It wasn’t had to drag myself out of bed this morning because I never really went to sleep. I got on a train that was filled with Swiss soldiers, and while Hannah was sleeping I switched seats and sat next to a couple of them and struck up a conversation. I asked them where they were all going and they told me that they were all returning from summer training. I had no idea that Switzerland had an Army, they never seem to fight in any wars, so why would they need one, besides to protect the Vatican…?

Once the train arrived in Interlaken, I had to take another train, a bus and a gondola before I finally reached Gimmelwald. Even though it was cloudy, the Alps were still spectacular. Everything is on such a huge scale, when I look up I feel really small and insignificant. It’s kinda a good feeling.

The Mountain Hostel is literally sitting on the side of a mountain and the views make up for the fact that the hostel rooms remind me of a sardine can. Prisoners live in better conditions that this! Oh well that’s what you get when you do Europe through the gutter.

It is amazing how small the world is… tonight I was playing scrabble with a guy from Moscow Idaho, his name was Graham. We got to talking and he asked what high school I went to, when I told him he did a double take… he used to live with my high school principal’s daughter! Crazy!

Writing in my journal on the train