7/22 A beautiful lake and a town that smells like feet cheese

We didn't have that far to drive so our wake up call was at 6:45. It's funny how I think of that time as not being that early but then I think about how I am on summer break and normally wouldn't be up until about 10. That's weird.

Our first stop was going to be in Interlaken. I was very excited to go there because I had heard such good things about it. We only had 90 mins. there which was a bummer because I would have liked to have the whole day so I could have gone paragliding (sorry mom! But you're lucky we didn't have that much time! ;)

The coach dropped us off on the main street. I immediately took off and went exploring the shops and watching the paragliders land on a grassy area across the street from where I was walking.

After going in a few shops, I had an epiphany. I was going to get a Swiss army knife. I found a shop that had the "Spartan" model which has 12 functions.... Including a nice blade, corkscrew, and toothpick! I got it in a clear blue color and even got my name engraved on it for free :)

Feeling pretty happy with my purchase, I continued to window-shop for cool expensive watches and designer purses and clothes I could never afford. When we got back on the bus and continued our drive through Interlaken, I realized this would be a place I would come back to, with the beautiful mountains and trees, crystal blue lake, and awesome little town.

Our next stop, following a quick lunch stop, was Gruyere. Like the cheese. It sits atop a hill and has a really co castle. We had about an hour to explore. I made my way up through the town to the castle. As I walked by the restaurants, I could smell the stinky cheese. The whole town literally smelled like feet cheese! Yuck! But people were shelling out 30 euros each to eat it so maybe I'm missing something here.

Finally reaching the castle was a relief because it didn't stink there. I took some photos and then made my way back down, peeking through the shops. There was a cool bar I saw that was decorated to look like a skeleton. Even the chairs looked like a spine and ribs (pictures to come.)

We got back on the bus and headed to Geneva. It took only over an hour to get there. By the time we got there, it wasn't raining, yet... But it would soon. Of course! We had 90 mins. to spend there. My usual group of 5 and I made our way up to the church just as it started to rain... And of course I had stupidly left my umbrella on the bus.

We made our way to the pretty Protestant church. Well, the outside was pretty. The inside was very plain and was very gray. After ducking inside for a few minutes we started to head back to the bus. We stopped every few minutes to duck under overhangs. I was semi-sharing an umbrella with Lucinda, but that just meant water was dripping from the umbrella onto my shoulder.

On the way back, we noticed that the fountain out on the lake had been turned on. It shot up super high and made a really cool looking rainbow. I took some pretty cool pictures of it.

By the time I got back to my seat on the bus I was soaked. We didn't have very far to drive (luckily!) so I took off my wet sweatshirt and was a bit more comfortable.

When we got to our hotel, I realized we were once again pretty far from the city. We were actually staying in France, right across the border from Geneva. I had some leftover bread and salami from the day before which became my dinner again... And makes me not want to have either product for a long time...

I went down to the lobby and saw the Illinois family at the bar. I said hi and Paul, the dad, offered to get me a drink. Everyone knows I don't turn down a drink so I ordered a vodka pineapple. The waitress brought me just pineapple juice but Paul quickly fixed the situation. We hung out and chatted a while. The bartender was also the dining room server and busser so she was hard to get a hold of when the guys wanted another drink.

When Paul got the bill, I saw my stupid little drink was 9 euro!!!! (13.50!!!!!!) I apologized and offered to pay for it but Paul wouldn't let me. He offered me another one which I quickly declined. I then headed off to my room.

I once again had my own room. I took a shower and set my alarm for 5:50. We had a looooong drive to Paris in the morning!