Corinne and I have planned the last leg of our trip according to specific things we want to do or so.
For example. We went to Salzburg to see the Sound of Music Tour. We wanted to walk where Maria walked and sing where Maria sang. So we did. I have to say that it was pretty awesome and we both did some skipping and singing. Unfortunately...most of the movie was actually filmed in Hollywood...but if you love the movie just pretend I didn´t say that. It was really neat to see all the places in person and we had a great tour guide but threw quite a few corny ´Sound of Music´ jokes.
Our last stop was in Interlaken, Switzerland which is a beautiful (but tourist infested) town in the middle of the Swiss Alps. The water is the clearest green and from our campsite just behind the train station we had a panoramic view of the mountains, and even a glacier. We took the scenic train through the mountains to get to Interlaken which provided views of towns mounted precariously (at least it looked like it) amidst the trees on the mountain slopes.
Anyways, we had heard from several other travellors that canyoning was the thing to do in Interlaken. There are lots of adrenaline-high options such as rafting, climbing, paragliding, hanggliding etc but canyoning was the choice that caught our attention quite quickly. What, you may ask, is canyoning? Let me inform you.
First you were herded into a room where there is a semi-toothed guide smiling at us. We sat down and were told that anyone faint of heart or scared of heights should profess so immediately and save themselves a large chunk of cash by opting out now as opposed to later.
Next you are fitted with proper boots, two wetsuit pieces, a lifejacket and a helmet with your choice of name on the front. Corinne was ´Gollum´and I was `Darthvador´. Go us.
A 45 minute ride in a gutless bus gets us as far up the mountain as possible. Corinne was seriously carsick by that point as the roads were twisty and extremely bumpy.
We hiked for about ten minutes (after hopping around for a while struggling to pull on the wetsuits) along the mountainside until we reached our canyon. The guides warn us one more time that if we wish to opt out we should do so now. It was kind of hard to take the guide seriously though as it was National Swiss Day and he was dressed in a suit and had a briefcase with him. It looked like he was just heading out the door for another day in the office yet he was warning us against broken body parts, helicoptor rescues and so on.
The following three hours were filled with chucking our helpless bodies off of cliffs, through waterfalls, in and out of whirlpools, down natural rockslides and running along rock walls - all of various heights but mainly ranging from 6 to 12 meters in height. Were we scared? Petrified is probably a more definite term. Who in their right mind ENJOYS leaping off of a cliff and hoping that they land in a position that wont seriously injure or harm their body?
There was a couple of jumps where the guides told us that we must land in the water flat or risk breaking our knees as the water was so shallow. It was like a giant belly/back flop but the great thing was that it didnt hurt at all with the wetsuit.
Overall things went super well. Both Corinne and I had a great time. Our injuries were minor. Corinne smashed her face up against a rock face and has a sweet bruise on the inside of her mouth...and I hit my hand on the water and have some bruising under the skin. Looking back at what could have happened...Im thankful for the minor severity or our injuries.
So now we have exactly 13 days left and only a couple of cities to go. Tonight we are off to try some of the ´best beer´ in the world at a Munich brewery and tomorrow we are off on exciting adventures directed toward Czech.
Hope all is well at home and until next time...
