Last full day

We are back in Busingen once more, glad to not be getting on any trains today and to use the computer for as long as we want. I can even find the exclamation point!!!!!! And the letter Y is in the correct place. Small victories. Anyhow, I will give you the highlights of the last few days.
Three days ago we took the train(s) to Interlaken. As we were wandering down the street towards the Travel Information center to book some adventurous things we happened upon a booth advertising paragliding and other stuff. We ended up booking paragliding for both of us for that afternoon and rafting for the next day. Paragliding was amazing! I really never got scared, though I almost threw up. Taking off was the best part. You run a few steps, wait for you chute to catch up to you, then run a few more until there is no ground underneath you any more. I would highly recommend it to anyone. However, at the end as we were descending I agreed to a few acrobatic maneuvers which I think is what did me in. By the time we landed I was praying fervently that the Lord would keep my lunch from coming out my mouth. We then took the train, a bus, and a lift up to Gimmelwald and the Mountain Hostel where we stayed the night. It was a very busy place, full of American Alp enthusiasts all talking about good hikes and other places they had gone or are going to. We stayed in the owner's daughter's room (she is apparently away at college) so we got some space to ourselves. The next day we went back down the mountain and went white water rafting. I seem to remember going rafting in Colorado in years past and just wearing my own clothes and a life jacket. Not so here. We were given wet suits, wet suit jackets, booties, life jackets, and helmets. Pretty intense, but I was very thankful for them once I felt the glacial water. We opted to join the Swiss-speaking boat (as opposed to the one full of Australians) and not know how to say useful things like "all forward, right, left, and duck/hold on". The water was decently rough and within the first hundred feet we hit a rock funny and the entire back of our raft went under, leaving me up to my waist in freezing cold water. Somehow we were able to wiggle the boat out of the spot it was stuck in and regain some sort of bouyancy. It then took a few minutes for all the water to drain, at which time I felt like we were floating down the river in a full bath tub. The rest of the journey was not quite so treacherous, though we were bummed that our raft didn't get to attempt the small waterfall since our guide was brand new. Oh well.

I am apparently writing in too much detail because Riley has given up waiting on me and has gone back to the room. Summation of the rest of that trip: Next day we took some lifts up a mountain to hike, hiked the trail, took a bunch of pictures, but the mountains were covered in clouds so we couldn't see the big mountains, only the hills directly in front of us. Ate overpriced cheese fondue. Bought a few souvenirs. Took the train back to Schaffhausen. Fell asleep as soon as we got back. Today we are hoping to borrow some bikes and ride to the Rhine Falls. Tomorrow: home. Love you all!

Ang

Day 5?

We are currently doing a quick update on the computer at the Mountain Hostel in Gimmelwald. I will do this quickly so I don^t hog it.

Highlights
-Paraglided yesterday, almost threw up. It was incredible
-White water rafted today. Also incredible. In the first five minutes we nearly submerged our raft and we had to hang on for dear life.^ Wicked
-Beautiful views of the Alps. Wow
-Hiked under a waterfall, got a little damp.
-Thats it for now. Love you all
-Ang

Day 3- Ebenalp

Day three consisted of our second day trip to a beautiful little... place... called Ebenalp. If you want information about it just ask my dad, I'm sure he's researching everything we do. Keep up the good work dad! Anyhow, we awoke bright and early and caught a train to Waserauen. Then we took a cable car up a mountain/cliff to this little place that had a church and a house thing built into the cliff it was cool. Also, there were paragliders and hanggliders. Holy crap. They just put their chutes in place and take off running down the mountain until the wind catches their chute and they float off into the wild blue yonder, or a little ways past the cliff where they catch an updraft that causes them to sail around in endless circles. It's really cool from the bottom of the mountain because there's just a swarm of them circling the top of the mountain like buzzards around a fresh kill (do you like my use of imagery?). Here are some pictures of the beautiful scenery and paragliders...




Oh wait, our camera ran out of batteries after 4 pictures. Hopefully they are great pictures. We hiked a bit, I didn't die from the climb back up the trail, we caught the correct train back, all was well.

Things I learned today:
-It is totally ok to pack up your chute in your speedo
-Don't put your feet on the seats on the train, old ladies will grump at you in German.
-First class cars on trains have microscopic 1's on the side for all to see and you shouldn't ride in them if you are not supposed to be in first class.
-When it's dinner time, feed me, lets not walk all over Zurich looking for a power converter (though that was not at all Riley's fault, I was not hungry at the beginning of the trek).
-Swiss outlets are 3-pronged and look nothing like American outlets
-The Bible College where we are staying is not in Switzerland, it is in Germany.
-German outlets are 2-pronged.
-Most people who know English are very nice and willing to help you out.
-Chinese ladies at the Chinese Restaurant are not so helpful.
-Switzerland only gives out Francs, they don't believe in Euros and therefore no ATM in the ENTIRE COUNTRY will give you any.
-Again, the Bible College is in Germany, therefore the ATM right next door has Euros... so much wasted time.

Well, we are excited about the day to come. We head to Interlaken tomorrow, please pray that we can find a decent place to stay. Love you all! Apparently Riley thinks this is a good time to play ping pong so I'd better go.

-Ang

2nd Day Swiss

After some confusion with flight delays they (US Airlines) moved us to a Lufthansa flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, Germany. It was uneventful, unless you count the unhappy toddlers in the row next to us and the passengers in front of us who felt the need to recline into our laps. Oh well, at least we got to see the Hannah Montana movie.

We arrived in Switzerland yesterday morning, managed to get ourselves train passes, and find the correct train. We even managed to locate the right bus that would take us to the college, and some God-sent man knew where the college was and told us when to get off. We were then shown the apartment that they were letting us use for unbelievably cheap (in a country where "cheap" has a much more expensive meaning than we are used to) and crashed the moment we laid down. When we woke up we were famished and decided to brave the bus into Shauffhausen for some dinner. After walking around for quite some time looking for something good, checking out the prices on the menus posted outside, and wincing at the prices, we sat down to eat at a very good restaurant. Riley ordered curry wurst on the recommendation of a friend and we decided it tastes like chicken flavored Ramen with a touch of sausage (veal sausage to be precise).

Today we slept in and decided to take a boat down the sparkling Rhine River to a small tourist town (Riley calls it a tourist "trap") called Stein Um Rhine. It was very quaint and we had some excellent crepes for lunch, but we were ready to move on about an hour before our boat came back (though we did find a cool museum that our awesome Swiss passes got us into for free. This thing rocks!). When we got back to Shaffhausen we planned out our trip for tomorrow at the train station, then ventured in to what we were pretty sure was a grocery store. We were correct. We also remembered why we don't ever grocery shop together.

Now we are excited to be resting and gaining some internet access. We will continue the tale of our adventures tomorrow. Until then, here are a few things we have learned so far:
-Lufthansa is the airline from Germany (Riley won that bet, I assured him it wasn't German)
-Flying first class oversees is barely flying, it's traveling in your Lazy Boy while people serve you food and wine. We would like to try it someday.
-Europeans have a different definition of personal space.
-If it's hot and you want to swim but you don't have a bathing suit, no problem! Just strip down and sunbathe in the nude on the banks of the river while waving to passing boat passengers.
-When visiting a German-speaking country, it's helpful to know German.
-Words related to travel seem to have the word "fart" in them. Makes me giggle.

Have a great day! Chow!
-Ang