Chateau de Chillon Excursion

What up family and friends!! Sorry it's been a while. I think that things are finally starting to feel normal... hence nothing seems out of the ordinary to tell anymore.

Lake Leman, Montreux, not Hawaii

SO. Yesterday (Saturday) I went to Montreux with my British friend. Quite the interesting trip I must say. It's incredible how different the French portion of Switzerland can be from the German portion.. AND IT'S JUST ONE HOUR AWAY! For instance, we're on the train... and start hearing, "Bonjour! Billete! Bonjour!" So we think it's a ticket man.. he comes by, we show him our passes, and he didn't even look at them! But as he starts walking away I notice something quite different about him... I can see his butt! He had cut out the whole section of his pants exposing hairy behind and all. Haha. Quite the jaw dropper. This would NEVER have happened in the German portion...

Even the weather felt warmer and it was sunnier there too. (It's called the Vaud Riviera.) Another thing is that the language spoken there? Just French. "Sprechen sie Deutsch?" "non." Do you speak English?" "eh... non." Ok... Very interesting. Quite another shock was that I could understand more French than I can Swiss German. I've never had one French class in my life...

Professional pic.. wish i had taken this! But I couldn't get a good view of the whole castle.

Anyway, so my friend and I went to arguably the most famous castle in Switzerland, "Chateu de Chillon." It was a fortress built right on lake Lausanne I believe in the late 1100's? It was a bit touristy but really interesting. Did you know that Switzerland holds the record for the most killings condemned by witchcraft? This castle/fortress/also prison! Was used to try, imprison, torture, and kill the accused. In one particular room a man (held captive for being from France or something, not a warlock) had been kept prisoner for 6 years. The chain that held him was still in the pillar. It was quite an eerie feeling standing in the exact same place that he had laid, dreaming of the outside world. There were windows but they were all just out of his reach and too high. Harsh!

Real moat...

After the chateau we walked a bit around Montreux and ran into this random festival. I had NO idea what they were speaking or where they were from.. So I decided to ask someone! In perfect German I said, "Do you know which language she is speaking?" My answer? A blank stare and a "waaaaaasss?" I take it he didn't speak German. So I repeated my question in English and he said Portuguese? Um.. that was DEFINITELY not Portuguese. My conclusion? He probably thought I had asked what country they were from (Portugal fits after looking up the traditional outfits and confirming a similarity), and they were probably speaking a different dialect of Swiss German (I've heard it's crazy from Valais, which is close by.)

Then we got hungry and split a loaf of fresh baked still warm bread and Italian ham. We ate it on a bench by the lake and I've never had so many awkward stares in my life! We even understood some people saying "look at those hungry girls" or something... Nonetheless, total cost of my dinner? 2 francs. That's how it's done people!

On our train back we got caught in an elderly tour group from England. Oh how I miss English speakers. They are so nice and FUNNY!! However, this group of particular Brits was probably more out there than most. For starters, they were always smiling, I sometimes couldn't understand what they were saying, and they shared their whole life's story with us. Down to the color and projection rate of their puke from the train stop before... Again, ELDERLY. Chipper, fast talkers, and from Cornwall? Or something like that. They decided to invite us on their travels and included us in everything. At one point I asked the leader for some advice of where I should take my sister backpacking. He decided to plop his little self down right between my friend and I. There were only two seats... he had a grin on his face the whole time... He did give me some very interesting tips though!

So that was that for my excursion to Montreux! It was a beautiful day.

Livin like Heidi

Gimmelwald

Somewhere in Lauterbrunnen...

Seriously. Why are the Swiss so obsessed in Gnomes??

In Switzerland ascension is a Sunday. The holiday is auskunft, I think, but it's the holiday that Jesus Christ ascended back into heaven. It is so interesting how steeped Catholicism is in the European culture even though many Europeans don't attend church. Anyway, SO! What to do with my day off? Woke up this morning, looked out my window, and what did I see? SUN SHINE! Definitely not a day to bub around the house so within an hour my Friend Nadine and I were off to Lauterbrunnen. This is an area with all of these little alpine villages, waterfalls, and spectacular views of the alps.

Lauterbrunnen

Yet again, Lauterbrunnen

noch ein mal! (Lauterbrunnen, again.)

We first went and saw the Trümmelbachfälle. These waterfalls have carved incredible and cork screwy paths all the way through this mountain and you can walk along side of them and view this for yourself!

If Gollums really existed, this is where I imagined one would be.

Rainbow :)

Gimmelwald

From there we walked to another village and then took a Gondola Ride up to this village called Gimmelwald. One can only reach this village by this Gondola! There are no roads that lead up to it! It was very peaceful and probably one of my most favorite places in all of Switzerland so far. There was just such a calm and sirene feeling. Whilst walking Nadine and I came across Chickens (that frolicked to us.. not going to lie I was a little scared) a couple of actual Billy Goats, and lambs. Then we came across a sign that read Alpkäse! Or cheese from the alps. Thank gosh Nadine speaks Swiss German (well she is Swiss) because I was much to shy to ring the doorbell (if I were to be by myself.) So this cute little lady pops her head out of the window and then says no problem that of course we can come and buy some cheese! So we go into her Käserei, sample some, find out that it's amazing, and buy some! She even gave us a discount and gave it to us for only 4 Francs. She said that Käserei's like hers are becoming more and more difficult to find. Well yeah... it's not everyday that you stumble across one when you just happen to be trekking through the Swiss Alps.

After this we headed up to Mürren which was even higher and saw the back side of three of the most famous mountains in all of the Swiss Alps and THEE most famous actually in all of Europe. The grand Jungfraujoch! The highest peak in all of Europe. We got some hot cocoa here and I was quite shocked when the waiter couldn't understand Nadine when she ordered in Swiss German... he was only English! This was a very touristy village.

Couldn't help not to Frolic.

Friday (today for me) Nadine, her brother, and I went and hiked the Guggershörnli. There is a true (at least that is what they say) story that goes along with it and was even turned into a song called the "Guggisbergerlied." Here is a link to the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aBmxZVoDL0

What happened was in the 1600's there lived... ok I am going to let google explain it haha... "This chant is probably one of the oldest folk song from Switzerland. It tells the possibly true story of two lovers that did not come together because of a fight between the poor Hans-Joggeli and a rich man who also was interested in the girl (Vreneli). Hans-Joggeli thought he killed his adversary in a fight, and fled the land to join a foreign army, like it was usual in that time. When he heard that the adversary was not dead, he returned, just to find Vreneli has died from sorrow." 

Was für eine tragische Geschichte! So we climbed this hill that is supposed to be the very same hill that separated where these two lovers lived. THEN. Nadine's mom asked me if I would like to try on her Trocht (Traditional Swiss dress.) Well ok, why not!

Parents, I hope you're enjoying this.

Hallo!! Mein name ist Heiidi.

Wegetables

Today at lunch I was quizing the boys on English words.. They were doing pretty good! When I asked them "Wie heisst Baum auf Englisch," they knew it was a tree, and then Jeremias said "tree hugger!" random things these kids know... However, I knew I would stump them when I asked them to repeat the lovely word, "vegetable." For some reason, Swiss people have the hardest time saying it! They say it as if they had a speech impediment like I did in my younger years! So I can't help but fall off my chair laughing seeing them try over and over to pronounce the "v" sound. Quite the entertaining Mittagessen.

Highlight if the week so far: seeing a fox run into a fence. Haha poor guy looked so confused.

Hop Hop Hop!!

I'm alive!!! Tore up those 10 miles in the pouring rain and cold in 1:34... Not too bad considering the crazy uphill parts. Ouch! My legs are going to be feeling this for a couple of days. The Grand Prix is the most popular race in Switzerland and that was made evident by the 29,000 runners.

Before

I was most worried about getting trampled but they split us up into blocks and we started at different times... So I was fine seeing as I was in the 22nd block. It was a gorgeous run throughout Bern passing all of the famous landmarks, going down the small European alley ways, and trudging through a nature preserve park (despite the fact that it was filled with mud; actually made me feel like I was in 'Nam or something!) It was cool seeing all of the runners from africa finishing it in like a half an hour though. Seriously someone should give them a couple of cheese burgers, they were so skinny. Along the course there were bands playing all different types of music.

After. Notice the darker shade of my pullover...

Before the race started Ana (who came to cheer me on; "hop hop hop!" That's what they say over here...) and I just walked around Bern all day and then freaked out when we didn't know where to go for me to start..but then like a beacon of shining light I heard an english familiar to my hears amidst the crowd! So I basically pounced on this boy and found out he's from oregon. He's also an au pair and was very nice and toom me to all the places I needed to know.

Funny moment of the day: Ana and I were walking when all if a sudden my umbrella popped open onto this random stranger! Entschuldigung..

Highlight of the day: Being so stunned by this man's beauty that I ran into him... His actions went like so: "sorry"-smile-"guten lauf"-another beautiful smile. Ran for him that day.

Today, Sunday just strolled through Bern with Ana and had a picnic whilst overlooking the Aare.

Nice place to have a picnic wouldn't you say?

Sometimes English is Best

Highlights of the week are so far knowing that there is a jaguar running around somewhere (escaped from the zoo), taking a walk round the rosengarten with my friend natasha (i figured out that i can't stay in mittelhausern all day), and telling this crazy drunk man that i couldn't understand what he was saying to me. His answer? "das ist besser" (that is better (that i don't understand him)) Also, benni actually wanted to eat lunch first instead of me having to bug him 5 times. I asked him if he was ready for lunch and his answer, "I actually am ready." I was so happy.

Then last night after Deutschkurs I went to the park behind the Münster and people watched with my british friend. Our game was to pick out the 'swiss.' it's easy to do because they're the ones always wearing socks... Despite the sandals they have on.

Two more mistakes I've made... My host mother was telling me that it was going to be a hot day! What I wanted to say? "I'm so excited!" What I actually said: "I'm so nervous!" ..... Then I was walking through Bern headed to the Library when I was ambushed by one of those organizations who ask you to donate money etc. She began speaking to me in Swiss German and I replied "sorry I can't understand Swiss German, at all." So she switched to High German! Yeah.. Still had a really difficult time.. I knew that she was explaining this organization to me but then all of a sudden she stoppd talking! It was my turn to talk! What she had asked (didn't know at the time) was how would I feel if i had special needs or a disabilty? My reply... "also.. Was machst du hier?" --- "so.. what are you doing here??" So nice, right? Her reply, "Shall I speak in English?" Haha yes please and sorry for acting like a complete jerk! You know, I will never EVER think someone is weird again if English is a Foreign language for them and they say something weird or I think that they don't understand me.

So thus far this is how my week has gone. Tomorrow I'm running in the Grand Prix, "the prettiest 10 miles of the world!" i'll be the judge of that.

Frühling (Springtime)

Heidi had it about right.


This last week has been very spring like. I swear that everything just decided to turn green overnight. Before I went to bed.. Same old brown green ish mountain. Next morning.. Green and lime green mountain.. WHOA?! Says my head as I unintentionally double take. Not only that but there are animals EVERYWHERE! All different kinds of goats, lambs, donkeys, cows, horses, you name it. And they all have babies! My favorite animal encounters so far are seeing two little baby lambs going at it (like head butting one another), seeing the crazed look in the baby horse's eyes as I run by, being stared at by more or less 50 cows all at the same time (kind of intimidating actually), and my favorite is running alongside a herd of lambs and hearing the tingle of the bells around their necks. It sounds so beautiful (like music!) that I usually run past them a couple of times. Something that I don't understand though is why cats think you can't see them if they crouch down... Every time I see this I yell boo with scary hands just to prove them wrong and to see them flee. Heh heh.



Beautiful rose bush. Notice random gnomes in the background that I just BARELY did.

So other than the Frühling in the air, things have been going nicely. I'm FINALLY starting to get a grip on the German and have so far had 3 conversations in German! Well ish. On friday my friend Nadine invited me over for a barbecue with her family. When I first met her parents back in March I felt so awkward because literally had no idea what was going on. For example Nadine's mom would ask me something (what would I like anything to drink?) and I would answer.. "yaaa!" But over dinner Friday (even if they did have to kind of dumb it down for me) we spoke in German for basically the whole time!

Then today at church the cuuutest little old lady smiled at me! So during break I decided that I had to try and say something so I went up to her and said, "Hallo! Ich möchte mit dir sprechen. Aber Achtung! Ich spreche noch nicht sehr gut Deutsch..." translation-- "hello I would like to talk to you! But beware! I don't speak German very well yet.". I think this is what I'm going to say to everyone from now on. "Beware!" So we had a lovely conversation and I learned that she had been a chocolatier! I don't remember for how many years she said because I was already well into exclaiming how much I love Swiss chocolate... She then told me to come over sometime and get some and gave me her address! Don't mind if I do.. I answered that when my German was better in two weeks (hopefully) that I would come. Such a cute lady! Her name is Hedwig and she is about 90 years old.

Nadine + Barbecuing = YUM!

Then the other conversation was with the missionary from Germany. We just talked about simple things and I've found that his High German is a lot easier to understand. But can I just say how proud I am of myself?! Give myself two pats on the back I will.

Other than that Saturday I walked all around Bern with my fellow American friend Kaytlyn and was forced to buy a shirt. When I say forced, I mean forced! Stupid Celsius. It's a little too late to change when I notice on the train that i'm always either dressed too heavily or not enough compared to everyone else. So alas, I had dressed for a 20 or 30 degree fahrenheit day heavy black coat and all when it was indeed a 65 degree fahrenheit day.

Altstadt of Bern

Beautiful Kaytlyn and I enjoying the view over the Aare! Right behind us there is a full blown market in swing.

Potential Christmas Present for my Dad?



Haven't gained that much weight ok Mom...



Das Munster lurking behind the greenery of the trees

 Last, is my new obsession. MAGEN BROT! You can usually find these little turd looking like pieces at any market. What they are is like these tiny little cake/bread pieces with spices like anise, cinnamon, etc... dipped/soaked in chocolate frosting. So basically black licorice chocolate frosting coated spice cake... I love it so much that I coheresed Nadine to make it with me.

Weekend in Lucerne

Well, this last weekend Ana and I decided to visit Lucerne. This city was voted the fifth most popular tourism destination in the world in 2010 by Tripadvisor. All I can say is gorgeous. We arrived late Friday night around 8 pm and then were met by our host we found on couch surfing! This is a program where people from all around the world let you "sleep on their couch." It's good because 1) you save on the cost of a hotel room and 2) you get to meet people from all different backgrounds. Of course when looking for a "couch" you should be a little careful and look for members with a solid background, a lot of references, etc. Once you find said person, you send them a request! They look at your profile and decide whether to "couch" you or not. Pretty cool!! So our host was a 24 year old mechanical engineering student who loved to travel, hike, talk about cultures, and eat Thai food. For dinner we made salad and then just sat around talking for a couple hours.

Lucerne :) (Although in German it's spelled Luzern. Caused quite the confusion for me as I tried to decide which train to take to get there.)

Saturday we went sight seeing, visited the same bakery three times, and then came back to a wonderful Thai meal cooked by our host complete with two pies! Let me just say, we ate goood Saturday. I picked some wild flowers along the way:). Then we decided to go out and went to this club that played half gypsy music, half extreme oldies. I'm talkin' Rocikin Robin by Michael Jackson old. And no offense to Swiss people, but they really don't know how to dance. So combine all of that... equals AWESOME! 

Now you can see why we kept coming back.

Sunday, Ana and I decided to do some more intense sight seeing. The following pictures are basically just a collaboration of everything we saw/did.

What it looks like going under  Spreuerbrucke (Mills Bridge.) The gables are painted with the Dance of Death commemorating a plague that swept through the city in the 17th century. 

Lucerne.

I couldn't decide which picture to put up! They're both so pretty!

Couldn't resist! She looked just like a swan wearing all white clothes and then orange SHOES! Wish I could have gotten her purple balloon in this picture as well. 

Standing under the Kapellbrucke (Chapel Bridge.) The symbol of Lucerne built in 1333. Terrible people for graffiting it (behind me.)

Adorable little Asians enjoying the sun and lake!

Lunch time! Lost count of what number Margarita Pizza this is.

Es ist Fruhling!

View from the flower garden. 

Photo random man from Hong Kong wanted to take of us. This kept happening! 

So... random photo I asked to take back!

 MOVING ON! After just moseying slightly aimlessly we decided to follow an travel itinerary's map. Highly advise doing that! You see so much more and it's all very doable by foot.

Museggmaur. This is a remnant of the old town walls. You can still walk a long it  and go up in  some of the towers. Ana and I decided to do this and were quite alarmed when we all of a sudden walk to the bell and it starts ringing!! Ah! Probably one of the biggest shocks of my life to be in a tiny room with this huge bell tolling.

View of Lake Lucerne from the wall.

From there we headed down to Lowendenkmal (Lion Monument.) There was a very different feeling in the air here. Almost like peacefulness and sadness. This is a monument is an allegorical reference to the bravery of the Swiss Guards who died in 1792 trying to save Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution when the people stormed the Tuileries of Paris.

During Mark Twain's grand tour of Europe, upon seeing this particular monument he said this dying lion was "the saddest and most poignant piece of rock in the world.

Yet another random view of Lake Lucerne

And that's basically it for the weekend! Everything else is going well. I made it safely back to Bern and home last night around 8:30 pm. Onto another normal week!