Interlaken Day 3 and Interlaken - Rome

Well, I made it to Rome in one piece. Yesterday, Kirk and I tried climbing up the Schilthorn mountain, where there were supposedly some really good views. The hike started out really tough, and we were huffing and puffing after about 15 minutes. We got up about a quarter of the way when we started talking to some Canadian people who were coming back down. They said that they had turned around because it was too snowy and it was raining, but a couple of people from their group had kept going. We decided to keep going and assess the situation when we got there. That has been kind of our motto: "We'll see when we get there." So we got up a little higher and kept on going. After a short lunch break, we started trudging up through the snow. About halfway up, there was supposed to be a hut, and we met the other people from the Canadian crew. They said that the hut was closed, and it was really snowy to try to keep going. We stuck to our motto and got to the hut. This hike started at about 2500 feet, and the top was at about 10000 feet. Also, the clouds were really near us, so the whole time it had this Monty Python feel to it with all the fog and mist swirling around. It was creepy and cool at the same time. Anyway, we got to this hut, and sure enough, it was closed. We knew that if we got about 3/4 of the way up to a station called Birg, we could get to the cable car and take that the rest of the way up if we wanted. We decided to go for it, even though we couldn't see the trail at all because there was so much snow. Along the way, I actually stepped on a doozy spot and was immediately up to my waist in snow! It was fun though, and we finally made it to Birg. We asked the attendant how much it would be to take the cable car up to the top and then all the way back down. It was going to cost $60! We asked how bad it would be to hike up, and he just laughed in our faces and said there was too much snow. I don't know if he knew that we had hiked up in that snow for 3 hours, but we didn't really feel like hiking anymore anyway. To take the cable car back down from there, it was only $18, and it was really foggy at the top anyway, so we wouldn't have seen anything. So we just decided to take the car back down, which was kind of disappointing, but it was fun nonetheless. As we were walking back, we stumbled across a huge chess set and decided to play a game (I told you he was like Paul!) I actually ended up winning, but it was pretty close for most of the game. After that, we walked to a couple of waterfalls, then we went our separate ways. It was a good day, even though we didn't make it to the top. My train to Rome left at 11:30 last night and got here at 9:15 this morning. It was not a good night's sleep. First of all, there were already 5 people sleeping in the 6-bed room, so I was the last person to get in. So I had to get situated in the dark and ended up sleeping with my backpack in the bed for half the night because I didn't know where there was anymore storage. Finally in the middle of the night, I found some storage space and put my backpack there. From then on, I was able to sleep pretty well, but not for very long. I woke up at about 7:30 and couldn't get back to sleep again, so I'm pretty tired right now. The hotel looks to be a big step down from the other places I've stayed (there's no reception desk!) but I haven't seen the room, so I'll find out soon I guess. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing my brother on Thursday! I'm a bit sick of traveling by myself, so that will be fun. I'll post more later.