Again, I apologize for the long post, but I get so excited sharing these things w/ y’all. And I probably go into way too much detail, but oh well. Enjoy!
So Thursday we headed off to Gatwick, and got there and got on the plane, AND got to Zurich w/o any problems. It was amazing! When we got off the plane, Kevin’s friend Claudio was waiting for us. He took us to dinner at this fondue restaurant. Apparently the Swiss are really big into fondue. It was really good! Kevin and I split a 4 cheese, bacon, and plum brandy sauce fondue pot. We just dipped bread in it, but it was still really good. After that we headed back to Claudio’s place where we stayed the night. He has a really nice apartment.
Now, before I go any further, I want to say that Claudio is in a wheelchair and has deformed hands. So he has something called a Swiss-Track that attaches to the wheelchair and pulls him so he doesn’t have to push himself everywhere. For all of those who ever complained that the US isn’t very handicapped accessible and people are closed minded, you need to come to Switzerland. It’s ridiculous! I’m thankful that my big brother Sam was rehabilitated in the best place possible and hasn’t had too many difficulties getting around (I know he’s had some). On Friday we got up and headed to the train station to head to Claudio’s parents’ house and we had to change lines at one point. Well one guy was so mad that we made the train 2 minutes late he basically told Claudio that if he couldn’t handle the equipment then he needed to stop being so lazy and push himself. What the heck?!?!?! Who says that?!?!?! People are idiots! It is such a pain for him to get around almost anywhere as well. Only half the places we went were handicapped accessible. Switzerland needs to step it up! *steps of soapbox*
Anyways, so on Friday we headed to a small town in Switzerland nestled in the Alps where Claudio grew up and where his parents still live. We got there around 1 and headed to his house where his mom had made us a 3-course meal for lunch! I kid you not. We had homemade vegetable soup first, a traditional Swiss meal called canus (pronounced ka-noose) and salad, and then for dessert we had chocolate mousse. After that very filling lunch we headed off to a small town called Flims where they have a microbrewery. We started with a walk somewhat into/near the Alps. It was almost like we were walking right between them. We walked about an hour in and out to a platform where we got some breath-taking views (b/c the ones we saw on the way up weren’t enough). Afterwards, we went to the brewery and tasted the local brew. It was very good. After that, we came back and Claudio’s mom had cooked us this huge dinner. His dad grilled some meat too. So we had a vegetable medley, potatoes, rice, and about 3 types of meat. They kept giving us more food! And for dessert we had flan. It was amazing. So good! Then we turned in early because on Saturday we had to be up at 6 in order to catch a 7am train!
So Saturday we got up quite early, and Claudio’s mom was already up and had bread, cheese, ham, butter, jam, tea, and juice out for us to eat. Claudio’s dad had worked from 8pm to 4am, but he too was up and ready to take us to the train station. They were two of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I had so much fun there. So we caught the early train into Chur, and then from there boarded a panoramic train (the windows were literally from about 3 ft off the ground all the way up the side of the train and onto the roof) which took us through the Alps from the middle of Switzerland down to Tirano, Italy. It was a beautiful train ride. I have so many pictures it is ridiculous. We went to about 2,253 meters above sea level at one point. We had about an hour in Italy. So, of course, we ate pasta, pizza, and gelato!!! :-D
After lunch we boarded a bus from Tirano, Italy to Lagano, Switzerland. It was a nice bus ride, and this time, instead of mountains, we saw several vineyards. When we got to Lagano we went and checked into our hotel (which Claudio’s parents put us up in as a thanks to Kevin for all he did while Claudio was at Georgia). It was a beautiful hotel as well. Lagano is on a lake, and this hotel was literally, step out of it and there’s the lake. That night we went and had more pizza and pasta for dinner. Switzerland has 4 official languages: German, French, Italian, and Rumantsch. So where Claudio’s parents are it’s the later, and in Lagano it was Italian (hence the Pasta and pizza for dinner). I think in the west it’s probably French, and pretty much everywhere else is German. I was happy that I got to break out my rusty Italian/Spanish. Also, things in Switzerland = SOOOOO EXPENSIVE!!!!! Anyways, after dinner we went for a walk along the water, and then headed back to the hotel for somewhat of an early evening since Sunday was going to be a long day.
So Sunday we got up and had a great continental breakfast: eggs, bacon (the real kind), sausage, fruit, croissants, bread, cheese, meet, cereal, juice, tea, coffee, etc… That was about 8am, and then we headed to the train station to wait for our train. So we took a train from Lagano to another Swiss town where we switched to a train with those same panoramic windows. We took that train to another Swiss town (I can’t pronounce let alone spell any of these places) where we caught a boat across a lake to Luzern. It was another beautiful ride. The water was so blue! We got lunch on the boat, and that was really good. The bad thing was it started raining when we left Lagano, and it didn’t stop until we were back in Zurich. So instead of walking around Luzern, we just grabbed the next train back to Zurich and went back to Claudio’s apartment where we chilled for about 3 hours before heading to the airport. We grabbed one last meal w/ him before we checked our bags and headed through security. By the way, I think I had the most expensive McDonald’s meal ever (12.50 chf)!
Surprisingly, everything went fairly smooth at the airport (minus the family in front of us that obviously could not read or follow directions!) and the flight was fairly smooth as well. We weren’t delayed at all! It’s amazing. We got in, got through customs (I will never understand why it takes the UK custom people 20 minutes to come to their stations and help the lines move quicker), got our bags, and got to the train station w/ 20 minutes to spare! It was awesome. We grabbed the train into London where we switched to King’s Cross and headed out to Cambridge. That’s where I am now as I write this. Mainly so I don’t have to tomorrow. :) I think we should get in around 1:30, which is the earliest we could have arrived given our schedule, but we’ll see. This train is making a lot of stops.
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