This past weekend, I went to Interlaken, Switzerland with a small group of friends. When we arrived, after quite the long train ride, the city was cold and wet. Unlike the historic cities of Vienna or Salzburg, Interlaken was designed supremely for tourists—or so it seemed. Clouds loomed so thick that we couldn’t see the mountaintops and I even began doubt that the mountains were all that grand. As far as I could tell, they were no greater than the mountains surrounding Gaming. Not to discount the mountains of Gaming, they are absolutely fantastic, but they are not what I imagined the Swiss Alps to be like. Very disappointing!
To be honest, I went to bed on Saturday night a little distressed—this was not going to be the weekend I had anticipated.
Thankfully, I was terribly wrong. The next day began with mass at a local church. A bit of the culture was really felt when we realized that the mass was all in German. Isn’t that neat that we belong to the universal church? No matter where you attend mass and no matter what language they speak there, you are going to the same mass as anywhere else. All over Europe, we Franciscan students attended the same mass as our loved ones at home.
After mass, a plan was established and we set out for a hike in the mountain valley. We took a small train up and around the mountainside to a cozy village nestled in the mountainside. The rain was steadily falling but with less intensity as it had before and the cold chill that had settled into our skin was relinquishing. We began walking along a narrow road with mountains surrounding us. As we walked along, the weather let up. The rain stopped and the clouds parted.
Oh, it was so beautiful; I had no idea of the mountains that surrounded us! We weren’t in Gaming anymore, that’s for sure. Ice capped mountaintops sloped away from us, full of majesty. At places, a forest of pine trees stood proudly at the edge of the snow line. The white sprinkling atop the trees reminded me of Christmas. Really, everything reminded me of Christmas. There were small cabins peeking out of every hillside. So very Swiss, pastures and fields climbed up the hillside. Waterfalls could be seen shooting out from here or there. For almost the entire walk, we followed a bubbling river which beckoned us to drink from it. It was very tasty. The entire experience was simply magical.
After walking for a few hours, we stopped in a small village. A gondola took us up the mountain to just below the snow line. A village was situated on the side of the mountain and we went about exploring. It was…eerie. There were a lot of cabins and hotels and stores but there weren’t any people. Oh well. We didn’t care. We walked about, looking around. Almost immediately, we noticed how very cold it was, almost too cold. It didn’t take us long to realize that we needed to stop for some coffee/ hot chocolate. And what a perfect plan: We sat sipping our drinks looking out at the snow-capped mountains, marveling at how blessed we are.
Later, still walking around the town, it actually began to snow. It was perfect. Imagine, standing in the Swiss Alps, catching snow on your tongue. We found a snow covered hillside and slid down the slope. Sledding in the Alps! Well sort of.
When it was time to go back down, we shuffled into the gondola, content with our mountain adventure. It was well past dark and the conductor turned the out the lights so that we could easily see the Alps at night. Little yellow lights, from little mountain cottages, spotted the hills. The river glistened in the moonlight and the snow shone bright.
Back to the village, we took a cozy, old fashioned, train. It led us through the mountainside, back to Interlaken. I felt like a passenger on the Polar Express. The entire experience was simply fantastic. Even though I say this after every place I have traveled to, Switzerland has been my favorite place in Europe. I think the single most descriptive word for the entire experience is glorious. Switzerland is glorious.
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