Abenteuer Zehn: Interlaken Ost

On Monday I went on a hiking trip with a few of my friends to Interlaken. Interlaken is a reasonably small town about an hour outside of Bern. It's also located in a stunningly beautiful area--I think Interlaken is about as stereotypically Swiss-looking as you can get:

When  we got off the train at Interlaken, we really weren't sure where we were going. It took us several minutes of wandering around and asking strangers for help before we finally found a suitable hiking trail.

After a while, our meandering lead us to the beautiful creek which runs through the town. From there, we were able to find our path and begin our climb.

 It was a warm day (probably almost seventy in the sun), our path was steep, and we were all a little out-of-shape, so we had to take frequent pauses in our hiking. I don't think any of us minded, however--it gave us more time to enjoy the view.

Here you can see one of the lakes in the distance

The higher we went, the rougher our trail got--at one point, it turned into a tiny waterfall.

Flowers were blooming along the path, too, which definitely made me happy.

We didn't make it all the way up the mountain (not on this trip, anyway). When we made it a little more than halfway up, our path turned to ice and, as we noticed the sun beginning to sink, we decided to head back down.

Proof we made it a decent way--look at how tiny the houses are!

 On our way down, we learned that one of the members of our party, my Columbian friend, had never built a snowman. Immediately, we knew we had to rectify this situation. We stopped at the first patch of snow we found (realistically, it was more ice than snow--but hey, it was something). 

I think my friends and I did a pretty good job, considering. 

 On the way back down, we also noticed something really strange in the town--a hexagonal arena with an Egyptian pyramid, a Mayan pyramid, a tower, and other wonders in each corner and a huge water tower-shaped protrusion in the middle. Once on the ground, my friends and I decided to try and see what exactly this strange structure was. 

We decided to hike directly towards it, as to not loose our way. Unfortunately for us, hiking directly towards the unknown area involved crossing several fields, a pasture, a construction area, and a few major roads. With each hardship, our determination and curiosity grew.

Was it a waste treatment facility? A race track? A museum? 

What on earth was that thing?

After half an hour of cross-country power hiking, we grew close enough to the odd arena to read its sign:

Mysty Land. 

Clearly, the answers to our questions are meant to forever remain a mysty.

But at least on the trek back to the train station I was afforded an amazing sight: the sunset through the mountains.