This was one of our favorite cities so this is going to be a long one.

Day 1

Prior to heading to Switzerland, many people had told Courtney and I that it is expensive. As I’ve found that people say that about every city that isn’t in Central/Eastern Europe, I was kind of apprehensive regarding how true this was going to be. When we arrived, we did not have any Francs and could only buy a bus ticket in cash. Our hostel was a 20-minute bus ride from the train station, and the bus only came once an hour (the train station was in Interlaken and we were staying in Iseltwald). Unfortunately we barely missed the bus. Thankfully some British girls were heading to our same hostel and offered to share a cab with us.

Upon arrival, I couldn’t believe how beautiful this place was. I’m talking about pictures that you buy to hang on your wall or find in nature-themed calendars. As we would walk trough the streets, I couldn’t believe that this is an actual place on earth. And although we have many pictures, they really just can’t capture what it was actually like to be there. See below for reference.

So our first night we were going to buy some food from the hostel reception. But then we went into the kitchen and found a basket of free food (mostly pasta) and decide to cook some of that instead. Since there were only 4 burners and 4-5 people were cooking dinner, we were going to have to wait. Then, the girls we shared the cab with were cooking pasta and offered us some. So we ate with them and made some friends!

That night, as we were heading to bed, Courtney couldn’t find her key to open her travel lock. As her wallet, passport, computer and other things were in the locker, this was kind of a problem. After not finding the key, we came to the conclusion that it was locked inside. However, the desk was closed and it could’ve in the kitchen, which was also closed, so we’d have to wait until morning.

Day 2

The next morning I awoke to the sound of a saw on metal. Yes, Courtney had locked the key inside her locker and had to saw it open. Thankfully the hostel was very safe and she didn’t have to worry about her stuff being unlocked.

 went for a long hike to a waterfall that was in the next town over, Giessbach. There isn’t really a lot to say about this, other than that it was just gorgeous. Also, it was cool to walk through some of the smaller Swiss towns in this area.

When we got back, we ate a small lunch in preparation for the chocolate making class we had signed up for at Funky Chocolate Club. Then we headed into Interlaken to wander around. We ended up doing some shopping and stopped at a great bar called The Barrel. Right when we walked in, the bartender asked us if we’d like to try a beer they just got in stock. It was brewed locally, and the brewer was sitting at the bar. It was delicious. They had a great selection of beers, including a lot of IPA’s (my personal favorite). We ended up having two drinks there and heading to the chocolate class tipsy.

We were apprehensive about doing it, as it costed 70 francs (about $70), but it had great reviews and figured it would be worth it. It definitely was. We learned a lot about chocolate, were taught how to temper it and even got to make three of our own bars to take home. If you ever head to Interlaken, this is a must-do. Just make sure you don’t eat a big meal close to it because they give you essentially all you can eat chocolate. You can find the website to sign up HERE.

When we got back to our hostel, we made some dinner and started on one of the two bottles of wine we had bought. After making dinner we found our British friends in the dining room, also enjoying a bottle of wine. We ended up sitting with them and finishing four bottles between four of us (yes that is one each so we were quite intoxicated). The amount of wine consumed led us to a late-night dip in the lake around 2am. We got super tight with the two girls, Becky and Grace. Becky keeps telling me that I need to come visit her in the UK, so that might just have to happen in the coming months.

Day 3

The next morning our friends left and we slept in instead of the early morning hike we were planning (again the wine’s fault). So we headed into town and took the funicular called Harderbahn to the most amazing lookout point.

Side note about funiculars : Despite their name, I do not find them fun. They are actually quite scary. However, as I decided to go to school in the mountains, they are a reoccurring mode of transportation. They are like a tram/train that go up the side of mountains.

Aside from how expensive it was, Interlaken is one of my favorite places I’ve visited. With the constantly cool, fresh air and mountain views every way you turn, I am not sure how it could be any more amazing.