Bonjour de la Suisse: Adrenaline junkies

Back in Geneva we were ready for some well deserved R&R. Chica and I spent a couple days just recuperating from the wild jet-setting adventures of the past week or so. The weather in Geneva was terrible, which was actually perfect for dinners at home and watching bad movies (not by choice). We dove into the series Band of Brothers, which we were inspired to watch after our trip to Normandy. We also spent a rainy afternoon completing a super-secret project for a friend's upcoming wedding (details to follow in a future blog after the secret has been revealed.) :)

After a couple of days of staying indoors we were ready to get out and do something. An outing to the 11th century Château de Chillon (one of the best preserved castle in Switzerland) seemed perfect! It was a bit chilly, but still warm enough to have lunch outside and enjoy the day.

That night it was finally warm enough (and dry enough) to wander the Fêtes de Genève! This is the big two-week festival that takes over the lake-side streets of Geneva every summer with carnival rides, music, open-air dance clubs, food, and lots of merriment. Last year at the fête I learned that Chica's favorite carnival ride is the giant swings. The swings were back again this year, but now they were three times as high as last year!! We HAD to go. I got a kick out of Chica's screaming, and in her defense, it was really scary!! It was a blast! On the way home we stopped into the O-bar tent (right next to the lake) for a little late night dancing and socializing.

We were back at the fête the next day, enjoying the first real sunshine of the week. That night was the big firework show which we had purposely stayed in town to watch. But first we were headed to the go carts to see just who of G, Chica, and I were the fastest! We had a few races, but overall I think the winner was clear, depending on who you talk to! ;) After we met up with G's friend from work, M, and staked out a prime viewing spot on the Mont-Blanc bridge (just a block from our apartment). The fireworks were amazing, even better than last year. I can easily say they were the best I have ever seen. We stopped into the O-bar after for a couple drinks, but we had an early start the next day... we were headed to Interlaken!

We went to Interlaken with Chica last summer for a weekend full of canyoning and mountain biking. We had so much fun that we were eager to go again. We really didn't have anything on the agenda when we rolled into town, but one thing caught our eye right away... paragliding! Paragliding is similar to parachuting, but you launch yourself off the side of a mountain instead of an airplane and when you launch, your shoot (or wing) is already open. We signed up and were scheduled for a flight that afternoon. We had a couple hours to wait, which proved a bit taxing on our nerves, but after watching a few other brave souls land in the park in town I was confident. We drove up the hillside to our launch site, 1320 meters (or 4,400 feet) above the valley floor.

Chica was first off the mountain (we randomly chose our guides and then in random order ran off the mountain), I was next followed by G. It was really exhilarating, and not as scary as I thought it would be. I floated, took pictures, shot video, and chatted with the guide before he asked, "So, do you like roller coasters?" That was followed by a somewhat terrifying death-spin -- it was awesome!! We each had about a 20 minute ride, which was great. The conditions were good and it couldn't have been a more comfortable ride. My only disappointment was that it was over so fast! But the thrills were not over yet... we found a local luge track and took turns speeding down the track before heading back for dinner.

We stayed the night at our favorite hostel, Balmer's, where we met a nice couple from New Zealand and convinced them to join us the next day for an ice climbing excursion. We found out about Ice Climbing in a brochure, "Imagine yourself rappelling down crystalline blue ice cliffs, surrounded by the most magnificent mountains in the world and ice climbing back up." We knew that was the thing for us! It turned out to be just the 5 of us (G, Chica, me, and the Kiwis).

Our guide was a real character, a local who has been climbing his whole life. We drove in his old van about an hour away to the Stein Glacier where we hiked up (even seeing real marmots on the way), put on our cramp-ons and headed out onto the ice. It was amazing. After lunch on the glacier we donned our helmets & harnesses and walked to the edge of the giant ice crevasse. One by one we rappelled down, ice axes in hand. It was so exhilarating I almost forgot how cold it was! The climbing was tough, but once I got the technique down I was hooked. Even though you have axes to help you up, it is crucial to have your legs do the majority of the work. We scrambled up and down the crevasse all afternoon and by the time we left, I was exhausted but thrilled to have found a new sport that I really like. We hiked back down to the van and I think we all fell asleep on the way back to town! What a day!!

That night we were on the train back to Geneva. Chica was flying out the next day, but what a way to end the trip. Two days of extreme sports and more amazing memories of Interlaken. The past two and a half weeks were some of the best of the summer for me and it meant the world to me that Chica came out to visit once again. Like I said, it really doesn't matter if we are chilling at home watching dumb movies or scaling mountains, we always have a great time together! You really can't ask for much more than that in a friend. :)