In Interlaken with Dracula??

I had every intention of doing a "Where in the World is Ross" post today, but I've been chatting with a lot of the people who usually put in guesses & already told them where I am. So I'll have to wait until my next destination to be mysterious.

I am currently in Interlaken, Switzerland, and it's amazing. If you read my last post, you may have noticed I was a little burned out from touring big city after big city. This place is nothing like the last 5 cities I've been in. It actually reminds me a lot of the Tahoe area, only more Europeany.

It's a small town surrounded by mountains & 2 very large, very clean lakes. I'm calling this my "vacation from my vacation," as there is nothing to do here but relax. Oh, and go canyoning. I had never heard of this outdoor activity before I got here, so it's likely you haven't either. To see what I'll be doing at 9AM tomorrow, check this short video out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7jDxUk1g7k Looks amazing right??

I got in yesterday morning (Wednesday), and I was too late to sign up for any outdoor group activities by that time. Besides Canyoning, they also have skydiving, bungee jumping, paragliding/hang gliding, kayaking & whitewater rafting. I believe I'll only be partaking in the Canyoning.

I did a 3 hour hike yesterday on a trail that started only 5 minutes from the hostel. It took me up to one of the peaks nearby with amazing views of this town & the 2 lakes (see for yourself with the pictures below). Today it decided to rain all day (only the 2nd time I've seen rain on this trip), so I pampered myself by going to an indoor pool & spa. My schedule there went something like this: swim for 30 minutes, hot tub for 20 minutes, sauna for 10 minutes, read/fall asleep in a chair for 1 hour, back in the hot tub for 10 minutes, warm foot bath for 10 minutes (it's ok to laugh, I was laughing at myself while doing it), and then another 2 hours of reading/sleep. But enough about me already...how are you all doing back home??

One last brief story... So I'm at a hostel that is pretty much full of young people. But I noticed 1 guy who must be about 45-50 years old. Not just an ordinary guy though. He wears all black, including a trench coat. He has a black cowboy hat with a skull & crossbones symbol on it. He has very long hair in a pony tail. He wears long silver chains on his pants, and also wears a belt that has the skull & crossbones. Needless to say he seemed a little out of place just when I was walking past him during the day. So last night we're all out on the picnic tables drinking & waiting for the hostel bar to open (happy hour from 9-10, 2 for 1 drinks). This guy sits down in the middle of the group, and I hear him start to have an awkward conversation with one of the young guys. I heard them talking about alcohol, marijuana, and tuberculosis all at once I think.

Unfortunately for me, mostly everyone walks away from the table at one point, and there I am, one-on-one with this guy. I start off with the usual 1st questions: Where are you from & what kind of traveling are you doing?

Here's how the rest of the conversation went:

-old guy: "I'm from Switzerland, just 30 minutes away."

-me: "Oh cool, so what brings you to Interlaken?"

-old guy: "Well...actually I'm running away from home."

-me: "Ohh... um, well how come?"

-old guy: (long pause) "Because some people I thought were my friends aren't."

-me: "So where do you go next then?"

-old guy: "Well I'm going to visit a friend in another town in Switzerland to say goodbye forever."

(This is where I try to back out of the awkwardness & take the conversation in a new direction. Bad move Ross, bad move.)

-me: "So where will you eventually go if you're never going home?"

-old guy: "Well first, I want to let you know I'm one of the few people who believe that I have lived other lives in the past. And I believe I was alive 100 years ago. At that time, Transylvania...do you know Transylvania? (I answer yes, I've heard of it). Well it was a separate country from any other nation, and it entered into a treaty with Hungary & 1 other nation that I can't remember. It was supposed to stay as its own country forever. Well something happened & either Hungary or the other country took it over. So I plan to next go up in that area & find out what happened. I also believe that Count Dracula was living there when I was alive 100 years ago, and I'd like to find out what happened to him."

At this point I excuse myself for the bathroom, and I'm pretty sure he overheard me telling someone he was "batshit crazy" because when I got back to the table, he asked, "Was that story just a little crazy for you?" (I don't remember my exact response, but it was something like, "Nooo, not at all. I just don't know much about that stuff you're talking about.")

Anyway, mostly everyone knew he was, um, different so the rest of the night the big joke was, "Yeah I hope he's just not in my room, or else I'm gonna sleep with a knife in my hand."

I went to bed at 11:30 last night, and guess who strolls into the room around 2AM? Mister freak show himself. I was honestly a little frightened.

The good news is that I am alive today so clearly he's not so bad. But he did get up every 30 minutes last night, presumably to go smoke a cigarette, and each time he got up & came back in to the room he made SO MUCH NOISE. I requested a room change & will be sleeping elsewhere tonight.

That was literally the 1st person I've met in 23 days that I was a tiny bit scared of. Anyway, here are the pictures I took yesterday while hiking in Interlaken.