Arrived in Bern at 8:20 and met Bettina, one of my hosts from CouchSurfing who was waiting at the station as agreed. We went to their apartment and I met with the rest of the flat mates: Nils, Simmy and Andrea (3 siblings). They were a really cool and hospitable bunch.

Spent the day walking around Bern and met up with some friends from Germany who happened to coincidentally be here. Nils asked if I wanted to go to Interlaken in the evening to watch the Switzerland Vs. South Korea game. I said sure. Switzerland won 2-0. Intense partying ensued in Interlaken.

Crappy cellphone pic: Between the two heads of the random people in front of me you can see the glow of the huge screen in Interlaken upon which the whole town seemed to converge for the game.

Later we met up with Nils’ friends, hit a bar, then went to a friend’s house were we spent the night. I woke up on the floor of Nils’ friend living room. It took me about 20 seconds to register where I was and what I was doing there. No one was awake yet. I left quietly and headed in the general direction of where I remembered the train station was. 15 Minutes later I was on the train back to Bern.

Nils had invited me earlier to visit his family’s house in a Zweiswimmen (sp?), a little town an hour and a half east of Bern by train. He and Rebecca, his girlfriend, headed there directly from Interlaken and I went with Simmi. It was cool to go have the opportunity to get away from the tourist-hogged spots and checkout some little Swiss villages. I was still searching for the Pink Cows of Switzerland (never mind that…inside joke).

The thing about traveling by train in Switzerland is that your nose is glued to the window at all times, eyes darting from one friggin gorgeous scene to the next. You curse when the train goes inside a tunnel becuase you don’t want to miss a minute of this beauty. The whole country is plain stunning. Green hills, snow-capped mountains in the distance, blue skies and cottage-dotted fields. Wow! The same goes for Swiss girls. Spent the day at Nils’ house, met his family – all very cool people – and had dinner with them. I hopped on the train back to Bern in the evening.

I had a funny conversation with Bettina and Andrea about my name and how many Europeans mess it up when they try to pronounce it for the first time. I jokingly said that I am going to start writing it with an umlaut (H?ni). Which, if you think about it, makes sense.

The next day I went to Lucerne. I came here in 2005 but never really had a good chance to check out this beautiful town. Went to a couple art museums, which were really cool and hung out at this music festival of sorts which was taking place near the boat docking area.

checking my trip itinerary, I decided to leave directly to Paris the following day, skipping Annecy in order not to push the schedule envelope to the max. I would’ve like to stay a few more days in Switzerland and chekout more of it, but the voice inside my head told me that I must keep moving, must go to the Netherlands, and finally Berlin where the World Cup awaits.