We took a 6 hr train from Venice to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. Why Bern? Why not? That was the thought anyway, but we knew before we even got to Bern that that's NOT where we wanted to be. From Venice we trained through Milan and then straight up through the Alps to Bern. We spent about a half hour total in two loooong tunnels, longer than any tunnel should be.

We surfaced in the heart of the Alps... unfortunately we headed straight out of the mountains and across a plain to Bern. Jeff was tearing up pretty good by the time we pulled into the station, so we decided to buy another ticket and catch the first train back to the mountains. We talked to the lady in the tourist information office in the station and she suggested Interlaken as a 'base' for our adventures in the Alps.

Switzerland, despite its reputation as a fun, beautiful country, has a dark side. You have to pay to use public toilets. With all the tunnels and mountains I had forgotten to use the bathroom on the train (this might be too much info, but hey, it is a blog after all). Anyway, they charged 2 Swiss Franks to use this Cadillac of all toilets. Too bad I had no idea what a Frank is... or what it converts too in US or Euro. So thinking fast, I went to the atm and got out 200 of those things.

200 may seem like a lot, but I've dealt with a lot of ATMs and usually the first option is around 20 dollars or 40 dollars, so I assumed it was a safe bet. Turns out 200 Franks is a little less than 200 dollars, and I had two 100 Frank bills. Not suprisingly, the bathroom attendant wouldn't take it so we (Jeff was in the same boat by this point) floated to the McDonalds to buy a Big Mac to break my 100, then took the change back to the merciless attendant.

That was Bern's second strike, and we were ready to LEAVE the city. By this point I think we were both ready to leave the big city, traffic, throngs of tourists, etc. and Interlaken sounded like the place to go. As we pulled into the station the sun came out, giving us a beautiful view of the lake and snow capped peaks beyond. We stepped out onto the platform with NO idea what we were going to do or where we would sleep or anything. We had a ticket to Paris in two days and that was it.

At the end of the platform there was a board with all the hotels and hostels in the city with their ammenaties, a map, and a free phone to call and ask about availability. Talk about convenience! We landed at a place called the Falken Inn, a hostel/bar with free internet and a kitchen. When we got there we started flipping through hiking maps and adventure brochures and decided to go hang-gliding. The bar tender/receptionist called and made a reservation for us at 9 am with Hanggliding Interlaken.

That night we took a hike up a small hill just outside town to get a view of the city and lake from a little higher. The city was great, there were very few people since we hit it between ski season and summer. The Swiss speak a mix of German and French, but as one local put it, "You shouldn't have a problem, English is the third language we learn." We wandered around the city a little more before turning in for the night. And we played a quick game of foosball in the bar too.