Thoughts of a Traveler: Smooth Sailing

Now that my deadline for studio has passed, I finally have a few minutes to catch everyone up on the rest of my Switzerland adventures.

The first full day of our Switzerland adventures was Friday, February 3. While most of our group headed out early to "hit the slopes", three of us stayed behind because we had booked a paragliding adventure in the afternoon. We ventured through Interlaken and enjoyed the quite and quaint streets. The temperature was a cold 16 degrees fahrenheit, but we were well prepared. After a few hours of trekking through the streets, we stopped at a grocery store for lunch, where I finally found a jar of Peanut Butter!!!

Classic Swiss Architecture!

Trekking through Interlaken

I want to live here on the edge of an ALP!!

The Aare River that connects the two lakes of Interlaken

Historic Interlaken

Swan!

The river was steaming it was so cold!

Historic town square and Church

Inside of the church.
It was nice to be in a church that wasn't excessively decorated!

The Aare River

The sun started to peak through the clouds!

Birds. Everywhere!

I FINALLY found Peanut Butter!!

Swiss Franks

After making lunch back at the hostel, we ventured out again for our Paragliding adventure. Despite the sun that had peaked out earlier in the day, it began to snow again. Our tour guides drove us up into the mountains, and the higher we climbed the heavier the snow fell. When we made it to our drop-off point, we had to trek through knee high snow to make it to our "runway". As the guides set up the equipment, we enjoyed the view, which basically consisted of snow!

We got all strapped into the harnesses and paragliding equipment and were then explained what we needed to do to take off. Basically they said all we needed to do was run. Easier said than done! Try to drag a paragliding shoot through knee high snow at a run! It was difficult, but by some miricle we managed to move fast enough to become airborn!

The view was absolutely spectacular, and once we got around the mountains and into the valley over Interlaken, the snow thinned out. Despite being afraid of heights, I was perfectly calm up in the air! Although the pain from the snow and wind beatting agains my face probably helped. Either way, it was definately a great experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat!