Saturday, August 1, 2009

Relax?

I seem to have a problem with this whole concept of relaxing. I've notice this before, and I don't think it's a problem that willbe solved any time soon.

Yesterday was supposed to be my day to relax. Spend the day either in the hammocks provided at the hostel, or go down to the lake for a day at the beach and a cruise. Well that didn't quite happen. Since I knew I'd have time to relax today, I decided to go for a little hike to a bunch of waterfalls that I saw yesterday.

This small hike ended up being something to the effect of a 34km hike (well it was mostly flat so I'll call if a walk). Hmm. Not quite the day or relaxing I had oriinally planned. Funny how that happens. I just could sit still yesterday and needed to do something. I didn't feel like paying foe the train, so I decided to walk a few towns over where t would have left me off. Plus I figured I could enjoy the amazing scenery while I was at it, which I did. For the most part the hike followed one of the glacier water rivers, and I was able to see at least one or two of the snow capped peaks while I was walking. So it wasn't like I had a boring hike by any means. It was a much nicer day than the one before, with only a few clouds here and there, but much clearer.

My final destination of the falls turned out to be a dissapointment. There was an entrance fee (boo), and I saw a lift, so I figured it wild take us up to the bottom of the huge falls, 500 or is meters up. Nope. I only took us up a little ways where the water fr the three larger falls emptied out into a cavern. Sure it was really cool to see. Especially to watch the way in which the water had carved out the 'cave' I was in. I just would have rather seen the really awesome huge waterfalls that I had seen from the other side of the canyon.

Oh well.

It was a good walk anyways. On my way back I stopped into one of the local towns and picked up some of the local cheese and bread. I muched on those as I made my way back to Interlaken. This hike was followed by a quiet few hours laying in a hammock finishing up a book. The day was finished up with a dinner, wine, and chocolate with a fellow traveler. Not a bad day at all.

Today is Swiss day.

I spent the first half of the day at one of the surrounding lakes with a friend from the hostel. We hit the lake, and hit it hard. I finally got around to just doing nothing (and catching up in journaling), as well as jumping into the cold cold glacier water. It was so refreshing. The weather could not be better, with nary a cloud in the sky, the vistas are amazing, especially with the ever present snow covered peaks in the background. I might just end up staying here for the next three weeks (not really though).

After swimming, I went into town to check out the local parade, which was a lot of fun to see. Lots of traditional dress, brass bands, horses, saint bernards, and drums. It was fun, quirky, and a fun look at some of the Swiss traditions. Tonight there are fireworks (yahoo), so it should be a pretty awesome day all in all.

2 comments:

Today I went to a state park and while relaxing, I felt like I really should have gone on a hike - so kudos for always being on the go, even if it might wear you out a bit :-)

FYI, I just gave you a shout-out in my blog!

Safe travels!

No big roadtrip, I've just never done the 5-hour drive home before (I always fly/bus/carpool) so I want a good mix to send me off :-)

And I mean really, when does a good road trip mix NOT come in handy?!

Sorry it was raining today, but maybe that's what you needed to take a breather!!!