day 8

today i traveled home to my sweet family, all travels went well. i am so happy to be home again, traveling is so fun but always puts into perspective how important home and the people you love are! 

4 flights 

over 10 train rides 

a few failed bus attempts 

1 cable car 

5 cities 

hundreds of dollars in coke 

traveling with family and friends

and memories made 

PRICELESS!!

lastly, besides the beauty of europe my favorite part is the soda/water lids that are attached to the bottle. we should figure this out. 

till next time !

day 7

 Marla, Paige, and Tammy are dealing with some jet leg since they just got here so we had a nice sleep in till about 9 am then headed down for breakfast. another very german breakfast, lunch meat, hard boiled eggs, and bread. the highlight was paige putting her jam in the hard boiled egg holder, she had no clue. then we spent some timing calling taxis because the bus does not run early enough for our flights. it is very hard when the hotel doesn’t speak english and you can’t pronounce the name of the hotel to tell the taxi driver, marla just told him the hotel in the forrest and they seemed to think they knew where that was….there is a good chance this ends bad. 

then we got ready for the courts wedding, we had plenty of time but some how we’re still running late. the bus was scheduled for 2:22 pm, we are running down the hill then realized we gotta figure out what side of the rode to be on and what direction we should be going to make sure we are on the right buss. after discussion and looking at a map we crossed the road and waited…at 2:22 on the dot the bus FLEW by in the other side!!! swear words started flying, now what. we crossed the rode again, as soon as we did that the bus FLEW by on the other side. it only stops if there is someone there and both times we were on the WRONG side! wtf!!!! back to the american way, saved by the uber and we made it to the wedding right on time. 

the wedding venue was beautiful it was in the wine vineyards that over looked the Rhine River, the city is called Geisenheim, Germany. 

it was fun and interesting to attend a german wedding, everything lasts much longer and the couple is celebrated to the utmost. it started with the at 3pm ceremony, then cake, then appetizers. then at 7 we sat for dinner. dinner was a 5 course meal and delicious !! there was a few toasts and speeches in between. it was so beautiful and i am so lucky i was able to to come and watch my bestfriend get married. 

after dinner the dancing started around 10 and lasted till 2:45 am, these people can party. one of the highlights for me is they had non alcohol champagne and coke with big ice chunks and lemon. along with everyone else i was 10+ drinks deep

we had the best night hanging out with all courtney’s loved ones!! the wedding was perfect. at about 2:30 am we headed back to the hotel because we had to be up at 5 am to head to frankfurt to jump on my flight home and the marla’s to italy. 

day 6

today started off great but there were a few bumps along the way! we started the day with a nice sleep in and relaxing morning. kirt went to a local bakery and got us a crescent, cheese sandwich, and cheese cake. we enjoyed those and a coke zero at our apt. then the journey started. we all made our way to the train station where i would head from zurich to frankfurt and kirt and jan would spend the day in zurich then head to denmark in the evening. we got to the train station early with high hopes. 

considering our prior experience with the stand off on the train i knew i wanted to try and get there quickly so i could have a seat. so i said bye to jan and kirt and boarded the train. i sat in the first spot i saw, i completely forgot that some people reserve seats and it is listed on the seat if it is reserved so within minutes i was kicked out of my seat. i found a seat that seemed blank and up for grabs 

i was feeling good, got a seat. as departure time approached the crowds of people started piling in to once again find ourselves in a train with people standing and siting all through the isles. this means no bathroom, no moving, just jammed packed. it’s really strange and seems they should manage capacity more. 

my train ride was to be 5.5 hours, after about 1.5 hours and a few stops the isles finally opened up. and things were going smooth till i noticed my unreserved seat was all of a sudden reserved so a quick seat change to prevent any issues. then i got notification that i will not make my connecting train transfer. i was suppose to have 25 min but my train was late so i will now miss the connection. ughhh, luckily there was a train 20 min later that would still get me there in time for the same bus i need to take for the hotel. i figured id grab some food to eat in the train. Thai food it is cause it was the closest thing and i couldn’t miss another train. 

i was cleaning up my backpack and went to throw away a fanta that only had about 1/4 left in it. a iffy man walked up with a bag of garage and asked for the bottle (at least i think) i said yes thank you!! he was elated, i was confused. as i walked away he opened and drank the whole thing. yuckkkk. the next train ride went well & yes, i was the person eating thai food stinking up the whole train. then things got dicey. my train got in at 5:01 and the bus left at 5:07. what are the chances this worked…after a few questions and a quick bus ticket purchase we made it to the bus! success !! i was monitoring stops sooo closely so i wouldn’t screw this up. i saw my stop and got all my things and stood by the door yet the bus was not stopping, minutes were flying by. i look at the screen and my stop is no where to be found. well guess what, the bus only stops if you push the red stop button !!!!! are you kidding? i was soooo mad. i frantically decided to get off, thinking i could walk. nope, i was 2 miles away from the hotel and there are no side walks and skinny roads so i crossed the street and waited for the bus to come by again. 30 min later i got on the bus and went to two stops, i made it. until the hotel was not near, i had to hike a hill to the hidden hotel. not a soul in sight. 

all the hotel doors were locked once i got there, luckily marla, paige, and tammy were already there and let me in. thank goodness. 

we all quickly freshened up and headed out for dinner, the bus only comes by once every hour so things were hard. we jumped on the bus, none of us have tickets just hoping for the best. we asked the drive to tell us where to get off for food. he gives us the sign we jump off and sure enough restaurant is closed. it is a german holiday today so nothing is open. what a fail. we search and search on our phones for something that might be open. we find something 1.8 mile away. our only option is to walk since the bus won’t be back for an hour. oh and let me add, it is raining during all of this. 

the maps on my phone was taking us through grass trails and through wineries, nothing seemed to be right cause this would never happen in the states but sure enough it took us where we were trying my to go. 

we found a below average dinner place and got warm. marla wanted a beer but they didn’t have any and the only other place we saw on our journey was a bar that did not have food so we figured we stop there on our way back. the dinner place only took cash or pay pal so i used my cash on dinner. when we arrived at the bar they also only took cash, marla, paige, and tammy didn’t have any cash and i only had 3.10 euro left. beer was 3.20 so we struck out there. now the bigger task, trying to get back to the hotel. after looking a buses and trains we tried the uber app and what a success !!!! when in doubt do it the american way. we had a rainbow view while waiting for the uber. 

tomorrow is the main even then i’ll be headed home! 

day 5

another early start today, plan was to meet at breakfast at 7:30 because we had to catch a train at 9 am. not many issues other than kirt couldn’t find a gas station for a coke zero so we had to buy them at the hotel which was 5 franc which equals $6.25 for one glass bottle of coke. we can’t get over how expensive it is here. but breakfast was good, below is the view from our hotel. 

we made it to the train station and had a smooth journey to zurich. i joined kirt for a nap on the train today, it was so nice that if it weren’t for jan kirt and i would have missed the stop and ended up who knows where. that is why we always need a jan. we found it very interesting that the man was taking plants home for his garden in the train. what a different life we live. 

once we got to zurich we had to purchase lockers for our bag because the room we had for the night did not offer bag storage and we couldn’t check in till 3 pm. the train station had locker rental, actually a great idea. all went smooth. we then jumped in a train for head to the Lindt chocolate factory. we enjoyed much at a little coffee shop that seemed like a bunch of friend/owners that just hung out together. jan’s bagels with tomatoes really reminded us of summer in bear lake and we are excited to go when we get home. 

the lindt chocolate factory was quite something, i quickly fizzled on the educational audio but they got me hooked with providing us with a lot of chocolates.

we were able to stop at many stations along the tour,  first was a fondue station. there was dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate fondue. everyone got a spoon and you could fill your spoon and have a taste. we got many refills, my fav was to get two drops of white chocolate and two drops of milk chocolate. 

then there was an area where you got a mystery chocolate and had to guess what kind it was, we didn’t last long there because it was all dark chocolate. yuck. next we got to gather a ball of chocolate of each flavor. we had pockets and purses full of chocolate by the end

last we got to watch a gold ball drop down through a track and ended with giving us a piece of chocolate. this really felt like charlie and the chocolate factory, it was fun. we ended our tour with a fondue snack. 

we made our way back to the train station, grabbed our bags from the lockers and headed to the hotel. we had a few issues trying to get in but with a little guidance kirt was able to get us in. only problem was there were 5 flights of stairs and no lift (elevator). this is criminal. but we were happy to find our play and be in zurich 

after we recovered from the stair climb we headed back to the city to explore. lake zurich is pretty. i truly love switzerland but i don’t plan on coming back to zurich, the city was crowded and not much to see. however, lake zurich was beautiful 

 

we ended with a delicious italian dinner, this was our last super together as I leave my parents tomorrow to meet up with marla and head to courts wedding! 

day 4

 we were up early today for a german breakfast full of lunch meat, bread, and hard boiled eggs. we stopped at a gas station last night so the best part of our breakfast was the coke, which also drew some interesting looks from those around us. then we headed to the train station to jump on a train to lucerne. i was so excited to finally see switzerland!! 

all went well on the train, but the bus system in switzerland, that was hard to get use to. but after a few wrong directions and help from locals we found our hotel. dropped off our bags and quickly headed back to the train station area to see if we can jump on a boat and do the golden round trip which consists of a boat ride, train cart ride up the mountain, cable ride down the mountain. we got bad news that the train cart was closed due to weather. so we decided to head to the cable cart and ride it round trip. on our way we stopped for a quick kebab, it was delicious!! 

the ride up the mountain was great, the first stop was a play ground for kids. we were short on time so we continued on to stop two! it was beautiful 

we noticed blue sky’s ahead so we quickly decided to head to the top of the mountain in hopes for clear views and it did not disappoint! truly amazing !! we walked around for a while and enjoyed a coke and dessert at the top of Mnt Pilatus. 

& what’s a day without kirt napping during beautiful scenery…..

we then toured the city for a hour or two, walking along the chapel bridge and enjoying this beautiful town. 

then we took a boat ride around the lucerne lake, i can’t believe how pretty it is here but extremely pricey. today was quite cold but the views sitting in the front of the boat were so worth it! 

for dinner we had high hopes of finding swiss food which would be fondue but somehow just ending up with the schnitzel once again and boy was it good!! 

on our journey back to the hotel which includes bus rides we noticed a soccer game, kirt and i have always wanted to attend a european soccer game but timing has never worked out. we quickly checked into our hotel and headed for the game in hopes of finding some tickets even though we were 15 min late. jackpot, got some tickets and enjoyed a great game with a 1-0 win for lucerne over zurich! i applaud those soccer fans, both teams cheered and waved flags non stop alllll game. they are so proud.