Yodel-ey-i-hoo!

Folks, welcome to Switzerland. The land of the cows and the home of the Jungfrau. Man, these people love their cows. If it wasn't for the Alps and the flags everywhere I'd swear I was in India... :D Lauterbrunnen is about 20 mins out of Interlaken - it's a cosy little town, with a church that does weird things with its bells. I mean, these bells are ringing randomly day or night, and for an interminable time. There does not appear (to a foreigner) to be any particular pattern or reason. Just when you think you've figured it out, it'll gong 15 times at 12.45pm on a Thursday. Hmmm...

I seriously love Switzerland. This country is so beautiful and relaxing (and baffling!) - I've never seen so many waterfalls in one place! The place we're staying also has a massive river running through - yep, a white water river. :D Very tempting to just jump on an inner tube and go wild - although, I have no doubt that it would take 15 mins for me to reach the Mediterranean and be somehow floating down an ocean current off the coast of Western Australia by tomorrow afternoon. :D

Have met up with some girls I was travelling with earlier and we all ended up bunking together, so it's worked out well - also pretty cruisily. Sleeping in and strolling 'round is mostly the order of the day. Today we came in to Interlaken which seems to kind of exist for the sole purpose of extreme sports.

I have to say the most amusing thing about Lauts was having one of our mates clamber (while completely trolleyed! i.e. smashed) through our window, fall smack onto the floor, with his pants around his ankles. Thankfully, there was underwear present, and in his near-comatose state he was very amiable and given to following instructions - the pants were soon pulled up, and he was soon coasting out our door - until we noticed the blood! He appeared to have gashed himself as he fell in the window! So I managed to hail one of our other mates to try and get him back to his cabin, but my drunken friend decided to fall over his own feet and smash his face on some random concrete object on the ground. Unconscious on the ground, we all scrabble around trying to figure out what to do. In the meantime, he arouses and has very obviously broken his nose. Quite badly. And obviously has no idea, 'cos he's calling my friend "Dennis" (even though his name is Simon!) and going on and on about Dennis being his mate, etc. I have to tell you that in the situation I wasn't laughing, but in hindsight, it really was quite amusing. And had he been more lucid I'm sure he would've found it quite amusing, too - managing to fall in the window of a cabin with 4 semi-naked girls and with no way of escape! :D What an entertaining fellow...!

Further report on the ear infection: I have come to the conclusion that it kind of defeats the purpose of staying here much longer... On the antibiotics and the train, I will be burling off to Bern tomorrow for hopefully a bit more of an entertaining stay. :D