Swiss/Italian Trip
On Thursday night, February 21st, Mike and I boarded our night train to Zurich. Whatever we had envisioned our cabin to look like, I'm sure for both of us it was something a little...roomier.
After our restful sleep in the spacious train cabin, we awoke at 8am to hear a woman announcing that we were about to arrive at our final stop, Zurich, so please "go out".
Luckily for us, Mike's friend Christian was there to pick us up from the train station. I don't think Mike or I could understand the Swiss very well, who speak a "cuter" version of German.
Our first day in Switzerland Christian showed us Zurich. We opened up a Swiss bank account (shh!) and saw some flashy Protestant churches. For lunch we met up with Alex, who is from Switzerland (Christian is not, he is German). We climbed up to a tower and got a view of all of Zurich, which would have been so much nicer on a clear summer day, when we could have seen the Alps.
We went out for lunch where I discovered my new favorite addiction, Espresso. Alex shared a story with us from when she was in the U.S. ordering a sandwhich at Subway. The woman told her they had American Cheese, Swiss Cheese, etc...and Alex asked, what kind of Swiss cheese? The woman and Alex were both confused.
That night Christian took us out for a traditional Swiss meal at a Fondue restaurant. Let's just say, I was not a fan.
On Saturday we rented a car and drove to Luzern (or Lucerne) which was a beautiful little place on a lake and you could see the Alps (if it wasn't February). Christian made us climb up a hill, but we thanked him afterwards because the views were amazing.
Mike and I parted ways with Christian and headed to Konstanz (or Constance) in Germany to visit our friends Jürgen, Annette, and Laura. But first we made some stops in Liechtenstein and Austria, but no one would stamp my passport! Stupid European Union...We stayed in my first (and last) youth hostile in Konstanz and went out to dinner with them. But Mike and I are old farts, so we didn't stay out late.
The next day Mike and I drove further South in Switzerland to the Italian part where they only speak Italian. We stayed in a town called Locarno which was also very beautiful, even for February.
From there we made a trip to Milan in Italy. Mike and I were both a little frightened because we don't speak Italian. Once we got to Milan we realized we had no clue what you are supposed to see when you are there. So we wandered around until we found this church which made the trip worth it, because it was so beautiful and HUGE! I can't imagine the people building it so long ago.
I got a little scared of the African guys outside the church who would tie "free" bracelets around your wrist and then demand money for them. So we decided we had seen enough of Milan.
Mike couldn't go skiing this time because he was with me, and I hate fun. But he wanted to atleast see it and live vicariously through others, so on the way back to Zurich we drove through the Alps and up to a place called Andermatt. We took the gondola up to the very top, and I got very frightened and couldn't look out. Mike told me not to be such a chicken, and then after we were through with the ride he told me how a gondola had gotten loose of its tracks recently and fallen down killing everyone inside. Atleast he told me afterwards and not before.
We had a beautiful trip, but we were both happy to come back home to our computers and to our little Penny who missed us. And now I am already planning our next vacation.