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!