriving in Bern, our class split up and picked up a little snack before starting our jam-packed day of site seeing.  I settled on a delicious salami sandwich on a pretzel roll--delicious!--but such an interesting experience.  Being in a German speaking canton in Switzerland really placed me out of my language comfort zone.  I tried communicating with the man behind the counter in a combination of French, Spanish, and maybe what I thought was German but ended up settling on hand motions and smiles to relay my desire for the sandwich!  He asked, "Americana?  Obama?"  I couldn't help but laugh.  Once we left the train station, our entire class had the difficult task of trying to keep up with our long-legged, speed walking teacher.  Our first stop was outside the Bundeshaus, which is the primary government house in Switzerland's capital city.  The water fountains jetted skywards as we left the site and continued onwards to the Bern Munster, or cathedral.  Founded in the early 13th Century and funded by St. Vincent , the Bern Cathedral is rich in history and architecture.  Post Reformation when a majority of Catholic cathedrals experienced iconoclasm (the smashing of saints and very characteristically Catholic objects such as Mary), the Bern Cathedral maintained a lot of its original figures and paintings.  Zwengli, the leader of Reformation in Bern, was less extreme and seeing as the cathedral has only recently been completed, decided to allow a lot of the original features remain in and on the cathedral.  A figure of Mary was replaced with an iconic figure of Justice but the side panels emulating the Enunciation and Adam and Eve are still in place today.  This particular cathedral has three naves, or aisles (the "long, vertical"part of a cross) with the most incredible stained glass and ornate ceiling details above and near the apse.  My personal favorite piece of stained glass was the "Dance of Death" which was originally created by Niklaus Manuel around the 1520's.  Each panel shows death ascending on various members of the population.  This is a unique, social commentary that was meant to reinforce the idea that "death levels all" regardless of your position in society.  Following the Cathedral we explored the rest of the Old Town, visited the Bear Gardens, and ended our day at the Museum of Art History across the river Aar.  A lot of the original objects and figures from the Bern Cathedral are housed here and are uniquely NOT displayed behind glass cases but are instead exposed and resting on pillars!  A little daunting thinking about accidentally knocking down or leaving a pen mark on such a historic object!  Also, we even were treated to a guided tour of the clocktower that was originally built in the late 12th Century!  We saw how the clock functions from inside before watching the actual exterior action of the clock an hour later from the town square.   Carla brought us the traditional Bernese dessert call Hazelnuss-Leckeril.  This treat tasted like hazelnut but had the consistency of a power bar...not sure I could consume them on a daily basis but I am excited to try more traditional desserts of various towns and Cantons across Switz!!

Okay, enough about Bern...even though I could go on for another post JUST about the capital I want to get to one of the most magical weekends I have ever had!  A lot of people not in Art History met up with us in Bern before taking an after 7pm train to Interlaken.  Last Bernese anecdote...we ate Rosti, a traditional Swiss-German meal of hash browns with onions, ham/bacon, cheese, and topped with a fried egg (delicious!!), at this little restaurant and asked for water.  Long story short, we get the bill and see a 40 CHF charge for the water.  Water is so easily accessible and safe to drink from fountains all over the city, including the one right next to our restaurant.  We were all literally speechless and couldn't help but laugh.  What were we supposed to do?!  We drank every last drop and I ate everyone's lemons.  Most expensive water EVER!  Okay back to the surreal weekend that followed...

We arrived in Interlaken around 9pm Friday night.  We made the trek to our hostel, Balmers, an internationally known hostel that attracts a younger crowd of people.  With "Metro Club," or the bomb shelter club as we called it, beneath the hostel, you really won't ever have a quiet evening.  We quickly became part of all the hustle and bustle downstairs and had a late first night in Interlaken.  The morning came very quickly, but Balmers was up and bustling seeing as Interlaken is known as the "Adventure capital of Switzerland" ( think Queenstown any NZ people!).  My friend Lauren is a Ranger during the summer months at Philmont in New Mexico so she had us up and ready to go around 8am.  As we waited for our first bus we encountered some traditional Swiss horn players who were on their way to the start of the marathon in Interlaken.  We heard them blow their horns, something we assumed to be the start of the race, before boarding the bus--how Swiss!  Next we got on a train to Lauterburnen (quick note, all the following spellings of towns are phonetic and very questionable!) where we saw the front runner of the marathon right before we boarded our first gondola up to Schilthorn!  This is where we experienced and tried to take in our first view of the immaculate landscape that is the Alps.  We had a perfectly clear, sunny day that only made the mountains appear to be more photoshopped and surreal than we already imagined them to be.  After a brief Alpine photo shoot, we began our trek to Murren, the town where slalom skiing was first done!  We weaved in and out of gorgeous country sides, trees, glacial streams, and of course immaculate views of the mountains.  Next, we made our way to the quaint village of Gimmelwald, which sits at 5000 ft. elevation.  we took an extended stay here where we ate at Pension, a restaurant with fresh Alpine cheese (that comes from Erica's house...she wasn't in that day to sell cheese because it was a hay day, literally.  Everyone was harvesting hay...unreal!) and an incredibly friendly Australian waiter.  AFter tearing ourselves away from the most majestic lunch spot ever, we took a roller coaster of a gondola ride down to Schleteburg.  Note to all you James Bond fans out there, this is a gondola in one of his movies!  I felt like I had descended into a fairy tale as soon as we stepped off the gondola and into this little town beside the river.  The path was surrounded by trees and scaled by the mountain side giving it the ultimate "Hansel and Gretl" feel.  We meandered down the winding path and absorbed the endless views of chalets, cows, and waterfalls.  After a winding 50 minute adventure, we were absolutely exhausted and piled onto a train, then a bus back to Interlaken.  We treated ourselves to a Kebab in town before heading back, showering, and getting ready for another night in the "bunker."  Sidenote:  hostel showers attempt to conserve water, but do not tell you before doing so.  I couldn't help but laugh out loud as my shower shut up mid-shampoo and started up again in a glacial temperature.  First time for everything and my hostel first time was definitely a memorable one!

Sunday, while the majority of the group headed home, a group of 10 of us stayed and made our way down to Thunnersee where we once again tried to comprehend the beauty of the Caribbean blue lake and mountain views.  The boys ventured into the lake more quickly than we did but I was the first girl to take the plunge into the glacial lake!  I literally could not get my mind around the fact I was bobbing in an Alpine lake with views of the Swiss Alps. Unreal.  We then made our way back into Interlaken and had 5 hours to kill before taking the train back to Geneva.  We ate kebabs, again, (attempted to) nap, watched a lightning storm from the station, and tasted an assortment of chocolates from the Coop.  Everyone (attempted to) do homework on the train, but we quickly found ourselves collecting our thoughts and attempting to process the whole weekend!  Quickly, we realized it was the 10th anniversary of September 11th and found ourselves recalling the morning of that memorable day.  Mind you, memorable in a very different way from the weekend we just had.  I recalled being my 5th grade self eating Cocoa Puffs and watching news coverage that didn't make much sense to me at the time.  Many others had similar recollections and it felt necessary to stop and take a moment of silence to reflect on an event that changed our nation's history forever.

We returned to Rue Muzy around 10pm, with a sense of renewal and awe, excited to load pictures and share stories, but more importantly, exhausted!  I quickly found myself showering and climbing into bed for a night of sound sleep and dreaming of the Sound of Music--something I am sure was sparked by an indescribable weekend among the Alps.