Some of you might know that I was in Switzerland the other weekend. It was a whirlwind trip from start to end. This trip was initiated, discussed, and tickets were bought within 14 hours. I didn't realize that the trip was two weeks from the day that I bought the tickets till a couple hours after booking the plane tickets. The short waiting time turned out to be a great thing as I was more excited than a puppy running around its own tail for the trip. 

I was up at an ungodly hour to catch the 7:30 plane to Basel - I arrived too late to the airport to grab coffee so it was pure mentality for me to stay up the whole time, navigate my way to Continental Europe, and access the Swiss railway system to get to Bern. I must say I did pretty well, as the only bloop was I accidentally sat in the first class carriage on the train. Oops. 

I spent the afternoon exploring Bern as my Swiss friend was stuck in a meeting till late. I must say, Bern has officially topped the list of the most beautiful city I've ever visited. Sorry, Edinburgh. I mean, just look at that river! I cannot comprehend how a river in the middle of a capital can be so clear and clean! 

I was most excited to visit Bärengraben - aka the bear pit. Bears are the city animal so BERN HAS A PLACE WHERE THEY KEEP BEARS. Can you tell I'm excited? My friend was all "I know this is going to be your favourite place" when he gave me the list of places that I must see. I just never made the link that bears hibernate in the winter - I mean, these are bears that are fed and bred - WHY ARE YOU HIBERNATING. But yeah, so I didn't see the bears. 

But a walk along the river and a stroll through the city sort of compensated for that. 

The main attraction of this whirlwind trip was to go up to my friend's place up in the Alps - well, technically, his parents' place. I toyed with the idea of learning how to snowboard, but knowing that it was near impossible for me to learn in a day, I opted for a long hike with one of his friends. There was a lot of slipping and sliding and falling knee deep in the snow, but it was ridiculously fun. Plus, the scene was amazing - you literally didn't know where it started and where things ended. 

There was a lot of cheese fondue, beer, and of course, chocolate involved. I think I must've eaten my body weight in chocolate - definitely no regrets. When in Switzerland, right?