Saturday, May 8, 2010

ALPS


WOW!!!
This last week I spent hiking through the Alps of Italy, Switzerland, and a little bit of France on accident. The plan was to fly into Milan, Italy to meet Brad TenHarmsel (friend from HC) and then we would make our way north into Switzerland, and hopefully be in Geneva by the time our flights took off. Everyday there unplanned adventures and obstacles, but those are what made the trip so much fun. We had no idea where we would be when, or how we would be getting there.
Here's a brief recap:
The first day I spent in Milan waiting fro Brad, he didn't show up until 1:30am, and the hostel that we found fell through - we didn'g get a lot of sleep that night. We caught the earliest train heading north the next day and ended up in Domodossola, Italy. From there we grabbed train into Brig, Switzerland. It was a beautiful city. We decided to start hiking from here - so we grabbed out groceries and other supplies and started into the hills. Once it started raining we set up camp looking over the city. The next day we took off (still raining, and now cold) and found a small village with a quaint restaurant, so we stopped for a "quick coffee and sandwich". 3 hours later we walked out having had our coffee and sandwich, but also a beer and a full hot meal. I think the lady felt bad for us, so she gave us yet another beer. We found camp that night underneath a big rock, out of the rain and with plenty of dry wood for a fire. The next morning we hiked to Visp, and took a train to Aigle. From Aigle we made our way to Montreax, and started hiking into the mountains. We found an old log cabin and camped out in there for the night. We woke up and kept going up the mountain, hoping to make it to the peak of Rochers de Naye. The weather was too bad, and the wind started to pick up to make it all the way to the top, but I did get enough reception to call Toby on his birthday! We camped that night above the cloud line, and watched the sunset over the mountains. It was a night I will never forget. We made our way down the mountain the next day (thanks to some nice construction guys with a big truck:) and caught a train into Geneva. We finally made it - the night was spent in the airport so Brad could catch his early flight. I thought my flight would be canceled due to the ash cloud over Dublin, but it made it through! This was honestly one of the best trips I have ever experienced. EVER.

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