A word is a thousand pictures

Ok, so this is a much needed update.

Warning - there is no spell check available and the keyboard is a French keyboard that types as a North American one.

So, my travels since Venice have been Swiss and French:
I left Venice, took the train through Milan to Luzern, then up to Bern. The train trip was great - providing great views through the Alps. There is even one place where you circle a town and see it three times as you go through the mountain. It is a great. You get three different perspectives of a gorgeous little Swiss town. All from different heights and angles. The trip was quite long, but the scenery made it worthwhile.

Upone arrival in Bern I got my place to stay and began thinking about what I would do in Switzerland. Being notoriously expensive, I only planned to stay a day or two and then get out of there. While spending the night I talked to some people who recommended I visit Interlaken - a small town between two lakes and in the heart of the Alps. It sounded great to me.

So, I slept well, got up and explored Bern. It is a great capital and the town itself is a UNESCO heritage sight. It has a great glacial river flowing through town and everything is clean and fresh (although I understand this same river caused a lot of damage due to the horrible rains in the past few days). I took a tour of the Swiss parliament and learned a little about their system of governance. Very relaxed. Basically people with regular jobs who decided to govern a few select times a year.

The parliament building has a great statue of the three founding Cantons of Switzerland. They are putting their hands together and the inscription says "All for one and one for all". Seems a little familiar. I was the only one who seemed to find this funny though.

I also got a chance to take a look at the bear pits in Bern. Bears adorn many things because the city founder shot and killed a bear at the sight of the settlement. Nowadays three bears live in a concrete pit on the edge of the city. It is really sad to see such noble beasts in such a sterile and harsh confinement. It seems to contrast the rest of the city which is so warm and pleasant.

Later that afternoon I boarded the train and headed to Interlaken. Upon arrival I wandered around like a Zombie looking for accommodation. I found the best hostel I have stayed at so far. The backpacker's villa. It was wonderful. Upon check in they gave me sheets, a map, pen, great service, locker etc. Also, the villa itself is super clean and overlooks a beautiful view of the alps. I described it as a healthy hostel - which a lonely planet writer seemed to like and said she would suggest be used in their next edition - we'll see.

So, Interlaken is much like the Banff or Canmore of Switzerland. It has a lot of tourists (on the downside) but it has so much freshness and nature that you can easily escape them. While there, I took a 5 hour bike ride climbing 400M and then a cable car up to a remote farming community high in the alps. Then I did a long 5 hour hike around the side of the mountain and along the North face of the eiger pass. Both were great and wonderful to be out in the fresh air and doing something physical.

Also, while in Interlaken I tried a tandem hang-glide. It was great. I hopped on the back of a motorcycle, got a ride up to the top of mountian, strapped in, ran, and then all of a sudden realized that I just hooked myself into a kite and jumped off a mountain. I would love to do it again. The views were fantastic and when you dive you get a lot of speed and it is a great rush. Landing was the scariest part. It was like landing in a plane except you're only inches from the ground. That said, I was surpised how smooth it was - despite landing in a field.

Another interesting experience in Interlaken was the pool and spa that I got a free pass to with my hostel - it really was a great place. The pool was pretty standard with a diving board, lengths and kids area. Actually, I thought the kids pool was a supposed to be a hot tub - it seemed a little warm - so I sat in there for a while. So, post sitting in kids urine, I figured I would check out the wellness centre. I thought it would be just a work out area. HOwever, i discovered this whole spa area. It was fantastic. There was a hot tub with water fall that looked out at the alps, a foot bath area, and a number of different spa, steam, and shower rooms. I did a little exploring they were as follows:

1. Dry Suana - pretty standard
2. Wet Sauna - standard as well
3. Strange shower place - complete with buttons on the wall:
- message - a painful stream of water that felt more like a laser cutter
- Red button with German name - Light mist - very nice
- Blue button with German name - oscillating hot and cold water
- Green button with German name - cold water and lots of it
- my favorite - 1001 Nacht - I dont know what it did but it's name is so great I couldn't care less.
4. Shower with a giant steel bucket. You push a button and the bucket fills with water. You pull the handle and the bucket turns over and you discover that the water temperature is just above absolute zero. It hits you like a ton of bricks - surprisingly refreshing.
5. Bio Sauna.

Now, just before I went to explore the bio-suana, as I was sitting out of the way in the hot tub a couple of people enter the wellness centre. It was a couple in their mid 50s. They drop their robs and I am shocked to discover they had no other clothes. Nothing. I sat there extremely silently hoping they wouldn't look over. As soon as they went into one of the saunas I went looking for some kind of sign that I was lost in some nudest land. I found it. A small sign at the entrance indicating that the bio sauna and the wet sauna were to be used Naket (yes with a t).

As I hastened to make my exit, curiousity got the better of me. I had to see what was behind door number - bio sauna. So, I slowly snuck up and tried to peer in to see if I would disturb any naket people. I couldn't see anything. So, raping my towel around my waste, I opened the door and tried to look confident. Thankfully nobody was inside. However, I was glad I took a look. It was similar to the wet sauna, but dark. All along the ceiling were colored lights and one wall had a waterfall of green light that flowed down the wall. A barely audible babbling brook filled the air. Except the for naketness, and the risk that that 50 something couple would show up and take away my towel, I thought to myself - what a great idea!

Onwards - to Nice via a great meal in Milan.

Nice is a city of money, scenery, and water. I was staying at a great hostel that was an old converted monestary and had a bar in the chapel.

Probably one of the greatest things about Nice is that Monaco is right next door. This allowed me, and a bunch of French language students who stay at the hostel, to go and visit Monte Carlo without selling our souls in order to stay there. Monte Carlo was a car lovers dream. It was great. The exotics became ordinary and I found myself taking pictures of regular cars, just because you never get to see them. Amazing the amount of money that is present in that city. There was even a yacht in the port with a helicopter on the back. Amazing.

SO, I am running out of time and you are running out of patience. I will begin to summarize. I pandered the time away on the French riviera for quite some time. I spent days exploring the old town of Nice, wandering Antibe looking for the place I booked to stay - it turns out is in Juan Le-Pin - because it was August 15th and there were no buses running (public holiday). Then I moved on to Marseille where I once again explored old city and enjoyed the sea and everything it brings.

Then, I headed up to Northern France and stayed a few days in a town called Bayeux. Bayeux itself is a beautiful town with many old buildings and is not ruined by the architectural atrocities of the 60s and 70s. The town in Normandy features a lot of apples and calvados - an apple brandy - is hard to keep out of any meal.

Bayeux is also the closest town to the D-day beaches. I spent a couple of days seeing some the sights and walkign along the cliffs that overlook the landing beaches. The most moving experience was seeing the commonwealth cemetary. It is filled primarily with Canadian soldiers but a few Australians, and even a couple of Germans, are also buried there. It was a beautiful and peaceful testament to a conflict of war and hatred. I was on a tour and traveled with a Canadian family who accompanied their father back to France. It was his first return trip since serving in the war. At the cemetary he found the grave of his classmate. I can't imagine how awful it must have been to be a part of the war. I hope the peace and tranquility that now infuses the area is what we will take into the future.