After returning to Bern and having a really good meal in the plaza – amazing how good the pasta is in Switzerland. I know that there are a lot of options – but the spaghetti is simply awesome. (Have to try it in Italy at some point! Has to be good there — Right??)
Next morning we jump on the train and proceed to Interlaken which we have been told is another great place to do some sight seeing. (Imagine that 
me – going sight seeing – a tourist) Just about an hour away from our Bern “Headquarters” we discover another place well worth the time.
After getting off the train we wandered down the Main Street noticing that there is certainly a “touristy” feel to the town. 
Obviously in a country with as many
sights as Switzerland is obviously a destination for tourists. However, Interlaken appeared to be more designed in this manner than the other towns we visited.
The municipality is set between two very pretty lakes – Thun on the west side and Brienz to the East. The river Aare also runs along it (or perhaps thru it – depending on where you stand).
Interlaken is also ringed by high mountains which really make 
you feel pretty tiny in comparison to the surroundings. We did quite a bit of wandering around just to get a feel for the city.
Of the many tourists attractions including train rides and boat excursions there is a place where you can go hang gliding. They transport you up into the mountains and you fly in tandem with an instructor.
You can see these adventurous (crazy in my mind) people soaring around in loops as they glide down from one of the large cliffs. They simply land in a broad field just off the Main Street thru the town.
I am basically a coward when it comes to these things. There is no way I am going to jump off a cliff just to sail around. I don’t even get on roller coasters. Forget about bungee jumping and sky diving etc.
Never even crossed my mind.
Heres a note – you can look up one of these hang gliding events gone wrong. The very same place – Interlaken – an instructor forgot to strap a customer in properly. They cruised around the area with the poor guy hanging on by one hand.
Luckily he was able to hold on…he let go as they approached the landing area and broke a wrist and tore his bicep tendon. Had he slipped off at any other time he surely would have been killed.
Like I said there is good reason to stay with your feet planted firmly on the ground.
Interestingly enough we find that it is also home to a “Hooters” 
complete with all of the fixings…yes ALL of the fixings. We were obviously quite surprised to find one – but later we came to understand that there was one in Zurich as well.
Small world.
Naturally we felt that we had to eat there…..yeah I know go all the way to Switzerland – have all of this fabulous food all around us. Go to Hooters to eat??? What the heck is wrong with us.
Well….that’s the way it goes!
Here again in this area the main language is the Swiss variation of German. But as is the case everywhere in my adopted country pretty much everyone will be able to speak English.
Like most of the cities in Switzerland – for the most part the buildings, bridges and other structures are all old and extremely well kept. (I don’t think that I have ever even seen any litter anywhere in the four or five visits I have made to the country!)
Notably – Augustinian Monks settled the region in 1130 with the city itself founded a few years later. Unbelievably this became a tourist destination as early as the 1690’s due to the mountains. (I guess not enough tourists wanted to visit the States at that point.)
Aside from the beauty of the lakes and the mountains – the water in the River Aare is an amazing blue color. We stopped 
several times to admire the unusual color as we wandered across several bridges.
My boss (wife) was insistent on having some fondue before we left.
So, we stopped in a restaurant near the SBB station and she got her fondue…..a chocolate fondue that is. A pot of chocolate heated up and fruits to dip into the heated vessel. (Before you make fun of her for getting a desert type fondue – remember we had already had lunch at the now world famous “Hooters”.)
Oh yeah – I had ice cream. Hah…what a life!