A Brand New Country, Brand New Experiences!
I am SO sorry it's been so long between these posts. We've spent a few nights without internet and this is really the first time I'm able to catch up. This next one is a long one but that also means you get some pictures :-) Hope you can stand all the words!
8 June 2015
As you can probably tell, we’ve been very busy these last
few days. I hope you’re enjoying
my Europe travels as much as I am and I’m sorry I haven’t been posting each
day. I do what I can and some of
it will come out after we get back in the states, so just bear with me. Sometimes it’s hard to find good time
to write and fit in sleeping, eating, walking, and touring. But I don’t want to leave you too far
behind! So, here we go, off on
another adventure!
We started off this morning by having breakfast in our
hotel. By far, this was the best
breakfast we had at this point in our trip. They really spoiled us! They have scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs with ham, American
bacon (you know, fried, because that’s the only way we eat it), cereal, pastries,
yogurt, juices, meats, cream cheese, toast, jam, milk, potatoes, coffee,
etc. I’m sure I’m missing
something but we were definitely fed very well. I think the NH hotel has been our favorite of all the places
we’ve stayed. I don’t take
pictures of hotel rooms but we liked, the rooms, too. Several people, at first, had a problem with the lack of AC,
but once you threw the window open, it cooled off and was simply splendid,
weather-wise. There was absolutely
no need for air conditioning. It
was fabulous!
After breakfast, we took the bus to Heidelberg as Michela
talked to us a little about her hometown.
There are only about 100,000 people in Heidelberg, 99% of whom speak
wonderful English. They are THE
city in Germany to go to if you want to study in the medical field. In fact, Heidelberg has the best
hospitals for ailments to the head and brain in the entire country and people
from all over go there to be treated.
They are also a very old city; the university itself was founded in
1386, sometime after the town was firmly established. Heidelberg was governed by a King until all of Germany was
united; that castle you can see on the mountainside as it overlooks the entire
city. It’s called, quite creatively,
Heidelberg Castle, which was the first place we went once we got back into town
(about 10 minutes).
Heidelberg castle was built in the 13th century
by the Witelzberg (SP) family and housed the Prince Electors until, again, all
the provinces in Germany united to create the country we know today. The castle had been destroyed 3 times –
twice by war, once by accident.
The final time, shortly after it was rebuilt from the 2nd
destruction, occurred because the gunpowder that was kept in the armory caught
first and, quite literally, blew the castle up. Only a small portion of it escaped unharmed – the middle
part, which is quite interesting as it was right next to the turret that
exploded. The turret is pretty
much dead in the water, but the most beautiful part of the castle still
stands. It’s amazing how resilient
castles can be! Heidelberg Castle
also houses the largest wine barrel in the world. It’s called The Great Wine Barrel and holds 55,000 gallons
of wine. Way back when the castle
was being used by the princes, the barrel would be refilled each year with wine
for the castle occupants and guests.
By the end of the year, it would all be gone. At the time, water was not safe to drink so everyone drank
wine (or beer, rum, etc. depending on what country you lived in). The problem is that the barrel is so
big that it would seem as though everyone would have to have been drunk all
year long in order to make it all disappear by the time it came around to
refilling it. Obviously, they do
not fill it anymore, but it is about as tall as a regular house – almost as
tall as a two story house, and wide enough for 10-12 people to stand across
shoulder to shoulder. They even
let you stand on it! You have to
climb the stairs on one side, look down at the smaller people on the bottom of
the barrel, and go down the opposite side. We for real looked minuscule against this thing, as you can
see in this picture.
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| 55,000 gallon wine barrel - the largest in the world! |
There is a group around me taking a picture of some
drunk-looking statue that really was of no importance so they kind of ruined
the shot, but I think you get the general idea about how big it really was.
Another interesting bit about this castle was a random
footprint in the middle of the stone, sort of underneath the windows of the
main part of the castle (the part that wasn’t destroyed).
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| Random footprint in the stone |
The legend goes that the wife of one of the Prince Electors
(I don't know which one – no names were given) was having outside relations
with one of the guards in the royal army.
One night, the knight was in the princesses room and the Prince made it
known that he wanted to visit the princess. Instead of being caught, the story says that the knight
jumped out of the window, landed on the stone below, and made his escape,
leaving behind a single footprint in the place he landed because he was wearing
all of his armor at the time. That
means he was heavy. The legend
goes on to say that if a man’s foot fits in the stone shoe, he’s a good
lover. So, of course, all the guys
had to try it! Apparently, a couple
of them were iffy, but most of them faired pretty well. I guess that’s good news for them!
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| Sundial in the main courtyard of Heidelberg Castle |
A third interesting bit is the sundial on the face of the
main building (see above). I have
never seen a clock so neat-looking!
In case you don’t know, I have a slight obsession with clocks. I don’t know why. It was something my dad was really into
and I guess it was passed on to me.
Maybe it’s because I like seeing all the different ways people have
learned how to tell time? I don’t
know, but isn’t that sundial really awesome? I totally want one like that when I have someplace to put
it.
A final interesting bit about the castle was the day we got
there. This castle was up a
mountain but we didn’t hike (no way.
Most of us wouldn’t have made it.) We took a tram up the mountain and
got off at the castle exit. Sadly,
it was mostly tunnel up the mountain but had I taken it further, I would have
gotten a better view of the town and the mountains around it. I chose not to do that. I chose instead to do manual work,
which I’ll get to in just a second.
But, when we were done with the castle and all of the neat things
inside, we walked down the very steep path to the ground. Michela said that when it snows a lot in
Heidelberg, you can take a plastic sack or piece of board and slide down the
path. That would be fun, but a
little too fast for my comfort, especially since there isn’t a really great way
to stop at the bottom. You’d run
into a stone wall. Knowing me, I’d
probably break something, which is why I haven’t tried skiing yet.
After the castle, we had our free time – 5 hours of it,
which was more than we’ve gotten in any city on this trip. At first, we thought it would be too
much time and we would get bored.
Turns out, there was enough to do that we actually didn’t get to do
everything we wanted to. What did
we do with our 5 hours? Well, of course we were hungry. Some of the kids were dying for
American food; I wanted to go to a German pub. German pub won and so we picked one of the 4 we saw on a
previous walk through the town. It
was called Zum Güldenen Schaf: Heidelberger Schlossquell. It’s some famous pub in the town,
apparently, that we happened upon.
Renee, Cody, and Camryn hadn’t eaten in a pub before so they forewent
(is that even a word) the American choices and tried the pub grub. Not gonna lie – it was fantastic! We all ordered something different but
all of it was very German. Here’s
what I ordered:
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| Yes, I got the Wiener Schnitzel. I loved the German on the menu so I had to snap it! |
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| I got the Heidelberger Naturtrub (I can't do the dots here...) |
Yes, that’s right.
I actually did something on my goal list: try German beer. If you know me, you know that I detest
beer. I told the waiter (who spoke
very good English) that I wanted to try a beer but that I don’t drink it often
and really am not a fan; then I asked if he would have a recommendation for a
non-beer drinker. He recommended
one right off the bat, which is the picture you see above. I have to say, I was really skeptical
of it as the last beer I’d had tasted like B.O. mixed with urine (Ireland 2007,
Guiness stout). Can we say
pleasantly surprised? It
definitely had a wheat taste to it, but it wasn’t bad! I’d probably order it again if given
the opportunity. However, I’m not
sure if it was just a local drink or what – I’ll have to look on the menus when
we get back to Germany. Everyone
at the table tried at least a sip of it and no one liked it. Haha! More for me!
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| Me and my German bread |
Look how excited I am!
 |
| Foam mustache much? |
Look how ridiculous I am!
OOO! Then the
food came. O.M.G. The food. I had never had Weiner Schnitzel before
so I definitely didn’t know what to expect. I had heard that it was good and it totally sold me when the
waiter said it was fried. I’m
southern at heart, I guess (daw!).
I don’t usually do this, but check out this wonderful spread:
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| Look at that wonderful spread! Oh man, and it tasted SO good! |
And I promise it tasted just as good as it looks. I couldn’t eat it all, but what I could
eat was absolutely delicious. The
salad was wonderful, as well. They
had a house dressing that is made with yogurt that was out of this world
delicious. I about drank what was
left in my bowl when the salad was gone.
Needless to say, it’s been the most expensive meal I’ve eaten that I
hadn’t yet paid for (18.50€) but it was WELL worth the price.
After our yummy lunch, we decided to work off all the
calories we had just consumed and decided to hike up the mountain. No, not the castle mountain – the one
across the river from it. It was
just about a 5 minute walk across the river from the pub and we were told the
view was gorgeous from up there. So, the four of us took a hike. And what a hike it was. I could
definitely tell that I was out of shape.
At one point, I didn’t think I would make it up the mountain. It was SO steep and there were quite a
few steps. It probably took us
15-20 minutes to walk up the mountain but once we got there it was level so we
moseyed for about 10 minutes before going back down the mountain. I didn’t get any pictures from up there
because I’m forgetful but believe me when I say it was pretty
breathtaking. The entire city, the
way it’s situated, is just gorgeous!
After about 10 minutes on the mountain, we realized we didn’t have much
time left to do the rest of the things we wanted to, so we walked back down –
which was considerably shorter and easier than walking up. Took about ½ the time, too. Once we were on the ground again, we
went to ride the little Liselotte boat, named after the princess/wife of one of
the Prince Electors of Heidelberg before the region was part of Germany. When I boarded the boat, I think the
man misunderstood what I wanted and charged me too much (3€ for 1 stop), but I
wasn’t about to argue with someone who could barely understand me and I
him. We did our best and that’s
all that mattered. The ride,
though short, was refreshing in the already cool temperature. I liked feeling the wind blowing my
hair around and drying off some of the sweat that had accumulated on me during
our mountain hike.
We got off at the old bridge, so, where we had to cross the
river to get to and from the mountain, but it was an experience. We then walked to do some souvenir
shopping and went to the grocery store.
I always have certain things I look for when I shop for souvenirs – I
found them this time. Yay! Can’t tell you what they are because
they’re gifts… While we were
shopping, we stopped for German chocolate, Mezzo Mix (an orange-ish soda that I
can only find in Germany), and the Student Kiss Chocolate (oh, and free bathrooms. That’s important). Student kiss chocolate is a tradition
in Heidelberg that goes back many, many years. A long time ago, it was not acceptable for a young man to
show affection toward a girl that he favored by kissing her, in any form or
fashion. To get around this, the
Germans, who love food, came up with the student kiss, which is a little
chocolate bar you give to the person you love to let them know you love them. So, instead of giving kisses, students
gave chocolate. It’s really sweet,
so I bought one. I like traditions
like that. Maybe it’s because I
appreciate history, or maybe because traditions are just plain cool. I dunno. But this tradition is pretty awesome.
Because we didn’t get dessert, Renee and I (Cody and Camryn
had gone off with another group of people), went to get something cold –
gelato, which they sell everywhere on the continent. There hasn’t been a single city, or street, with at least
one gelato shop on it. It’s just
so freaking good! Anyway, we found
this place:
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| This place is yummy! |
And I ordered this:
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| That is extra tall spoon sitting next to extra tall glass of extra delicious Eiscaffe from Puro Gelateria Italiana. I mean, coffee AND ice cream? How can you go wrong? |
It had vanilla gelato with real coffee and whipped
cream. And when it came, I thought
I had died and gone to heaven – after I got over the shock of how BIG it
was. Oh, but it was so good and
creamy – good to the last drop.
Renee and I sat around for a few minutes trying to give our feet a rest
before we had to be back to our meeting place in the center of town at the
Neptune fountain. We love
resting. I haven’t walked this
much in such a long time. It’s a
great workout but my feet feel weary all the time and resting for gelato is the
best excuse of all!
When we met back up a short time later, we got back on the
bus and went to dinner, which was a buffet in the mall in Heidelberg. Of all the meals we’ve had, I think
this one would be in the bottom two.
It was alright, but it was nothing to brag about. I got something I was told was some
sort of sausage but didn’t taste like sausage. The soup was pretty good but no one knew what it was
called. But the dessert was good –
it had a mint leaf on the top that I sucked on. Yum! After dinner, we wandered around the shopping center (it had,
like, 7 floors) and then walked to the bus for our ride back to our hotel for
sleeping in our non-air conditioned (but, surprise! We had a fan!) room.
We slept well that night, which was good, because the next day was one I
wanted to be awake for. The next
day, we were going to Switzerland, by way of the Black Forest and cuckoo
clocks. Yes, I said cuckoo clocks,
which are some of my favorite clocks on the planet, next to Grandfather clocks,
Big Ben, and that nifty sundial.
Did I get myself into trouble?
You better believe I did.
Hehe…oops!
Black Forest and the Alps
9 June 2015
Right, so moving on!
We had another wonderful breakfast at the hotel that morning, gathered
our belongings, and left on the bus for the Black Forest and Switzerland. Along the way, we drove through Frieburg, which is a
small town in Germany north of Switzerland. It is the warmest city in the country (and I’m glad we
didn’t stop there. 32°C is too
warm for me in general – I’m sure it feels like 110°F for most of the summer!),
was almost completely destroyed in WWII, and sits on the bottom of the Black
Forest. That was about the only things
we could find out about it because in the time it took for Michela to tell us
that, we were already through it.
Very small town. On to the
Black Forest!!
Alright, I’m going to pause my travels and explain a little
bit about the Black Forest before I continue my story. If you’d rather not read about and want
to continue reading about my experience, please skip to the next paragraph.
The Black Forest
The Black Forest is the largest forest in Germany, 100 km
north and south, 60 km east and west.
It is called the black forest because the trees, mostly tall, tall
spruce trees, grow so close together it is dark in the forest, even during the
day. Its highest mountain is Feldberg, which is 1500
meters tall (that's 4900 feet for all you non-math peeps out there). The area of the Black
Forest is famous for cherries, cuckoo clocks, and nutcrackers. All of which are made (or grown) by
hand. Historically, the people in
this region have worn different clothes.
Women usually wore the black skirts with the vest-like top that you see
in old movies about Germany or Switzerland (think Heidi). They also wore hats – very special hats
– that came in two colors: black and red.
If you wore the black hat, it meant you were married, so then the men
would leave you alone. If you wore
a red hat, it meant you were single, which I know the guys found really easy
when trying to determine who they wanted to marry – you just had to look at a
woman’s hat. At least they were
easy to distinguish in crowds, right?
So, this is Europe and in many parts of Europe, legends abound, like the
one in Strasbourg with the stork.
I didn’t talk about that?
Well, then, let me explain.
Strasbourg’s signature bird is the stork – giant, ugly birds with a very
sweet purpose in France. Legend
has it that if a woman wanted a baby, she would put a little sugar cube on her
window sill for the stork, it would come by, pick up the sugar cube, and a few
months later, come back with a baby for the woman. So, today, if you buy a stuffed stork in Strasbourg (I did
not), they will give you a little sugar cube for the stork to put in his
pouch. And that’s where we get the
legend of the stork bringing by baby – because it was taboo to speak about
sex. Back to the Black Forest –
there is a part of the forest we passed that had a cross on top of a rock on
the left side of the road, and a golden deer on the right side of the road.
The legend says that a knight from Falkenstein Castle decided to go out for a hunt and eventually found a beautiful stag, so he decided to take up the chase. The deer evaded him for a very long time as the knight hunted him. Finally, for fear of being killed, the stag jumped the gorge and made it safely to the other side. The hunter also jumped, but did not make the rock and plunged to his death. Today, on the knight's side of the gorge is a cross and on the stag's side is a the stag monument. Isn’t that relatively sweet? Unfortunate for the hunter, but
something nice to talk about, yeah?
The houses in this area were built around the 18th
century. They all have long roofs
that reach from the peak of the house almost to the ground. We’re used to really short roofs on our
houses but these served a purpose – they helped keep the house warm in the
winter and protect it against the snow, which they get many feet of during the
winter months (October to April).
Here’s what happens: in the house, you have a bottom floor where the
goats or cows are kept during the winter.
The heat from them and the insulation of the hay help to warm the
room. Science tells us that heat
rises, so, the heat from the cows helps warm the rest of the house. The floor above them has the kitchen
and the main living rooms where people spend most of their time. In the kitchen is the fireplace, which
also helps heat up the house and keep it warm in the winter. Long roof keeps heat from escaping,
cows and stove heat the house, nice and cozy in the wintertime. Sounds very nice, although I’m not sure
I would like all of that snow. Another
aspect of the Black Forest is the rain, specifically the acid rain they get,
which they get a lot of. However,
the forest is vast and thick – you can’t tell anything has touched it. So, how can the forest stay so
beautiful if there is a lot of acid rain?
Well, when it does rain acid, the hunters go out and chop down the
burned trees (which they CAN’T do at any other time – it’s a protected forest)
and then they plant a new tree for each one they’ve chopped down so the forest
doesn’t get depleted. If only
people cared about the Amazon as much!
Ok, so enough about the Black Forest – onwards for adventure, danger,
and trouble…!
Once in the Black Forest, we drove for a very short while
and then we came to an exit in the Black Forest where we stopped to see a
cuckoo clock demonstration, a blown glass studio and shop, and
restaurants. We started off by
going to the cuckoo clock demonstration where the young man gave us a brief
history of the cuckoo clock and then showed us the different ones they
made. He explained that there are
3 generations of cuckoo clocks: 1650, 1750, and 1860’s.
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| 1st Generation clock from the 1650's - notice it uses a rock for a pendulum and it actually works |
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| These are the second generation clocks from the 1750s - they also still work and are still being produced |
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| The third and final generation of clocks from the 1860s - this is the design that is typically used in cuckoo clock-making today. The one on the far right is huge! About 3 feet tall - and sells for over 8,000 Euro. |
He went on to explain that cuckoo clocks were made from a
very special wood, Balsa Wood, that is dried for 4 years before it’s used
because it’s so soft. Then they
take a stencil and spray the outline of the main box onto the wood and then
carve it out. Afterwards, they
carve out and apply the frilly decorations to the outside of the main box,
carve out the figurines, place in the clock mechanism with all of the chains
and weights, and then paint it.
Some of them have music, which is put in during the clock mechanism
phase. These clocks are only made
in the winter because there isn’t much to do when there is snow on the ground
and no crops or fields of cows to tend to, which definitely makes sense – what
else would they have done during the winter? Don’t answer that question. Cuckoo clocks come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from
very small, to grandfather clock size.
The prices of these clocks are fair considering the time it takes for
many of them to be carved – which can range from a few days to a few weeks,
even months depending on the amount of detail and how big it is. We also learned that there are 3
different types of cuckoo sounds – a little one (which is too high pitched for
me – like a high first soprano), a medium one (deeper, like a mezzo soprano),
and a large one (which is deepest – like a second alto). The size of the clock dictates the size
of the cuckoo sound. Obviously the
small clocks (about the size of an iPad mini) will get the little sound, the
middle size clocks (which can range anywhere from iPad size to small flat
screen size) get the middle sound and music if you want it, and the large clocks
(even bigger and heavier that the previous ones and can be as large as a
building) get the large cuckoo. They
also come in several different wind-up types. You have the lame-o battery operated clocks that you can’t
move the chains on; there’s the clock you have to wind up every 26 hours with
the chain and the weight; and the clock you have to wind up every 8 days with
the chain and the weight. If the
clock has two weights, it does not have the music box to play; if there are
three weights, then the third weight is for the mechanism that moves the people
when the music plays. I'll post a few pictures of them down below so you can see the differences. Overall, the clocks were all so beautiful! I was completely mesmerized. I think I just stood in front of the
wall for a few minutes trying to catch my breath – during which time I fell
even more in love with them, so I couldn’t resist getting one. My poor bank account…. I’m sure it
would have yelled at me if it could speak because I really did spend too much,
but you can’t find the likes of them anywhere in the States and I doubt I’ll be
back in that area in my lifetime. Since
I was forgetful, again, and didn’t get a picture of it, you’re just going to
have to go with that usual – it was cute and I liked it. If I get a picture later, I’ll add it.
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| Most of these are the music clocks - because they have the three weights |
Once we had finished, and spent too much of our paychecks,
in the cuckoo clock store, Renee and I went to look at the blown glass
shop. Lots of pretty pieces; they
even had a guy working on blown glass finishing a few miniature turtles and
horses. That wasn’t anything
spectacular and we didn’t spend very much time there, but it was very pretty to
look at. After that, we had lunch
at the self-serve cafeteria underneath the cuckoo clock shop. I ordered a bratwurst and potato salad,
which I really liked. Renee
spilled her entire lunch and had to get another one, which we gave her a hard
time about, but she played along and thought it was just as hilarious as we
did. After lunch, Melissa (another
group leader) and I decided to do a brandy tasting.
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| One was good and one tasted like cough syrup... |
We had 2 kinds: a red one and a clear one. The red one tasted like cherry cough
syrup. Yuck! Melissa liked it, though. Then we tried the clear one – which was
the brandy. I thought it was
delicious! Strong, but full of
flavor. That one Melissa hated but
the Euro was worth the experience.
Afterwards, we walked outside because we wanted to take a picture with
the building. Sounds random,
right? Not really, because the
front of the building was a gigantic cuckoo clock! We waited around for a little while to hear it cuckoo and
then it played music. Highlight of
the day, right there!
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| See? This is us outside with the building-sized cuckoo clock. Isn't that awesome? And it REALLY WORKED! |
We then got back on the bus and Florian (our bus driver)
kept on bussing us towards Switzerland.
The way was beautiful! The
road wound around the mountains giving is a different sight about every 10
seconds. It was absolutely
breathtaking. I swear, pictures
will never do it justice – it’s just something you have to see.
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| Winding Black Forest #1 |
 |
| Winding Black Forest #2 |
On our way through the mountains, we came upon the Swiss
border, which is one of the most heavily guarded boarders in Europe. They don’t allow pictures to be taken
of anything on the grounds.
Florian had to get out and do some paperwork with the Swiss government
and we sat quietly hoping the police wouldn’t board the bus and ask for
passports or anything, like we had done something wrong. Apparently the Swiss don’t let just anyone in their country,
either, so we were hoping they would be welcoming.
They were!
Florian got back on the bus and we continued our drive while Michela
talked to us a little about Switzerland.
Switzerland is the richest and safest country in all of Europe, and, as
stated previously, still protect their borders with man-power (and guns. They like their guns). They only have 6.7 million inhabitants
in their 26 provinces. I was
surprised to find out that Switzerland doesn’t have a true national language –
they have 3: Swiss German, Italian, and French. Those that live near the German border speak Swiss German,
the same German language, but a different dialect (i.e. some words are just a
little different); those that live near the French border speak French, and
those near the Italian border, Italian.
From what I gathered, most everyone speaks Swiss German but is taught a
second language starting about age 2 near whatever country they are closest to. Most of them also speak a third
language: English. I wish America
put as much emphasis on learning foreign languages as Europe does. Granted, we don’t really live in an
area that has 10 different languages that it’s necessary to learn, but I sure
do feel dumb that I haven’t learned a different language well enough to get
around in Europe, at least a little bit.
Switzerland uses two currencies – the Swiss franc (by far the prettiest
money I’ve ever seen) and the Euro.
It’s about a 1 to 1 conversion rate but if you pay in Euro, you will get
francs back in change. I thought
that was interesting. I’m not
aware of another country that deals in more than one currency on a regular
basis.
Michela referred to Switzerland as a “perfect country,” and
from a tourist’s point of view, it is pretty perfect. By the time we were leaving, most of us agreed that
Switzerland would be a nice place to live – however, the probability of that
happening is almost nil. Here’s
why: only 3 types of people can live in Switzerland – those that are born
there, those that marry someone born there, and those that have millions of
dollars. If you don’t fit the
first two scenarios, the government will ask to look at your bank account to
see how much money you have. If
you don’t have enough for their standards, you don’t get to live there. The lowest amount of money that people
make per month in Switzerland is 3,000€ - so the poorest of the poor. They make more per month than I do, so
I know I’m REALLY poor. Everyone
in Switzerland has a job. I’m not
sure what they do when you DON’T have a job, but everyone works and makes good
money. If you’re a foreigner and
want to work in Switzerland, you have to sign a contract (which can last from a
few months to two years) and once that contract is up, you HAVE to go back to
where you came from. They are very
protective of their people and don’t want anyone taking advantage of their
success. I think it’s a fantastic
plan. It is VERY expensive to live
in Switzerland – I mean, just from looking at the prices of a small slice of
cake or a sandwich we got the idea pretty quickly that you either cannot do a
lot in Switzerland, or you have to pick and choose just a few things to do if
you’re on a budget. A t-shirt was
30€. A t-shirt! My little croissant was around 3 or 4€
and I would have had to pay 5€ for a tiny slice of cake if I had wanted
dessert. It’s a beautiful country
but not a place I would recommend staying for long periods of time unless you
have a lot of money to spend.
Everything you’ve heard about Switzerland is probably
true. They have had over 500 years
of democracy and peace within their borders and they truly remain neutral when
wars break out in Europe. They are
protected by the Alps, which completely surround the country and which the
people have used to their advantage.
The country is completely prepared for war or invasion. They have built hidden airports inside
of the mountains so the air force can be sent out quickly if the need ever
arose. You can only find them if
you see a giant door on the side of a mountain. They also have hidden hospitals everywhere. Because of the mountains that cover
Switzerland, the people have made it clear that they wanted their country
aesthetically pleasing, so rather than ruin a mountain with a road, they built
tunnels through them. The country
is full of road tunnels. Other
than helping not to ruin the landscape, the tunnels also help cut down on the
amount of pollution that reaches the air, so the air is clearer. They are also the places where many of
the hidden hospitals are located.
Michela said that if you see a random large door while you’re in a
tunnel, the chances are good that there is a hidden hospital behind it, fully
stocked and ready in case of invasion.
If only other countries were just as prepared! We also learned that, up until about a year or so ago, all
men in Switzerland were required to go to army training by the time they turned
20. Once training was over, the
government, having showed you how to properly use one, gave you a gun to keep
in your house until you turned 60, by which point your commitment to defend and
protect apparently ends so the younger generations can stand in your
place. So, man knows how to use a
gun and they’re good at it because they are also required to go back
periodically to refresh their training.
Definitely a very safe country to visit – not a single time did I think
someone would steal anything of mine.
It was nice to be able to let our guard down just a little bit and not
have to worry about pickpockets.
A few final interesting bits about Switzerland before we
move on: they have invented the most of all of the countries in Europe such as
life insurance, bank account numbers, chocolate, and pocket knives, just to
name a few. They also have the
longest highway tunnel in the world (17 km long). Finally, I’ll tell you something to make you feel really
safe. I mentioned before that you
have to have a lot of money to live in Switzerland if you’re not born there or
marry someone from there, right?
So they look at your bank account to determine if you have enough
millions to survive there – well, if you have money in a Swiss bank and money
in an American bank and the American government or banks or whoever wants to
know how much is in your Swiss account, Switzerland WON’T tell them! It’s called the Banking Secret and one
of the reasons so many people have their money in a Swiss bank – they’re the safest
in the world, ridiculously secure, and frustratingly secret. Badaboom!
Sounds tempting, doesn’t it?
Also, we found out that part of the Swiss diet includes
horses and ostrich. Apparently
it’s really delicious, but I don’t know that I could bring myself to outright
eat one of those. I’ve had an
ostrich egg before and that was good, but not the mama herself. I could probably say that about pigs
and cows, but I’m used to those by now. I like meat. Don’t judge me. Lastly, we
learned that the Pope is still guarded by the Swiss army – has been for
centuries – because of their bravery.
I’ll get to that a little later, though. There’s a sweet story about their bravery later on. Finally, I found out that the Matterhorn was located in Switzerland and is one of the highest mountains in the country (we're talking the Alps here!) and stands 14,692 feet high. We did not see the
Matterhorn but we did see Mount Pilatus, which I’ll get to later. I saw pictures of the Matterhorn,
though, and it looked exactly like the mountain they used in the Heidi version
I grew up with that had Noley Thornton and Jane Seymour in it. I
remembered Heidi and Peter talking about the lady of the mountain and it took
me forever to find her but it looks just like the Matterhorn. And now I’m rambling. Please, someone stop me!
Right, so we found out all of this really awesome stuff
about the Swiss as we were on our way from the Swiss border to our next stop:
Rheinfalls. Up, up, up in the
mountains we were a little bit and then we stopped at this waterfall. I could liken it to Niagara in terms of
what it means to the Europeans but it’s really hard to compare. Not that I’ve
been to Niagara Falls or anything… I’ll go one day. Anyway, Rheinfalls is the biggest waterfall in Western
Europe. It is 75 feet high and 450 feet wide. We only stopped there for about 30
minutes just to look at the falls because, really, there’s nothing else to do
there. There was a pretty castle
on the mountainside but those are all over this country. And much of Europe in general. They’re so much cooler than we
are. Once we had our picture taken
and had been shocked by how expensive everything in Switzerland was, we got
back on the bus and Florian drove us to our hotel a few hours down the
road. I think most of us spent the
rest of the ride ogling the beauty of the Swiss landscape because it is truly
breathtaking and pictures definitely don’t do it justice. It was also very foggy when we got
there so it isn’t much to look at.
 |
| Foggy Alps |
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| More foggy Alps and the Luzerne Lake |
We passed lakes and mountains and valleys and towns and
fields and more lakes and villages and cities and nature and old stuff and lots
of great stuff I may never see again in my life. Once we got to Lake Luzerne, we were very close to our
hotel. It was just a shimmy up the
winding mountain road on teeny tiny roads with oncoming traffic but we made
it safe and sound without any issues.
These bus drivers are GOOD.
We stopped at our hotel, Hotel Engel (that’s Angel in German) in
Emmetten right outside of Luzerne where we went up to our rooms (no elevators
this time) and relaxed for a few minutes until dinnertime, which we had in the
hotel. And it was absolutely
delicious! We had a starter of
vegetable soup, and I’ll stop right there. I hate veggies so when I heard we were having veggie soup, I
wrinkled my nose. And then, it was
put in front of me. It was like no
other veggie soup I had ever seen or had before – it was very brothy (is that a
word?) with about 5 little sea star pastas in it and some chives on top. I have no idea what else was in it but
I had two helpings of that sucker – best soup ever. When we moved on to chicken and rice, which was just as
fabulous, and then some delicious caramel pudding. We were given seconds on chicken and rice, too, which I
indulged in because it, too was out of this world. Once that experience was over, we all went to bed and had a
good night’s sleep.
Night night!
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