Sunday hike

Sunday morning, I was up early again to go pick up the car at WHO and meet up with another group of interns for our road trip to a hike in the Areuse Gorge.  I was much more comfortable driving the car on day two, once I was used to the six gears and the reverse gear placement.

Making our way down the gorge.

The hike started in a small village called Noraigue at the train station.  The train station doubled as a cafe and emporium of all things absinthe-related.  Apparently, this region of Switzerland and into France is "the cradle of absinthe".  Some in our party were still recovering from earlier in the weekend, so we opted for coffees.

The weather was a bit hit and miss, we had rain, sleet and even some sunshine, but it wasn't bad weather for a hike.  We stopped along the way at a restaurant for another coffee, and then at a giant outdoor picnic table for lunch.  The gorge was pretty spectacular, it kind of reminded me of Elora, but a lot longer and steeper cliffs.  The water was roaring through the gorge and over waterfalls for most of the hike, but as we came to the end of the hike, the river widened out and it became so calm and quiet.

The gorge. 

We ended the hike at the town of Bulle and took the train back to Noraigue for the car.  If we'd really been thinking, I would have gone for the car by myself to save all of us the 6 CHF train fare.  The vending machine at the train station had some interesting offerings, including rolling papers, condoms and pregnancy tests.  I guess those are the kinds of products you don't really want to purchase in a small-town shop.  It seems quite bizarre, but it makes sense.

Condoms and pregnancy tests at the train station vending machine.

After the hike, we headed to the town of Neuchatel for a look around.  Neuchatel has a cute little old town and castle that we explored for a bit.  We stumbled upon a group of young Neuchatel-ians (?) using a sword to chop coke bottles.  I stopped to ask them what they were doing and where they got the sword, and ended up getting to give a try at coke bottle chopping myself.  I was able to slice the whole way through on the second try.  It may have been the strangest experience I've had in Switzerland so far.  I need to get a picture of the action from Ineke.

Chopping bottles with swords, naturally.

I vanquished the coke bottle!