Swissventure!

Last weekend was my first of three long weekends. As I am currently living and working in Switzerland, I thought it best to travel this country before going further afield. Also, let’s be honest I don’t have much money and a two for one  train pass was too good of a deal to turn down.

My friend and I started our journey in Zermatt. We had four day and unlimited train travel and in a country that only take four hours to travel tip to tip, we wanted to cram in as much as we can. 

I chose Zermatt because I wanted to see the infamous Matterhorn. I must confess Disneyland did have a part to play here. After a three hour journey form geneva we arrived at the region of the Alps that boarders Italy. The village of Zermatt was an expensive ski resort and what seemed to be a misplaced fantasyland. I know of course that fantasyland is based on Swiss resorts but this was the first time in a repeating theme. I know im at the orginal but why do I feel that Switzerland is a period of its self?  The reason we had ventured to this resort clique was that I wanted to “climb” the kline Matterhorn. Now, I am not in good enough shape to climb any Matterhorn no matter how kline.  What I  took instead was a series of cable cars up 4000 meters to the top of the alps where I could feast my eyes on the real Matterhorn. The was around a half hour in total and I did feel like a complete cheater however, I arrived at the top of the alps. I was extremely lucky and was greeted with a perfectly clear sky. Now I have been many pretty places in my life but this one blew them all way. It was touching the void without the Boney M, it was awe inspiring, it was the highlight of my trip around Switzerland. Not to say it was all downhill from there, I mean it was literally not figuratively.  

The next stop was Interlaken the tiny city in between two laken.  We really only had time to walk around the city and look for the one mountain I promised Id see for my Father. The elger! And here  it is behind a apartment complex! Sorry for the poor framing Dad.

The next morning it was off to Bern after a breakfast of bread and yogurt from the nearest Migros (see finances above).  Bern is the capital of Switzerland and make my heart skip a beat for one reason and one reason only. It was here that Albert Einstein first thought up relativity while staring at the town clock on a bus home from the Swiss patent office (see pervious post- Science rules). My heart was shortly broken when I discovered that Eisenstein's house was closed due to water damage. After a few beers around the Parliament building (Did I tell you I love you yet Switzerland?) and then we decided to jump on the train and head to Basel. 

Basel, like all Swiss towns have all sights around the train station. We browsed old town sights including a children's choir, more damn clocks and my future coffee porch. 

After Basel we ventured on to Luzern. Home of more lovely Gothic towns, the worlds saddest lion, and people who had no idea how to politely stay in a hostel. YOU DON"T TURN THE LIGHT ON WHEN YOU COME IN AT ONE AM FOO! But.... It was nice. I really liked the Lion Monument and have 40 blissful seconds with it before an Indian tour group swept trough and blocked my view. 

I saw more Indian tourists than I have ever seen in my life touring Switzerland. I think Bollywood movies are to blame Not that I would ever blame my favorite art form. 

In the morning we moved on from Luzern to Lichtenstein, As a fan of the absurd I insisted upon a overnight stay in this tiny principality which has the highest GDP in the world. Once arriving I climbed the hill to the castle hoping that the Prince would take pity on me and invite me in for a BBQ. Despite that his live there, I had no such luck.  

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 As lovely bike ride by Lichtenstein day turned into Lichtenstein night, we ended up in a street fair.  This entailed crashing a hen night, eating pretzels and  watching this band. You might like him now but wait until he steps out from behind the keyboard unveiling fantastic lederhosen.  

After a crazy night in my 19th country, we traveled to our final destination the city of Zurich. This was a Sunday and I'm going to have to be honest here... Zurich scared me. There where no people on the street other than my friend and I. It was like that chapter in a Wrinkle in Time when Meg realizes everyone is bouncing the ball at the exact same time. You know what I mean. And if you don't... we're not friends.  I understand that there is so much more to Zurich that you cant see in a four hour walk around the Train station but I was tired and sick of clocks by this point. 

Makes me feel relieved I never bought a watch.

Well that was last weekend, this weekend PARIS!