On the morning marking two weeks since our crazy European Whirl tour began, we woke up to incomparable views of the Swiss Alps. Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland with Contiki was already way up there among my favourite places in the world.With a whole free day stretching out ahead, it could only be a pyjama breakfast day before investigating the on-site shop for party wear. The theme for the night ahead was ‘Swisso Disco’ and there was a multitude of souvenirs to choose from, including this rather fetching hat.It was close to coming with me, I won’t lie. But with the cheapest price tag in the shop sitting at around 20 Swiss Francs, we decided to see whether the local village held anything a bit more reasonable. First though, we just had to go and take in some of the beauty around us. While some of the group took the train to the peaks of Jungfrau mountain and others explored on mountain bikes, we decided to walk the thirty minutes to Trummelbach Falls.The river water comes from glaciers via the waterfalls so it looks incredibly clean and pure. At Trummelbach, we took a cable car up through the mountain to see ten waterfalls flow through the cliffs and down the valley.Emerging to more spectacular views of the mountains from on-high…After stopping back at the campsite for lunch, we decided to walk into the village to find Swiss-themed outfits and bargain drinks for our evening of fun.We bumped into some more friends on the way – how cool does this cafe look!? The chilled out vibe of Switzerland meant that already, I never wanted to leave.Luckily, we found a supermarket on our travels and armed with 9 euro vodka, we made our way back to the chalet for a leisurely afternoon napping, chatting and getting ready. After dinner, things didn’t stay relaxed for long as the drinking games commenced in our communal hallway.I didn’t feel like my party outfit was quite exciting enough so one of the guys kindly lent me Jeffrey the Moose to complement my Swiss flag skirt.This beautiful piece of attire led to a great deal of (impressively) creative Moose themed jokes throughout the night from a guy at the bar!Another of my most memorable nights; mainly for good but also a couple of not-so-great moments. I swung between wildly happy and the realisation that it was all about to come to the end. Even as I write this looking back, I genuinely just cringed in embarrassment remembering an emotional couple of teary minutes. But mainly, it was filled with laughter and crazy dancing!
That night was also when I realised properly that the Contiki had made me remember what it felt like to be truly happy again. When everything changed back in May I thought my world was ending but, in reality, the door was finally closing on an unhappy time of my life. And I have never been more thankful that those spectacularly shit moments did happen because that night, and the fourteen other days and nights before it, were some of the best of my entire life. So really, it was all completely worth it.
2 Comments
Lucy Ronan
July 30, 2015 at 2:13 pmI visited Switzerland for just a day on a college trip last summer and it was so unbelievably beautiful (as illustrated by your photos!) I wish I could go back and explore it for longer.
Looks like you had a blast on your trip 🙂 X
http://www.farawaylucy.com
Sofia
July 30, 2015 at 2:21 pmI really want to visit Switzerland someday! Your photographs are so beautiful, I'd be so lucky if I ever got the chance to see those places in person! Loved the hat with the braids on it, haha.
-xox
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