"What's been your favorite?"-- the question most frequently asked on my recent trip home, one that left me without an answer every time.
"It's all my favorite," I'd respond without much more detail to offer, knowing I left it a bit anticlimactic as we move on to other topics.
After an impromptu trip this past holiday weekend, I think it's safe to say that Switzerland is my favorite. Maybe not for the exorbitant prices or food, or even the random mishmash of cultures (what are you really? German? French? Italian? What language is coming out of your mouth?)
Everything that is right with the world, everything that the Lord created and said, "This is so GOOD" must have started with the Alps.
Switzerland is unreal. I can't even find the words to describe its infinite beauty. Much of the weekend was spent lying in grass and just staring off into our surroundings. Doesn't this picture look like Mike was photoshopped into a painting?
Anyways, we left on Friday from Frankfurt on the train to Zürich, which took about 4 hours. The summers provide lengthy days of sunlight, so we had sufficient time to explore the town well into the night. We found it to be very pretty, and better than the reputation it's received as a banking city.
Didn't do much, just walked around the lake as the rest of the city was out on its banks enjoying picnic dinners and street music. Summer has officially made its arrival known with extreme temperatures (95 degrees!) and there's nothing to do other than park yourself outside in the shade, hopefully close to a body of water.
Silly us, thinking we needed our puffy coats because surely Switzerland is a cold place to be.
Saturday we leisurely started our day, walked around the city a bit more and then hopped on a train 45 minutes to Lucerne. We'd heard great things about the city, which is a bit more south and closer to the mountains. It surely did not disappoint!
The focal point is a wooden bridge that, while not the original structure, has been used as a pathway and fortification for the city since the medieval age. Oh, and the swans- they're everywhere looking for handouts from tourists dining on the edge of the lake. Silly things, those swans!
(I forget to take pictures of the two of us. So here's one.)
There's really nothing to do in Lucerne that doesn't take a mere half day to see; we had a very relaxing picnic dinner down at the lake and people watched for hours with fabulous cheese and Italian wine. It was nice to get out of the town itself and walk a bit to where the locals were spending their Saturday night, as the town was packed to the brim with Asian tourists streaming off buses and heading directly to the fancy watch shops. It was outrageous. But I digress.
Pacific Northwest?
Sunday we made the 'trek' up to the top of Mt. Pitalus via the "steepest cog rail in the world!" In the late 1800s someone said, hey, let's build this thing and plop a hotel on the top for tourists. I'm just glad we didn't have to hike it, because those whom were hiking looked miserable.
As soon as we got off there were these guys playing their alpine horns (don't know what they're called?) They'd pay a bit of the song, then the others on the opposite side of the hill would answer back. I was hyperventilating and holding back tears I was so excited, but sadly we came too late as the were finishing their performance.
This view, though!
I was a bit sad knowing we've closed the door on Switzerland and probably won't be returning for a good, long while. Until we meet in another lifetime, so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen for now!
