Day Twenty-Four: Florence

Though the forecast predicted thunderstorms and miserable weather, we were greeted in the morning with California-esque blue skies and piles of ivory clouds. The temperature was warm enough to go sans jacket, and it seemed like a very pleasant day was upon us.
With our own personal navigator, Nick, at the helm, we wandered through the streets of Florence to the Uffizi Gallery. Florence is absolutely beautiful, especially in young or aging light. The houses are all painted with warmth and the people display that same level of warmth. If I had to choose between Florence and Rome to live in, I would most definitely pick the former.
With only minimal difficulty, we made it into the museum and started our exploration. It's really quite a shame that neither Clarissa nor Joyce are blogging for this day, because they could provide a much better analysis of the museum. Nick and I went off by ourselves, as we tend to appreciate art much more quickly than the other two. We did actually stop and look at a few pieces this time around. My favorite was a set of paintings inspired by the seven cardinal virtues. We also saw the Birth of Venus, which is far less exciting in person. I also really enjoy the different interpretations of religious scenes. Each artist used their faith in a different fashion.
Otherwise, we really just ate, which will become a regular pass time for us in Italy. I will attempt to hunt down pictures, but they are scattered across cellphones at the moment. All in all, it was a wonderful day without too much excitement. Florence is beautiful.

Day Twenty-Three: Interlaken to Florence

Everyone had to wake up at the ungodly hour of 6 am to catch a one of the many trains that would take us to Florence, Italy. We switched from train to train without a hitch (thank God Swiss trains are known for their punctuality). Then we walked to our beautiful apartment with an amazing rooftop terrace. We quickly settled in, many of us taking naps until it was an appropriate time to eat dinner. After our delicious meal, we grabbed some gelato on the walk back. It was our first taste of true Italian gelato and we were hooked. After all of our meals we now needed a scoop (or two) of gelato for the meal to feel complete. Upon return to the apartment, everyone went to bed early, excited for tomorrow's adventures.

Day Twenty-Two: Interlaken

Nick's post!

Today was quite an eventful day for all of us. I didn't really think that much was going to happen. I had planned to maybe go tandem-paragliding for the first time, but I was worried because the weather looked very questionable. I signed up anyways for the 2 pm time slot. With a couple of hours to kill, I was able to watch Joyce learn to ride a bike. Yes, ride a bike. Almost 18 years old and Joyce still had NOT learned how to ride a bike. So, we rented one of the hostel's bikes for an hour and made her learn.

I'l admit I was not the most patient teacher and gave up after a little bit. Clarissa and Sarah were a little better and stayed outside with Joyce. It was a good thing, though, that I decided to go inside because it was there that I sat next to Chris, one of our fellow tent-mates. I hadn't really spoken a word to him the whole time we'd been here, so I was a bit nervous as I sat next to him to plug in my phone to charge. Although, it turned out that he is actually very amiable, and we started talking right away. Half an hour later, the rest of the group came inside (Joyce had been successful in riding a bike on her own aside from making left turns). They had decided to sign up for horseback riding instead of paragliding which disappointed me because the original plan was for at least one of them to take pictures of me in the air. Now their appointment coincided with mine. Chris piped up, though, and promptly offered to ride his bike to my landing spot to take some photos! Good thing I made friends with him.

When two o clock finally came to pass, we parted our separate ways as I boarded a small van to my paragliding spot and the females a bus towards the horses. 

Paragliding was one of the coolest, funnest experiences I have ever had. It felt like I had wings and could fly anywhere I wanted to. Being tandem, I could not go wherever I wanted to, of course, but it was great nonetheless. 

I could seriously see myself getting into paragliding on my own. Apparently there are small schools at which you can get your license and experience in two weeks. 

I got back to the hostel a couple of hours later and sat down with Chris and Rick, our tent mates, and Trevor, Rick's friend. We were all talking about my first time paragliding when the women walked in. They all looked content except for Joyce who, turns out, is pretty allergic to horses.

The rest of the night was very fun. We and basically everyone we had met all had a few drinks to celebrate our new adventures. I remember coming to the hostel on the first day and feeling a bit shy since everyone was talking in what seemed like their already-made cliques and whatnot. However, by this night, we were the ones talking loudly, playing foosball, and socializing with the rest of the hostel. It was nearly two in the morning when everyone finally parted for bed. It was a great day to finish off Switzerland!

Day Twenty-One: Zermatt

On day twenty-one we took a train through the beautiful mountains of Switzerland up to Zermatt, from where you can see the Matterhorn. We got a bit turned around, however, and ended up in Bern, so we explored the city a bit before getting onto another train and heading up to the very touristy mountain town. We learned that Switzerland is a difficult place to visit on a tight budget, as everything, from food, to clothes, to activities is very pricey. Thus, there wasn't too much to do in Zermatt. It was very picturesque though.

It was too cloudy to really see the Matterhorn, but just being so close to it was cool. Here, have an internet picture!

Overall, it was a very relaxed and scenic day.

Day Twenty: Munich to Interlaken

The train ride itself was fairly uneventful. We were worried about the eight minute layover, and while our first train was indeed delayed by twenty minutes, our connecting train was delayed by forty minutes. Our connecting train ended up stopping in Basel rather than Interlaken because the Swiss do not like belated trains. Instead of having the train be late, they just canceled the train. But, we managed to catch another train and made it to Interlaken safe and sound. The train ride was pretty beautiful. We passed by water that was impossibly blue and large lakes that seemed to stretch into the horizon. The clouds billowed across the sky, and little bit of blue shone within the cracks. It was astounding.
When we arrived in the town, it was raining in a sort of miserable way. We made the trek to the hostel only to be told that we had to walk longer to the tent village. Dragging our suitcases behind us like large sacks of flour, we somehow stumbled to what was our home for those three days.
The tent village was a collection of small tents with a large meeting tent. The specific tent we received had six beds in them. Four of them belonged to us, and the other two belonged to an Englishman named Rick and an Australian named Chris who sleeps like the dead. The bathrooms were all coed and smelled slightly. This was not like the luxurious apartments that we had become accustomed to.
We went out for a diner of enormous kebabs and falafels, and then eventually settled in our beds and went to sleep.

Day Nineteen: Munich

We all woke up surprised to see breakfast already made and set for us. After eating lots of bread with various toppings, the twins (Valerie and Natalie ) took us out to the main part of town. There we walked through different stores, weeping about of lack of money we had to spend. Then we were taken to a restaurant that served traditional German cuisine which is essentially just meat and potatoes. And also the largest beers any of us have ever seen. With our bellies full of yummy food, the twins continued to stuff us by taking us to a very famous and busy dessert place. By the end, hardly any of us could move, so we decided to go home and take a nap. Again we woke to more food, though this time it was delicious barbecue steaks and sausages. I swear we did more than just eat all day. After dinner, we all went to a 16+ club. There we had a few drinks, danced, and enjoyed everyone's company. By midnight, those under eighteen were shooed out of the club so we headed home. Here's a picture of everyone before going home:

We all had a great night and quickly fell asleep once we got home.

Day Eighteen: Berlin to Munich

It's Nick -

Super short blogging post since we just traveled for most of the day. For some reason our train ride took six hours to get from Berlin to Munich, but it was just more time to sleep. We arrived at the train station in Munich and greeted Sarah's friends Valarie, Natalie, and Rita. They were all very nice, but they all spoke German to each other and Sarah so the rest of us would awkwardly stand to the side not understanding a thing. We rested at their house where we were staying before going out into the town with them. We grabbed a few drinks, toured a little bit around Munich, and then went home to sleep.