I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane, Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again - Part 2

That heading should technically read 'I've Left On A Jet Plane, Don't Know When I'll Be Back Again - Part 2' as I am writing this entry back under the cloudy skies of Cleckheaton but it wouldn't have had the same John Denveresque qualities if I'd written it that way now would it.

For those that were paying attention when I first started writing this blog you may be more than a little surprised to find out that I am back in the art and culture capital that is Cleckheaton instead of the unruly and unrefined surroundings of Florence, but, true to form I spent all my money on alcohol and McDonald's again so I've had to return home. Don't worry though as this will not be my last entry, I'm in the process of preparing something that I hope will amaze and amuse in equal proportions. You'll have to check back in a day or so for that though as now I need to give you the lowdown (although considering the amount of mountains that should probably be highdown) on Switzerland.

As I have been judging entire countries on the performance of 1 city for most of this trip I feel it would be wrong of me to break with tradition now I am at home, so the future of Swiss tourism is precariously balanced in the hands of Interlaken. Luckily for the Swiss tourist board, Interlaken is absolutely amazing as you can probably tell from the accompanying photo. You may also like to note that I have added photos to my other entries as well. I would have done that whilst I was traveling to give you visual as well as literary pleasure but I forgot to take my USB cable with me which rendered my uploading capabilities somewhat useless.

Anyway, enough of the incoherent rambling about technical crap, let's get stuck into the meat and bones of Interlaken. After I left Copenhagen I traveled down to Nurenburg as a stop over on my way to Interlaken. A quick comment on Nurenburg, it is seemingly quite a nice place and after Germany lost to Italy in the World Cup semi finals you would probably expect it to be a little subdued, but instead it morphed into Little Italy with flags awaving and car horns abeeping everywhere you turned.

The train journey from Germany to Switzerland was top banana. Traveling along the banks of Lake Thun and Lake Brienz was very special, the water looked so clean and pure it was untrue. Once again we got lost looking for the hostel, that was until we bumped into a Finnish guy named Tuukku who was one of the craziest but funniest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. His main aim in life was to use the following 3 phrases: "I love you", "Follow that cab" and "Pint o' lager please barman." Genius. The first day in Interlaken was spent just getting used to my new surroundings which was helped and hindered in equal proportions by a 2 for 1 happy hour. Except this wasn't a normal happy hour as it lasted for 2 hours. Hello Mr Hangover, very nice to meet you.

Having been forced to rise early the next day by the hostel room cleaning police, Tom and I decided in our infinite wisdom to go mountain biking which was great fun, incredibly tiring but still great fun. For some reason every time I went careering off down a hill uncontrollably I felt compelled to sing the Superman theme tune at the top of my lungs which I enjoyed immeasurably but left a few farmers looking confused. Despite the fact that the heavens opened the moment we sent off and didn't relent until we got back it was absolutely mega. The mountains and scenery were perfect, if you can get better than perfect then they were probably that and it is something I would recommend to anyone. BRILLIANT!!

When we got back to the hostel we had some new room mates, Koreans this time. It has to be said I love people from the Far East as they keep giving me gifts. The first person from that part of the world that I met was my Japanese flat mate at university, who I called Mikoto despite that not actually been his name, who gave me a carton of Ribena Toothkind as a welcoming gift. Then there were the Koreans in Australia who gave me an ornate money bag to put money in so my wealth would grow. I put a dollar in that until I had to get it out again because I ran out of money. This time around, despite uttering no more than a courteous 'hello', I received a packet of Ritz Peanut Butter crackers. This would have been a great gift as I was very hungry at the time but they had to go straight in the bin due to my life threatening nut allergy. Still, kudos to the Orient.

The next day I decided to go for a swim in Lake Brienz, although I ventured down the wrong path and ended up stranded at the cusp of a fast flowing river so I had to feed the ducks instead which got boring after about 2 minutes (kind of like reading this I guess) so I went to Hooters to get something to eat, which, due to the attractiveness of Swiss girls, was great.

But anyway, the time has come for me to close yet another chapter on this trip. Switzerland easily slips into second place on the country leader board with a score of 8.99/10, mainly because of the scenery but also because of the Ritz crackers.

So as I say check back again either tomorrow or the day after for my next update but until then it is au revoir, auf wiedersehen, dag, szervusz, zbohem, hej, goodbye,
Mr Richard C Allinson