After being so excited about going to Switzerland, it was raining and the whole valley was covered in clouds. We then found out that the weather had been shit for a while and we were absolutely shattered. We were starting to wonder what we were going to do for the next three days. Lauterbrunnen itself is a lovely little town set in the valley They call it the valley of 72 waterfalls, as everywhere you look, there is another waterfall spilling over the cliffs. We set off in the rain to explore the town and wandered up one of the cliffs to get a better view of one of the waterfalls. You actually end up right in behind it which was pretty cool, and wet!For dinner we went to one of the four or five restaurants on offer and had cheese fondue. It was so yum, but we felt like fat pigs afterwards! Our accommodation had great views over the valley too. Our only complaint with the accommodation, like almost everywhere else, where the bloody pillows, or lack of. They are so uncomfortable over here!
We hesitantly opened our eyes on Sunday morning expecting to see more clouds and rain that could effect our skydiving session later that day. Much to our delight, the sun was shining and there was a clear sky, with the weather only improving as the day went on. In the morning, we visited Trummelbach Falls, which are the glacier falls that drain the huge mountains around the valley. They actually run through the mountains and you walk up inside the mountain to view them. They were amazing, and so loud being inside the caves. We took heaps of photos but they all look like crap. We left the falls and killed a little bit more time wandering around the town before our skydive.
Before we actually did the jump, Turls was so calm and I was fidgeting around like an idiot. After we put on our gorgeous suits, it all started to feel very real. I was the first to jump, so I had to sit on the very edge of a helicopter with no doors – very scary already! The scenery as we were flying was absolutely spectacular and again, photos can do no justice. I was absolutely shitting myself by then and when the guy did a final run through of the procedure with me, I knew there was no turning back. Once we had swung our legs over the edge, they actually don't give you much time to think about what you are doing. Before I knew it, we were launching out of the helicopter! I had decided that I wasn't going to scream, but it was just an automatic reaction. Turls said he could hear me squealing and 10 seconds later he was flying through the air too! We jumped at 12,000 feet or 4000 metres and had a 45 second free fall. The pressure on your body was unbelievable and I think I must have held my breath for the whole time, as when the parachute was let out, I felt like I could finally breath again.
When you watch someone else doing it, you can see how quickly they are dropping through the air (approximately 200km/h), and when the chute is pulled, they almost stop in mid air; it slows you down that quickly.
Once the chute was out, we did some flips and things in the air and they flew us around the waterfall that we had been up the day before. I was pretty worried about landing, but although you come in pretty quickly, it all went very smoothly. After getting unhooked, I immediately looked around and was able to watch Turls land so that was pretty cool.
We both thought that it was amazing and can't wait to watch the DVDs, we just need to find a DVD player first.
The next day we were hoping for another good day as we really wanted to go up Jungfrauch, which is the second highest mountain in Switzerland. We were told that if it is a cloudy day it is a waste of time and money going up there as you cannot see anything, and it is pretty expensive. Again, we were very lucky and the weather was even better than the day before.
The cog wheel train ride took two hours, and the last part was entirely inside the mountain. They stop twice for people to take photos out of massive holes they have blasted out of the side of the mountain. The views from the top were amazing and there was plenty of things to do up there. There was an ice palace, the summit, a viewing platform, snow dogs, skiing, snow disks and of course hiking. We had a great day and the weather was fantastic.
Today we are back on the train and headed for Venice. It's probably a good thing as we certainly churned through a huge amount of money while we were in Switzerland. Everything is ridiculously expensive!!
Be good and make sure you check out the skydiving photos!
Ange & Turls xx
