riverofcurios (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
riverofcurios) wrote2015-09-29 03:01 am
riverofcurios) wrote2015-09-29 03:01 am
switz blitz
we clicked 'to everywhere' on skyscanner and it brought us to geneva. we ambled onto the train, swiss passes and picnic lunches in tow, and prepared to head to interlaken. grindelwald was not in our itinerary but it seemed the most promising -- we were surrounded by sun and imposing mountains on all sides. we reached too late to do a proper hike, but we crawled our way up to terrassenweg anyway.
i say that switzerland is sublime, in the awe-inspiring sense, and sally tells me that wordsworth and shelley added another connotation to awe -- that of fear. well, the mountains and valleys were certainly awesome in the day -- at night, the darkness descends and the mountains and forests turn into an intimidating black mass reminiscent of english moors. and i never fail to be surprised -- tiny trains with cabins glowing with warmth and light from the inside ascending up into the darkness in some sort of polar express fairytale, and villages in valleys lighting up on the hills was exciting to watch and i felt like a kid again. these are the things of childhood stories and medieval fairytales and they are so real to me now and i am so lucky.
while the world got into a tizzy over the supermoon, we celebrated mid-autumn festival with lanterns and mooncakes imported from the hague by a crazy nut and facetimed with friends at home.
we took a cable car to first the next day and hiked up to lake bechalpsee. the swiss are usually faultlessly accurate to the second but i'm not sure they understand the concept of time -- or geography. a "50 minute hike on flat ground" actually means a 2 hour hike over steep inclines and declines. the mountains about first were impressive, but the lake was underwhelmingly so. by the time we descended we were engulfed by clouds all around and it felt like armegeddon.
most of switzerland we spent in trains, but it never feels like hours when you're watching clouds rolling down the hills or seafoam waves of an aquamarine creek scrambling over rocks. switzerland was literally a plethora of highs and lows (both geographically and emotionally) but i saw colours i never saw and the whimsical stuff of childish fantasy and imagination.
i say that switzerland is sublime, in the awe-inspiring sense, and sally tells me that wordsworth and shelley added another connotation to awe -- that of fear. well, the mountains and valleys were certainly awesome in the day -- at night, the darkness descends and the mountains and forests turn into an intimidating black mass reminiscent of english moors. and i never fail to be surprised -- tiny trains with cabins glowing with warmth and light from the inside ascending up into the darkness in some sort of polar express fairytale, and villages in valleys lighting up on the hills was exciting to watch and i felt like a kid again. these are the things of childhood stories and medieval fairytales and they are so real to me now and i am so lucky.
while the world got into a tizzy over the supermoon, we celebrated mid-autumn festival with lanterns and mooncakes imported from the hague by a crazy nut and facetimed with friends at home.
we took a cable car to first the next day and hiked up to lake bechalpsee. the swiss are usually faultlessly accurate to the second but i'm not sure they understand the concept of time -- or geography. a "50 minute hike on flat ground" actually means a 2 hour hike over steep inclines and declines. the mountains about first were impressive, but the lake was underwhelmingly so. by the time we descended we were engulfed by clouds all around and it felt like armegeddon.
most of switzerland we spent in trains, but it never feels like hours when you're watching clouds rolling down the hills or seafoam waves of an aquamarine creek scrambling over rocks. switzerland was literally a plethora of highs and lows (both geographically and emotionally) but i saw colours i never saw and the whimsical stuff of childish fantasy and imagination.