Switzerland: Teil 2

I really have no words to describe my experience in Switzerland except to say 1) I now believe in love at first sight and 2) Je suis amoureuse de la Suisse.

Alexis and I started our day from his apartment: me, taking a while to wake up and feeling the fondue from the night before (being lactose intolerant and all). We got ready and left Chaux-de-Fond at 930ish, and got to Neuchatel to stop by his mom`s place for directions. After getting yelled at for blocking a truck on the itty-bitty streets of the town, we left for Bern.

The way to Bern was scenic to say the least, with lovely paysages and an efficient highway. The words "amazing", "insane" and "awesome" have been completely overused in my vocabulary: I feel like Tom Cruise describing my relationship with Katie. I can now relate to old Maverick - when something is so amazing (or fabricated, choose your battle), I am limited to how I can choose to describe it. Really, until I show you all pictures, or you all visit this gorgeous country, you will not understand my amazement. Bern itself was a small, touristy and quaint town, and although it is the capital, is really small and concentrated. The parliament building, the political center of Switzerland, has a HUGE banner stretched over the whole thing that says nothing but "Futball Reiglen", which translates to "Soccer Rules". How patriotic and fanatical! Ha, ha.

We had a coffee in the downtown area (which cost about 10 dollars), and then walked around a bunch while seeing the apartment where Einstein lived while creating the theory of relativity. We also trekked up the hill in our warm clothes (it was supposed to rain and be cold) and took some amazing pictures of the view. The Aare, the fast-moving river, is clear blue and makes the city look especially beautiful. We ended off eating a nice dinner in Bern, near the square and on the patio to enjoy the city before we left.

Lucerne was our next stop: the most unique part of the trip was visiting the bear pits. Yes, bear pits: bears are the city`s symbol, and they have 3 of them in these deep pits that are easily watched over from the sidewalk - they seemed perfectly happy laying around and showing us their bellies (bear equivalent of the finger? I wouldn`t be surprised...). We also did some nice window shopping (I stopped by a parfumerie) and had a drink of water at the local cafe. The view from Lucerne was even better than Bern, since it has a huge lake and a view of Mt. Pilatus (snow-capped mountain just behind the lake). We left Lucerne at 6 to make good time to Zurich for about 730.

Sigh, Zurich... I haven`t even seen the city yet but I am in love with it. Alexis`aunt and uncle live there with their 3 children (Xavier, Vincent et Diane). We drove through the non-moving traffic and for what it seemed like forever up a hill, until we reached their house. Keep in mind, mostly everyone here lives in apartments. The house, however, is an older, incredibly unique and spacious house in the north part of Zurich, and it overlooks the whole city and lake. Alexis`uncle is a director at a large bank Suisse (can`t remember which, there are too many here) and works in Geneva during the week while the family lives here. Alexis`aunt, Nicola, is possibly the best woman I have ever met in my life. She is the most welcoming and enthusiastic person, and made me feel like I belonged right away. She showed me my guest room (huge) and told me I could do whatever I wanted. I joined her and Alex quickly, and we drank white wine from their family vineyard while talking about how she met her husband and about Switzerland. The kids were home already, so we ate outside on the lawn, overlooking Zurich (and neighbouring HQ of FIFA, yes FIFA). A delicious light meal with more wine, and great conversation - thank God my French is decent, but I spent most of the time listening in fascination to the stories they told.

After dinner, Xavier (who is quintlingual) took us to the park nearby, where a bunch of FIFA players were having dinner at the restaurant, and we took pictures of the landscape and watched a thunderstorm approaching. We got back to the house, where Nicole served us with two different types of liqueur - one made from plums and another from cherries. By chance, we drink a very similar one in Poland called Sliwowica, and I downed the shot right away. They laughed their French butts off, because they were all sipping the damn thing (I showed my Polish side). The incredibly intelligent children went to bed without being told, gave me 3 kisses on the cheek, and promised to keep in touch. The rain ended our night of shots, tea and dessert, and we separated off into bed when I decided to actually book my hostel for Milan for the next 2 days.

My steadfast loyalty to Canada has wavered since being here for the past 36 hours. This country is truly amazing, and the different sights and cultures that you can experience by driving a few hours is unbelievable. De plus, Alexis and Nicola started telling me about regions they visited in Canada - apparently we have some sights to be seen in Quebec and Ontario too !! I think I will start to visit my own country before I decide to move, since there is so much I didn`t know about my own neighbourhood.

Tomorrow, visiting Zurich (up close) and then Milan in the evening... now to sleep off the wine and spirits...

Salut and Cheers!