Switzerland

Switzerland-chocolate and mountains 
When we were in line at the train station in Milan we decided we wanted to see Switzerland. So we pulled out the tour book and flipped to the "Switzerland" section and decided that Bern looked interesting. So after a long and tiring journey where we were half starved we made one of the best decisions of our lives. We looked up hostels and chose the only one that showed up. The train there had some sort of trouble with a tunnel or something so we had to get out and ride a bus through twisty roads through the Swiss alps. The clouds were covering the tops of the mountains. The scenery was breathtaking. There were waterfalls from the mountains, fat healthy cows, radiant green rolling hills, tall grass...a river, a panoramic view of as close to perfection as possible. When we saw this we decided that we had to get out of the city and see some nature while we were here. Because of the problem with the train we ended up in Bern close to the end of the reception hours so we were wandering through the city and people were very helpful and approached us to help. The last stranger who helped us was a photographer who has lived and worked all over the world. He pulled out his iPhone with a gps and gave us perfect directions. So we were running down a hill in the rain down random dark paths and we just made it in time. After we made it we went for Mexican food and then hit the sack. We awoke the next morning and went straight to the train station. We found out we couldn't get to Venice until the next day without foregoing most of the day in Bern. So we stayed in Switzerland. We asked around and figured out that we could take a train to Interlaken for the day in less than an hour. We walked through Bern a bit and saw all their bakeries and flower shops. The outdoor markets were lovely...so much fresh food and flowers. So then we left for Interlaken got there and rented some bikes for the day. This lead us to the best day in our whole trip so far. It took us a bit of uphill bike riding to figure out the paths for biking. We wandered happily through mountains, villages, by the bluest lakes, we saw loads of animals, and mountains and the green. We also ran into a random Food Fighters concert in the middle of the countryside. There were cows with bells and music from a concert that you could hear for miles. It was fairly cool and raining at points, but when exercising it felt so refreshing. We sat and ate Swiss chocolate and drank water for our breaks while taking some pics. It was lovely to go at our own pace all day. We were astounded by the beauty and invigorated by the exercise. We headed back to Bern and met some guys from Canada who accompanied us to the town that evening. There was lots of interesting people watching and the people were all exceptionally warm and friendly. After breakfast the next morning we headed off to Venice while our new friends headed to Interlaken for the day to rent bikes.