Excerpts from Switzerland, 2002

Posted by BLD in MT February 21, 2025

Excerpts from Switzerland, 2002

I went to Europe in 2002 with my high school French Club. Below are excerpts from the journal I kept while in Switzerland and pages from the photo scrapbook I made when I came home.

6/1/2002

"Well, we woke up at 4:50 and took our bags downstairs. I drank some juice and chocolate chaud (hot chocolate) and then we all gathered up our stuff, loaded it on the bus, and went to catch our TGV train. We had to wait quite some time before the train so fed some birds bread I kept from supper last night....then we finally got on the train and were on our way to Switzerland. I slept most of the way there. Alli got upset because we haven't gotten any stamps in our passports even though we've now been to both France and Switzerland. Switzerland is amazing. But, first things first. Luiceille [another chaperone] fell on the street and nearly broke her nose. She sprained her wrist...and was bleeding all over the place. Some very nice man called the police and helped get her to the hospital where she was x-rayed. ...because of that accident, we got free time to wander around Bern. Lisa would love this city. I love this city. We saw a parade of... religious people dancing and singing to the bongos in the street. It was so great. It made me want to run down and dance with them. ...We saw some groovy rastas playing steel drums and singing. ...We saw the bear pit which is just a pit with four bears in it. ...I went to the pharmacy today to buy some cough syrup. The girl working didn't really speak any English and I really don't speak any German so to make a long story short it involved gestures, fake coughing, and pointing words out to each other in the dictionary before we finally got the right stuff. My nose is clear for the first time so far in Europe. ...Tonight at supper we had soup (very good), brats, pasta, and ice cream. So far it's the meal I've gotten the most food out of. ...Alli lost her glasses and in a blind attempt to find them in the bathroom, stubbed her toe and fell to the ground in pain. It was hysterical. She was, however, bleeding so I bandaged and cleaned her toes. Then we sat outside on the balcony of our room talking and reminiscing and it was really fun. I laughed so hard. ...Switzerland is wonderful. I love it here. ...Our train came to Lausanne. Our hotel is in Luzern two hours drive from there with Bern in the middle."

Notes: I really, really, really loved Switzerland. It was probably my favorite part of the French Club trip. Bern was so hip. Luzern was enchanting. The mountains were so gorgeous. The water was so green. It was also the food culture that I found to be the most tasty. I finally found a pharmacy and tended to the cold plaguing me since I arrived in Paris. Interacting with the pharmacy clerk was a very interesting experience. Establishing that I had a cold was fairly easy. The part that necessitated using the dictionary was when the clerk was trying to determine if I was congested or had a runny nose. Speaking of noses, when the chaperone broke her nose the locals were so helpful and compassionate. This stood out to me because I'd just seen the Parisians honking for the paramedics and the injured pedestrian (mentioned in my May 31st journal entry) to get out of their way. The dancing religious people were my first exposure to Hare Krishna, though I didn't know it at the time. They were so joyful and colorful and I found them captivating.

6/2/2002

"...we woke up and ate...and then everyone except Alli (who slept in and stayed in town) went on a boat ride for about an hour and a half before we reached the base of Mount Pilatus (Alps). We rode on the world's steepest [cogwheel] train up 7,000 feet to the top where we were free to wander at our pleasure. ...went hiking through some caves and stuff. It was amazing. You can see forever. Then we took a gondola car down and got a bird's eye view of the whole mountain. We saw Swiss cows with cowbells. Then we ate supper of chicken and rice with brown gravy which was just wonderful for me. Then Alli and I played some cards before getting ready for the Disco. We were walking when [one of the girls] (really drunk) started throwing up in the gutter. To make a really long story short...we carry her dead weight into a cab to get her back to the hotel....the cab driver had to help us get her out and talk to the hotel keeper because no one had a key. The hotel keeper was really pissed at us. We literally drug her into bed and put her in PJs and then...went to the Disco. It was damn fun. They played only salsa music and I was totally groovin' on it. ...It was the most fun I've ever had. I love dancing to salsa...."

Notes: That poor hotel keeper. She was so angry about an unconscious tourist being dragged into her establishment--and she had every right to be! Plus, the drunk gal missed the night out dancing to sexy salsa music. That experience was so much fun for me. I could have danced all night. I remember being shocked at how expensive the drinks were at the club though. Mount Pilatus is the most beautiful natural place I've been. The sky, the mountains, and the lake were all so blue they ran together into one glorious landscape. It was gorgeous in every direction. I was stunned by the alpine scenery. The only American landscape I've seen that compares is Glacier National Park. Many years ago, Matt and I were befriended by a Swiss couple camped next to us in Yellowstone National Park. As we talked over beers around the fire it came up that their family farm was in the same area of Switzerland that I had visited. Their cows graze the meadows under the steep cogwheel train up to the summit. It was such a cool it-is-a-small-world moment. The Swiss cows I wrote about in my journal might have been theirs! I had never ridden in an aerial tram of any sort and we rode two different kinds to get down the mountain. The first was big like a bus. The second were tiny bubbles for just four people. The view was epic.