Cow Pants

Cow pants, Swiss music, sexual jokes made at my expense (in German,) and more food than you could possibly eat, a crazy Swiss waiter, a giant cow bell, a lot of Asian tourists...

And when I say "cow pants," I literally mean black and white spotted, cow-patterened pants.

That was our evening last night. After a day spent hiking around Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen, Switzerlan (which I will put pictures up of when I get back to Madrid) we took the bus back to town and met up with our Couchsurfing host Ava. We went to dinner at place called Bebbi's, where we were literally served by a crazy man. With a heavy Swiss-German accent. Hilarious. He also came over to "show us" how to do the fondue... Which involved him demonstrating the "proper technique" and then having me blow on it to cool it off. To which he made a lot of jokes (in German) of which I could easily guess the nature... All while Graham, Ava, and I laughed histerically.

Ava was the best. I cant even begin to explain her. Least of all, she sent us away with real Swiss cheese, Swiss chocolate, and little wooden cows (it was a running joke.) I was sorry to say goodbye to her today. However, she may come stay with us in Madrid, and I may need to make my way back to Switzerland later this year to ski anyway :)

Then, this morning we hopped back on the train and headed to Innsbruck, Austria. Whoever said Austria and Switzerland were almost the same was on crack. They are completely different... Austria is a much darker kind of green, and the houses are significantly less cheerful. However, they do have the beautiful Persian-esque towers and decorations on buildings. It really is quite charming. The dialect of German is also quite interesting. Not that you really care, but I was convinced it was no longer German for a while.

We got off the train, hopped on a bus, and then found ourselves in a very wet, very small town called Goetzlen. The couple we are staying with told us to call them and they would walk down to meet us at the bus stop... except we dont have a phone. Nor did we have enough change to make a phone call on the pay phone. So, we headed into a bar and asked the old guy at the counter if he could help us. After a lot of yelling, finger pointing and barked questions, we got it figured out and he pointed us in the right direction.

So, our evening ended with wonderful conversation over a traditional Austrian meal, mint chocolates, us trying to explain what Twinkies are, and deciding that the four of us are going to go climbing tomorrow. Perfecto.

If you hadn't heard already, I had a root canal right before I left. Like, 24 hours before I left. Not fun. For the first time in months, my tooth feels like nothing. Which is exactly what a tooth should feel like. So it is great! Haha. So, for those of you wondering, it doesn't hurt at all anymore. Other than the back of my jaw being pretty sore, but I'm not too worried about that.

One of the best things that I am learning is how unified people really are. I will write more about it when I get back, but most of the six hours on the train today were spent thinking about humanity. About how we have different cultures, different languages, different lives... But that we are really all the same at heart. Its funny because you can hear that, even know it, all your life. But you never really understand what that means until you experience it. More on this later.

Much Love from the Hills of Austria,
Ally