Snow, seclusion, views, Gimmelwald
Trip Start
Jun 08, 2008
1
53
65
Trip End
Dec 08, 2008
Gimmelwald,
Swiss Alps,
Switzerland
Monday, October 27, 2008
Manny was still hanging around. For a guy that wasn't going to even go to Switz I was surprised that he was taggin along with me. The two Americans that we met in Interlaken thought it was a good idea to hit the small town too so we all boarded the train first thing in the moring.
This was the first time that I had to take three types of transportaion to get to my hostel and I was only about an hour away from interlaken. A 20 minute train ride, a 10 minute bus ride and a 10 minute gondala ride took us up the mountian to "Mouontain Hostel". Gimmelwald is a very very very small little farm town located half way up the mountain. The hostel was a little log cabin, private, 6 rooms, houses about 30 people and a great atmosphere. It was cold, wet but had the greatest views right outside our windows.
Not a lot to do up the side of a mountain especailly during the off season. In the summer time people come to hike the trails and experience the outdoors. In the Winter time it is full of ski bunnies hitting the slopes. In the Fall, well, not much is going on. The stores were all closed until December so we had to pack up all our groceries from Interlaken. We settled in and just hung out. Played some pool, cards, and did a small little walk up the hill in the afternoon on our first day. The night turned a little more exciting.
Even though it was the off season the hostel was still really busy. A crowd of about 20 people formed and in these little hostels everyone eventually starts to talk to everyone. Names, stories and experinces start to fly. You can kill an evening just chatting with people from all walks of life. Lucky for us we came prepared for a social evening and when I say prepared, wine and beer were on the menu. Drinking games filled most of the entertaiment aspect as the temp dropped quickly outside. Overall, parked on the side of mountain with some good new friends and old ones was turing out to be a good time. When I arrives I immediatly heard a voice that I recongnized. I guy that I met about a month and a half ago in Vienna from Abbotsford. It was good catching up with him and talking about what we had done. A small little hostel and you end up meeting up with people that you saw earlier in your trip. Very Random.
The next day was a great day. We woke up and hulled some wood for the owner of the hostel and she gave us a nights accom for free. We wroked for about an hour so, we were earning close to $30.00/hr. Not bad for a guy that is looking to save a dime here and there. I immediatly went and sent my new found wealth. We heard of a a little farmed that sold homemade cheese and sausage living just up the road. We took the walk and knocked on his door. He appreaded from 3 stores high and asked what we needed. I repsonded "Cheese". He laughed and came down. He opened the door and led us into his basement where he had incredible amounts of cheese and meat hanging from the ceiling. Nick and I picked out what we wnated and paid the little old man. He spoke better English then we did and had lived in Gimmelwald his whole life. The Swiss still impress me. Hard to find a resident that doesn't speak a little english.
Remember Manny. Well the poor kid had to date experinced snow but unfortuanlly had never experienced it ever falling directly from the sky. We heard early in the moring that the snow started to fall only about 200 meters up from where we were so we knew we had to take the hike to get Manny the full experience of a good winter. We did the small 40 minute hike and it wasn't more then about 5 minutes and the snow started to fall. Again, it was like watching a little boy at Christmas. We hiked up the next town of Merren and stopped for a beer on a cold day in one of the pubs, well the only pub that was open. Hiked the 40 minutes back down to the hostel and was pleasently surprised to see that it had started to snow down by the hostel.
We settled in had a bite to eat. I made Catalloni, well again, I put in the over from the box but it was damn good and filled a spot. I have now promised myself that when I get home I will be going one month without Pasta, Rice and corm falkes because that is pretty much all I have eaten for the last 5 months. Cheap but more important, easy, when you have 20 people fighting over the same cook top. Another night of conversation, (New people had arrived so we needed to get them caught up) wine, games and a little heart and soul on the piano. All the Aussies decided that it was a good idea at 2:00am to go out and have a snowball flight. The ironic part was the Canadians and the Americans knew better. It was freakin cold and I will quote Manny "I think I have Frost Bite, what do I do." Chilled out for the rest of the evening and our two nights in Gimmelwald were truing into a total success.
The plan was to head to Bern the next day, still didn't know if Manny was coming with or if he was heading out on his own. I was growing to like the litte bugger so I was hoping he was going to come a long for the ride. All I knew is that I had a dinner date with a Swiss Family that I met in Paris close to 4 months prior............................
