Bern wound up on a high, albeit tired, note. Our final night we arrived back at the hostel after conquering the Gurten to hang out in the hostel's common room. There we met an Algerian fellow (whose name I still don't know) who popped a VHS of the classic Nicholas Cage film Face/Off into the player and captivated the crowd. By the time the movie ended, our crowd of rougly 20 people had dwindled to a diehard 5 or 6. Marc wound up going to bed, but Michael and I were still hanging around downstairs. After a long conversation with our Algerian acquaintance, he declared at around 2:00am that he was going to take a walk to take some night photos, and invited us to join. We did. It was certainly great fun- from around 2:00am - 5:00am we tramped around Bern in the rain, snapping extended exposures throughout the dark city.
A few quick hours' sleep, and it was off to Interlaken!
It was certainly a good thing that we shortened our stay in Interlaken to extend it in Gimmelwald. The hostel was nice, and we met an awesome guy from Kansas City (the Kansas side) named Jonathan who was bumming around Europe for as long as possible on the $9,000 he'd received from a car insurance check. The conversation flowed for hours until we eventually went up to bed.
The next morning, after a good breakfast in the hostel of granola cereal, orange juice, and coffee, we set out on a futile attempt to find a chocolate shop that we heard about that offered you unlimited samples for free. Apparently it was either a mistake, or this was such a poor business model that it's since closed. We departed by train, bus, and gondola from Interlaken for Gimmelwald- the most beautiful place ever.
We haven't done much today, instead just sat agape staring at the Swiss Alps that we are right smack in the middle of. Marc and I took a walk around the street to have a look at the town, and wound up buying some homemade Alpen cheese and homemade dried sausage. Neither of us had a problem giving up the 10 CHF for it. To buy it in this teeny town, we had to knock on a house's door. The woman who lived there answered, and after a chat she led us to a little house across the street on stilts (to keep out the mice) that served as the cheese shop. She cut us some samples of the year-aged cheese (it's Swiss, but no holes!) and pieces of the sausage on her cutting board- literally a inch-thick slice of tree stump. Both are delicious!
Eventually Martin and Pete, the guys we met in Bern and climbed the Gurten with, arrived in Gimmelwald for the day, so we caught up with them before checking into the hostel (a wonderful place with a great atmosphere and great clientele- not even a need to lock doors or bags) and continuing our lazy afternoon by sitting and staring, stunned, at the scenery.
The only thing protecting this amazing village from development is a dubious avalanche zone designation. The Internet connection here is also surprisingly excellent, so here's a crapload of photos from today:
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