Recovery

Hannah and I were looking forward to heading to Interlaken in order to recover from the fast pace of three major European cities. We ended up needing to recover from a bit more though! Our night train from Vienna to Interlaken started off quite well, as we found a compartment with an Austrian business man who was getting off relatively early in the ride and a couple that was also going to be getting off. That meant that we would be able to stretch out and lay down. However, as we were woken up around 7 in the morning from train officials to check our tickets, I realized that my purse, which contained basically all of my important documents, was gone. Hannah had to pay for a ticket for me, and we frantically searched the whole train compartment. So, my purse was gone, and we quickly called our parents and figured out what to do. We ended up getting off the train in Bern and going to the US Embassy so that I could get a temporary passport. It was a very long wait and really stressful, but I ended up getting that, which is the most important. Sadly, my Eurail pass is gone, which means that I have to pay for all the train tickets and get reimbursed after the fact.

After that stress, we headed to Interlaken, where we checked into the hostel and showered (cause it'd been a while) and went to the police station to file a report. By that point, we hadn't really had anything to eat for nearly 24 hours and were exhausted, but we got it all accomplished. Honestly, this is definitely one of the worst situations I could have imagined during the trip, but Hannah and I are both okay, and I think we handled the situation pretty well. It sucks not having access to money and missing lots of documents and whatnot, but we're safe, and the worst day of the trip was followed by, easily, the 2 best days of the trip.

So, the day that we got into Interlaken, I met up with Livia, who is a friend of my best friend, Josiah. He's visited here before and told me that I must meet up with her, cause we would get along. We definitely did. She's also a future special education teacher, so we had lots to talk about in that regard, and she also lived in the US for a year. We got ice cream with her, and she showed us around the town a little bit. It was a really nice way to end a really horrible day. I love meeting friends of friends, especially in a situation like this! After that, Hannah and I went to bed pretty early and rested up for two amazing days.

Yesterday, Hannah and I had breakfast on the terrace of our hostel, which is amazing and then headed out to the town. We walked around a little bit and shopped some before heading up Harder Kulm, which is one of the mountains. We decided to take the railway car up the mountain. It was pretty awesome and reminded me of the cars they used to go up the hills in Valparaíso. After getting to the top, we took tons of pictures and looked out over the lake. Then we decided to eat some food (meat and cheese platter, because...Swiss cheese) and have some local beer while looking out over the mountains. Being surrounded by this beauty has really helped me feel better and appreciate where I am, even though I lost a ton of my important documents. It started to rain a bit while we were up there, so we had tea indoors, but it cleared up quickly and we went hiking for about an hour and a half in the woods! We got pretty creative with some picture taking, but it was a super fun walk and not too challenging. We took the railway car back down the mountain and ended up getting some dinner at this pizzeria. After dinner, we thought we'd try to find a cool place to watch some of the World Cup games, so we looked up pubs online. Hannah found an interesting Irish pub, so we attempted to walk there, but we ended up in some super residential area pretty far away from the actual center of Interlaken, so we came back and watched in the lounge of our hostel.

Honestly, I have loved staying in hostels. We have met really, really awesome people who are so intriguing and friendly. Last night, as we were watching the games, we started talking with the guy next to us named Tyler. He's from Alberta, Canada, and he's been studying in England. His trips sound amazing so far, and it's just really nice to talk to some other people once in a while (I love you, Hannah, but 24/7 is a lot! ;) ). Anyway, we drank wine and watched the games and played some cards, so it was a good relaxing night.

Today was probably the high point of the trip, in my opinion. Again, we had breakfast on the terrace of our hostel, and then we checked out. We decided that we were going to go kayaking (on a recommendation from Josiah) and asked one of the workers here where we should go. On our way out, we ran into Tyler again, and he decided to come along with us! So, a short bus ride later, we were on Lake Thun and kayaking while surrounded by the Swiss Alps. To put it mildly, it was the most breathtaking view I have seen, and I would totally move here and live in these mountains. It was gorgeous and so relaxing. After kayaking, we laid outside for a while and listened to music and then had lunch. We decided to take in some more of the view after lunch and sit outside some more, and then we came back into the city! Hannah, Tyler, and I are hanging out in our lounge on computers/phones, and Hannah and I will be catching a train later to Nice. Last night train of the trip, thank goodness!