Onwards and upwards leaving Italy, before an extremely scenic drive into Switzerland. Stopping for numerous photo-taking opportunities along the way, we finally arrived in the quiet town of Lauterbrunnen. We were rooming in a 400-year old Chateau situated in a valley of the Swiss Alps with 200m cliffs either side, waterfalls, glacier mountains and water rapids. It really was all it had been hyped up to be; it was beautiful, pictures could not do any justice for this region of the world.

With temperatures much cooler than the heat wave of Italy, we were able to enjoy our first comfortable sleep in past 8am since starting 15 days ago. Opting not to go up to Jungfrau mountain for a morning of skiing, snowboarding and tobogganing, we woke late & went out into town to find and satisfy a long-serving craving; a meat pie, or 3. The remainder of the day consisted of hiking up a mountain underneath a waterfall, a group game of soccer & ultimate frisbee in the vast green playing fields before sitting by the lake for afternoon beers in eager anticipation for the night. A lack of ice for sale meant we had to improvise by keeping the beers at the bottom of the lake to keep cold; genius!

The night in Switzerland involved a 'Swiss-co disco' party in the campsites 'bomb shelter' bar (literally an old bomb shelter). The theme required all to be dressed in Swiss attire. Not usually one for being creative, I thought to go a little bit different to all the rest of group who were buying red and white shirts, shorts and hats. Our outfit for the night; an apron. And only an apron. The idea caught on and soon all the boys on Contiki had themselves a Swiss apron, and were ready for the night. A fun night with multiple sambucca shots & crowd surfing before a slight butt of heads with the other Contiki group and push and shove dampened the mood and ended the night for many. Unlike walking out of a club in Kings Cross & seeing homeless people and call girls, the views on the way home were amazing, with steep cliffs lit up with a waterfall flowing. So nice that I decided to spend the early hours of the morning lying by the river rapids staring up at the beautiful surroundings of the natural environment that is the Swiss Alps. (My other option was to bunk in a bed with Doug & put up with his snoring; no-brainer really)