Switzerland and more December 5, 2009

Switzerland

December 5, 2008

Tuesday night Jillian, Kayla and I decided to go see the second Twilight movie New Moon for the second time, but in Italian! We had been dying to see it again and decided it would be a good “cultural experience” to see it in Italian! For the first few minutes we were giggling because since it was ‘dubbed’ the voices were pretty funny. Since we had all read the book and seen the movie one time already we were able to follow it. It was also fun to try to understand the Italian. I definitely can understand Italian very well, just not speak it well at all. Some of the romantic parts in the movie definitely seemed more romantic spoken in Italian haha! But we were so glad we went!

Thursday was such a fun day in my Italian class! After our lesson all of the Italian classes got together for a little “Natale” or Christmas party. About six Italian “nonni” or grandparents from the Florence community came in and sang several Christmas songs to us in Italian and then we all sang “White Christmas” together in Italian. It was amazing. It really made me feel like I have become completely immersed in the culture here and realize how much pride for Italy I have! I almost feel like I’m Italian now! It’s so neat to experience the start of the holidays in Italy and see how they celebrate.

Thursday night at 8pm Jillian, Kayla and I left for Interlaken, Switzerland on a bus with a program called Florence for Fun. It was supposed to be an 8 hour bus ride, but ended up taking nine because as we entered Switzerland it was snowing! I couldn’t sleep on the bus so I really enjoyed listening to my music and watching the snow fall in the middle of the night as we drove. It was so beautiful! The hostel where our group was supposed to stay ended up being full so that hostel upgraded us to a brand new really nice hostel, which ended up being closer to town! We didn’t arrive until nearly 5:30am so we slept for a few hours, but still got an early start so we could have a full day exploring!

After having our traditional hostel breakfast of bread and jam, we decided to spend the day going up the mountain. We first took the train to our first stop up the mountain to a small town called Grindelwald. We walked around for a little bit before jumping back on the train up to the tiny town where a few ski resorts are called Kleine Scheidegg. Right when we got off the train it began snowing! I realized I hadn’t been in real snow since 8^th grade!!! It was so much fun, it seemed like a fairytale because there was no one around and everything as far as you could see was white! It was so neat because since we were so high up the mountain there aren’t any buildings other than the train station, 2 restaurants, and a few tiny ski resorts. Thankfully one of my roommates had lent me a parka and I had layered lots of clothing, so I was warm enough! We had lunch at one of the two restaurants in the town and had an amazing time talking, listening to all the languages being spoken around us, and watching the snow fall. We then took a train to Lauterbrunnen another small town in the Alps. The train rides were spectacular! The views of the Alps were insane and with the fresh snow and sun behind the mountains, it was surreal. All the towns we passed by looked straight out of a snow globe. They were so adorable and nestled among the mountains and all decorated for Christmas. The towns we stopped in were so tiny that an hour at each was plenty of time! In Lauterbrunnen and Grindelwald we started feasting on Swiss chocolate…it was heaven.

By the time we got back to Interlaken we freshened up then headed to dinner with our tour guide. He led our group to a supposedly traditional Swiss restaurant. It had a very interesting menu. It ranged from ostrich to dishes with an Asian flair. In the morning Jillian, Kayla and I opted to go on a free daytrip into Bern with our group from Florence for Fun. However, the three of us and one of the guides ended up being the only people that ended up going so we had our huge charter bus to ourselves for the 45 minute ride! We got to Bern, the capital of Switzerland at about 11am and had the whole day to spend there until 5pm when the bus would return to Interlaken. Saturday had been opening day of the mountain for skiing and snowboarding so many people had chosen to do that. The city of Bern is so cute! It was so strange, before you cross the river to go into the town there is an enclosure where they keep real live bears! So weird! But from across the river there is a great view of the whole city. All the buildings are connected and have covered walkways in front of all the shops. In the middle of the main street are several really interesting fountains every few hundred meters or so. There is a trolley that goes through the streets and they had a man dressed as Santa Claus riding in the front of each. It was so cute! We went in and out of a few shops and just wandered. We tasted some samples of “Swiss cheese” in a little market and were totally grossed out when the aftertaste was putrid! Very smelly! So we moved on and decided to get a Starbucks, which ended up being almost $9.00!!! The Swiss franc and the US dollar are virtually equal, which was nice, but still it was so expensive! There was a small Christmas market going on with various artisans selling their goods so we browsed that for a bit. The Swiss LOVE their pastries and baked goods! They were everywhere! They are also very creative with their desserts. One of the most popular we saw were these bread boys they make that are about a foot long. They are so good! They are made of bread, but have the tiny bit of sweetness to them! They fill some of them with jellies and such too. We then ventured into a chocolate shop and purchased a variety of different Swiss chocolates! OMG so amazing…quite possibly my favorite chocolate in the world other than See’s milk chocolate.

It was so nice to be in a somewhat “major” city, even though Bern still manages to feel quaint, and have most people not speak English. It sounds funny that we like when people don’t speak English, but it’s true! Sure it makes things more difficult, especially when we don’t speak German, but it just overall makes you feel more of the culture. We had a good laugh when we looked up and noticed a street name that was 19 letters long! German is a crazy language!

By the time we got back into Interlaken, which literally means “between lakes,” we did the 5 minute walk into the main part of town. We had heard there was a Christmas market going on, but didn’t know what to expect since the town had seemed pretty deserted the night before. We were extremely excited to find that the streets were hopping with people and holiday spirit! Several of the main streets were filled with various tents and booths selling various foods from things like brats and a cheese bread to a hot red wine drink that tasted like hot sangria (really good). They were also selling various Christmas decorations, wines, cheeses, and jewelry. It was so much fun and just so festive! The little town was covered in Christmas lights! It was so cute! It was so great to hear all German being spoken around us and to be a minority as a tourist. At one of the stands I bought a piece of gingerbread, but was disappointed that it wasn’t what I was expecting…just not as flavorful. Both Jillian and Kayla got brats and thoroughly enjoyed them!

Our beds at the hostel were unbelievably comfortable! We really lucked out that we got to stay at that hostel since it was virtually brand new! We all slept so well! Kayla left very early Sunday morning on a train to Germany to meet up with her dad. She is travelling in Germany for 8 days and missing school to spend time with her dad who is a pastor in the military. She hasn’t seen him since last January since he has been in Kuwait!

So Sunday Jillian and I were on our own and started the morning by going on a hike to one of the lakes. It was pretty chilly but we bundled up and headed out through the town. The trail stayed right along the river so it was just gorgeous. The water in the river was such an amazing shade of blue, almost a turquoise. The trees were the colors of autumn and winter and the Alps surrounding us almost seemed a shade of lavender topped with bright white snow. It was breathtaking. It was really neat because other than Jillian and I no one else was around! We made it to the lake in about an hour, but followed the trail around. The area is very agricultural so there were many farms and sprawling land. I was telling Jillian that I was still so sad I hadn’t gotten to see a Bernese Mountain Dog up close while we had been there when we rounded a bend in the road and heard barking. Low and behold there was a Bernese Swiss Mountain Dog (tiny bit shorter hair than regular Berners) on the front porch of a house! I could see kennels in the backyard so I think it may have been a breeder’s house. A few minutes later down the trail we came across a Swiss couple walking their Bernese Mountain Dog too! I asked if I could pet the dog and we had a full conversation in broken English and German about how I had one back in California. They were amazed that I had one and that the dog enjoyed the climate in California. It was really fun!

After about 3 hours of walking we made it back to the hostel and decided to go ice skating! We got there and were the only ones on the rink for awhile! It was amazing! In the beginning I was definitely very wobbly and didn’t want to let go of the side railing, but after a few minutes I became more confident and by the end was actually pretty decent! It was so much fun! At one point the Celine Dion song “Because You Loved Me” came on, while we were still ice skating and I definitely had a ‘moment.’ The lyrics are:

“For all those times you stood by me, for all the truth that you made me see, for all the joy you brought to my life, for all the wrong that you made right, for every dream you made come true, for all the love I found in you, I’ll be forever thankful, you’re the one that helped me up, never let me fall, you’re the one that saw me through, through it all, you gave me strength when I was weak, you were my voice when I couldn’t speak, you were my eyes when I couldn’t see, you saw the best there was in me, lifted me up when I couldn’t reach, you gave me faith because you believe, I’m everything I am because you love me…”

It was so beautiful and so appropriate since we have all really been focusing on how blessed and grateful we are for our amazing lives.

We skated for about a half hour before we needed to head back to the hostel and pack up our things to head home. It was a long bus ride home and we finally arrived back in Florence around midnight, but it was such a wonderful weekend. It was so relaxing, gorgeous, and a great last trip while abroad. I can’t even believe that all of this is almost over. It’s hard to swallow the fact that I won’t be travelling to such incredible places every weekend…I’ve definitely been living the dream. I can’t wait to spend the next week and a half in Florence!

Love you all and shall be seeing you shortly!!!

Ciao!

~Kara