Interlaken, Switzerland 02/04/12-02/05/12

This weekend I went to Interlaken, Switzerland. It was incredibly gorgeous and very cold. Both days were below 20 degrees Fahrenheit! Saturday we left from Vicenza at 6 a.m. and didn't arrive at our hostel until 6 p.m. It was a long day of traveling, but the view along the way was incredible. The Alps are so breathtaking. We stayed at Heidi Hostel, which is run by Bailey and her daughter, Esther. Bailey was a sweet, old lady. She spoke German, French and Italian! The hostel reminded me of an old packrat's home with a myriad of rugs lining the hallway and pictures of random men and nature scenery decorating the walls. It was so quaint! We stayed in a mixed dorm with three Korean men. They were all really nice and taught me a few phrases in Korean.
We all went out to dinner and had some tasty Swiss cheese fondue at the restaurant of the Hotel Bahnhof. The restaurant was out of the 70s with green, brown and orange shag carpet decorated lamps. We headed down the street to Bebbi's Restaurant for our delicious dessert of chocolate fondue. It was served with apples, bananas, marshmallows and strawberries. It was sooooo good! And the restaurant owner, Bebbi, gave us another free pot of chocolate fondue! Bebbi was quite a character, and I'm pretty sure he was a body builder for a short stint. He waltzed around the restaurant singing random songs and brushing elbows with the patrons. He also played one of the Swiss mountain horns, and let me take a shot at it when I went to get a picture with it. It was so fun, and I belted out a few good notes right away! The whole restaurant applauded, and I ended with a bow. We ended the night by grabbing a drink at a nearby bar. We all tried the Rugen Brau lager bier, a brew created in Interlaken. It was pretty good, but very light... Nothing like the hearty flavor of German beers.
Sunday we just trekked around the snow-covered city and stopped in a few stores to warm up. I felt like my nose was going to freeze and break off, because it was so cold outside! We met Barbara, a woman who worked at a pastry/chocolate shop, and purchased several treats from her. She was cute and very helpful. The ride home was only 7 hours, which was a huge improvement from the ride there. It was a relaxing trip and extremely beautiful. I hope to return one day, preferably during the summer, when I have more money so I can do some extreme sport adventures!