Salzburg-Unfortunately we were only there one night, BUT we were able to travel with new friends Kay and Sarah. City is absolutely spectacular and I really wish I had seen Sound of Music before leaving...apparently we walked through quite a few spots shown in the movie after our Kebab dinner.
The next morning we had to say our sad goodbyes to Kay as she headed off to Germany for her flight home before continuing on for our 6 hour train ride to Zurich to spend the afternoon with Michael who was another student at Tauernhof and lives just 20 minutes outside of the city. He graciously showed us (Katie, Sarah and I) around the city for a few hours before we had to hop on another train to Bern for the night.
Bern: Loved Bern!! Very old and historic city that we all fell in love with. We spent the whole next day just walking around this UNESCO World Heritage site and I of course had to have my Neuro-nerdy moment and made Sarah and Katie accompany me to see Einstein's apartment where he wrote his Theory of Relativity 1907-1909 :)
Interlaken: We spent the next three nights in Interlaken-a great and adventurous city in the middle(ish) of Switzerland aptly named as it is between two lakes...absolutely gorgeous. The first day we went on a hike up just to the north giving us a spectaculaler view of Interlaken below. Katie and I at the top of our hike:
Interlaken below:
The second day Katie and I did something I at least have always wanted to do: SKYDIVING! It was...well words can not even begin to depict, but lets just say AWESOME. After a 20 minute flight to about 13000 feet Katie and I then jumped, well more like fell, out strapped to our instructors and parachutes and freefell for 30-40 seconds 9000 feet down spinning and wow...it was just awesome. Great panoramic and bird's eye view of the Jungfrau Mountains and Region (Side note-Jungfrau is the main peak in the region and is nicknamed the Top of Europe because it has the highest elevation train in Europe). Some pictures from skydiving:
Walking to the plane for takeoff-
Coming down after pulling the parachute (I'm the blue and white one and Katie is red)-
Safely back on the ground celebrating:
Our third and last day in Interlaken Katie and I had to say our sad goodbyes to Sarah as she made her way back to Tauernhof to work for a few weeks. We then set out on an ambitious hike to nearby Grindelwald (re-living our Tauernhof hikikng days), a place that Katie's aunts said we had to visit. The hike in the Alps was absolutely scenic, beautiful and uplifting to say the least:
Zermatt: After our 3 wonderful days in Interlaken we made our way south to Zermatt to see and experience the world famous Matterhorn...of course us 2 SoCal girls had to go with Disney's influence :) Our hostel reminded us very much of the Alpine Huts we had stayed at in Austria, a reminder we both loved. We spent our one day in Zermatt hiking around the Matterhorn giving us spectacular views from every angle and tons and tons of great pictures. I'll save your eyes, here is just one:
Geneva: Our next and last Swiss destination was Geneva. Very different feel from all of the cities we have been this far...due in part because French instead of German is spoken everywhere. We had Cheese Fondu for dinner our first night-delicious and a must for anyone traveling to Switzerland. The next day we spent seeing the sights including the United Nations Building! (one of many dream jobs):
We also saw the headquarters for the International Red Cross, famous Jet D'Eau and giant flower clock in le jardin anglais (literally ran right into it when we thought we were lost)
Lyon: We were sad to leave Switzerland and astounded that entire week has already gone by as we made our way for two nights in Lyon, France. If you want a funny story ask me how a 8 minute train ride to our hostel turned into a 2 and a half hour accidental detour to St. Etienne for a picnic dinner next to a homeless man outside the train station...Once we safely made it to Lyon, we loved walking around the city today seeing St. Jean Cathedral and eating crepes on the church steps overlooking the castle.
It has been a crazy, fun and amazing week of traveling to say the least. Tomorrow morning we are hopping on yet one more train to meet up with my mom in Paris for one night before Katie and I must say our goodbyes (for now) as she heads to Benin to serve with Mercy Ships for 3 months and I travel with my Mom in England and Ireland for the week.
Blessings!
Proverbs 3:5-6
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