Friday, February 13: Best. Day. Ever.

So, I'm going to split this post in two: my Friday the 13th in general as well as our day trip to Bern (which fell on that fateful Friday). 

I really have no idea how to approach this, so let me just throw it at you all at once. On my Friday, February 13, 2009:

1. I jumped out of a helicopter that was 14,000 feet above ground. Yes, I went skydiving in the only place in the world where it is legal to skydive by helicopter. If you were to ask me what it was like or to describe the experience, I wouldn't be able to. I remember getting in the helicopter, thinking to myself that the last time I thought of helicopters was just the other night when I watched Black Hawk Down on iTunes, trying to forget the reception lady's answer when someone asked why Interlaken is the only place you can skydive out of a helicopter ("Because it is illegal everywhere else"), I remember peeking over the edge before the jump, and I remember landing safely in the snow. Honestly, I think I blacked out from adrenaline during the entire descent (apparently a 45-second freefall and then a one- to two-minute parachute descent). Nonetheless, while not being able to describe the experience, it was one of the best experiences of my life.

This is the only caption of that memory for me:

(Me giving the thumbs up in my skydiving suit, pre-jump).

After skydiving, we ate at the best Thai food restaurant ever (in Switzerland) and then hopped on a train to Bern (Switzerland's capital). Bern, like Switzerland in general, is just beautiful. Plain and simple, it is beautiful:

It also has one of the most famous churches in Europe, the Munstergasse, which of course was under renovation work when we got there. I have better pictures than this but I already have this uploaded (me in front of the sign as opposed to the pretty church spire):

But I've already gone too far astray. This is about Friday the 13th. So, we've covered that I skydived, but also on Friday the 13th:

2. I stood about fifteen feet away from a really, really big brown bear:

That is just how cool Bern is. They have bear pits in the middle of the frickin' city where there are bears. Just hanging out. Big. Bears. They come out of their caves, poke around their little pond, roll in the snow, and pose for awesome pictures (like the one above).

Not long after that, I saw the coolest fountain ever. Just a few minutes after seeing bears, on my Friday the 13th:

3. I saw an ogre devouring a baby:

Here's a better picture (not taken by me):

This is the Kindlifresserbrunnen, the coolest statue on top of a fountain, ever. It's a freaking ogre eating babies. How can you not like Switzerland? I just stood there and laughed to myself. If I'm a little kid in Switzerland, I'm behaving myself after seeing that thing. 

Recap, 13/02/09 (which makes more sense than 02/13/09):

1. Went skydiving out of a helicopter.

2. Saw big brown bears.

3. Saw an ogre eating babies.

And then we left Bern (after a nice 3-hour detour) and headed to the new love of my life, Lucerne. It's 12:30am here right now so I'm going to call it a night, but I'll be sure to get the last of Switzerland up soon.