Interlaken

it was off to interlaken after brussels. the trip took quite a while, needing three trains, the first of which was at 5am. i dont recall what time i got in now, but it was well into the afternoon. definitely worth the trek.

i was put into a 8 person tent at balmer's tent village - instead of their main hostel. basically there's two hostels, balmer's and funny farm, and they have a monopoly over the town it seems - they both own their own adventure sport companies and offer their services through the hostel as well - convienently at the same price.

balmer's offers free foosball, pingpong, pool, darts, and a slew of other things. it was a really relaxing time, even though it rained the first two days i was there. i wanted to go skydiving, but due to the weather that wasnt going to happen so i rented a mountain bike with a south african guy i met and we ended up being out there for over four hours, roughly 30km up to some waterfalls.

finally the weather cleared on saturday and i jumped at the chance to go skydiving over the alps. it sure cost a pretty penny and probably shaved off a week of my trip in itself. it was quite the experience but not nearly as scary as i had imagined it would be. after skydiving im guessing bungee jumping would be much more difficult.

 i was first out of the plane from 12k feet. it just hits you all of a sudden, sitting on the floor of a little airplane, door flies open, i swing my legs outside and im just dangling there while the camera guy and my tandem jumper get coordinated. those first few seconds of freefall are unreal though - that and the snap of the chute, wondering if those little clips are really going to keep you attached or not.

i havent gotten the official pictures/dvd from it yet - those will be mailed home.. as i left that night to catch a night train back to rome to watch the world cup final.