This is when I started singing songs from The Sound of Music
SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
On top of Mt. Pilatus
In downtown Luzern (notice what I'm holding!)
As the train approaches Interlaken
First of all, before I say anything about my trip, I want to wish everyone a happy Election Day!!! I'm hoping that the federal write-in for my absentee ballot made it safely to Longmeadow Town Hall (since my actual absentee ballot never arrived), because I will be incredibly unhappy if I don't get to vote. If any of you who are reading this now haven't voted yet, GO VOTE!!! And while I will not tell you who to vote for, it should be clear to all of you that I am placing my vote 100% behind Obama! I hope he wins! I think he would be a breath of fresh air for Washington.
Anyway, I arrived in Luzern, Switzerland about a week-and-a-half ago, on a Saturday, and, after spending quite some time trying to find my hostel, did some exploring around the city. The first attraction I came across was Seebrücke, a large bridge stretching from one side of a narrow inlet of Lake Luzern to another. After dropping my ridiculous amount of stuff at the hostel (it's really a wonder I didn't throw my back out- it was pretty sore the next day), I walked back downtown to explore some of the touristy parts of town. My first stop was Kapellbrück mit Wassertum, a beautiful wooden covered bridge lined with boxes of beautiful flowers. Oh, wait, that's a lie. My first stop was Starbucks. I found one on my walk back into town (I would eventually locate 3 in the city), and stopped to order a tall skim hot chocolate, my Starbucks drink of choice. After the covered bridge, I stopped by the Jesuitenkirche (Jesuit Church). I happened to stop by at just the right moment, so got to witness a wedding. Luckily, it was in English, which was very much appreciated (I was already a little bit intimidated by the amount of German I was hearing). The bride was a musician from Switzerland (presumably Luzern or environs) who traveled to India to teach music. There she met the groom, also a music teacher and India native. It was a really pretty mass, although I didn't stay past the homily. For the rest of the afternoon, I walked around and explored all of the cute little back streets of the city. I hopped in bed early with the intention of waking up for some day trip or another on Sunday.
On Sunday morning, I decided that I was going to go to Interlaken. I had originally planned to do day trips to Brienz and Interlaken on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, but I found that I had had enough of touring Luzern for one day on Saturday, so I chose Interlaken for Sunday's destination. After spending roughly $60 on my train ticket, which was slightly horrifying, I braced myself for what would turn out to be a 2-hour train ride. Well, it was the most beautiful train ride of my life! At one point in the journey, as we descended from the top of the mountain into the valley that housed Interlaken and other small villages, I saw what looked like a large body of water below. As it turned out, these were big, puffy clouds!!!!! We were so far above the cloud line that it felt like we were on an airplane!
Once we arrived in Interlaken, situated between two lakes, as the name suggests, I realized that I wasn't really sure what to do. I consulted my Swiss guide book (in French, to make myself feel a little bit better!), and didn't really find anything, so I just started walking. I just happened to see a railway track going up the side of a mountain, so I went over to investigate. They were the rails for a cog railway going up the Harder Kulm, a relatively small mountain. I decided that that would be a fun little excursion. Once we reached the top, there was a restaurant that most of my fellow travelers ate at (having had a terrible shock, though, at the restaurant prices in Luzern the day before, I couldn't justify spending another $20 on lunch alone. So I snacked on clementines (my new favorite snack!!!!) and Kinder. The view from the summit was absolutely incredible- you could see all of Interlaken below and the majestic Alps looming in the distance, their peaks already covered in snow.
Once I descended from the mountain's top once again, I decided to take a walk along the river, which was the most interesting color of blue that I have ever seen. It was like an aqua color, but slightly cloudy. After spending an hour or so wandering around and sitting in a park to write postcards (I wrote 12 in less than 24 hours, which is quite a feat for me given how small my handwriting is, and, thus, how much I can fit on to one postcard!), I took the train back to Luzern. Having passed through Brienz on the way to Interlaken, I found out that there is really nothing there, so that was quickly ruled out as a future day trip. Essentially, there were a bunch of really cute, chalet-style houses, and the lake, and that appeared to be about it.
So on Monday, I opted to go up Mount Pilatus, a monster of 7,000 feet (actually, that's about half the height of Pike's Peak, which we went up when we were in Colorado and whose base height is about 7,000 feet). The Australian guys I had met at the hostel the night before told me that it was a must-see, so, feeling ambitious, I decided to try it. The approximately $70 charge took a little bit of the wind out of my sails, but they had assured me that it would be worth it. So I took a train to Alpnachstad and then took yet another cog railway (this one with a grade that reached, at times, a whopping 48 degrees!) to the summit. I had talked to my parents on Sunday evening after I got back from Interlaken and told them that it was the most beautiful place that I had ever seen. Boy was I wrong. Mount Pilatus had views that made Harder Kulm's look like child's play!!! I opted for a short hike (probably 80 minutes round-trip) to a small peak of the mountain, which was well-marked for the visitors that wanted to get a brisk hike in. I had wanted to hike at least a little bit when I was in Switzerland, but felt a little uncomfortable doing so since I was traveling by myself. But there were enough people on this trail, and it was relatively short, so I decided to go for it.
You know the opening scene of The Sound of Music, when the camera is panning the mountains surrounding Salzburg, the beginning of the overture softly playing, but all you can really hear is the sound of birds? That was how the hike on Mount Pilatus was. The only sounds I heard were the distant chirping of birds, the rocks beneath my feet, and my own breathing. I felt as though I had never breathed fresher air in my life, and the fact that I was surrounded by mountains just filled me up with happiness. I was so reminded of The Sound of Music that I busted out the entire soundtrack on my way back to the lodge house (luckily there were not many people around). The wind took my breath away, so it didn't sound so great, but I still had fun! I am such a freak! :)
After taking in the views for a couple of hours with the most enormous smile on my face, I decided to take the cog railway back down again, because it looked like a storm was brewing in the distance. I met a very nice elderly couple from County Waterford, Ireland, and, when I said that I had been about to go to Ireland with my family for Christmas (those plans have since fallen through), they told me all of the good places to visit. It was a really excellent day, and I walked back to the hostel feeling as though I had just witnessed a little slice of heaven.
On Tuesday, it was pouring rain. Great. No possibility for outdoor activities. I walked around town again for part of the morning, going into H&M out of sheer boredom, with no intention of buying anything. For lack of anything better to do, I went back to my favorite haunt: Starbucks (I am such a horrible American who is reaping the benefits (not to some people, though) of globalization!). I bought a sandwich, thinking that, since that was the cheapest thing I would find to eat, that would be my lunch and dinner. I found a tomato and mozzarella sandwich on ciabatta bread that sounded good, so I got that (along with my tall skim hot chocolate, of course!). I sat down in one of the big comfy chairs, intending to sit and read my book for awhile and enjoy the soft tunes and general ambiance of Starbucks (I really do think the ambiance is what you pay for! I instantly feel sophisticated when I go there!), but, sadly, I was thwarted. I took a bite of my sandwich and saw something green, so I lifted up one of the pieces of bread to find that there was pesto in the sandwich. 'That's odd,' I thought to myself, so, just to be safe, I pulled out my sheet on which I had written a couple of handy words and phrases in German, and then compared it to the ingredients list on the sandwich bag. The words for peanuts matched up, and I instantly felt nauseous. I brought my sandwich up to the desk and explained that I was allergic to peanuts. The woman asked if I was alright, and I said that I didn't know. She offered me a different sandwich (the only other thing was ham and cheese, which looked disgusting and obviously had meat, but I took it anyway so as not to waste $7), so I sat in the big comfy chair and waited to become violently ill. As it turns out, I think I bit into the only part of the sandwich that DIDN'T have pesto on it, and I was fine, but I was still not pleased at Starbucks for trying to kill me.
On Wednesday, it was back to Basel in preparation for my train to Florence on Thursday. The most notable thing about Wednesday was the fact that IT SNOWEDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The people sitting across the aisle from me on the train must have thought that I was deranged, because, as I was staring out the window at the falling snow, I had the biggest grin on my face and kept snapping photos as though I had never seen the fluffy white stuff before. It only made me love Switzerland more!!! I checked into my favorite hostel, the YMCA Youth Hostel, in Basel, and asked them a question that had been troubling me: my train coming back from Florence on Sunday was due to arrive at 10:45pm, and the front desk at the hostel closed at 11. If the train was at all delayed, there was no way I would make it in time (even though the hostel is less than a 10-minute walk from Basel SBB). They cheerily assured me that I could pick a code to punch in at the front door, and then my key would fall into the key box. Whew! That really made me feel better!
I set my alarm for 6:45 the next morning so that I could catch my 8:30 train. However, I was awakened at 4:30 by the sound of my phone dying. Crap. I did not have a very good relationship with my phone during this trip: it wouldn't let me make calls when I was roaming, it said that I only had 6 euros worth of talking time left on my mobicarte (when I had been assured that it would last me until I leave in December), and now, due to the lack of suitable plugs, it had died, with no way to resuscitate it. AND, that was not only my alarm (meaning that I couldn't go back to sleep for fear of missing my train), but my way to get in touch with Kate. So if I missed my train for some reason, I would have had no way to get in touch with her. As it turned out, my fear of missing my train was perfectly legitimate. My first train, from Basel to Milano Centrale, was about 7 or 8 minutes late, and being that I had only started out with a 15-minute cushion between trains, I was starting to get nervous. I can honestly say that I have never prayed so hard in my entire life. Then, once I got off the train, I couldn't find my second train on the board. It just didn't occur to me, in my mad rush, that Florence would not be the final destination. So I found one with the final destination of Rome that left and the same time, and that was my train. I hopped on the train and walked from car to car until I was at the very last one. I heaved my suitcase into the overhead compartment, not seeing that a man had put his jacket there (honestly, put it on top of your other bag or hold it), and he proceeded to yell at me in Italian, which I didn't understand. So I stared at him like an idiot and put on the most remorseful face that I could muster. Oops. He stared at me for the rest of the time I was on the train (more in a sketchy way though, especially after he saw that I was reading my French book).
This entry is getting a little long, and I have to get up at 5:15 for a post-Election Day breakfast that we're going to at the Strasbourg Hilton tomorrow, so I will continue writing tomorrow about the Italy part of this trip. Until then, I am
Sending you my love,
Kristen
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