3.5 weeks in Europe- "Run Like Hell"

We had an awesome rental car and headed out on our adventure to see more of Switzerland. The first stop was at the Bern, Switzerland LDS Temple which was beautiful and peaceful. We headed to Bern for a few hours which is an amazing city! We heard an awesome organist in a cathedral we walked into. 

LOOK! Doesn't this tree look like it has eyes? 

A drinking fountain in the middle of the street in Bern. I love them! Isn't it so pretty and inviting?

Bern, Switzerland...I'd love to come back here and explore some more. We only had a few hours. 

The beautiful ice blue water makes a horseshoe shape around Bern. You can swim in the water there and go all the way around. Someday, I will do this! Our next stop was to Interlochen, Switzerland.

We took a tram up the mountain which is kind of expensive but worth it and part of the experience. We hiked around the alps, the views were unbelievable. 

After hiking around a bit we headed back to our campsite. We stayed at a Eurocamp and if you like adventure and camping this would be right up your alley! It wasn't really even like camping, Plus, since we were on a super tight budget it was the right price for the night. 

The Euro camp campsite was right on Interlochen lake. The funny thing about Switzerland...or maybe not so funny thing is that the grocery stores all close at 7. However, the sun doesn't go down until ten or so. We were out hiking and enjoying the day and didn't get to the campsite until about 7 but we didn't have any groceries to make dinner! Luckily for us, most of the Euro camps have a restaurant on site and so we had a delicious pizza for dinner at a little Italian Bistro right by the lake. I felt so fortunate and grateful because the trip really progressed in this manner. There would be some set backs but things always worked out. 

We had a safari tent that had two rooms and four beds, a fridge, stove, table, chairs, heater, lighting and a super clean bathroom just down the way.

This morning I was preparing for another five star experience.....Jumping off Grindewald. The mountain....not the character in Harry Potter. Although, truth be told every time the name Grindewald was mentioned I got a picture of a blonde Johnny Depp wizard in my mind. 

Grindewald 

We took a tram up the mountain led by one of our trusty guides where we were going to paraglide off of the mountain. Yes, you heard me I literally jumped off a mountain with a gliding parachute.

Here is who I was tandem riding with, I can't remember his name but he had a thick German accent and was pretty funny. We were all strapped in and ready to go as he was giving me instructions he said the only thing you have to remember is when I say go, " RUN LIKE HELL!" And I did...right off the side of Grindewald mountain.

It was amazing and also a bit dizzying. I am so glad I had that experience and would highly recommend it if you are going to Switzerland and want amazing views of the Alps. 

A yummy sandwich about $3 from the grocery store. I bought lunch, drinks, fruit, and snacks for the rest of the day for about $13. A meal in Grindewald is easily double that at a restaurant. 

We hiked up the crevice of Grindewald the water was SO blue this does not even do it justice. Switzerland was amazing we drove to the south close to the Italian border. We had to catch a bus to Italy and dropped our rental car at Lake Lugano. We had a funny experience where we ordered a pizza with ham and took it to go when we opened it at the bus stop it had these huge slices of something seedy that kind of looked like zucchini but was definitely not ham. We realized it was eggplant and were so hungry we gobbled the whole thing up. I paid the most I have ever paid for a bottle of water $7. Desperate times call for desperate measures and we were off to Milan.