Wow, it is actually winter!

So today I was set to take the train to Switzerland. Since it didn't leave until 9, I took the morning to get some breakfast a coffee at one of my favorite little cafes first. I love how people here linger over coffee and just chat the time away. You never see anyone getting their coffees to go here. It's a good difference.

As I was getting on the train, I felt so over dressed. I had on some extra clothes to ease my packing (since I have now bought several Christmas presents and had to put them somewhere), and in anticipation that I was going into the mountains. Good choice in turns out. It was warm enough in Florence to be good in a T-shirt when I boarded. When I got off, it was winter. Which I am actually quite happy about. It just doesn't seem like Christmas is this near when I don't need a coat or anything.

The train ride was beautiful too! Mountains crouched on huge blue, blue, lakes. Clouds billowing around their peaks. I love going up into the more mountainous terrains. The guy across from me kept chuckling when I would whip out my camera only to miss the shot due to houses or a copse of trees. I loved taking the little train from Spiez into Interlaken too, prettiest stretch of all.

Once I got here, I must admit to relishing the briskness of the air. It's just so clean and refreshing when it's colder out, and I have rather missed that this year. Once I got settled into my room, which apparently I get entirely to myself, I down and got all my info for the next couple days. I may or may not get to do my chosen activity though, which I'm rather upset about. I need three more people to go for it to work, so I have my fingers crossed that people will book.

I wandered through the town and admired the mountains. It's so strange to think I'm standing in the Alps right now. I found a great little foot path up the nearest smaller mountain. I enjoyed going up to see the fabulous view of the city and finding a couple little waterfalls. Tomorrow I'm going to try and see the more well-known ones in the area.

On my way down, I found an area that keeps mountain goats, so people can see them! So cool. It reminded me of the grizzly center Heather took me to in Pullman this summer. They even gave them little huts and a bunch of them were trotting up and down the lengths of the roofs. It was a lot of fun just to watch them for awhile.

Then the sun went down. And it got a lot colder really fast. I should have foreseen it, as there were barely any clouds all afternoon, but it caught me completely by surprise. So I went back to the hostel to put on some warmer clothes and thaw a bit before going back out more prepared. Of course I lost my gloves this morning, which just figures. I'm going to put off buying new ones until London though, just because everything is so expensive here.

I'd always heard that, but I guess it never registered until I went looking for dinner. $20 for a one person pizza? I didn't even get traditional Swiss food because that was even more expensive. Still, my pasta was good, Jinnie has corrupted me to the wonders of carbonara now, and the hot chocolate was even better. My wait staff was fabulous too. They chatted with me for awhile and loved that I was asking how to say thank you and the like here. This is the first country I have come to completely unprepared for any language skills at all. Luckily both here and Germany, almost everyone speaks English, so I will be able to ask how to say things and learn as I travel.

All in all, Switzerland is a nice change of pace. Totally different from everywhere else I've been. Expensive, yes. But I've found some cheaper things to do to keep myself entertained as well. Hello snow, it's nice to finally see you.