Glacier Rivers are Cold

So I made it back alive from white water rafting. I actually think I did okay. I only fell out of the boat once, and it was when we were past the white water part, and into the coasting/doing stupid shit part. Unfortunately I also knocked someone else out of the boat. With my butt. In her face. And she was a guide (Not our guide, but for the same company I think, just in Austria). Kind of embarassing, but pretty funny as well. Other than that, no major catastrophes were caused by me. Always a relief. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures. I wasn't about to risk my camera (obviously) and I also wasn't about to pay 30 sfr for a cd, great though I'm sure the pictures were. No, my memories will have to suffice at those written on this blog.

The river we rafted in actually runs down from Grindelwald. It is called the Black Lütschine. The reason for this is that sediments settle in the glacier and give the water a dirty, greyish colour. The white Lütschine flows from Lauterbrunnen and is quite clear and lovely. Where they meet they become the Lütschine river. Anyway, the rafting trip begins with some class 3 rapids. You then have to get out of the river and take a bus to the next section lower down on the river. This is because a nature conserve begins, and only fishing is allowed there. Just below the nature conserve is a class five rapid, and it is illegal for anyone to raft, or even kayak there. Anyway, the next section is a 3.5 or a 4. That section is followed by some easy crusing, with a bit of fast water through to the lake. It's actually really cool because where the river meets the lake the water gets really clear. That's because the water stops moving and the sediment settles to the bottom where it is collected with a machine and then processed for roads and other things. Also, the water gets instantly warmer in the lake because it is still and the sun heats it. It's gorgeous.

I actually don't have much more to say about today. It was really fun, but there's not much to tell. That has been the case for the majority of my time here. I have just been relaxing and having a nice time. Tomorrow I am off to Salzburg, so I'm sure I'll be less lazy and have more adventures to relate to you all. I'm going to go attempt to be social now, even though I'm pretty tuckered. Maybe I can convince someone to play asshole.

Quick update

It's been a few days since my last post. I actually haven't been up to much, just lounging in the mountains, making friends, sleeping in. It's been grand. Anyway, this afternoon I go white water rafting, so keep your fingers crossed that it all goes well.

Hiking alone is neither cool nor fantastic...

I woke up pretty early this morning, because four out of five of my roommates were leaving today, and they made a lot of noise. That was alright. I got up and went for a walk around the town to try to figure out what I was going to do with my day. I decided to take the Gondola from Grindelwald to First and hike down (I actually could not figure out how hike up, so it happened this way). But first I had to come back to my room to get my Eurail pass for a 25% discount. The Quattrocchi in me was pretty psyched about this.

The ride up to first is about 30 minutes and I was pretty much white knuckling it the entire time. I don't know what it is, but anytime I am in a gondola (and sometimes on chair lifts as well) I can't help but think about what would happen if the cable were to snap. It's much worse when I'm riding alone, and I happened to be alone this time. Needless to say, I was pretty happy with my decision to walk down.

I had originally decided to walk down a path that went by an alpine lake and had lots of wild flowers, but I couldn't figure out where that path started. Instead I decided to follow the other hikers. Safety in numbers, I always say. I ended up going along the marmot path. If you have binoculars you can supposedly see lots of marmots coming out of the rocks. I saw none. I did see some cows though, and more butterflies than I've seen since I was a kid. Anyway, I followed the marmot path for a while, but at a fork in the road I decided to change course and take what I thought was a more direct route back to Grindelwald. It was a mistake. I noticed that everyone was heading back towards Bort, which is one of the stations on the gondola ride, but the sign to Grindelwald was pointing in a different direction. I waited until I saw some other hikers take that trail and then I went down it as well. I think we were the only people on that trail, and they kept stopping to take pictures so I quickly passed them.

I was a really nice walk. When I got bored of being by myself I listened to Fleet Foxes and the Flaming Lips on my ipod. I couldn't figure out why the path was so empty, and I started to get kind of worried. I really had no other option than to keep going.

At this point I had been walking for what felt like hours. In reality it was maybe an hour and a half. My toes hurt because I was walking downhill and they were pushing against the front of my shoes, so I took to walking backwards down the hills. It's great for the butt you guys, I'm telling you. Anyway, as I said, I thought it had been hours. It was starting to get dark so I pegged it at eight at the earliest. Luckily I brought my trusty travel alarm, so I dug that out to check the time: quarter to six. Huh, that's strange. Why is the sky so dark? And what's that sound? Oh yes, my friends, it was thunder. I was about to get caught in a crazy mountain storm with no where to go for shelter and no rain gear. And the lightning was starting. But worry not because as fate would have it two cars drove by and the driver of the first car offered me a ride (that's one lucky thing about looking generally clueless. People assume you are harmless and want to help you). I felt pretty safe taking the offer as it came from a man who was at least 65. I was pretty sure I could take him in a fight if it came to that. Luckily it didn't. I got in before the rain started and we were at our destination just as the downpour stopped. What luck! To make things even more magical, there was a glorious rainbow in the sky. The man directed me to the train station (which was unfortunately down a pretty steep, narrow road) and bid me farewell.

View from the top of First.

Wow! What a looker!

Like my father before me, I took many pictures of waterfalls (streams?).

A magical ending!

In Grindelwald... the village in Switzerland, not the character from Harry Potter

Hi all! So I arrived safely in Grindelwald. What's more, I was the first person in my room so I got first pick of beds and lockers. Score! That is the first time that has happened. Anyway, because today was a travelling day there is not much to tell (except I tried this awesome apple beer, that was 35% alkoholfreies... whatever that means), so please enjoy some pictures and a video from the pubcrawl we went on in Berlin. I will provide explanations where necessary, and I'll do a proper update tomorrow.


Tanya and Devinn are disgusted by something... wish I could remember what...

Yes, I did take this picture upside-down on purpose. It seemed like a fantastic idea at the time.

Because we had umbrellas and it rained we were the most popular girls in all the land. This young chap was still in his teens, and his friends were deeply disturbed to discover that Tanya was a teacher (they used to opportunity to ask her for relationship advice). Anyway, this guy's style was inspired by Harry Potter (note the Gryffindor colours on his sweater... or jumper, if your British).

Clearly, I felt it necessary to steal his glasses and have a photoshoot.

Bern promotes baby eating... Thomas Swift would be pleased

Today was my only full day in Bern. I had a leisurely morning, and headed into town on foot for about 11 o'clock. As I walked I noticed I was heading downhill, so you can imagine how much I was looking forward to the walk home. In town I decided to just wander the streets. Bern’s Old Town is really pretty. The streets are mostly cobblestone, and there are lots of fountains and statues all around the town. There is also a clock that has little figures that move around on the hour. My favourite site, however, was the Ogre fountain, which is a fountain with a statue of an ogre eating babies. Lots of children were disturbed by this (okay, just one that I saw), but I thought it was pretty magical. I spent most of my time in town walking the streets and trying to resist the urge to go shopping (I was successful!).

At around one I was pretty hungry so I went to the grocery store and bought some cheese, bread, and water (my typical lunch for the past month) and found a picnic table overlooking the river to eat. I was actually starving at this point (it took me at least half an hour to decide what to do for lunch) but I always find that the more hungry I feel the less I can actually eat. I ate half the bun, and about a quarter of the cheese, and the water was frizzante (I really need to learn to check that) so I ended up sharing the bun with some birds and then carrying the cheese and water around with me for the rest of the day.

After lunch I walked along the river, before heading to the tourist centre to buy some more postcards and stamps (as well as some un-fizzed water). The tourist centre is located at the bear pits, which I had decided I did not need to see. I kind of ended up there accidentally. Basically they are just these concrete pits where they keep bears for entertainment purposes (like a zoo, minus any vegetation). None of the bears were actually out in the pits when I was there. Bear pits in Bern actually date back to 1441, and the name of the city, Bern, actually means bear (presumably in German, but don’t quote me on that). Supposedly the founder of the town (forget his name) said he would start his town on the site where he made his first kill while hunting, and he would name the town for that animal. That’s what a postcard told me anyway.

After the bear pits I decided to walk up to the rose gardens. It was actually quite a steep little walk, but it was worth it because at the top you got a view of the entire town. Also, the gardens were beautiful and they smelled great. I think I said I wasn’t impressed with them, but that was before I got to the main gardens. I stayed up in the gardens with the many old people and wrote post cards a wandered around. All in all it was quite a pleasant day. Tomorrow I am off to Grindelwald!

A video or two

I meant to include this in my last post. This video is from Antwerp. I may periodically post some of the videos and stories from the first leg of our trip. We shall see.

In Bern

This morning I took the train from Dijon into Bern. Sophie dropped me off at the station, and I managed not to commit the same hugging faux pas (I'm learning). I swear I must have some kind of child-attracting scent or something though, because the entire train car I was on was filled with children and babies. They were hilarious, and luckily my seemingly lifelong career (my life's been pretty short thus far) in child care has given me extreme patience, and the ability to tune out most shouting and crying that is unrelated to me. Since I just started this blog, I haven't mentioned to most of you that the first week I was in Europe small children seemed to swarm to me. At the airport when I arrived a three year old was convinced I was her au pair. We had a nice conversation, very little of which I actually understood. In Brussels a toddler on the subway kept trying to give me the magnets she was playing with. It's weird that they just seem to find me.

Anyway, it was a pleasant ride with really beautiful scenery. Switzerland's geography is 70% mountains, so you can imagine (if you haven't been here) how beautiful it is. When I got into the train station I got some money out. Switzerland is not part of the EU so my euros were no good here. I went to the tour desk, got some maps and brochures, and decide the hoof it to my hotel instead of taking the bus. In retrospect, this was probably a good idea because I got to enjoy some scenery, but at the time I thought I was going to die. I wore my jeans (or my travelling pants, as I like to call them) so I was sweating and I swear that my bag has taken on a life of it's own. Also, I was walking on a gentle incline that got gradually less gentle as the walk processed. In the end I was pretty impressed with my ability to navigate myself to my hotel without any wrong turns. Anyone who has ever driven with me and/or travelled with me should be impressed as well.

It was about a twenty-five minute walk, and I was pretty sweaty, thirsty, and tired when I arrived so I was pretty relieved that they let me check in right away. I went up to my room and took off my pants (in true Kristi style). Then it started to rain, so instead of going out to explore the city (as I should have done. I do have an umbrella) I did some emailing and took a nice long nap. Clearly I don't have much to tell about my Switzerland adventures thus far, but I plan to make tomorrow count, so I'll update then and let you know what I get up to.

I've been travelling for almost a month now, and I'm only now starting to keep a blog. Why, you ask? Well, it has a lot to do with the loneliness of travelling by myself. I've met a lot of people, and I spent the last five days with an old friend (more on that later), but I do have a lot of alone time, and boredom can set in pretty fast if I don't keep busy.

Anyway, I spent the last five days in Dijon with Sophie Fasne, who did an English/French exchange to my highschool in 2000 (almost nine years ago. Wild!). She saw that I was in Europe via facebook and invited me to come visit if I was in France. I am so glad I did. For one thing, this is the first time I haven't felt like a tourist in a long time. My first day here she picked me up from the railway station. I did the old North American hug, which was awkward, because the French don't do that (and, anyone who knows me well knows that I'm not really a hugger anyway). Then she took me to her house, introduced me to her boyfriend Nicol, and fed me (avocados, tomatoes, mozzarella, and cheese in a salad... mmmmm). Then she showed me around Dijon.

Dijon is a gorgeous little town, with lots of medieaval architecture, and little villages with vineyards surrounding it. It is the home of Dijon mustard (although I've been told that the mustard is no longer made in Dijon, and even when it was most of the mustard seeds were imported, primarily from Canada). Also, all throughout the area are little villages with vineyards. They are beautiful, and the wine is great. Sophie took me on a drive through them on the way to her parents country house (which was huge and beautiful).

Anyway, on my first night here Sophie and her boyfriend had a barbeque with many of their friends, all of whom were extremely nice. I didn't understand most of the conversation, but I didn't mind. I'll go so far as to say it was pleasant. The next day I slept in and went into town to wander for a while in the afternoon.

Wednesday we went to the country house. We stopped in a village and drank some wine and sampled five kinds of local cheese. I was in my element. At the house Sophie, her brother Tomas, and two friends (Sam and RoRo) played cards, while her younger brother Antoine studied. I finished Murakami's Wild Sheep Chase and dangled my legs in the pool. Later we went to a nice restaurant for supper with some of the people from the bbq and a few new faces. I ate two courses of cheese (St. Martine and camembert) and had more wine. A more glorious day I could not have had. Then some of us went to watch a free concert/circus in a park and then to an Irish pub (McCarthys). What a detailed account I am giving! Sophie and I soon left, and I passed out when I got home. Today I did not do much. I took advantage of the free laundry facilities, and met Sophie in town for a drink. It rained so I came back pretty early, and then just lounged around for a while. Tomorrow I am off to Bern!Local tradition states that if you place your left hand on this owl and make a wish, that wish will come true.

First post... but not my first day

So I actually am writing a travel blog. I didn't know if it was going to happen, but it has. This is actually my third week in to this trip, but it is only my first week on my own. So far on my journeys I have been to the Amsterdam, Brussels, Antwerp, Bruges, Frankfurt, Braubach, Munich, Berlin, and Paris. That's not including a bike trip we took outside of Amsterdam, the main reason being that I have no idea where we were. Note to self: next time invest in a bike map.

Anyway, I don't really know what to post at the moment. It is my last day in Paris and I am tuckered out. I am currently waiting for the phone, but from the looks of things I could be waiting for a while. Today was not too interesting. I changed hostels (for the third time in Paris) and walked around the city. I went to the Musee D'Orsay, but I didn't get to see everything I wanted because it closed earlier than I had anticipated (Lonely Planet has lied to me for the last time). Tomorrow I am off to Dijon to visit Sophie, who I met when I was in grade 11 (I think). I'm pretty excited to see a familiar face (and I've only been on my own a few days... how does that bode for the next three weeks?). I'll let you know how it goes!

I promise my next post will be more interesting/informative and less stream of consciousy. Until then, enjoy some pics from the trip thus far.