Home away from Home.

We left Venice on the 8:09am train to Venice Mestre. We hoped on the 8:29am train to Speiz. And at least caught the 2:25pm train from Speiz to Interlaken OST. We couldn't believe our eyes as we spent the last 15 minutes on the train. The water is crystal blue, surrounded by emerald green forests, topped off by white snow capped mountains.

We hoped off the train and immediately realized how tranquil a country can be that has been neutral in every war for the last 150 years. It's clean, quiet, and everyone wants to help you. Honestly for a minute we thought we were in a retirement community. After 40 minutes of following a 79 year old Swiss man we found our hostel, The backpackers Villa Sonnenhof. We checked in and were immediately taught about the free laundry, free internet, free mini golf, free breakfast, free ping pong, free bus pass, and free pool entry. We also learned the Franc is actually equal to the dollar. What we didnt learn was that living in Switzerland is like living in the Vail village. It's very expensive.

After listening to stories of bungee jumping, white water rafting, and canyoning from our roommates we setteled on our adventure, hiking. We spent the evening wondering the streets in hope of a grocery store and our first view of Jungfrau due to the rainy afternoon. We hit the bunks early with only minimal success of seeing the mountain but were so tired it hardly mattered.

We enjoyed our morning to a cloudless view of Jungfrau as we ate our free breakfast on the south facing porch. We started our adventure in the late morning around 11:30. In the first hour we managed to make it to the grocery store, a liquor store, and the Rugenbrau brewery. Since neither of us spoke German we tried our best to decipher the trail map and follow signs along the way. We passed a 900 year old castle, multiple villages, farmers, and a cow with a bell on its neck. Then it finally happened, we turned back around to witness our first sight of the Swiss alps the Eiger, the Monch, and Jungfrau. It was so breathtaking we realized we hadnt seen anyone in two hours and stopped there to enjoy our hiking wine. We spent close to an hour in complete peace just us, the mountains, and a billion dollar view with no one else.

We spent the evening at the free mini golf course as Mike has never taken Mal on a mini golf date. What we didnt know is that the Swiss have to be the greatest mini golf course designers in the world. One hole was a halfpipe with a hole at the top. Another you literally teed the ball up as if you were at the driving range and had at it. Mallory ended up winning by 4 strokes but we managed to make friends with 6 elder Germans who had no idea how to hold a golf club. After our game we wondered back through the streets as we watched the sun go down over the mountains. It might as well have been heaven on earth.

We spent our last day wondering the streets of west interlaken in hopes of finding the lake. When we finally arrived we learned it was a private grass patch. We put on our best German accents in full force and acted like we were supposed to be there. Our stay was brief but enjoyable as we got to take in the views of this serene little piece of heaven.

We are headed to Luzern tonight and have no idea what to expect. Still very excited at the thrill of adventure today marks a sad day as learned we leave two weeks from today. We miss everyone back home and can't wait to share our stories but in due time. After Luzern were headed to Munich, Berlin, and Heidelberg. Afterwards, we fly from Frankfurt to London via Ryan air, it cost us 50 euro for the both of us, we spend 4 days in London then back to the states.

Things we learned in Interlaken:
1) The Swiss are really good at mini golf.
2) We can't afford to do anything in Switzerland.
3) Distance is in minutes or hours, never in actual distance.
4) Interlaken is partly owned by Asians.
5) They have a hooters here.

Things we loved in Interlaken:
1) Interlaken
2) how polite everyone is
3) the color of the water alongside the sunsets.
4) our hostel
5) Rugenbrau

miss and love everyone,
m&m