Hallo, Svitzerland!

So, we made it to the land of the Swiss. We actually arrived right at the end of Swiss Day. Our little train arrived an hour late into Bern, so we had to wait another hour before we arrived in Interlaken. So technically, we missed Swiss Day all together. So, we arrive in Interlaken only to find that there is no one there. Well, we were there with a group of college students backpacking and five old people. Eventually, we all got cabs to our hotels. So, 12 minutes and 40 Euro later we arrived in Iseltwald, a little village on the lake in the valley of the Swiss Alps.

We arrived very late and as we waited for them to look for our room key, we met to girls from none other than LSU. How random is that? Of all the people to run into, two LSU students. So, we chatted about the upcoming football season and enjoyed English conversation. Anyway, apparently, we arrived so late that our little hostel/hotel had given our room away for the night. So, they got us in a lakeside room with bunk beds for the night. Yahoo! Just what we always wanted, bunk beds for me and my wife. We had the room booked for 3 nights, but we decided immediately that we would stay here for only one night and just go hunting for rooms the rest of our trip. So, one night down and this was our view in the am.

It started out a bit overcast, cleared up for a minute, then rain all day! YEA!

You see that handsome, happy couple? Well, they didn't stay that way for too much longer. Here, we were waiting for the ferry to bring us back to Interlaken, so we could head up to Lauterbrunnen and get in the heart of the Swiss Alps. While we waited, we decided to head into the little restaurant in the Strand Hotel, seen here:

We didn't have a lot of time, so we just got a lite dessert and paid our bill just in time to see our ferry rolling in. Off we go, grab our bags and get on the ferry. Here are some shots from the ferry of the mountains around.

So, I'm taking these photos and decide to go get the video camera. Hey, Jill can you get me the vi . .d. . .e . . . . . oh crap! Where is my backpack? Are you kidding me? Where is my bag? You guessed it, I left my backpack in the Hotel Strand restaurant. So, I'm totally freaking out. Our video camera, our Eurail passes and our passports are in that bag. I throw up a little in my mouth and decide to see how long it would take until we could get back to the hotel there and hopefully find my bag untouched. So, I went to talk to one of the ferry employees. He told me the fastest way to get back was, after we arrived in Interlaken in about 30 minutes, to take a cab back. Depressed at the idea of spending another 40 Euro, I explained to the man why I was so anxious to get back. He went to see if he could get a phone book so he could call the hotel for me, but came back with nothing. So, we are sitting on the ferry that lasts forever and praying that my bag will still be there when we get back in about an hour.