November 29 – December 2, 2009
My Switzerland adventure began on Sunday as I greeted Leah at the Zurich airport. From there Urs (one of Leah’s house parents) drove us to the old part of town to see if we could get a glimpse of St. Nicolas. To our dismay, he had already left. So we walked around catching up on where we were in life and all that had happen since the last time we saw each other in April. After some hot orange punch, we decided the night was still young. Each hopping on a bike, we headed to the train station to go see the nightlights of the city.
Upon returning back to the house (basically a 4 story version of IKEA with white walls, a sauna, electric blinds, and automatic lights) we talked of our plans for the next day. What I didn’t realize was that the train tickets that Leah had already purchased would not only get us to Zermatt but they would allow us to get on and off as much as we liked, taking any route of choice in the whole country. What does one do with so much freedom?! When you put a ticket like that in the hands of two spontaneous, adventurous women anything can happen.
The next morning it seemed the weather was going to play a huge factor in what we did. With the entire country being under a cloud, we decided to take our time getting to Zermatt. Leah had done some extensive traveling during her time in Switzerland, yet she still hadn’t made it to Geneve down in the southeast corner bordering France. So that direction we went.
After studying the very informative map that showed us all of the places our tickets would take us, we discovered that Lake Geneve also bordered France. A boat ran from Lausanne, Switzerland to Evian, France and was covered by our ticket. With zero hesitation we got off the train at Lausanne and headed to information to get the times for the boat. I must add that the information stations in Switzerland are AMAZING! They speak English, give you printouts, and explain things beautifully.
After a short ride on the Metro and an easy walk, we embarked on our journey to France.
‘Tis true that the rain had not let up thus far on our journey. However, I didn’t expect the weather to keep people at bay. Evian seemed like a ghost town. The streets were empty in the middle of the afternoon. I remember asking Leah what day of the week it was, thinking it was Sunday causing everything to be closed. With a little investigation we discovered that almost everything in town closed from noon-2:30pm everyday. Funny how our boat back to Switzerland was leaving at 2:40.
Fortunately just the idea that we were in France made something as ordinary as going in a Super Market seem like an Adventure. Plus, I just happened to have some Euros left over from my trip to Germany in 2007 (1 of 4 currencies I had on me at the time).
After recovering from the shock of how much cheese, chocolate, and wine were in the store; I decided what I was going to purchase: an off brand of Nutella like substance mixed with a vanilla crème of sorts. A gamble that turned out to be a spectacular, absolutely mouth-watering-perfection purchase.
With France now behind us we decided to start our journey toward Zermatt and abandon the original plan to go to Geneve for we had to check into our hostel by 9pm. As the train headed further south, the rain began to turn to snow. Dusk had fallen, but even as we traveled through the valley toward Zermatt we could see the amount of snow around us increasing.
The sound of the snow crunching beneath our feet caused and extra surge of excitement as we went on a hunt for the Matterhorn Hostel. Sad that my Zermatt connections didn’t work out, I still looked forward to staying in a hostel for the first time.
After receiving our locker keys, we headed down the narrow, wooden, spiral staircase to find our accommodations for the evening. Bed D17 and D19 were the top of two bunk beds side by side lengthwise. Occupying the bottom beds were two guys from Australia. One other bed was taken in this 10 person capacity, dorm style room by a guy from the Ukraine name Valentino who later that evening managed to teach us how to play Bridge using a language that was probably last on his long list of known languages.
Morning arrived. Throughout the night everyone one beheld the power of a little space heater as we all felt like we slept in an oven. The day didn’t seem promising as we could see the snowfall beyond the windowpane. My hopes were set high to see the Matterhorn for this was our first and last day in town.
With so much snow to contend with, the slopes were closed until 10am at which time the situation would be reevaluated. We headed toward the train station after killing a couple of hours in town hoping the clouds would break.
Defeat loomed until I glanced at the slope board just outside the station. Over half were open for skiers to enjoy. I looked to the sky and saw a patch of blue poking its way through the grey blanket. After pointing this out to Leah, my hope was rejuvenated. It was quite possible that we could get a glimpse of the Mattherhorn.
As we hiked back toward the other side of town, my determination grew. Whether or not Leah knew it, we were going on the cable car to take a journey up the mountain. We had already come this far. I was willing to invest even with the risk of not seeing anything.
It was a risk that paid off, but not in the way that I expected. We had to change cable cars three times to make it to the top. Was the view from the top spectacular? Honestly, we didn’t see much of anything from the very highest point. But what we got to see on the way up was well worth it. Stretches of untouched snow covering some of the highest peaks in the Alps. As we reached the top, we saw a glacier: one of the majestic products of the mountains.
The Alps, in all their splendor, did put us face to face with some of the realistic effects of nature. Leah had never been to an altitude that high before. In all honesty, I hadn’t either but physically she and I were having different responses. Nausea and dizziness were beginning to set in for Leah. Seeing her change in state, we headed to the restaurant to taker a breather. Although altitude sickness can be quite a serious matter, Leah’s case was becoming quite comical. Her gestures and phrases were anything short of hilarious.
With Leah feeling better, we headed back to the drop off point to begin our journey down. As we waited for the decent to begin, the operator informed us that they were having some technical difficulties and we were instructed to exit the car.
After 40 minutes of standing in frigid cold temperatures watching the car arrive only to leave again empty 5 times in a row, we along with other cold, frustrated travels headed back to the restaurant to unthaw. An hour and a half later, new people entered the restaurant. It was our understanding that we were going to be informed when the cable car was up and running again. Leah approached two of the new comers, who just happened to be Americans, to confirm our assumption.
Without hesitation, we headed out to see if the car was still there. Sure enough, there it was. As we waited for everyone else to board, we spotted the American couple boarding after the had just arrived, our delayed car experience caused them to head back down before it had a chance to happen to them.
With the time having reached the 2:30 mark, the traffic of people at the first stop was much higher as the car filled with more and more skiers and snowboarders. To our surprise there stood next to us Dillon, Leah’s Aussie bunkmate. After exchanging adventures of the day, he informed us that he and Chad had purchased a toboggan and were going to put it to use that evening and invited us to join them. With our next objective to catch a train back to Zurich, we sadly declined.
As we had some time before our train departed, we went into Coopers grocery to get some food for the journey back. As we were leaving we ran into none other than the fun, hilarious American couple who extended an invitation to join them for crepes. Our need to get back to Zurich wouldn’t allow for it.
As we journeyed back, we got to witness the mountains hidden from our view only 24 hours before. I was still trying to comprehend all that happen…all that I had seen…all that I had experienced.
The rest of our journey flew by as we occupied ourselves with an intense game of cribbage eventually trying to play while speaking a different language. Showing off her Swiss German skills, Leah managed to say with great volume, “I have a white dress with pink polka dots” amusing the girl seated across the aisle causing us to burst into laughter. Proving the common stereotype of Americans being loud.
The evening ended with a review of knots using red licorice rope and an art revealing by one of the girls that was part of Leah’s host family.
After and amazing journey in Switzerland, my flight home only had two hiccups. I was traveling on this trip with only a carry-on. I flew from Zurich to London with no issues. As I went through security in London, I was pulled aside. I knew what they were looking for; but, as I had already made it this far with it, I thought I was good. Well the Liquid Act got me, well got my jar of off-brand-Nutella-like-substance-mixed-with-a-vanilla-crème-goodness from France even though to the scientific world it would be considered to be in a solid state. I will admit, I was sad, well actually, devastated. It rattled me so much that I managed to set off an alarm in a handicap stall thinking I was flushing the toilet. I am sure the security camera guys got a good laugh as I hightailed it out of the bathroom in a panic.
I boarded the plane to Chicago relieved that none of the things that I imagined might happen actually did. I had to laugh to the think that a jar of spread being confiscated could alter my mental state that much, but like my trip as a whole, it was just that good.
1 comment:
Beautiful pics
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