Being a Traditional Swiss and Traditional American...in one weekend

I spent this weekend from others in the group traveling to different towns (some planned, some not) around Switzerland. So here is a taste of mon week-end en Suisse!

Saturday:
For some reason my alarm was set for 7:00 AM...(see post below). I woke up pretty confused and unable to wake up. So I gave myself an extra hour to be out of bed by 8:00 AM and to leave for the train station by 8:50 AM. So I rolled out of bed at 8:30 AM but still managed to leave by 8:55- it was pretty impressive if i do say so myself..but it was not pleasant at all. At the train station we bought our tickets to Gruyere. Now if you can't tell by the name, they make cheese there... specifically gruyere cheese (ha). The train ride was kind of unpleasant- having to switch 2 times while waiting for some advil to kick in. However, once we arrived in Gruyere everything was better again. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was just amazing. Snowy mountains and towns on hills surrounded us. We walked into the cheese factory and looked at a lot a lot of gruyere cheese and took some pictures..then we decided to make the trek to the actual town for some food and to visit the chateau...from here many fails ensued.

Fail un: The path to the town. Now, normally this walk would of been fine, just a steep uphill pathway into the cute town. However, this steep hill, with minimal hand bars or things to grab onto was COVERED and i mean COVERED in ice. Getting up to the top of the hill took a century due to the slowing "walking" (more like sliding) up the hill. Amazingly, I didn't fall! And for those of you who know me...i tend to fall on normal roads so icy ones are usually not the best for me..aka ("ROLL ONTO THE GRASS!"...for any of who you know that story..the ice was worse this time). Anyways so we finally made it to the town and by this point we were all starving.

So what better to eat in Gruyere then Gruyere cheese? Here we went for some fondue which was really good but REALLY cheesy...but I am in switzerland so this is what happens. And here is when fail deux occured.

Fail Deux: language barriers. Now, ever since middle school, french teachers have come and gone leaving me with little knowledge of the language. In college it got a little better, but if you look at GW's french department...you aren't looking at the pride and glory of university french departments (few professors aside). Thus attempting to speak french to the waitress for our table..was quite interesting. Turns out we had been saying the exact same thing to each other..just differently for about 5-7 min. She finally said it in English and it was what i was trying to say all along. ha I win. not.

After the filling fondue, it came time to digest it (which it is better to drink tea when having fondue rather than water to avoid the cheese from hardening in your stomach..mm tasty right?). So we headed up the castle to explore. Not everyone went into the castle but I did..and let me tell you the video we saw was work the 8.50 CHF. This video had surround sound, screens in different areas of the room, and a fabulous narrater with great facial expressions/winking eyes..he was quite the creep actually, but we all know i love my creeps. The castle was fun- but what was most fun was one of the people's i was with, Chad's, comments. Chad if you are reading this- go to the China Room and take a time out. Then go fall off a horse. But, I assure you...this is OUR train. (If you don't get it..its probably better).

After the castle we had some creme. It was kinda weird and sweet but on top of merengues it was actually amazing. So we began our trek home. Now if you remember, we had to climb up a hill completely covered in ice...where i was actually fearing my life....

Fail three: if we had walked a little farther up the street, we would of come across stairs to the main town that were NOT covered in Ice and much easier to get up to the town with. So we safely walked down the hill. I'm still bitter about it.

So we get to the bottom of the hill and hang out until our tram comes.

Fail four: Two trams come at the same time. Which one do we get on to? THE WRONG ONE. Let's keep in mind, there was a sign in front of us that we were staring at for prob 10 min...and we still managed to get on the wrong tram. Since these tram's come every hour we had to get off and wait another hour for it to come. So we get off, and we are in this small town (which smell's horribly) where NOTHING is open. So we resort to playing cherades (which was actually quite fun) until we made it onto a tram and onto a train home)

On our way home we stopped in Lausanne to get some Kabobs/Falafelel. delicious.

Then...sleep finally happened.

Sunday:

Sunday we went to Montreux, another petit ville, to see another castle. Though this train ride was more pleasant and required no transfers, so it was quite nice. The train took us around the lake- providing for even more amazing views of the lake, alps, and France. Once we got to Montreux, we began our 2.5 mile walk along the lake to the castle. On our walk we passed: a Freddie Mercury (singer in Queen) statue, about 5-6 "Madagascar"- the movie animals...(yea we don't know why they were there either), and a casino. After exploring the castle, we decieded it was time to eat and had heard about a mexican place in Montreux. Now, we were all CRAVING mexican, talking about some quac, tacos, burritos...the works..we were SO EXCITED. We got the address and began POWER WALKING those 2.5 miles back to the main town. We made it there in probably half the time..to find that it was CLOSED for renovations. The look of sadness on some people's faces was great..though I'll admit i was one of them. So we resorted to a pizzeria to eat some pizza! Woo! Then we took the train back home!

Now by this time, I was pretty set on NOT watching the Superbowl. I was pretty exhuasted, not rooting for any team in particular (I wanted the Colts to lose more than I wanted the Saints to win), and just had not reason to stay up til 5 am to watch the game. But, the people on this trip have learned how easily/quickly I can be persuaded...so before I knew it it, i was looking at an all nighter. However, i was UNABLE to nap because my host family had some friends over for souper (dinner). So after being exhausted, I had to speak french to complete strangers for 3 hours, leave the soiree early, to catch a train into Nyon for the game.

So we waltz into the bar around 12:00 AM. We walked in and got some strange looks..but kinda just ignored it- we figured we just looked like American's so whatever. So we find a spot to sit and watch the game and see a sign that says "Soiree Prive"- Private Party...ummmmmm huh? So we go to bar to order a pitcher and ask if we are allowed to be there- the bartender said yes as long as we got something..so okay totes fine. So the four of us who were there got a pitcher and waited for the two others to come. They came shortly after kickoff, but the door was locked. Someone let them in but began questioning them...however one of the girls I was with..quickly went to grab the guys and they were easily allowed in. But the night does not end with watching the game...no. After buying a few things ourselves, we resorted to this private party. The word "pardon" got us in really quickly- getting us some chips, party mix, and beer. Fine with this..we continued to watch the gam. As the end of the 3rd quarter rolls around....the bartenders start giving us all this FREE food- hot croissants with cheese and ham, pretzels, brownies, popcorn, peace iced tea, cake...so much. It was pretty bomb...not to mention, Peyton's ass got kicked so that was another plus of the night.

As the game neared towards an end at 4:00 AM, I was A) surprised it ended so early and B) surprised I stayed awake.

I was in bed by 4:30 AM and had to be up at ready by 9:00 AM.

on how i felt monday and tuesday and what happened the rest of the beginning of the week...check back soon.

Au Revoir mes Amis!