Switzerland

This week has certainly been relaxing as well as pretty challenging.
When we arrived in Switzerland, I knew we were going to love it. Our room overlooks the mountains, in a tiny little village called Gryon.
Our plans for the week included mostly hiking, and relaxing in the thermal baths afterwards.
Our first day we hiked up about 1900m. This hike took 6 hours as we had to hike to the base of the mountain from our lodge. We hiked with two Texan girls and it was lots of fun. The beginning of this hike was the most difficult, and then when we got to the summit, it was definitely worth it. This was the first mountain I've ever climbed.
The next day we decided to go out on what most people do on a two day adventure hike, lead by the owner of our hostel, but there weren't enough staff to stay back and watch the hostel so he couldn't lead us. We met this guy who went on the two day hike two years before, and he said that he would lead us, so we got up and headed out. We weren't exactly expecting that this hike would be much different from the day before, however we were definitely a little surprised and had a few "what did we get ourselves into" moments along the way. This hike took us to 2500m with little room for error!
It was freezing cold at the top, and I was the only one who was slightly prepared. It was a pretty terrible day to be hiking, we couldn't see anything from the top, as it was so cloudy. But that made the experience a little more exciting, and we had a whole different atmosphere at the top. This picuture posted is from our first day, I will post more pictures, when I get some time, but until then I must be off. Some of them are up on flickr already...
Take care

Week OFF...BAvaria and Switzerland

Well, we made it through our 4th week of camp and we have begun a well-deserved break!!!
After the BIG FINISH on Friday Aug 4th we headed to the train station to catch our train to Prunn, which is a small colony in Bavaria (the south of Germany) to stay with a good friend of my aunt's. As soon as we transferred trains in Nurnburg we knew that this trip was going to be an enjoyable experience. The people from Bavaria are very different from anyone that we have met in Eastern Germany thus far. They are far more layed back and much more interested in foreiners. At one point on our train ride we had quite the little audience and people were offering their houses for us to stay, as well as their cell phones for us to call our hosts, as we had missed our connection from Nurenburg because our train was late. The 7 hours of travel Friday night flew by as we chatted the ride away.
Our hosts have been more generous than we could ever imagine. We were only expecting to have a bed to sleep in, and they have far exceeded our expectations. We've been taken out for traditional Bavarian dinners, to a friend's party where I ate the best food I've EVER eaten. They've taken us to BierGartens, castles, bird shows, lent us their bikes and MUCH MUCH more!!! We are so thankful. Again the Bavarian people are SOOO generous. Friends of our hosts (Complete strangers to us) intited us into their home this afternoon for coffee and cake. (I have started drinking coffee since I've been here: I never thought this day would come!!!)
We've been here for 3 days now and tomorrow we will catch the overnight train to Switzerland where we will be staying in a remote hostel in the Alps. When we stayed in Hamburg this guy we met had stayed there with his girlfriend and he said it was amazing. I think that we are going to enjoy it there. How could we not!!! Mountains, wine, chocolate...what more could we ask for!!! This break has been very relaxing so far, and we cannot even begin to imagine what Switzerland is going to bring us.
You might notice that I have posted a few pictures from our trip so far. Nothing compared to what I want to post, but its a start.
Take a peek...and enjoy!!!
Missing you all lots,
Maggie