My 8 hour flight to paris was quit booring and uneventful as to be expected. Since I saw Paris on my last trip to Europe, I didn.t think it would be the highlight of the trip and just wanted to catch the main sights before pushing on, which I did. I saw the Louvre Museum, Iffel Tower, Arch de Triumph, Versaille Palace and a lot of other old stuff. It was all neet to see but to be honest I felt Paris was somewhat of a dirty place and very fast pased. It was also over saturated with tourists, which I was one of I know, but still, I.m talking, lines worse than Canadian Passport lines around Christmas time. So I pushed on to Bern after a day and a half in the French capital.

I managed to get onto a high-speed train that goes well over 100 mph for about 70 Euros. Not sure how fast exactly but it was sure a treat. I really enjozed seeing the French country side, and seeing all the old villages and even some castles to boot. It honestly reminded me of watching some of those WWII movies like Saving Private Ryan. Most of the villages had homes that had either brick or plaster-ish walls and redish clay tiled roofs. Each village with its own cathedral as its center piece. One even had a neet looking castle on a hill above. The only downer of the train ride was having to sit next to these 3 drunk americans, from the Univeristy in Boulder Colorado who became intoxicated on the journey due to the 3 or 4 bottles of french wine they brought along with them.

So I ended up in Bern at a pitch dark 9:30. The train station was in the hart of the city and it was buzzing with young people. One would think, that’s probably not the best place for a stranger to be wandering around looking for a hostel. Yeah I thought the same, but had to find the hostel none-the-less. So I ventured outside and asked a family where the hostel was, they told their son to take me part of the way. I was nearly shocked, that just wouldn.t have happened in Paris. Anyways, he ended up telling me about some sites to see in Bern. So I ended up finding my way to the youth hostel about 30 minutes later. It turned out they were booked because of some youth parliament they were having in town. Bummer. I guess Bern is the capital of Switzerland. So I was thinking I was going to have to find a warm bench to spoon for the night. I asked the guy at the hostel what I could do, after he made a few calls, he was able to secure me a bed in a hostel near Interlachen. I was going to go there anyways, so what other options did I have. I then hiked back to the train station through the narrow, windy, but extremely safe streets of Bern. Took a couple more trains (only because I got on the wrong one) and reached Interlachen just after midnight. Then took a 4 minute taxi ride for 14 Franks to the hostel. I really had no idea what to expect because everything I had seen of Switzerland was in the dark. So after waking in the morning and looking out the window to a beautifullz flowing river in the shaddow of a very tall and lush mountain. I found myself wondering if the rest of my trip would be spent in Switzerland. It is so amazing.

So this morning I ended up hiking into town and walking around the town of Interlachen. I would say I would compare it to be like the Banff of Europe. It is an incredible place, with all victorian era homes, a beautiful teal coloured river flowing through it and surrouned on all sides by mountains, one of which is the Eiger. Walking down the street you see paragliders, all day long making their slow decent to the city. I won,t mention if I,m considering doing it so my mom doesn,t freak out. While pondering the idea I ended up taking a train up one of the mountains to a little cafe at the top. It was a neet experience overlooking the city and the two lakes on both sides. I even found a couple american girls to share some ice cream with.

I think I will stay here another night, do some hiking and maybe another adventure, then back to Bern for a day. I also heard great things about the Black forest in southern Germany, so maye there next. The world is my Oyster.

PS: Sorrz for mz tzping, itäs these dang kezboards. Thezäre all crayz.