Apr 23, 2006 - chateau de chillon

After a beautiful drive through the alps (and a massive toll at the Swiss border), we arrived at this little castle overlooking a lake. Can't figure out which language to speak - we've gone from italian to french to german in the span of about three hours, and I've barely mastered english. Luckily, i've spent years learning to point and grunt, so it seems to be getting me by. Erin looks german and speaks german, so of course she's having no trouble.

Mar 2, 2006 - Switzerland - to find Adrian

March 2 Location: Munich to Neuchatel Hotel: Cheval Blanc Activities: Getting car Driving Visiting Dinner: Neuchatel Run: When we woke up we went to breakfast at the hotel. It was really good. There was bread, meat, cheese and fruit. After we went to get our car. It is blue and it has a GPS. Then we drove to Switzerland. It took us 4 hours. When we got there we visited Adrian.

Jan 15, 2006 - Interlaken (Read my diary of our ski week!)

Steve and I stayed at Balmers for a week skiing and making new friends. We meet Parks, Abbey, Katie Colin and Laura from the States, some of whom there are photos of. SKI DIARY Day 1 Steve and I set out, it takes half an hour to get the bus to the lift but it is worth it! The weather is beautifully clear, the views of the Matterhorn and Swiss Alps are stunning and we marvel at the high altitude Glaciers. Steve spends the day finding his ski legs including one spectacular wipe out on a steep red which sends him body surfing down the...

Jan 6, 2006 - First Night in Interlaken, Switzerland

That morning we hopped on a train to Interlaken, the train ride was very nice because we took the scenic route and it was amazing. Christophe had told us that if we wanted to ski there we could because in Switzerland every valley is a ski resort so you can just ski from valley to valley and Interlaken was just one over but we decided against it and took the train. We got into Interlaken pretty late that night and got settled in then went down to the bar in our hostel and met some awesome people. Two Americans, Derek and Aaron and an...

Dec 21, 2005 - Bern, Switzerland

December 21 - We woke up this morning and did a little souvenir shopping before checking out of our room. The day was cloudy and we were again reminded of how lucky we were to have gone to the mountains yesterday. We then caught a train headed to Bern, Switzerland's capital, just 50 minutes away where we would catch our overnight train to our next destination at around 9pm later tonight. We got in around noon so we had a full day of sightseeing available. The mascot of the city is a bear. This was because a bear was the first hunting...

Dec 19, 2005 - Interlaken, Switzerland

December 19 - We got up very early this morning to catch a train to Interlaken, Switzerland. We can't believe that Heather and Jenni actually woke up and were ready to go before 6am! Interlaken is a small city with only 15,000 people and it's a great base for exploring the Jungfrau region. Our Hotel Rugenpark was close to the station and we have a very nice 4-person room. We started out the day by walking the Lake Brienz all the way to Riggenberg. It was a beautiful walk and sometimes very icy. Luckily, no falls! We found our way back to...

Nov 8, 2005 - Made it out of Paris but Bern should burn!

Today was a very up and down kind of day. When we woke up it was gorgeous outside. Allison kept whistling french songs to her self all day long. We walked around a market and then went to the Champs Elysee and bought nothing. We took the train to Bern tody wihich was a nice break from all the running around. The day started off so nicely and we had a fantasti chotel in Bern to look forward too. Then we arrived in Bern (cue creepy music) it was foggy and no one was around. We finally make it to the hotel and due to a screw up our hotel was...

Oct 15, 2005 - Last day of our 10 day break...

Tear tear... We cant believe how fast the last ten days flew by! It seems like yesterday we were getting on a night train to Spain, and now we are packing to fly to London early tomorrow morning. Munich has been one of my favorite cities weve visited. On Friday we went to the Dachau Concentration camp. It was really sad, but also really interesting to see what life was like. We spent most of the day there touring the camp and then we watched a movie that was really upsetting. Last night we went to the Hofbrauhaus Beer Hall! Its supposed to...

Sep 5, 2005 - Interlaken, Switzerland

I based out of Interlaken for a couple of days, before heading up into the mountains to stay at the mountain hostel in Gimmelwald. There was recently a big flood in Interlaken, so the train system was down in certain places. It didn't stop anyone from getting to the places they wanted to go. Buses were used instead. The first afternoon I took a bus to Grindelwald and headed for a hike near the glacier up there. The Swiss hikes I found out are very steep. I had a blast getting tired out. The tough trails made for great views from above.

Jul 26, 2005 - Gimmelwald, Switzerland

Well, I have officially returned to mainstream society now after my four day retreat deep into the Swiss Alps. I absolutely loved the little village of Gimmelwald where I stayed and the views were some of the prettiest I have ever seen. It is funny though that 9 out of the 10 people staying there heard about the village through my friend Rick Steves. It is defintly not overrun with tourist though since it is so remote and people go there for hiking and not much else. I enjoyed three very intense days of hiking. My first day I rode the lift...

Jul 15, 2005 - Planetenweg

So we decided to take it easy today and do the Trummelbach Falle and the Planetenweg Yet another Unesco World Heritage site to add to our growing list - the Trummelbach falls are waterfalls that originate at the glaciers of the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau! There were 10 waterfalls and they cut into the mountain! It was quite an experience to take a funicular into the mountain and see waterfalls and then slowly make your way out! It must have taken some very brave mountaineers to find the source of those waterfalls - they were seriously...

Jul 12, 2005 - From Geologists to Hikers

Well I think we have taken our geologists hats, swapped them for volcanologist's hats and now I think we have finally donned the hiker's hats! We planned a nice walk from Grindelwald to First and made it as far as Bort..... due to cloud-cover of course!!! Trekked 5km uphill - ascending 500m in the process! I was pooped to say the least - not too sure about the Squat-boy - but I would say he was pretty knackered too! We rewarded ourselves with a wholesome Swiss meal of Rosti and Raclette. And then we took the Trottibikes back down! The...