Interlaken - Part II

We made it!
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I headed back to Interlaken as I only had one day here with Emily and it was so beautiful.

I decide to save some cash and stay at a hostel which is the best decision I could have made as it is a great place and the people are really nice.  It is so good to have people to hang out with when you are travelling alone and that is something you don't get staying at a hotel or B & B.

and I keep hearing Kathleen's voice, "come on Sara you can do it"

Interlaken
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I am in a room with 5 other girls and 2 of them are American Jessica and Julyen, I also meet a girl from Finland Oudi.  We hang out together at different points and do various activities which gives me a tonne of variety and allows me to do things I would not have done on my own.

The first day I decided to just walk around the town and around Lake Thun.  It is a very long, hot walk and I decide to sit down in a park by the lake, but unfortunately I sat on "something" on the grass and totally unaware walked around the remainder of the day looking like I had an accident.  Now I know why people were looking at me funnily!

Gnome Garden in Interlaken
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That night we have a great time in the bar at the hostel and the next day J and J are going hiking up around a little town called Grindelwald.  Although the skies are threatening thunder and lightening, we head out to the train station...my excellent navigation gets us lost in the little town...why do people follow me...I have to stop looking like I know where I am going as very often I don't and most people are not as ok as I am with getting lost.  We do however happen upon a little Gnome Village in someones garden which makes us all laugh and definately requires a picture!

The beginning of our hike in Grindelwald
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Once we arrive in Grindelwald we decide to do a few routes that shoudl circle the valley and town and give us some good views of the glaciers that hang above on the valley walls.  I think that the beginning is going to be easy, but it turns out to be about 2 hours and 500 m of up....and then down a bit, and more up, although I am feeling like I am going to have a heart attack during this bit but I just keep thinking this is going to help me in Morocco....and I keep hearing Kathleen's voice, "come on Sara you can do it" which is ingrained in my brain from our Peru Inka Trail Trek...it does get better as the day goes on and the up ends up not being as bad, we do go down a bit, pass a few cows, only to go up some more, pass a few sheep, down some more and finally up a bit and through a tunnel to one final hill and 5 hours, some sore muscles and a few litres of water later we sit above the beautifully picturesque town and drink a stein of traditional Swiss beer Rugenbrau and eat Rosti  Potatoes with Ham and Cheese...YUM...awaiting our gondola to return us 250 m back down to town.

Julyen and Jessica...
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Exhausted we return back to the hostel by train and somehow find the energy to head down for a few dances and some more traditional brew.

J and J are leaving today as is Oudi, but I have made some more good friends and thoroughly enjoyed Interlaken.