Gimmelwald; aka: Heaven on Earth

The train ride took a long time but it was well worth it. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. The mountains were magnificent. I couldn’t believe how massive the Alps were. Even though I had been to Switzerland before I never got to experience the mountains. Everything was so green and the sun was shining the entire way. We did have to make a couple pit stops on our way which is always annoying. We stopped once in Geneva, once in Kraggenfurt, and once in Bern.

We arrived in Interlaken in the evening with no plans once so ever. We ditched our stuff into some lockers at the train station and decided to get by on our day packs and sleeping bags. We headed for the hills o see a wildlife park that was also near a hostel/campground. It was probably the most un-impressive animal exhibit I had ever seen but the fact that I was seeing it in Interlaken made it the coolest crappy animal exhibit ever! There were a few mountain sheep and a marmot. We didn’t stay long. We headed down the hill to the hostel but decided not to stay. We wanted to sleep out under the stars instead. I pointed out a mountain on the back side of the town that looked like a real easy hike to the top. We decided to go for it. There was an old hotel near the bottom of the hill that seemed to be more of a historical landmark than anything else. I had never heard of it before though. We found our way to the summit and made a nice little roost to bed down in. We played a couple games of cards and then fell asleep looking out over the city.

What seemed like hours later, we were being awoken by some juicy raindrops. We quickly go the stuff packed up and tried to find our way off the mountain. Luckily, Ramsey had a head lamp with him and a poncho as well. Head led us in a different way that we came up the mountain that ended up bringing us into town next to a bar. We got our bags rolled up and went in the bar to discover that it was only 11 p.m. This did not make us happy. We were hoping we had at least slept for a while so we could push on through the morning. Turns out we had only slept an hour maybe two. We asked the bar man for some advice as to where we could find a place to sleep. He only had hostels to recommend which is something we were trying to avoid considering we are travelling on a budget. We decided to return to the old hotel we passed earlier to see if we could find any shelter but it seemed to be inhabited. There were security lights which caught us off guard. There were also vans and cars outside that we didn’t see earlier. After a few minutes of not-so-deep thinking, we dropped to the pavement. We gave up hope and slept right there in the hotel parking lot in our sleeping bags.

We were not happy campers the next morning. We went and got some hot chocolate and then hit up the co-op for some grub. We decided that we had had enough of Interlaken and were going to head off to Gimmelwald since we had heard so many amazing things about it. We caught a train to the town of Lautennbrunen and then jumped on a bus to Stechelberg which is where we boarded a gondola that took us up the mountain to Gimmelwald. There were cliffs, rivers, and waterfalls surrounding us in every direction. It was very gloomy this day so it was hard to see the mountains in the midst of all the clouds. We entered the Mountain Hostel, the only hostel in Gimmelwald, and waited to check in. We met a few people who were also waiting to check in and Ramsey and I decided to hike up to Murren with one of them. The clouds lifted for a brief while, and when they did I was knocked on my ass by the most beautiful sight I had ever seen. It was simply gorgeous!

We stayed in Gimmelwald for two nights before we had to get back to Interlaken to jump on a train to Rome. The highlight of Gimmelwald was the wonderful hike we took to what the locals call “Shark’s Fin”. It was a long way to the top but we did it! This put the Moroccan hike to shame. I, Brandon, Ramsey, and our new friend Kyle all rode the back of the shark. It was sad to leave but I was most definitely looking forward to returning to Rome for my second visit! We were also going to see Vanessa again! After almost missing our night train due to lack of reservation, we were only a night’s sleep away from Rome. Here we go again!