SWITZERLAND

The next morning, we got up bright and early and headed to catch our train to Bern, Switzerland! Even though we had given ourselves plenty of time to get to the station, we still managed to run late... not quite sure how. So we were basically running with all our luggage to get to the 17th train car (out of 18, FML)... we got to our car and I walked onto the train and almost got pick-pocketed! This big black man was like all of a sudden up in my space, and I was like WTF but then saw that there was another man with a stroller and kid behind him trying to get through the same door, so I was like "um excuse me" but then let it go. Then as he's turning, the man with the stroller & kid says something to the no-personal-space man and points to something on the floor and its MY. FREAKING. WALLET. So he picks it up and is like "thank you" or something in French when I'm like "UM NO THATS MY WALLET" and he hands me my wallet and looks back at me as he runs off the train. I guess the baby/stroller guy was intimidating enough to scare him into giving it back to me. Thank God. I was so freaked out I was like shaky and couldnt sleep for awhile on the train. AH!! And it all happened so fast, I had no idea what was going on. What a wake-up call!!!

We arrived in Bern at around 12:30 PM, but since our hostel didn't allow check-in before 2, we had a quick lunch in the station and went to the tourism office while we waited. When we got to our hostel, we realized it was a freaking rip off because it was SO expensive for what we were getting in return. Our room was on the 4th floor (floor "3" in Europe bc they count the ground floor as "0"), four bunk beds stuffed into a room the size of a public shower stall. We could barely fit all our luggage into the room with us. Ludicrous. Then Saaya, Hanna and I walked around Old Town Bern, which is supposedly a UNESCO World Heritage site, but we don't really know why... there was a Clock Tower (whoopdeedoo) and several weird fountains (including one of a gnome eating babies) and that's about it. Other than over-priced shops, like everything else in Switzerland, apparently. That night we got traditional Swiss dinner: beer, potatoes, and meat and eggs. In one bowl. After dinner we headed back to the hostel and hit the hay because we were all exhausted!

On the next day, we woke up bright and early and headed for Lucerne. Again, gave ourselves plenty of time to get to the station in time, but then realized our train was actually leaving at 8:37 AM, instead of 9:05... don't know why we made that up in our heads. So we ran to the station (up a big hill with stairs and incline and across a couple blocks) in ten minutes, sweating on the train, but happy we made it in time! It was an hour and a half train ride to Lucerne, during which time Hanna and I were laughed at by senior citizens. Just another example of our ever-continuing coolness. When we first got on the train, we were the only four people in the car, but about 3 minutes before departure, a group of about 20 people came on the train: all over 65, and mostly women, wearing hiking gear and water-restitant suits. The first lady to laugh was toothless, and I thought she was just laughing because my feet were up on the chair in front of me. Little did I know that the rest of the people giggling were pointing at our shorts & tank tops and then pointing to their windbreakers to indicate our stupidity and unpreparedness for the Swiss weather. The next man actually held up the line to stop and point and laugh at the two silly American girls who dared to come to Switzerland in flip flops. Ah, memories.

We got to Lucerne and walked around the city, catching all the major highlights: an old bridge (that I forget the name of), and the old city walls and watchtowers. But before the watchtower hike, we decided to get an all-you-can-eat Korean (in reality, "Asian") food lunch. Yes, people, I'm saying a BUFFET for lunch before a watchtower HIKE. Clearly, a great idea. The view of the city from the watchtowers was beautiful: we saw Lake Lucerne in the distance, and Swiss mountains in a panoramic view. Then we walked around "Old Town," another commercialized area with overpriced shops. So we got some snacks and sat by the river, watching the swans and ducks swim around. Sarah tried to feed the swans blueberries, which they ignored, and Hanna tried to feed them strawberries... which they ate and then instantly threw up. Picky eaters! The water was SO COLD, but it felt nice on our feet in the hot sun. Then the girls fell asleep by the river while I wondered what we should do....... Sarah and Saaya went back to Bern to watch Ice Age 3 in English (finally), while Hanna and I walked around the lake. We came to spot where there was a pier for boats, and we wanted to go in, but being the goody Asian girls that we are, we saw a sign in German that resembled "security" with a German shepard on it. So we were wondering what to do, when a 12-year-old boy kicked the door open, so we quickly ran in after him. Again, so cool and this time rebellious. We sat down on the pier and dipped our feet in the water as we chatted and enjoyed the beautiful view of Lake Lucerne and the Swiss mountains in the rear. We got back to the hostel and watched The Office and Will and Grace episodes on Sarah's iPod before we went to bed at literally 11:10 PM. PARTY ANIMALS!!!!

The next day Saaya, Hanna, and I got on the train to head to Grindelwald, a town in the middle of Switzerland, at the base of the Swiss Alps. It started raining SUPER bad the night before, with the scariest thunder and lightning I've ever heard and seen in my life. It was still raining (much more lightly) when we left in the morning, but just in case, we made teru teru bozu on the train, little Japanese omen charms against rain-they look like little happy ghosts!. They totally worked. When we got to Grindelwald, we decided it was the most beautiful city in Switzerland, it was like stepping into a postcard. The town was small and quaint and untouched by globalization, as if it stayed the same since its beginning. We got lunch at a cute little restaurant, with a beautiful view of the Jungfrau, the highest peak in Switzerland at about 5,000 meters! Then we put our luggage into lockers at the hostel, since for some weird reason reception was closed from 11:30 AM-4:30 PM (talk about a long lunch break!!). We walked over to the cable car station, and bought tickets (another Swiss-priced fare at 32francs with discount--50 without!!) and got in the cable car that took us to First, where we started our hike. We hiked for about an hour before we hit Bachalpsee, a REALLY OVERRATED LAKE, aka pond, because I don't think it should be called a lake. From there we hiked a very ambitious and adventurous route down to Bort where we planned to take the cable cars back to Grindelwald. Along the way, Hanna and I picked flowers, Saaya sang songs, we talked about Beatles trivia, and we encountered live cows and pigs up close and PERSONAL. It was amazing and so surreal and beautiful, until we realized we still had 40 minutes left to walk to Bort before the last cable cars left. So then we pretty much sprinted down the mountain, IN THE RAIN, on a steeper incline than I care to ever walk again, I mean, RUN again. Hanna and I broke into a run for the last 5 minutes, in complete and utter desperation.

Then we got back to our hostel, and Saaya went back to Interlaken to visit her friend. Hanna and I decided to go to the local grocery store for a cheap dinner. But again, Switzerland wins and the prices were ridiculous. So we walked around the grocery store wishing we had a kitchen, but then decided to make sandwiches, for dinner that night AND lunch the next day. We bought a tomato, and were wondering how to cut it, when we almost fought a smoking, fat, bald man for a plastic knife out of, oh about 70 other plastic knives for free. (success!) We got back to the hostel and sat down at our picnic table and used our plastic bags as placemats/cutting boards. Hanna took out the plastic knife and struggled to dissect the tomato, while I rationed out the ham and lettuce and mayo. Meanwhile, a couple walks out with a steaming hot plate of delicious-looking pasta and white wine on trays. Then Hanna noticed the kitchen....... the lady next to us then kindly told us that the hostel actually did have a FULL KITCHEN with an oven, microwave, and stove ("and yes, even placemats"). FML. Whatever, they were mediocre sandwiches. And the ham tasted like nothingness. Thank God for Mayo.

The next day we went to the Jungfraujoch, the highest train station in Europe at around 3500 meters... I forget what it is in feet... It was freezing cold and we went to the top of the glaciers and walked around. It was beautiful, the views from way up top were amazing! We met and played with some husky dogs that were sleeping under umbrellas because the heat from the sun was too hot for them! After hanging out at the top of the mountain for a couple hours we started our descent so we could head back to Bern for an early night before a really early train the next morning... in total we rode 6 trains that day: two to get from Grindelwald to the Jungfrau, two to get down, one to get to Interlaken, and one to get back to Bern. By the time we got back to Bern we were exhausted but managed to pack up and put in a load of laundry before an early bedtime. Much to our disappointment, it started raining again when we got into bed, with lots of thunder and lightning again. This time it was so loud, I swear to God our building was hit by lightning because I have never heard it so loud before, it felt like electricity was running through me because I felt the loudness in my chest! If that makes sense... anyway, it was literally the loudest thing I have ever heard. Around 4 in the morning, Sarah accidentally called Saaya from her cell phone thinking she was calling her mom and we were all half asleep and confused...