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Negotiating the "morning after" at Balmer's

by Catherine Bodry (RSS feed) on Jun 7th 2009 at 5:30PM

I laughed out loud at Terry Ward's observations over at World Hum of young Americans awkwardly negotiating the "morning after" scene at Balmer's Herberge in Interlaken, Switzerland. Laughed, because when I was a 21-year-old college student on a study abroad trip, Balmer's was a sacred place - a destination for hordes of other kids just like me, proudly sporting university sweatshirts and perky enthusiasm for the soft-core adrenaline adventures on offer around the town. Ward's description is a spot-on retelling of my own experience there: waiting for the liquid courage to dance, then getting wasted on beer from plastic cups, running into a new friend at breakfast the next day and having an awkward, stilted conversation about the Italian coffeemaker he'd bought his sister in Italy. I also recall waking up that morning and finding my contact lenses in shriveled corpses on the floor next to my bed; I simply stuck them in solution and popped them back in. Oh, youth.

Like Ward, I have no desire to revisit Balmer's. On subsequent visits to Interlaken, I've stayed at the pleasantly peaceful HI hostel. But I also don't (totally) regret my drunken couple of nights at Balmer's. I'm one of those people who hates missing out on any kind of experience, and at the time, a night or two at Balmer's was what I was after.

Anyone else have a similar experience there?

Filed under: Food and Drink, Stories, Europe, Switzerland, Hotels and Accommodations, Budget Travel, Nightlife

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Patricia Jun 8th 2009 7:04AM

I was at Balmer's on my first backpack/Eurail trip through Europe in 1984. I stayed there mainly because I heard that every Sunday night they showed the Sound of Music movie to an overflow crowd. It was a gas as everyone hissed every time the Baroness came on screen and did other audience participation fun. I remember having an ice cream sundae there which tasted so good after being on the road for many weeks. Every time I hear the main theme from The Deer Hunter (a beautiful guitar solo) it takes me back to there as I remember waking up to hearing that one morning. Oh yes, there was the drunken revelry also! :-)

I proudly wore my McGill University sweatshirt.....

Bill Jun 8th 2009 6:53PM

I guess I may be the only person I know who HATED Balmer's. Me and a few friends were there last year and it was a total "bro" crowd who spent all of their time seeing who could outdrink who and being complete asses. To top it off my girlfriend woke up in the middle of the night being filmed by some guy and the staff could have cared less.

In terms of "iconic" hostels I strongly recommend any of the MacBackpacker's hostels in Scotland. Just a cool, but with a much better atmosphere.

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