January 20, 2015
Time to switch to a new country! We left Paris early morning and drove to Geneva. On our way out of Paris we traveled along the Seine River which was gorgeously lit up by the city lights. Thankfully, we did not hit much traffic. About 3 hours into the journey, Dad and I switched drivers. I got to experience an autobahn! Super fast speeds and limited access to other roads. We were traveling around 150 km/hr which is close to 95 mph. Sweet! We eventually crossed the border into Switzerland and the only requirement was paying €47. No car check or anything.
Evidently the Swiss don't care if you're trying to smuggle items, they just want your money. About 2 hours outside of Geneva we started seeing snow everywhere. It was a nice change of scenery. We arrived at our new place around 2PM and met our very kind hosts, Fabrezio and Caterine. We found this nice, cozy place through airbnb. Fabrezio, who is from Kosovo, stated that he loves Americans because of Bill Clinton. That was a little strange haha. But then we remembered that Kosovo was liberated when the US military helped out during the Kosovo War (against Yugoslavia). This occurred under Bill Clinton's direction. Fabrezio even said Kosovo erected a statue of Clinton, his wife, and his daughter. They treat him like a god. Very...interesting? During this conversation they served us the most heavenly chocolate black forest cake. I've had black forest cake before and wasn't impressed but this "takes the cake"! We then explored the city and came across the
iconic 145 meter (~475ft) high fountain. It was incredible! How they supply enough pressure to thrust the water that high is astounding. The water in the lake (Lake Geneva) was so pristine and clear. Absolutely beautiful. We took a long walk along the lake until we reached the United Nations building. Seeing all the flags lined up was really neat. As we wandered the streets we noticed that the stoplights would flash yellow for 1 second before changing from red to green.
As a transportation engineer I thoroughly enjoyed this design. It's absolutely brilliant! It decreases the 'lost time' significantly. America needs to implement this. Geneva is an interesting city with a mix of upscale modern buildings and old historic ones. We stopped in a small shop for souvenirs and the owner immediately came up to us and gave us free chocolate. I LOVE GENEVA. It was obvious that chocolate is Switzerland's trademark because it was everywhere. So. Much. Temptation. Must. Resist....Nope, can't do it. I had a dessert after dinner that consisted of 3 scoops of different chocolate ice cream. It was called Cha Cha Cha. And man, was it good good good. We walked back to our abode after watching a futbol match in a small Spanish bar and got ready for bed. Tomorrow we head to Morschach with 3 stops along the way!
January 21, 2015
Today was driving day! We had a delicious meat croissant breakfast with our hosts in Geneva and then headed toward Chateau du Chillon which was located on the opposite end of Lake Geneva near Montreaux. We stopped in Montreaux to take photos and visit a statue of Freddy Mercury. Rock on! We then continued to Chateau du Chillon which looked exactly like a postcard - a gorgeous castle sitting on a lake with massive snow-capped mountains in the
background. Wow. After a long photo op, we hit the road again and aimed for Zermatt. Once we hit a certain point all you could see were majestic jagged mountains. It was surreal. At one point, we were driving on the side of a mountain and we could see a river flowing alongside us in the gully below. It was the clearest, bluest water I have ever seen. It looked like someone dumped a bunch of blue dye into it. We also raced a bullet train and won. Mom and I were screaming because Dad was so thrilled to drive next to the train. We almost got sick from the curves but I must admit it was pretty sweet. We drove through so many tunnels!
And above gullies over tiny bridges. There were no guardrails in most places and we were on edges of cliffs. Yikes! Most roundabouts (Europeans love their roundabouts. My kind of people) that we came across were basically straight roadway. Efficient! We hit Zermatt around 1PM and took the bullet train to the top. The ride was awesome! We passed through crazy high mountains. We walked around Zermatt for a bit and it was very much a ski resort scene - wooden lodges and skiers/snowboarders wandering around. Eventually we boarded the train back to our car and
continued our journey to Morschach. On our way there we drove from one town nestled in a valley to another. Each had classic wooden buildings with a church for the whole town. The churches always had tall steeples that you could see from afar. We then took the Auto Train through Furka Pass. It was pounding snow at this point! Definitely blizzard status. We drove onto the train car in a single file line with other vehicles and then sat and watched the world go by. Most of the time we were in a tunnel but I felt like we were in one of those tiny train sets maneuvering through the snowy mountains. After unloading from the Auto Train, we hit some hairpin turns (which Dad tackled with ease - what a pro) and we somehow made a wrong turn which put us into the Gothard Tunnel. This takes you all the way to Italy. Oh nooooo. Dad was concerned about the time so Mom and I suggested he simply turn around in the tunnel. Yeah "simply" is not the right term for this situation. At the next little pull-off Dad stopped super quickly, whipped into the other lane, didn’t perform a sharp enough turn so he reversed, tried again, and started straightening as a car was quickly approaching from the opposite direction! I gripped the door handle for dear life as my hair stood on end. We finally aligned straight and continued through the tunnel. How we pulled it off I'll never know. Not we, Dad. All the credit goes to him. He said he made a mental prayer throughout the process.
We all cheered and congratulated him for cheating death. I could breathe again! We were probably the first people to complete a U-turn in the Gothard Tunnel. We eventually made it to our place which was unbelievably fancy. Remotes (or as our host Paul would say, "sticks") were used to control basically everything. We ate leftovers for dinner and went out for dessert and beer. This is when I found my true love: Erdinger. I could talk about this beer for ages. Gotta find it in the States. Possible snowboarding tomorrow if the weather is nice! Bed at 1AM.
January 22, 2015
Dad made the decision to make this our Lucerne day since weather was looky iffy for snowboarding. Lucerne is just a stone's toss away from Morschach with a travel time under one hour. When we arrived, we visited the iconic Lion Monument which commemorates Swiss Guard mercenaries who were killed during the French revolution.
The emotion depicted on the lion's face was very detailed and vivid. After this we drove around Lucerne searching for a parking spot. This proved to be a tougher task than imagined. We found a very nice one along the water and close to the Musegg Wall (remains of medieval city ramparts). We then strolled around the cobblestone streets and crossed many old wooden bridges. It was a somewhat gloomy day but the city was still very nice to explore. All the buildings had a signature German-like style. We eventually made our way to a little cafe (we thoroughly enjoy small, quaint places) and to our delight, it was situated right on the Reuss River. Our waitress spoke little English and we indulged in coffee and "chocolate cake." This chocolate cake was like a brownie with nuts and salt. I actually really liked the addition of the salt. Otherwise the taste of the chocolate would have been overpowering. And they played Iron & Wine on the speaker system while we ate! I didn't know the Swiss liked that band. We walked back to the car to put more money in the meter and then walked/hiked the hill that ran alongside the Musegg Wall.
This was a very enjoyable walk and there was a track right next to the wall. How nice that the school kids could race the wall (and win). From the top was a great view of the city.
Unfortunately, we couldn't see the gigantic mountains surrounding the city due to the fog. I decided that I would have to return to Lucerne in the summer sometime. We returned to our vehicle and moseyed the streets some more - driving into one-way sections and dead ends quite frequently. Thank goodness for the GPS in our car or else we would never find our way! Dad then drove us to Hotel Chateau-guetsch which sat on top of a mountain we could see from the city below. This view was outstanding! You could see EVERYTHING. I can't even begin to imagine what it looks like with the mountains as a back drop. Definitely have to come back to
Lucerne. We stayed at the top until nightfall and watched the city light up. It was beautiful. I tested my limits and stood on the stone wall's edge while holding Dad's hand. That was pretty terrifying. We left around 6PM and ate dinner in the small town of Brunnen. We first tried to eat at a Mexican place but the food was ridiculously expensive! 30 Francs for a silly burrito! Did they have Mexico in their kitchen or something? We eventually discovered a Turkish place called Babylon which ended up being a true treasure. And they had a TV to watch futbol on! Mom ordered pizza (delicious), Dad ordered some Turkish dish (large), and I got a dürüm. I loved my meal! They shave meat off a spit that stands tall against heat from an oven. Very cool. Tomorrow is snowboarding day - should be exciting!
January 23, 2015
Well, today was exhausting to say the least! My oh my, my whole body aches and I'm completely drained as I write this from a lodge at the top of the ski lift. I'm lying completely flat on a bench while drinking a beer. Just what the doctor prescribed. Today Dad and I
snowboarded/skiied the Swiss Alps! It was a crazy experience due to the weather conditions. Most of the day the mountain was completely covered in fog. We literally could not see 30 yards in front of us at times. I'd follow Dad through the blanket of white and see his silhouette disappear if I wasn't going fast enough. The light was also very flat today so the entire slope looked the same in dimension. There was no way to tell where the ruts or dips were which provided many surprises when my board started rising all of a sudden. The very first run I almost rode off a cliff. I vividly remember thinking "Fuck, I'm going to die today." Surprisingly, I only fell once in the very beginning because I was getting used to the rental board and boots. This made me appreciate my beautiful, wonderful board back home. Mine is so much lighter and easier to maneuver. Plus I miss my Flow bindings!! Though the straps do make me feel legit when I release the clamps to remove my boot. We stayed on the lower half of Stoos for a while and then progressed to the higher portion hoping the clouds would thin out. As we rode the lift, it didn't look promising. But once we reached the top we actually saw BLUE sky! Say whatt. And we could also see huge, jagged mountain peaks in the distance above the layer of clouds. Incredible. We could only imagine what this would look like on a clear day.
I may have to come back here as well...the lodge I'm in now has a panorama view of the mountain and typically you can see Lake Lucerne and the surrounding mountains. Thankfully, we got to see blue sky in the morning because the rest of the day was very cloudy.
We took 3 much needed breaks throughout the day. I had to unbuckle sooo many times and hike up the trails. This is not a snowboard- friendly ski resort. Thankfully, Dad was skiing so he could pull me with his poles sometimes. The thick fog was so bad at times that we didn't even know if we were within the boundaries of the trail...it was pretty scary. My head was on a constant swivel to spot the bright orange sticks telling us where to go. They were about 10m apart and if we could see two in a row it was a good run! Most times we could only see one. I stuck like glue to one side and silently cheered each time I saw the next one. A good thing about today is that we had basically the whole place to ourselves. No lift lines and rode the trails with no one else around. Another fun experience was the T-lift. I had never used one of these but I had seen them before. I hobbled up to the lift looking very confused and tried to explain to the lift attendant that I had never done this before. He only spoke German...he motioned between my legs so I assumed I place the bar between my legs and sit. Well...that didn't turn out well. I fell on my back and the guy stopped the lift. We tried again and he somewhat explained that I stay standing. Ohh ok. We finally worked it out and I was on my way! The bar goes between my legs and I ride up the incline as it tugs me along. Neat! Near the end (which I didnt know was the end) there was a very big ramp with wooden walls on the side. Sweet a funneling device! Nope.
This is where people are supposed to release the bar from their legs and travel to the left or right. Ahhhh! Thank goodness the lift attendants were paying attention and stopped the lift when they saw the lost American traveling to the tip of the ramp. I let go of the bar and rode down where it pulled me up to. As I rounded the bend, I saw that it dropped off about 20m. YIKES! I woulda been in the hospital for sure. Dad and I then explored the left side of the mountain and the snow was so fresh and fabulous. Cutting through the powder was amazing. The first run took us about 45min because we could see nothing. The fog blended in with the slope and I could not distinguish between the two. It was like I was flying off the edge of the world. Seeing dirt clots has never been so satisfying. That at least let me know I was on the ground. The second run was MUCH clearer and we booked it down in 15min. I feel more exhausted than I have in a very, very long time. We did more sightseeing than we did snowboarding haha. After our adventurous day of snowboarding/skiing we went to a nearby town called Schwyz for dinner. I had an amazing dessert - ice cream coated with a hardened chocolate shell. And once you spooned into it, a lava flow of caramel came out ohhhhh so good. We went to bed after doing laundry and prepared to leave for Zurich in the morning. Mom and I are flying to Ireland tomorrow!!
January 24, 2015
We left our place around 9AM after getting our last fills of the gorgeous view overlooking the lake and reached Zurich at 10AM. It took less than an hour to reach our destination and
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| View from our balcony |
then our search for parking began. We ended up in a tiny little parking garage where we were required to hand over our keys before leaving. They’re gonna take it for a joy ride while we’re gone I just know it. We walked the streets of Zurich and noticed many church steeples and clock towers. At one point, they were all ringing simultaneously and we were surrounded by the sounds. That was pretty neat. I bought some Swiss chocolate on Bahnhof-Strauss which is the famous shopping street of Zurich. In the chocolate store, the owner allowed us to taste a good amount of the chocolate. I didn’t want to leave! We continued to walk around and some areas were like plazas while others were just typical streets. The cobblestone plazas were surrounded by very rectangular buildings with colored shutters. We ended up in a small, quaint deli for snacks and coffee. It had a really nice vibe.
It was pretty colorful inside and all their food was practically glowing. Good thing I wasn’t too hungry otherwise I would break the bank. We walked back to the car and observed that many cafes had animal fur blankets sitting outside at the tables. We even saw some in use.
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| Mom and I with our precious chocolate |
This really intrigued me. It just goes to show how much Europeans like being outside in the open air. Americans would never even think of using blankets outside. They’d rather be in a well-heated room. Zurich seemed busy with people. It was an interesting contrast to the cities near Morschach. We retrieved our car, completed crazy maneuvers to exit, and headed toward the airport so Mom and I could head to Ireland! Except, we had no idea where the airport was…we tried plugging “airport” and even “aeroport” into the GPS but no results. It was ok though because we had plenty of time. At one point, we entered a roundabout and Dad missed the exit so we continued around the circle. This circle was more complicated though because it had heaps of pedestrian walkways and tram tracks. Dad was slowing down for a vehicle outside the roundabout and so I reminded him that he had the right-of-way. This is when craziness ensued. At this point, Dad rolled forward, stalled, started reversing into the car behind us, started then going forward where a pedestrian was crossing and during all this, a tram was coming straight at us! Ahhhh! Talk about flustering. Dad handled it like a pro and got us out of the sticky situation. As we kept driving we saw a plane icon with the word “Flughafen.”
Of course! Why didn’t we think of that? We finally arrived at the airport but saw no signs for Aer Lingus. We even asked the workers and they had looks of confusion on their faces. Eventually, we figured it out, Dad parked the car, and we checked in. We sat at a table for a bit at Bye Bye Bar (appropriately named), drank beer, and polished off the chocolate cake Fabrezio (from Geneva) sent with us. We said our farewells to Dad and are in the air now! The security process was extremely quick and simple. I was very impressed. I was also impressed by their parking garage system. It states on a marquee how many spaces are available and in which direction. We even saw one change from 001 to 000 as we were driving through. Once you go in a particular direction there are lights above each spot. Green indicates empty and red indicates taken. Amazing! This way you could even see all the way down the row to find a spot. America needs to do this. It’s ingenious! The Swiss are at it again! I will continue the rest of this day in the subsequent Ireland blog post!
