My weekend as a Swiss Miss

          I left with some friends Thursday around 8 on a night train to Zurich, Switzerland.  Night trains sound great in theory- you sleep on the train and wake up and it's morning in a new country.  Lodging and transportation all in one!  However... in reality, our experience was less than restful, mostly because we had to change trains several times, so that even though it was a 12 hour trip, we were never on one train for longer than 5 and a half hours.  Also, the train was very noisy and bright, and as a result, no one got a quality night's sleep.  I was completely outfitted for the situation with my neck pillow, earplugs, eye mask, and melatonin (I'm told I got several funny looks from locals on the trains... and I'm sure my friends took some pictures to document it) so I got a little more sleep than everyone else, but all in all, I'd say that if we have to do a night train again, we should get a private car with cots so that we can actually sleep.
          We got to Zurich bright and early Friday morning, with pretty much no plans for the weekend other than a tentative trip to the Lindt chocolate factory.  As much as I loved being in Paris, it was very go-go-go all the time, and we always had to make detailed lists and schedules of what we wanted to do each day.  This left us pretty worn out, so we were excited at the prospect of having a weekend open to just go slowly and relax.  One girl I was traveling with, Colleen, has a family friend in Zurich named Henrietta, who met us at the train station and showed us around the city a bit.  It was so wonderful to have an insider's perspective on the city, and since she was about our age, she knew which things we would find interesting and took us there.  She helped us buy tram and boat tickets then we walked down the town's main street lined with cool shops, and along the way Henrietta showed us her favorite bratwurst place and her favorite bakery that sells Luxemburgerli (?)- these adorable, tiny macaroon sandwiches filled with cream that are amazing!

Henrietta was very sweet and treated us to yummy Luxemburgerli

          The street dead ends into Lake Zurich, and when we got to the end my jaw dropped quite a bit.  I guess I was expecting Zurich to feel very urban, and I thought that we would have to go into the countryside to see the beauty that everyone thinks of when they think of Switzerland.  Not so!!!! The lake is surrounded by gorgeous green hills, and the Alps can be seen in the hazy distance.

This is just downright ugly compared to seeing it in person.

          There are tons of cute houses on the hills, and plenty of sailboats and swans in the lake itself.  We took a boat ride all around the lake, stopping halfway around at Lindt.  You have to make reservations to get an actual tour, but we were content to just go to the Lindt store- kind of like a chocolate outlet store if you can imagine something so wonderful- and pick up tons of discounted chocolate "for our family and friends"... We'll see how long my willpower lasts.

YUM!

          After our chocolate detour, we rode around on the boat for another hour, just soaking up the sun on the top deck of the boat.  Some people napped, but I was too distracted by my view to fall asleep for more than a minute or two.  It was another perfect moment- perfect temperature, peace, breeze, sun, and the most beautiful scenery I've seen so far.

          After the boat ride, we said goodbye to Henrietta, and decided to take a train up to a mountaintop she told us about.  It was so worth it!  We had a late lunch overlooking the town and adjacent mountaintops, then hiked about ten minutes to the peak.  There is an observatory up there and a model of the solar system along the way, which was cool.  The view from the top was, of course, incredible!  Words just really don't do any of it justice, so luckily my memory card didn't have a freakout this weekend and I have all of my pictures.

Before hiking up to the top

       

Zurich, with the lake in the middle.

          We hiked back down and waited for the train, where I got asked to make change for a 2 Swiss Franc coin by an older Swiss woman, and felt very skilled.  I'm counting it as my first German conversation, haha.  Part of Switzerland speaks German and part speaks French, and unfortunately for me, Zurich happens to be in the German-speaking part.  It's an interesting language but it intimidates me, and there was much more of a language barrier on this trip than I have experienced so far.  So many times this weekend I felt completely helpless as I pointed or mimed, it was definitely a humbling experience.  So Mom and Dad, let's ski in the French speaking part of Switzerland!  One more side note-  Swiss francs are the prettiest currency I've encountered.  The coins (including coins for 1/3 franc and five francs, interesting) are bright, shiny silver that doesn't seem to get dirty, and the bills are technicolor with modern art motifs.
          After our mountaintop adventures, we were exhausted, and retreated to our separate places for the night-  Erica and Colleen stayed with Henrietta's family, and Taylor, Jordan and I stayed in a hotel in Glattbrug, a 10 minute train ride from the main Zurich station.  That was the best hotel/hostel option we could find last-minute, because U2 was playing in Zurich this weekend.  It worked out quite nicely though, because our hotel was very cute, calm, and affordable.  I'm getting spoiled to staying in hotels... I don't know if we can keep this up the whole trip!
          We slept in Saturday morning, which was greatly needed, then met up with Erica and Colleen at the main Zurich train station for a day of more mountain adventures.  We took a combination of trains, buses, and a sketchy van that took the place of the bus for part of the route (no one knows why...), all through the countryside up to a ropes and zipline course at the top of a mountain.  We kept stopping in small mountain villages that looked straight off of a postcard, or out of The Sound of Music, and our faces were glued to the windows when we were riding along the windy, picturesque paths up the mountain.

          The air up there is so clean, and it even smells a little sweet.  The mountains are the greenest thing I've ever seen, and are dotted with dairy cows that wear actual cowbells (I always thought that was a myth), so the whole countryside has a jingling soundtrack.  I even got a video of our ride up but it just doesn't compare to actually being there.  Umm... excuse the reflection of my hand in the windo... my bad.

          When we finally got up to the top of what we kept calling "our Alp"  (though we were later informed that we weren't on the Alps, they were more like "pre-Alps"), we waited a while enjoying the scenery before getting harnessed up and ready to climb and zip.  The course is a system of ropes, obstacles, ladders, and ziplines all intertwined in the treetops of a little pine forest on the mountain, overlooking a bunch of smaller mountains and pastures.

Our treetop playground

After basic training, we were free to climb, so we basically played like monkeys in the treetops, scurrying up, down, and across the trees for three hours, it was wonderful.  It was challenging and adventurous, but at the same time very calming due to the location and the peace of being so completely surrounded by nature, so it was exactly what we needed after a stressful week of tests and travel.  I didn't want to come down!

          Unfortunately, after the three hours were up we did in fact have to come down.  Our return journey to Zurich was even more beautiful than the ride up, because the sun was casting long shadows over the hills and villages and cows.

These pictures may seem repetitive but the scenery continued to take my breath away over and over.

          Back in Zurich, we got a bratwursts at the place Henrietta had recommended, and enjoyed them while we watched the sun set over the lake. I usually think sausage by itself is kind of a weird meal, but these were amazing!  We got some yummy Swiss ice cream then headed back to our hotel a different way than usual- along a really pretty, picturesque river.

Sunset + lake+ flowers + hills + yummy food... perfect.

Along the river, with Alps or possibly "pre-Alps" in the background.

        
          We got to bed early and got plenty of sleep before traveling all day to get back to Maastricht.  The train rides back were long but enjoyable this time, since we all studied and played cards and just had fun conversations together.  This relaxing weekend couldn't have come at a more perfect time-  everyone is getting over minor colds and exhaustion from Paris and our first round of tests.  Switzerland was so magnificently beautiful, much more than I expected, which was a nice surprise.  I can't wait to go there again-  Mom and Dad are flying out of Zurich when they come to see me, so I'll have an excuse to be back there soon :).  Another great thing about this weekend is that we still have another free day to catch up on schoolwork tomorrow!  And now that I am so well-rested and I updated this tonight, I will really have no excuse for not doing work tomorrow... oh well, I have another great trip to look forward to that I will tell y'all more about later this week!

Par-EEEEEE!

          I've wanted, a little obsessively, to go to Paris for as long as I can remember.  I've taken so many years of French, have always been enamored with pictures I've seen and stories I've heard, and consequently I had built it up in my mind to be a perfect, wonderful, magical place.  Well... I'm happy to report that it was all I imagined, and even more.  I had a fabulous time and the whole weekend I had a permanent smile on my face and happy songs in my heart; sometimes it felt like a dream, because I couldn't believe I was actually doing things like biking along the Seine, or hanging out in front of the Eiffel tower and watching it sparkle, or saying the Apostles creed in French during mass at Notre Dame.  I already can't wait to go back!
          We had to leave VERY early Friday morning to make it to Paris in time to meet with everyone on the Baylor trip for our tour of the Pasteur institute that afternoon.  It took a while to navigate the train station and metro, but we made it on time, and were even able to stop at our hotel to drop off our bags before our tour. 

Our hotel came with a balcony you could actually walk out onto through French doors- so fancy!

       
          Louis Pasteur made lots of important contributions to science and medicine that are still valuable today- he creates the first vaccines, made discoveries about microbiology and the germ theory of disease, and invented a method for preserving liquids, which of course is called pasteurization.  The institute is now used for research but it was originally Pasteur's home and lab, and he is even buried there in an ornate, very original tomb.  We loved getting to see his lab, which still has some vials and beakers of liquids that have remained preserved and sterile since he sterilized them over one hundred years ago, thanks to his ingenious method- amazing.  Of course, being pre-vet and not pre-med like the rest of the people on this trip, I was most interested in the fact that the first vaccine he used on a human was for Rabies :).

Those liquids have been preserved since Pasteur put them in there, and those are his handwritten notes.

         
          Alright, end of nerdy science rant.  After the Pasteur institute, a group of us went straight to the Eiffel tower and got plenty of jumping pictures in front of it, and ate our first French meal at an adorable café right by the tower, where we had hilarious, sweet waiters.  I've always heard that the French can be rude, but that is not at all what I encountered this weekend- everyone was we met was very friendly, polite, and happy to help us, fortunately.  Later that evening we went on a bike tour just as the sun started to set and Paris began to light up- what an incredible experience! 

I look 4-year-old-at-Disneyland-on-Christmas levels of excited and happy because... I pretty much was.

          I got to see so much of Paris and had fun learning all about the history behind some of the monuments, and of course everything was so beautiful.  At one point I was circling around and around a fountain in a square enclosed by parts of the Louvre, with wonderful people, in that gorgeous time just after sunset,  and all I could think was, "This is too perfect". 

Outside the Louvre!  Unfortunately, gorgeous lighting in person just doesn't translate to pictures.

          Later, after riding around for three hours, we hopped on a boat and rode along the Seine for another hour, which was also incredible- we got to see so many cool bridges, all the major monuments, and of course all the pretty lights.  We went back to our hotel (which I loved!  It was next to an old church and a park in a quiet neighborhood.) completely exhausted, and were so grateful for our private rooms and showers- we had two rooms and two bathrooms for six of us, which probably won't be the case the rest of our time in Europe.  
      

           Versailles is another place I've wanted to go see for a long time, so I woke up early and took a short train ride there with a few other Baylor people.  What's interesting is that we had to walk all through the little town, about fifteen minutes, to get from the train station to the castle gates, and it's a very run down, shabby little town, especially compared to Versailles.  It was cute, just not what I would have expected.  Once we got to the gates, we quickly realized that it's a HUGE attraction- it was so crowded!  It was beautiful, of course-  the rooms are so majestic, and they just keep going and going!  There are literally dozens of rooms in a row just filled with sculptures and gold and paintings, it's crazy. 

Just your average Versailles ceiling...

          It's hard to understand why anyone would ever think something so overly excessive was necessary, and even harder to believe that they could justify to themselves paying for it by taxing the peasants, but I'm glad it is here today for the public to enjoy.  I would have liked to go to the gardens, it wasn't free like we had thought, and by that time we were tired and a little frustrated and ready to get back to Paris. 

This traffic circle puts the Waco circle of doom to shame.

          We went to the Champs Elyseés and the Arc du Triomphe, and saw some kind of crazy political demonstration or something on the way- I wish I'd taken a picture because it was funny.  A whole bunch of young people in matching red shirts stormed up onto the street from the Metro and were running along and singing, then stopped to do pushups...?  Not really sure what their goal was.  We met up with the rest of our group at the Notre Dame, and a couple of us stayed for mass which was incredible! 

So my memory card got damaged and I lost a lot of pictures, and some of the ones I recovered came out all mysteriously spliced and colored- I thought this one was kind of cool.

          It was in French and I couldn't catch all of it, but they had the hymns and prayers printed so we could read or sing along.  I didn't take communion, but my friend Colleen that I was with is Catholic and told me I could still go up there and just cross my arms over my chest and the priest would bless me, so that was cool!  After mass, we just walked around some more, enjoying the beauty of Paris at night.
          On our last day in Paris, we decided to see both the Louvre and the Museé D'Orsay because they are free to the public the first Sunday of every month.  Of course this means that they are crowded, but it was still fun.  My favorite things in the Louvre were the apartments of Napoleon III (it's like a mini-Versailles), and the basement which is the original Louvre building and was like the dungeon of a castle- creepy but fun! 

There were at least fifteen chandeliers like this in just one room.

          We didn't stay long at the Musée D'Orsay, just long enough to see the Impressionist paintings by Renoir, Monet, Degas, Manet, and Van Gogh, which are my favorites. We got some lunch and then sat on a blanket on the lawn in front of the Louvre with some ice cream, and it was so nice to relax and people watch for a while.  We even saw our professors, so it was fun to catch up with them and share Paris stories.  Feeling re-charged, we took the metro up to Sacré Coeur, a basilica on a big hill in northern Paris.  Metro rant time:  I have this really strange, really huge love for the Metro in Paris!  It made getting around so easy, and it's SO convenient- there are stops everywhere, you never wait more than a few minutes for one to show up, and all the lines are color coded and easy to find when you have to make connections.  Some of the metro stations have cool decorations or murals or mosaics, the entrance signs are retro and remind me of Halloween, and the stops have really cool names- the ones by our hotel were called Oberkampf and St. Ambroise.  SO... yeah.  Bottom line, the U.S. should embrace metros.

See, doesn't it look like fun? 

          When we got to the neighborhood the Sacré Coeur is in and climbed up two hundred fifteen steps to get there (Dad, I felt like I was back on that mountain in Colorado!), we had the most gorgeous view!  You can see pretty much all of Paris!

Looking out at the city- notice the extremely talented soccer ninja/acrobat in the background, he was amazing!

          There was a guy playing guitar on the steps on the side of the hill, so we sat down and listened to him for a while, just soaking up the sunshiny perfection and enjoying the view.  He was really talented- he sang French, English, Italian, and Spanish songs and was so fun and interactive with everyone there.  Everyone was clapping along and singing and dancing, we just loved it.  Inside Sacré Couer was an equally wonderful, beautiful experience, but in a completely different way. 

We talked to a Paris local who calls this "the wedding cake church".

The stained glass is gorgeous, and the ceilings are so high, and the detail is so precise that I found myself wondering for the millionth time that weekend how such ornate, massive things were built so long ago, without modern equipment or tools.
          After a perfect couple of hours, we headed back to Paris and hung out by the Notre Dame for a while, just taking pictures, walking through the gardens, and watching people hold out pieces of food and become a living pigeon roost.  Now, I love birds very much, but this was a little much-  I would be scared of getting some kind of Paris pigeon flu.  Or at least of getting pooped on.  Crazy human pigeon perches aside, the area around Notre Dame is definitely my favorite part of Paris, and I was glad we had time to go back there for a while. 

This is why it's my favorite place :)

Taylor and I hurried to the Eiffel tower and made it just in time for our reservation we had made to go to the top.  It was wonderful!  We were up there for a couple of hours waiting for the sun to go down, but it was never boring at all- you can see so much! 

The city of light being lit up!

We also met a very funny British couple that was so amazed that we were from Texas and kept saying that America is such an exciting place.  They gave us some hints for our trip to London, but kept insisting that it's very boring compared to Texas... somehow I think I will disagree.  After getting our fill of aerial Paris pictures in every phase of sunset imaginable, we met up with a huge group in front of the Eiffel tower and had the best time just laughing and playing games and sharing stories for a few hours.  We all eventually realized we needed to get to bed, since we had an early train out, so we reluctantly left our friend Eiffel, but I have a feeling I'll be back to see him soon :).  We picked up some nutella crepes on the way back, and it was the perfect ending to a perfect weekend!  I felt so lucky to be in Paris, and so grateful that it completely lived up to my high expectations, and I can't wait to go again!