Monday, June 1.
We were all up by 8am. Breakfast was fresh pastries and croissants from the baker up the road. Jander's group was leaving on the 8:54am bus, so they could catch their train from Zurich to Paris to Amsterdam. So we all said a final goodbye. Deb and Brian's house felt quite emp[ty with just us three girls. We helped clean up after breakfast and then began packing for our hike up a mountain! We drove up to a parking lot and then Brian hiked with Deb and us girls the first part of the trail to the "clubhouse" at the bottom of the mountain, and drank coffee while the girls and lattes/hot chocolates-then kissed Deb goodbye, hiking home, while we went up the mountain! Hiking the Grosser-Mythen with DEb was breath-taking! It was a killer of a hike, a work out, but one with the best views :) We made it to the top where we rested and Deb bought us Snickers. I hiked a Swiss Alp! There's no better way than to celebrate with chocolate! The hike was steep and rocky, especially with my KEEN open-toed sandeals-but so worth it. I had several strangers comment on my sandals...especially since I was the only one seen hiking in such open shoes all day! But they worked really well (a great buy mom!). We got back home and and ate a late lunch of left-over sausage and BBQ chicken. Brian and Deb brough us into Zurich in the late afternoon, saying goodbye to us, and leaving us to walk around old town Zurich again. Our Eurail passes got us on a great 1 1/2 our ferry ride around Lake Zurich....great way to end the long day.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Switzerland!
Saturday, May 30.
Melodie, Kristen, and I woke up bright and early, to say goodbye to Mark and Kristina, and then left to catch our train to Zurich, Switzerland! Our only stop and transfer was supposed to be in Milano-which we accomplished. But because it was delayed from leaving, we ran into problems down the line. We stopped just over the Swiss border in Lugano-where everyone was instructed to leave the train. All the passengers were VERY confused, including us ( maybe because we don't speak Italian?) It was an especi9ally small station for some reason, and there was no help/information desk. Only one man on the platform with a bright orange vest. He was surrounded by an immense-crowd of question-filled persons. He found a break in the the crowd at one point, looked around...and ran! Leaving us still very confused. We then made friends with a kind and extremely chatty older Italian man named Maurice. He had a friend in the train business and figured out we would need to wait for aboutan hour on the Lugano platform, get on a train-ride-transfer again to yet another train, in order to get to Zurich. Never the less, we survived the chaos. The train ride was one of the most scenic I've ever been on. The Swiss Alps, the mountain lakes, snow-covered pakes...it was a gorgeous afternoon. I also slept...alot...while Melodie chatted away with Maurice. Apparently he's a world traveler-55 countries total-but never Great Britain ( although he's from Italy?) He'd also traveled more of the U.S. than we had....but we took into account that he was probably in his upper fifties/sixties. Along the way we pasesed through many mountain tunnels. I always knew-even when my eyes were closed-when we were going through a tunnel, because my ears would plug and pop.
With all the elevation changes and going through tunnels, I think I've mastered ho to pop my ears!
We were supposed to arrive in Surich and meet Deb Broek ( a Dordt board member who lives there) at 2:50pm; but because of the delays we got there at 3:50. None of us had been able to use the phone while we were stopped in Lugano-so we were a little worried about meeting Deb late. It turned out akay. She had made a mistake and thought our train arrieve at 3:30-so she'd only been waiting for 20 minutes instead of one hour. Kristen had met Deb when she was in Sioux Center for a board meeting this spring-and Jander Talen and Mark Eekhoff had stayed with her and her husband Brian last summer-so we'd emailed her to arrange staying with them for a couple of days! I was really excited because Jander, Troy, Val, Claire, and Cory had decided last minute to also stay with Deb and Brian. That group arrived a night before Melodie, Kristen, and I-and were gone hiking while Brian and Deb picked us up in Zurich and brough us back to their mountain house in Oberiberg. Our two traveling groups had left Amsterdam on teh samed day-going different directions, so it was a surprise and a really big treat to see them and hear about their travels! While we waited for the hikers to get back, we chilled in a house! (which felt sooo good!) We all headed out to an outdoor grilling area for supper in the forrest. Brian is a fantastic cook-grilling spicy sausages, chicken, kabobs, and making the best baked beans EVER! We chilled our beer and pop in the mountain stream and had an amazing relaxing night outdoors. Deb had volunteered us to sing in their church on Sunday am-so after supper we practiced some choir tour songs before heading to bed.
Sunday, May 31.
I slept so well! There's something about being in a house, a hot shower, and clean sheets! Plus having such welcoming and loving hosts! Deb and Brian fed us eggs and sausage-and COFFEE! for breakfast. They have 8 kids in their small mountain house, but it doesn't seem to phase them. Melodie, Kristen, and Val rode with Brian and Deb in their convertible Audi to Thalwil to church. Jander, Troy, Claire, Cory and I navigate the brilliant quick and smooth, bus and metro system to Thalwil where Deb picked us up in a friend's van. We went to an International Baptist church where the Broek's have been members for the past 10 years. The congregation was warm and receptive and I felt very much at home. The message was on being part of the body of Christ and utilizing our spiritual gifts. Our group of 8 sang 3 songs....Praise the Lord, Chantez a Dieu, and A Gaelic Blessing. After church we talked to so many people! It was awesome to share with them about what makes a college Christian and why we wanted to have a Christian higher education. We had a lot of fun. And I was so happy! In Switzerland. With good friends. Worshipping God. Enjoying His creation. One of the best days of the trip! So happy! Deb's cousin from California was also visting, so us college kids were on our own for the afternoon. We went into Zurich to find some lunch and then stopped at a Starbucks for a caffiene "pick-me-up" Troy had gone to the main train station to see a doctor for his "bronchitis-sounding" cough ( a VERY sick kid); but the wait was two hours long. Troy, Val, and Cory went home after lunch to rest up. Melodie, Kristen, Claire, Jander, and I stayed in downtown Zurich. It was a beautiful warm Sunday afternoon. We took lots of pictures and went in search of bicycles. In Zurich there are "rent-a-bike" stations where you leave an ID and get a bike for the day for free. BUT the place we went looking for had been moved, we wandered a bit (a common theme for our trip!) before finding the station...with no bikes! So needless to say, we walked around for the afternoon, no biking for us! We arrived home at 730pm to find the sick kids watching a movie. Claire, Melodie, Cory, Jander and I played some intense games of Rook before Brian and Deb came home from their afternoon/evening out. Deb poured us all a glass of champagne, while Brian started making a wonderful Mexican dinner. For the first course we had homemade nachos, pico de gallo, guacomole AND quesadillas. For our "second course" we had AWSOME burritos. In between courses we drank wine, talked and talked, and had lots of fun. By the time we were done eating it was about 1030. Claire, Mel, and Kristen cleaned up the kitchen. Afterwards we stayed up sharing stories and talking. Relaxing on leather sofas. In crisp, clean mountain air. With the sounds of sheep and cow bells ringing...
Melodie, Kristen, and I woke up bright and early, to say goodbye to Mark and Kristina, and then left to catch our train to Zurich, Switzerland! Our only stop and transfer was supposed to be in Milano-which we accomplished. But because it was delayed from leaving, we ran into problems down the line. We stopped just over the Swiss border in Lugano-where everyone was instructed to leave the train. All the passengers were VERY confused, including us ( maybe because we don't speak Italian?) It was an especi9ally small station for some reason, and there was no help/information desk. Only one man on the platform with a bright orange vest. He was surrounded by an immense-crowd of question-filled persons. He found a break in the the crowd at one point, looked around...and ran! Leaving us still very confused. We then made friends with a kind and extremely chatty older Italian man named Maurice. He had a friend in the train business and figured out we would need to wait for aboutan hour on the Lugano platform, get on a train-ride-transfer again to yet another train, in order to get to Zurich. Never the less, we survived the chaos. The train ride was one of the most scenic I've ever been on. The Swiss Alps, the mountain lakes, snow-covered pakes...it was a gorgeous afternoon. I also slept...alot...while Melodie chatted away with Maurice. Apparently he's a world traveler-55 countries total-but never Great Britain ( although he's from Italy?) He'd also traveled more of the U.S. than we had....but we took into account that he was probably in his upper fifties/sixties. Along the way we pasesed through many mountain tunnels. I always knew-even when my eyes were closed-when we were going through a tunnel, because my ears would plug and pop.
With all the elevation changes and going through tunnels, I think I've mastered ho to pop my ears!
We were supposed to arrive in Surich and meet Deb Broek ( a Dordt board member who lives there) at 2:50pm; but because of the delays we got there at 3:50. None of us had been able to use the phone while we were stopped in Lugano-so we were a little worried about meeting Deb late. It turned out akay. She had made a mistake and thought our train arrieve at 3:30-so she'd only been waiting for 20 minutes instead of one hour. Kristen had met Deb when she was in Sioux Center for a board meeting this spring-and Jander Talen and Mark Eekhoff had stayed with her and her husband Brian last summer-so we'd emailed her to arrange staying with them for a couple of days! I was really excited because Jander, Troy, Val, Claire, and Cory had decided last minute to also stay with Deb and Brian. That group arrived a night before Melodie, Kristen, and I-and were gone hiking while Brian and Deb picked us up in Zurich and brough us back to their mountain house in Oberiberg. Our two traveling groups had left Amsterdam on teh samed day-going different directions, so it was a surprise and a really big treat to see them and hear about their travels! While we waited for the hikers to get back, we chilled in a house! (which felt sooo good!) We all headed out to an outdoor grilling area for supper in the forrest. Brian is a fantastic cook-grilling spicy sausages, chicken, kabobs, and making the best baked beans EVER! We chilled our beer and pop in the mountain stream and had an amazing relaxing night outdoors. Deb had volunteered us to sing in their church on Sunday am-so after supper we practiced some choir tour songs before heading to bed.
Sunday, May 31.
I slept so well! There's something about being in a house, a hot shower, and clean sheets! Plus having such welcoming and loving hosts! Deb and Brian fed us eggs and sausage-and COFFEE! for breakfast. They have 8 kids in their small mountain house, but it doesn't seem to phase them. Melodie, Kristen, and Val rode with Brian and Deb in their convertible Audi to Thalwil to church. Jander, Troy, Claire, Cory and I navigate the brilliant quick and smooth, bus and metro system to Thalwil where Deb picked us up in a friend's van. We went to an International Baptist church where the Broek's have been members for the past 10 years. The congregation was warm and receptive and I felt very much at home. The message was on being part of the body of Christ and utilizing our spiritual gifts. Our group of 8 sang 3 songs....Praise the Lord, Chantez a Dieu, and A Gaelic Blessing. After church we talked to so many people! It was awesome to share with them about what makes a college Christian and why we wanted to have a Christian higher education. We had a lot of fun. And I was so happy! In Switzerland. With good friends. Worshipping God. Enjoying His creation. One of the best days of the trip! So happy! Deb's cousin from California was also visting, so us college kids were on our own for the afternoon. We went into Zurich to find some lunch and then stopped at a Starbucks for a caffiene "pick-me-up" Troy had gone to the main train station to see a doctor for his "bronchitis-sounding" cough ( a VERY sick kid); but the wait was two hours long. Troy, Val, and Cory went home after lunch to rest up. Melodie, Kristen, Claire, Jander, and I stayed in downtown Zurich. It was a beautiful warm Sunday afternoon. We took lots of pictures and went in search of bicycles. In Zurich there are "rent-a-bike" stations where you leave an ID and get a bike for the day for free. BUT the place we went looking for had been moved, we wandered a bit (a common theme for our trip!) before finding the station...with no bikes! So needless to say, we walked around for the afternoon, no biking for us! We arrived home at 730pm to find the sick kids watching a movie. Claire, Melodie, Cory, Jander and I played some intense games of Rook before Brian and Deb came home from their afternoon/evening out. Deb poured us all a glass of champagne, while Brian started making a wonderful Mexican dinner. For the first course we had homemade nachos, pico de gallo, guacomole AND quesadillas. For our "second course" we had AWSOME burritos. In between courses we drank wine, talked and talked, and had lots of fun. By the time we were done eating it was about 1030. Claire, Mel, and Kristen cleaned up the kitchen. Afterwards we stayed up sharing stories and talking. Relaxing on leather sofas. In crisp, clean mountain air. With the sounds of sheep and cow bells ringing...
Venezia
Thursday, May 28.
Took the train from Salzburg to Venice's San Lucia train station. After arriving, we decided paying 4 euros each was WAY too expensive for storing our packs-so we went on a four hour walking-venture in Venice. With our packs. And purses. Before leaving the station Melodie, Kristen, and I easily booked our train tickets to Zurich. But Mark and Kristina weren't so lucky. They had a language-barrier, no microphone, talking-through-glass adventure. And FINALLY got there ticket situation to Amsterdam figured out :) Thank goodness. While they figured out their mess, Kristen and I bought a map of Venice that turned out to be our BEST Italian purchase ever....that map saved us several times!
Venice is truly a magical city with its stair bridges, canals, yummy gelato, and crazy winding streets!
Back to the packs! With map in hand, our group of 5 set out with our backpacks. Four hours later I felt "in-one" with my pack. With the straps adjusted the 30 pounds was pretty okay-but after four-hours I was a tad tired. We found the Rialto bridge, ate some authentic AMAZING Italian pizza ( mine was topped with fresh tomatoes, red onions, and cheese) and stopped for a scoop of mocha gelato. We managed to get lost on the way back to the bus station, so using our super duper map Mark navigated us to our correct destination. We rode the bus to Marghara where we walked and walked and walked to our hostel (seemingly in the middle of nowhere)-Camp Jolly. And jolly it was. We had two hard canvas "tents" each with 3 beds. There was a community-campground style bathroom and a swimming pool (which we weren't able to use). The shower was hot and hard and perfect. Especially after such a long day of traveling.
Friday May 29.
Today we got to experience Venice withOUT our heavy bags :) Our tents were kind of chilly but for the most part I slept well. The walk back to the bus stop was a lot shorter this morning than the night before! We took the bus back to Venice and then quickly bought a 24 hour bus/boat pass. We definately got our 18euros worth. Riding the boats in Venice is like riding the bus in any other large city-other than that you have to walk everywhere. We went straight away to San Marco's Piaza and the Basilica. The Basilica was sooo busy! On this entire trip I haven't see a church so filled with tourists as this one. I personally think it's really sad to see places of worship so marketed. But the Basillica was very beautiful and ornate. A lot of gold in the domed ceilings and wall paintings. After walking through tthe Basillica we stood in line for an elevator ride up the San Marco Basillica's separate tower. It was windy at the top but the view gave us an aerial panorama of the entire city. We got cold, but looking over Venice was incredible. For lunch we bought ourselves some more freshly made pizza! This time I had mushroom and artichoke toppings :) We found our way through the maze of streets, almost getting lost again, but I led our group with our AMAZING map! and we made it across the city to the station we wanted. We took the boat to the outer island of Murano where they make glass. After stepping off the boat, a man pointed us in the direction of a shop where men demonstrated the art of blowing glass. Incredible. After watching the glass making/blowing process we found the nice-small downtown. We then proceeded to shop and shop and shop-poor Mark! Around 2:30pm we left Murano for the San Marco boat stop. We were back in Venice. And of course-we wandered around again! This time we bought some extremely rich and dence chocolate balls from a small corner bakery. We got on the boat again-this time riding down the Grand Canal, down the "main" part of the city and got three stops past the famous Rialto bridge. We tried to find a restaurant for an early (5pm) supper, but to no avail. Apparently they don't start serving supper until 7pm in Italy? And most restaurants close for the late afternoon/evening. We decided to use our time to get groceries for our train rides the next day. After getting gelato for an early dessert, we wandered around some more before heading to the Rialto Bridge/Grand Canal area and happened upon a restaurant that was actually open! Plus there were no cover charges! I ordered a typical Italian dish...spaghetti with vegetables (mixed in) and a glass of red wine. We had a great evening-our last night as a group of 5. (I also managed to stain my khaki skirt with a huge blot of ink...:() It presently has a light remnant of black...but is much better than it was.
Took the train from Salzburg to Venice's San Lucia train station. After arriving, we decided paying 4 euros each was WAY too expensive for storing our packs-so we went on a four hour walking-venture in Venice. With our packs. And purses. Before leaving the station Melodie, Kristen, and I easily booked our train tickets to Zurich. But Mark and Kristina weren't so lucky. They had a language-barrier, no microphone, talking-through-glass adventure. And FINALLY got there ticket situation to Amsterdam figured out :) Thank goodness. While they figured out their mess, Kristen and I bought a map of Venice that turned out to be our BEST Italian purchase ever....that map saved us several times!
Venice is truly a magical city with its stair bridges, canals, yummy gelato, and crazy winding streets!
Back to the packs! With map in hand, our group of 5 set out with our backpacks. Four hours later I felt "in-one" with my pack. With the straps adjusted the 30 pounds was pretty okay-but after four-hours I was a tad tired. We found the Rialto bridge, ate some authentic AMAZING Italian pizza ( mine was topped with fresh tomatoes, red onions, and cheese) and stopped for a scoop of mocha gelato. We managed to get lost on the way back to the bus station, so using our super duper map Mark navigated us to our correct destination. We rode the bus to Marghara where we walked and walked and walked to our hostel (seemingly in the middle of nowhere)-Camp Jolly. And jolly it was. We had two hard canvas "tents" each with 3 beds. There was a community-campground style bathroom and a swimming pool (which we weren't able to use). The shower was hot and hard and perfect. Especially after such a long day of traveling.
Friday May 29.
Today we got to experience Venice withOUT our heavy bags :) Our tents were kind of chilly but for the most part I slept well. The walk back to the bus stop was a lot shorter this morning than the night before! We took the bus back to Venice and then quickly bought a 24 hour bus/boat pass. We definately got our 18euros worth. Riding the boats in Venice is like riding the bus in any other large city-other than that you have to walk everywhere. We went straight away to San Marco's Piaza and the Basilica. The Basilica was sooo busy! On this entire trip I haven't see a church so filled with tourists as this one. I personally think it's really sad to see places of worship so marketed. But the Basillica was very beautiful and ornate. A lot of gold in the domed ceilings and wall paintings. After walking through tthe Basillica we stood in line for an elevator ride up the San Marco Basillica's separate tower. It was windy at the top but the view gave us an aerial panorama of the entire city. We got cold, but looking over Venice was incredible. For lunch we bought ourselves some more freshly made pizza! This time I had mushroom and artichoke toppings :) We found our way through the maze of streets, almost getting lost again, but I led our group with our AMAZING map! and we made it across the city to the station we wanted. We took the boat to the outer island of Murano where they make glass. After stepping off the boat, a man pointed us in the direction of a shop where men demonstrated the art of blowing glass. Incredible. After watching the glass making/blowing process we found the nice-small downtown. We then proceeded to shop and shop and shop-poor Mark! Around 2:30pm we left Murano for the San Marco boat stop. We were back in Venice. And of course-we wandered around again! This time we bought some extremely rich and dence chocolate balls from a small corner bakery. We got on the boat again-this time riding down the Grand Canal, down the "main" part of the city and got three stops past the famous Rialto bridge. We tried to find a restaurant for an early (5pm) supper, but to no avail. Apparently they don't start serving supper until 7pm in Italy? And most restaurants close for the late afternoon/evening. We decided to use our time to get groceries for our train rides the next day. After getting gelato for an early dessert, we wandered around some more before heading to the Rialto Bridge/Grand Canal area and happened upon a restaurant that was actually open! Plus there were no cover charges! I ordered a typical Italian dish...spaghetti with vegetables (mixed in) and a glass of red wine. We had a great evening-our last night as a group of 5. (I also managed to stain my khaki skirt with a huge blot of ink...:() It presently has a light remnant of black...but is much better than it was.
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