Today was amazing! We woke up early en route to Interlaken. (pronounced: interlockin) Interlaken is located about three hours from Leysin between two big lakes. Interlaken is known as an extreme sports capital and we were headed here to go paragliding! Can you believe that? me...paragliding...I know right.
Here's the background story. In eleventh grade when Karen and the Hartvigsens went to Europe, I remember Karen and her younger brother Peter going paragliding in the Swiss Alps and I thought that it was the coolest thing ever! I vividly remember thinking: "When I go to Europe someday I am going to go paragliding in the Swiss Alps!" It was the epitome of Europe in my mind.
When we arrived to Switzerland a few people vocalized their interest in paragliding and it suddenly it occurred to me that paragliding is in the air. Go figure, up until this point it was mystical and far off, but now...it was a real possibility. This realization plus the high cost to go was my deterrent for several days...actually until later last night.
My friend Milo helped me to realize: when am I going to be in Switzerland again and have this chance to go paragliding??? With this in mind and the retelling of Karen's story I realized I needed to go. I decided to make to go and Andrew A. booked my ticket online. Once I made the choice I felt really good about going and knew I would be safe and fine.
On route to Interlaken we experienced our first hiccup with the European train system. Our train to Visp somehow got delayed and our connecting train left without us. We panicked and talked to a taxi driver who told us it would take several hours and $400 to make it to Interlaken. At the time we didn't realize that we were several mountain ranges away.
We found another train leaving in an hour later from Visp to Spitz (Spitz to Interlaken). We were able to contact the Paraglifding Company to move our appointment from 11 AM to later that afternoon. We boarded the next train, met up with our group who had planned to meet us after paraglyding and all rode the rest of the way via the train.
It all ended up working out great because we got to spend the day with the rest of our group who came. We decided to explore Interlaken and ended up running into a car show that was going on. There were some pretty nice cars and it was fun to take pictures.
We decided to get lunch and as we were passing a particular restaurant and looking at the menu this man called out to us to come and here. It was a Best Western Hotel with a restaurant named Bebbies hooked on to it. We decided the price was reasonable and he seated us. We later figured out he was the owner or manager. He had lived in California for several years and his English was really good. He told us he would go back to the kitchen to see if there were any secret specials. He came back and told us a particular braughtworth meal was discounted an additional dollar fifty and that he would throw in free salad and ice cream. He was very lively and entertaining and all the waiters and waitresses had these fun cow pants on. Most of us ordered the special and had a lovely meal.
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| Jill, Becky D., me, Becky K., Joey, Milo, Jolynn, Ben, Andrew (Landon is taking the photo) |
After lunch we explored some more and walked past the park where the Paragliders land. We watched it and I got more nervous about doing it. We went into a few Cathedrals and did some shopping and then it was time for us to go.
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| Me and Becky having some fun outside this house! |
We met a guy from the paragliding company at the Train Station, boarded a little van and then we were on our way. We picked up a few more people and several professionals and headed on our way up the mountain.
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| Landon interviewing me via his tape recorder |
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| Pre-Paragliding Interviews. It was funny because we were filming this at the park where the paragliders landed and our group was standing around watching as Becky interviewed me and we had several people that stopped and watched and you could tell they were interested to know who we were. I guess Landon's little tape recorder looks like a real microphone so maybe they thought we were doing a news segment or something. It was funny! |
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Luci, Andrew, me, and Milo with our paperwork to go!
This picture was taken right before we boarded the bus and you can see from my face how bad I'm freaking out! |
When drove most of the way up this mountain, parked the van, and everyone got out. On the ride up each person was able to pick the professional they wanted strapped to their back and I picked a guy named Fabrice. I picked him because at lunch one of our waitresses told me to tell him hello when she found out we were going paragliding. Fabrice had been paragliding for about 20 years doing anywhere between 3-4 glides a day. I felt reassured I had picked the right person, but was still really nervous! They laid out all the parachutes, got everything lined up, and then we were all ready to go. The plan was to get strapped in, run down this gradual sloping hill, and then the wind would carry you into the air. Thankfully I didn't have to jump off of a cliff or anything.
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| This was at the top of the mountain and I am totally faking a smile here. I am freaked out of my mind at this point! |
The time came, I got strapped in, and started running. The wind caught our parachute and took us up into the air. The trees began to get farther and farther away underneath my feet and I realized I was literally in the air! It was so cool! It wasn't scary at all! It was peaceful and serene to look out over these two amazing lakes and to see them boxed in by the towering Swiss Alps! It was crazy to see birds flying beneath me and to realize I was flying! I, of course, outstretched my arms like a bird and Fabrice just laughed. As we glided through the sky, Fabrice shared with me some facts about the town and the lakes and it with hardly a cloud in the sky it was PERFECT! Near the end Fabrice asked if I wanted to do some loops and I told him, "Had you asked me that when we got out of the van I would have told you no, but all that has changed....let's go for it!" He did some crazy loops that gave me the feeling in my stomach of being on a rollercoaster and then we prepared for landing. He told me all I had to do was stand up when he told me to and sure enough we glided in perfectly.
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| Me and Fabrice in the air! |
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| When we landed I threw my arms up in the air!!! |
Afterward, all of us went and got some gelato to celebrate our paragliding adventure!!!
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| Me, Milo, and Andrew celebrating our successful flights! |
It was about a 3 hour train ride out to Interlaken so after ice cream we all grabbed a quick bit to eat and headed back for the train station for Leysin. What a perfect day!
We decided to get lunch and as we were passing a particular restaurant and looking at the menu this man called out to us to come and here. It was a Best Western Hotel with a restaurant named Bebbies hooked on to it. We decided the price was reasonable and he seated us. We later figured out he was the owner or manager. He had lived in California for several years and his English was really good. He told us he would go back to the kitchen to see if there were any secret specials. He came back and told us a particular braughtworth meal was discounted an additional dollar fifty and that he would throw in free salad and ice cream. He was very lively and entertaining and all the waiters and waitresses had these fun cow pants on. Most of us ordered the special and had a lovely meal.
The time came, I got strapped in, and started running. The wind caught our parachute and took us up into the air. The trees began to get farther and farther away underneath my feet and I realized I was literally in the air! It was so cool! It wasn't scary at all! It was peaceful and serene to look out over these two amazing lakes and to see them boxed in by the towering Swiss Alps! It was crazy to see birds flying beneath me and to realize I was flying! I, of course, outstretched my arms like a bird and Fabrice just laughed. As we glided through the sky, Fabrice shared with me some facts about the town and the lakes and it with hardly a cloud in the sky it was PERFECT! Near the end Fabrice asked if I wanted to do some loops and I told him, "Had you asked me that when we got out of the van I would have told you no, but all that has changed....let's go for it!" He did some crazy loops that gave me the feeling in my stomach of being on a rollercoaster and then we prepared for landing. He told me all I had to do was stand up when he told me to and sure enough we glided in perfectly.
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