the coldest weekend of my life!

this weekend we took basically the coolest adventure known to any of us. first we popped into interlaken, to check out junfrau [the virgin] and stayed at this pretty awesome hostel called balmers. it was adorable and had some pretty fun nightlife going on.. jen, chris and i [being our charming selves] naturally made friends as soon as we arrived.

after a fun evening of interlaken fun we  headed out to zermatt to meet up with jen's friends jess and dac.  zermatt was absolutely gorgeous. everyone there was all bundled up, and rightly so, it was freeeezing! once we found our hostel we set out for fondue, but noone was serving it until dinner, so we went to this restaurant that some girls at the hostel recommended and had some snackage, then we shopped around a bit and returned to the hostel so we could check in. after we unloaded and changed into more layers of clothing out we went for dinner! [since we had been craving fondue for hours at this point] we found a great place that had awesome fondue and had a tremendously long and filling dinner. on the way back we stopped by a cute little pub that some people from the hostel had told us about and had a beer with them before deciding that we needed a good nights sleep to get up early to see the ice palace!

we all got up before 8 to get ready and check out. then it was go time. we first got our tickets to the halfway point because it was too windy at the very top to ascend. then as son as we turn around the board lights up green and we can now go to the top top [which is where the palace it]. first we jump into these tiny moving pods that hold about six people and they sway as the take you up the mountain. i won't lie. i was terrified. next came a larger car that held a ton of people and their skis. this one was the car that was originally closed. it was freaky but took us basically to the top of the world! we first checked out the ice palace, you take an elevator down and it opens up into a tunnel in the ice. ridiculous. then we walked around the different sections.. this little kitchen table area, the chandelier,  the buddah, what appeared to be a nativity scene, and a very awkward assortment of people, animals, and frozen flowers that has plaques about glacier bugs and how they lived and grew. it was very interesting and pretty amazing. we then went to warm up in the gift shop at the top. it had a few of the ticket items we had been wanting but for cheaper! go figure. so after jen made a pretty awesome purchase we decided to head to the top. we took and elevator up and opened into white. all white. we were inside a cloud. after rushing up the stairs through the coldest wind imaginable [my face and ears are cold just thinking about it!] we reached the very top! we were equal with the top of the clouds, which blew my mind, and there was a giant crucifix and a plaque with some info about the peak. once we had take enough awesome photos we scurried down into the relative "warmth" of the inside of the mountain.

just the matterhorn making an appearance!

 
by this time it was after noon and we had to start getting ready to head back home, so off we headed in the ski lifts down the mountain and into thicker air and "warmth". we headed home and attempted to be productive but really all we did was make some dinner and watch glee! it was basically an amazing weekend :)

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