Switzerland

One word to describe how I felt after our weekend in Switzerland - FIZZING!!!!!!! (for a comprehensive explanation of this most useful term, please consult myself or Huffy) I have been to Switzerland before, but this weekend certainly cemeted it as being one of the most beautiful places in the world.

For someone from a flat, dry, dusty country such as Australia, there is a certain sense of magic in the air as you board your plane/train/bus and head for a gorgeous mountainous country like Switzerland. We had decided to fly into Basel airport (on the French border) on a Thursday and hire a car to drive into Interlaken, at the base of the Alps. Basel didn't offer us much in the way of excitement, being quite an unattractive industrial town. However, once we had our car and were heading towards the alps things got quite exciting. I don't care how many times I see snow-capped mountains, they still takes my breath away every single time.

The following day, we borded the train for the Jungfraujoch (Top of Europe). This is basically the highest railway station in the world, at an elevation of 3454m, with magnificent views across the Swiss Alps. We managed to spend several hours up there, running around taking photos and video clips, before succumbing to the combined effects of fatigue and altitude sickness.

That night, we went night sledding, followed by a fondue dinner. I'm blaming the effects of altitude sickness for the "glow in the dark nipples" photos (it wasn't the wine at all!):

Our second day in Switzerland was spent skiing/snowboarding at Mannlichen, one of the most stunning places I've ever seen in my life. The ski fields were at an elevation of 2225m, surrounded by towering mountains, frozen waterfalls and picture-perfect villages.

Our final day in Switzerland was one of the best days of my life, as it involved not only doing an amazing activity, but facing long-held fears at the same time. Patrick and I decided to go tandem paragliding, which involved running off a mountain with an instructor and descending 800m down into Interlaken. Standing on the side of that mountain ready to take off, I had never felt so scared before in my life. However, once you're actually in the air...... it's actually the most peaceful feeling in the world. The view is absolutely amazing and, after 9 months of living in London, I really appreciated the complete silence. The descent took about 10 - 15 minutes, which definitely wasn't long enough - Patrick wanted to go straight back up again afterwards! However, we are planning to go back to Interlaken again to do another paraglide - this time I want to do a bigger descent, as you can do up to 2000m!

Full respect goes to Huffy and Em though, who after several days of stressing and telling themselves they were crazy managed to get the guts to throw themselves out of a plane. Seeing the looks on their faces as they landed convinced me that maybe I shouldn't rule out skydiving completely......

All in all a brilliant weekend, and will definitely head back to Switzerland as soon as our schedule and funds allow!

Megan