Summer came, and summer is almost gone now. I have been quite busy and so neglected my blogging commitment. Here to make it right is a post about this wonderful summer.
During this summer I had two major vacations. Two weeks in Berner Oberland, Switzerland, and a week in Israel out of which 3 days were taken by a dive safari in the Red Sea. Before I start telling about these two thought, I’d like to say that the actual travelling start with two visits to Fontainebleau within a month. Bleau is always fun, and every time I come back I find myself wondering why I don not go there more often. I hope this new trend of vising at least once a month on average (more in the summer, not so much in the winter).
Berner Oberland, oh, Berner Oberland. Home of the Jungfrau, the Eiger with its world famous north face and the Aletschhorn glacier to name a few. Paula and me spent a day in Bern, which was nice, but I was feeling restless. I wanted to see the Eiger. So the next day we left for Launterbrunnen, which lies in a dale starting close to Interlaken. It is a place out of a fairy tale. The dale has walls of a few hundred meters high. A few waterfalls flow from the top to form magnificent waterfalls. It is a place that, at least in me, steers a feeling of magic. The next two days we spent mountain biking in the area.
The first day we went up from Launterbrunnen to Muren. That proved to be a somewhat difficult day. In total its 900m of a continuous climb. We were not ready for that much climbing. By the time we reached Muren it really felt like a victory. We were quite tired, and, failing to find an apple shtrudel had to settle for a cup of coffee. The way down was fun. Those 900m went flying by. There were a few places with warning signs instructing us to get of the bikes. We didn’t. It was fun. The next day we went for a somewhat flatter route, going only 400m vertical. It was still bloody difficult. Our legs were tired but the scenery was so beautiful they were easy to ignore. The third day we were expecting Bas and Charlotte to arrive at the afternoon. Seeing as we were about to embarke on a 8 day hike we decied to take it easy. The day’s activity consisted of getting provinces and getting the bag ready for the coming hike. Bas said they would be there at around 16:00. So we expected them at 19:00 the earliest. We were caught by complete surprise when Bas and Charlotte actually arrived on time.
The hike itself was amazing. I have almost forgotten what a wonderful feeling it is to walk in the alps, sleep in huts, and just generally be out, in nature. Every day I was having more fun. We walked in 7 days from Grosse Scheidek to Oeschinsee. I find my words fail me when I come to describe how it was. The nature was so there, all around you, taking you in. Making me feel small, and at the same time as free as can be. Standing at the foot of the Eiger north face, looking at a wall 1700m high, its exhilarating. we were also very lucky with the weather. We had almost exclusively sunny days. Till 16:00. then it rained, hard. Then at 16:45 it became sunny again. Apparently it has something to do with the area’s micro climate. Lots of glaciers and a warm sun will do that.
The second vacation was the diving safari in Sinai. I am a new diver. Its less then a year since I followed a diving course during our trip to Thailand. Less then a year and already I have dives in some of the est places in the world.
Coming from Israel I am no stranger to the Red Sea. This was however the first time I properly dived in it. The safari was a 3 day, live on-board(as in on a boat). Every day there are 4 dives, except the last days which can only have 3 because of time constrains. I don’t know if I can conclude from this first experience about all live-onboard safaris, but I believe they are all pretty much like this. And by this I mean totally relaxing. You have zero worries. All you have to do. All you can do is dive, eat sleep and read. Oh and setup discos to dance into the night, but I think that was a bit unique 
. It is an wholly relaxing, and energy filling experience. I highly recommend it as an anti-stress treatment.
Thats it for now, I’m all written out. Ill write some more in the weekend.