Switzerland by the numbers

Pictures are up on Flickr, and also make sure to check out the two videos I posted on YouTube (especially the one of Dan falling off a sled). Rather than tell you every detail of what happened over the weekend, I thought I'd keep it to the essential facts.

60 - amount, in Swiss Francs, I won playing blackjack at the casino in Interlaken on Thursday night.
130 - amount Dan won
2 - number of minutes we stayed there after we realized we had won money (we were very proud of our self-control).

10 - number of feet we could see in front of ourselves while sledding (yes! Sledding in the Swiss Alps!) on Friday. We went with Kristen, the girl who was staying in our room as she travels Europe alone for 2 months.

3 - number of new friends we have from Liverpool
about 12 - number of words I actually understood when they spoke to us (in English...I think).

3 - number of falls Dan had while skiing on Saturday, out of more than 15, that were so dramatic, traumatic, and terrifying that we had specific names by which to call them:

....The One Where Dan Fell off a Cliff
Dan has trouble stopping on skis. So, when I told him I thought he'd be fine doing some harder runs, he agreed to try them. We both quickly learned we were wrong. On this occasion, early in the day, he sped off in front of me so far that I couldn't see him any more. I got to a convenient stopping point where I figured he had probably purposely fallen to stop...but didn't find him. So I went on to the bottom of the slope, thinking he might be waiting there. No sign of him. I started panicking. We hadn't set a meeting point in case we got separated, and it was quite clear to me that he wouldn't have made it to a meeting point anyways because he had obviously fallen off a cliff and was dead and it was my fault. I took a chair lift back toward the top of the mountain so I could get a birds-eye view of the slope. For five minutes, no sign of him. Then, a lump of clothing lying on the side of a trail suddenly looked familiar! "DAN!!!" I shouted, with relief! "Yeah..." He responded, in pain. Turns out he had spun off the course into a ditch, and his skis and poles were 25 feet behind him.

....The One Where He Hit the Fence
Right after I finally caught up to him, we continued down the slope, headed for easier trails. But alas, Dan could still not stop and started speeding down again, only to fall at a convenient point - he flipped through the air a few times, finally crashing his thigh into a fence post and landing in a ditch. When he got up, he said he was having trouble seeing.

....The One Where He Almost Died
He gained some confidence. We realized his boots had been unstrapped the entire time, giving him almost no control over his skis. So, I thought, let's try another tougher one. We went up this terrible kind of lift thing where you have to stand the entire time, only to find ourselves at the top of another peak, in a dense fog. Dan was terrified. But there was really no other way down (if it was a real chairlift, he could have taken that back down). So we started, slowly, making our way down the slope, when it took a sudden drop (which surprised me so much that I fell too). Dan, unable to slow himself down but committed to staying standing, sped down the hill at what had to be 45mph, finally beginning to fall at the top of another drop. He slipped out of my sight. When I found him again, he was lying on the ground at the bottom of this steep part, his equipment scattered on the hill above him: first a ski, then a hat and goggles, a pole, another ski, a pole. He had done three front handsprings before finally coming to a halt, his shirt bunched up in his jacket and his body covered with snow.

1:00am - time at which we thought check-in closed for our hostel in Geneva, which we had to get to on Saturday night so we could catch our early flight
3 - number of minutes it took for us to rush to the other side of Interlaken, only to find out that the train we had to catch in order for us to make it on time was actually a bus and had left without us. We caught a later train and had some peace, thanks to Mom, who found out the place was actually open 24hrs.

10 - minutes I spent talking to Gonzalo, a random Portuguese guy with whom I struck up a conversation at the end of the train ride (he was VERY inebriated). When he heard we were American, he started naming American DJs...none of which I've heard of. So our conversation essentially consisted of "You know Carl Cox?" "No, sorry man" "Oh he's..." etc etc etc. He asked for my phone number, and instead of giving it to him, I got his.

8 - amount of time, in hours, we spent at the Geneva Youth Hostel on Saturday night.
9 - amount of time, in hours, that actually elapsed during that period as a result of Europe's change to "summer time." We didn't miss our flight, don't worry.

5 - number of days, including today, we were in Switzerland
2 - number of showers I took. There was no way I was showering at the Geneva hostel, and we didn't have a room where I could shower after we skied. So I was just gross until this afternoon. Pleasant, ain't it?

Der bloggen!

Ya! Dan and I are taking a break from the day, relaxing in the hostel, so I thought I'd take advantge of he free internet and tell you all about it.

I'm writing this from the Funny Farm hostel in Interlaken, a fantastic place for me and Dan to spend a few nights. The hostel is in a refurbished old hotel, so the rooms are outstanding, and just like in Krakow, the lobby is a lively place filled with music and constant activity. We even got a free upgrade to a 4-person! Our only roomate is from Colorado. And she's a girl.

Interlaken itself ranks amongst the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It sits between two lakes (inter...laken) and is surrounded by the towering Swiss alps, over 2000m high. Everything is covered in a fresh snow from earlier this week

This is in quite stark contrast to our experience in Geneva. Also a beautiful place, don't get me wrong. But really, all that's there are watch stores (hundreds) and banks (THOUSANDS). Our hostel also wasn't the best place. It was much bigger than any I've stayed in, and much more industrial...no way to really get to know anyone. It was billed as a youth hostel, but there were still many awkwardly old people staying there...including one about 50 year old in our room who might be considering a career in competitive snoring. Dad, this guy is your idol - seeming to find the resonant frequency of the room, he literally shook the whole thing.

But all was not lost in this land of middle aged business men and empty restaurants at 6pm. Dan and I struck up a conversation with an Aussie named Chris, and the three of us went up the street to an Irish pub where, it seemed, the entire population of the city was spending their evening. Chris, as it turned out, was staying in our room too, and his personality was the amicable one Lisa always talks about Aussies having. We had a great time.

After my sleepless night, our train left for Interlaken at 9am. At 1230, we were at our hostel. At 2:00, we ate lunch. At 3:00, Dan and I were about 2100 feet off the ground, attached to parachutes and guides. Paragliding is awesome. As I landed, my pilot (a fifteen year professional) had a first --- our parachute got caught in a tree! Many many pictures to come on Flickr, and a video of Dan's takeoff too.

I need a nap.