Concluding Europe Round 1: Swiss Alps, Oktoberfest, and Belgium
Switzerland
While perusing running trail options online for the Swiss Alps, I stumbled upon a festival The North Face was putting on in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. It just so happened this festival was happening at the same time we were going to be in Lauterbrunnen so we signed up! Three nights camping under the stars and 4 days worth of outdoor activities. Each night there were presentations by North Face athletes followed by live music. The activities to choose from each day were hiking, trail running, and rock climbing of varying difficulties. Then you could choose to pay extra for paragliding, canyoning, kayaking, white water rafting, and glacier walking. I originally signed up for all the long runs and then one of the rock climbs but had to switch to all the hikes and a rock climb given my recent knee injury. Not a bad trade off all things considered. Doug did a few runs (which ended up being much longer than advertised) and paragliding. Each day was exhausting but so awesome. The views in the region are breathtaking everywhere you look. I'm now obsessed with rock climbing as well. We met so many people at the festival and all with the same outdoors and lifestyle interests as us. One of the cool things about hiking in the Alps is there are random homes and huts all along the paths and some will have a "Self-Service" in which there is a fridge outside filled with cheese and meat that they have produced, you take what you want and put cash in a box based on the rates posted.
There was such a positive atmosphere at the festival - I mean, how can you not be happy when you're adventuring in the Swiss Alps all day? The weather wasn't great, in fact when we arrived we set our tent up in pouring rain and 40 degree weather, but we made the most of it and got lucky with some spurts of sunshine. The North Face athletes and local volunteers led the activities and then some of the athletes were involved in presentations at night, all of which were super interesting. These aren't your traditional athletes. There were rock climbers, alpinists, trail runners, and skier/snowboarders - all Europeans. They talked about the expeditions and projects they've done and how their lives have been affected by it. Some of the expeditions they had attempted resulted in serious injuries and/or the deaths of partners or themselves. Very intense stuff. As an example, one of the Italian athletes, an older guy, was doing a winter mountaineering expedition in the mountains of Nepal. Him and 2 others got caught in an avalanche. He fell 800m - 1/2 of a mile!! - before landing in 4ft of snow without so much as a scratch while the 2 guys he was with died. None of the athletes do this for the fame, they're in it for the love of being outdoors and pushing your body and mind to its limits.
After the festival we stayed another two nights in Lauterbrunnen in hopes of being able to hike a via ferrata in the area but with the nagging rain each day it was too slippery to attempt so we each did more hiking in the area that day. We experienced the Swiss food culture in cheese fondue one night and rosti another. The fondue we weren't big fans of, it was very rich. The rosti though, basically hash browns with vegetables, meat, and cheese over it, was tasty. Somehow, still trying to figure it out, I fell victim to some spiders and had close to 50 large bites all over my upper body. One of which was on my eyelid and it puffed up my eye to the point that I could barely see out of it. It was extremely uncomfortable. Thankfully European drugs are 10x stronger than American ones and the antihistamine and cream they gave me made great progress in the first 24 hours.
The next stop was Interlaken, only a 20 min train ride from Lauterbrunnen, which is a small village positioned in a valley between two larger lakes. As was the theme of our time in Switzerland so far, the first day in Interlaken was filled with rain so I went over to the St. Beatus caves which was where an Irish Saint was said to have defeated a dragon and take refuge in the cave back in the day. The caves are over a half mile long and has a winding path all the way through it. The bus ride over to them was also very scenic as it followed the road along one of the lakes.
The following day the weather was forecasted to finally clear up so we signed up for some skydiving! We did the Harder Kulm hike in the morning which is supposed to give you a panoramic view of the Interlaken area but unfortunately the clouds had not cleared by the time we got to the top. But I'll take clouds for that if it meant clear skies for skydiving and that is exactly what we got. We went up to 15,000 ft and it was freaking AMAZING!! Put it on your bucket list with the highest priority.
Since the weather had been so poor all week, we decided to spend another day in the outdoors in the Interlaken area to take advantage of it rather than spending the day in Zurich. My friend from Illinois soccer, Noelle, is doing her masters in Zurich and happened to have the day off so she met us in Interlaken. She and I headed to Mürren to do the via ferrata there that I had been desperately wanting to do all week but couldn't because of the rain creating slippery conditions. This ferrata was intense. There were several spots in which there were U-shaped rebar sticking out of a vertical rock face and aside from that rebar, there was nothing but 2000 ft of air between you and the ground. There were also three "bridges" you had to cross. Two of the bridges consisted of 3 steel cables, one low for the feet and two high for your carabiners and hands. One of the bridges was a bouncing, swaying suspension bridge with only one side to hook into. I think Noelle wanted to kill me the whole time for getting her into that mess, I was loving the thrill though 😊 midway through we actually met and watched a base jumper casually jump off a ledge with the wing suit and glide all the way down into the valley. Looked pretty amazing. Once we finally made it back to Interlaken, we met back up with Doug who had gone on a canyoning excursion all day. Canyoning is essentially whitewater rafting minus the raft. You float down a river and have to manuever around things and jump off rocks into pools of water. We got to Zurich late that night and crashed at Noelle's apartment after getting a tasty burrito only to get up at 5:30am the next day to catch an early train to Munich. Thanks for the hospitality Noelle!!
Oktoberfest
We arrived in Munich from Zurich midday on Friday. We had 11 friends of various friend groups meeting us in Munich for Oktoberfest. Two of them were actually people we met while traveling in Colombia in June. Once everyone had arrived from London, Lisbon, Holland, and the US, we hurried off to the tents to get our beer drinking on! When we arrived at the site, most of us were pleasantly surprised by the fact that Oktoberfest is actually a full on carnival, not just a beer drinking extravaganza. So there were a bunch of carnival rides, legit roller coasters, and game stalls. I'm not so sure extensive beer drinking and then sitting on something that whips you around and turns you upside down is a great combination but it made for a great atmosphere. All us girls had our Amazon bought dirndl dresses on and hair done in braids and apparently that worked because a lot of people were asking us if we were from Munich. Anyhow, the festival was a blast. The tents are a madhouse with drunk people to the max. You don't even have to pay to get in them, just get in line and eventually you'll find a booth to stand on or area to congregate in. The steins are 1 liter worth of very good tasting beer for 10.90 euro. And it doesn't take many steins to get you feeling good. The waitresses were badasses too, they'd carry 15 steins at once and yelled out orders for the drunkards to get out of the way and everyone would listen despite inebriation levels. And of course we had to get the pretzels and bratwurst. Delicious. We only lasted until 9:30pm the first night 😬 On the second day we got out to the tents by 11am and let me tell you, that first beer was a rough one. But everyone powered through and we ended up staying out until 3am 😱 By the time Sunday rolled along, we had no desire to even look at a stein and some of the people we were with had to catch flights back home so we just ambled around Munich, a great city with awesome architecture and culture. Doug and his friends went to Dachau, a concentration camp from WWII.
Belgium
Next up was Belgium. Belgium is known for its chocolate and beer so it's pretty much perfect for me. I had been told by many people that Brussels was dirty and not worth going to so I decided to hit two of the smaller towns, Bruges and Leuven, and take it easy after a destructive weekend to the body at Oktoberfest. Doug and his buddies from home went to Brussels and somehow continued the partying.
Bruges was essentially a mini Amsterdam, minus the weed and prostitution, so I liked it. It is home to De Halve Man brewery and many many chocolate and waffle shops. I was there less than 24 hours and walked the whole city on a bum knee. Had a fantastic burger and beer at Jilles and then got what might be the best dessert of my life at Oyya. A soft waffle covered in dark chocolate sauce with brownie ice cream - I can die happy.
The next day I went to Leuven. Leuven is a small university town just outside Brussels and the original home of Stella Artois beer company. It also brags to have Europe's longest bar which entails a street about a quarter mile long lined with bars and outdoor seating. I had less than 24 hours here also so I just wandered around the streets, it didn't take long to cover the whole city. Belgium was a great end to Europe Round 1. And by the end of these 2 months I'd say we sufficiently used our Eurail passes. We now head back to the good ole US of A for a brief pause in our travels to attend some weddings!
While perusing running trail options online for the Swiss Alps, I stumbled upon a festival The North Face was putting on in Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland. It just so happened this festival was happening at the same time we were going to be in Lauterbrunnen so we signed up! Three nights camping under the stars and 4 days worth of outdoor activities. Each night there were presentations by North Face athletes followed by live music. The activities to choose from each day were hiking, trail running, and rock climbing of varying difficulties. Then you could choose to pay extra for paragliding, canyoning, kayaking, white water rafting, and glacier walking. I originally signed up for all the long runs and then one of the rock climbs but had to switch to all the hikes and a rock climb given my recent knee injury. Not a bad trade off all things considered. Doug did a few runs (which ended up being much longer than advertised) and paragliding. Each day was exhausting but so awesome. The views in the region are breathtaking everywhere you look. I'm now obsessed with rock climbing as well. We met so many people at the festival and all with the same outdoors and lifestyle interests as us. One of the cool things about hiking in the Alps is there are random homes and huts all along the paths and some will have a "Self-Service" in which there is a fridge outside filled with cheese and meat that they have produced, you take what you want and put cash in a box based on the rates posted.
View from the hike on our first day in the Alps with Mönch, Eiger, and Jungfrau peaks in the background
The North Face Mountain Festival campsite
Paragliding
View of the valley below Mürren
Result of my spider bites
The next stop was Interlaken, only a 20 min train ride from Lauterbrunnen, which is a small village positioned in a valley between two larger lakes. As was the theme of our time in Switzerland so far, the first day in Interlaken was filled with rain so I went over to the St. Beatus caves which was where an Irish Saint was said to have defeated a dragon and take refuge in the cave back in the day. The caves are over a half mile long and has a winding path all the way through it. The bus ride over to them was also very scenic as it followed the road along one of the lakes.
The following day the weather was forecasted to finally clear up so we signed up for some skydiving! We did the Harder Kulm hike in the morning which is supposed to give you a panoramic view of the Interlaken area but unfortunately the clouds had not cleared by the time we got to the top. But I'll take clouds for that if it meant clear skies for skydiving and that is exactly what we got. We went up to 15,000 ft and it was freaking AMAZING!! Put it on your bucket list with the highest priority.
Entrance to the St. Beatus Caves
Inside the St. Beatus Caves
The rock face traversed on the via ferrata. If you look a couple feet below the wire cable towards the top of the picture, you can see the U-shaped rebar we shimmied across on.
Hanging on for dear life on the suspension bridge of the via ferrata
No words necessary.
Noelle and I in Lauterbrunnen after surviving the via ferrata in Mürren. I-L-L...
Oktoberfest
We arrived in Munich from Zurich midday on Friday. We had 11 friends of various friend groups meeting us in Munich for Oktoberfest. Two of them were actually people we met while traveling in Colombia in June. Once everyone had arrived from London, Lisbon, Holland, and the US, we hurried off to the tents to get our beer drinking on! When we arrived at the site, most of us were pleasantly surprised by the fact that Oktoberfest is actually a full on carnival, not just a beer drinking extravaganza. So there were a bunch of carnival rides, legit roller coasters, and game stalls. I'm not so sure extensive beer drinking and then sitting on something that whips you around and turns you upside down is a great combination but it made for a great atmosphere. All us girls had our Amazon bought dirndl dresses on and hair done in braids and apparently that worked because a lot of people were asking us if we were from Munich. Anyhow, the festival was a blast. The tents are a madhouse with drunk people to the max. You don't even have to pay to get in them, just get in line and eventually you'll find a booth to stand on or area to congregate in. The steins are 1 liter worth of very good tasting beer for 10.90 euro. And it doesn't take many steins to get you feeling good. The waitresses were badasses too, they'd carry 15 steins at once and yelled out orders for the drunkards to get out of the way and everyone would listen despite inebriation levels. And of course we had to get the pretzels and bratwurst. Delicious. We only lasted until 9:30pm the first night 😬 On the second day we got out to the tents by 11am and let me tell you, that first beer was a rough one. But everyone powered through and we ended up staying out until 3am 😱 By the time Sunday rolled along, we had no desire to even look at a stein and some of the people we were with had to catch flights back home so we just ambled around Munich, a great city with awesome architecture and culture. Doug and his friends went to Dachau, a concentration camp from WWII.
The entrance to Dachau Concentration Camp. "Work will set you free"
Dachau Concentration Camp buildings prisoners stayed in.
Belgium
Next up was Belgium. Belgium is known for its chocolate and beer so it's pretty much perfect for me. I had been told by many people that Brussels was dirty and not worth going to so I decided to hit two of the smaller towns, Bruges and Leuven, and take it easy after a destructive weekend to the body at Oktoberfest. Doug and his buddies from home went to Brussels and somehow continued the partying.
Bruges was essentially a mini Amsterdam, minus the weed and prostitution, so I liked it. It is home to De Halve Man brewery and many many chocolate and waffle shops. I was there less than 24 hours and walked the whole city on a bum knee. Had a fantastic burger and beer at Jilles and then got what might be the best dessert of my life at Oyya. A soft waffle covered in dark chocolate sauce with brownie ice cream - I can die happy.
Best dessert of my life.
The next day I went to Leuven. Leuven is a small university town just outside Brussels and the original home of Stella Artois beer company. It also brags to have Europe's longest bar which entails a street about a quarter mile long lined with bars and outdoor seating. I had less than 24 hours here also so I just wandered around the streets, it didn't take long to cover the whole city. Belgium was a great end to Europe Round 1. And by the end of these 2 months I'd say we sufficiently used our Eurail passes. We now head back to the good ole US of A for a brief pause in our travels to attend some weddings!
Effective use of the Eurail passes
Comments
Post a Comment