well i hit a little bit of a hiccup when i got on the wrong train. but it wasnt entirely my fault, the train i got on wasnt meant to pull into that platform and becuase i was told my train would be pulling into that platform i just got on without thinking to double check. the train pulled out and started heading the wrong direction so i asked the 50 something year old man in front of me where the train is going. he filled me in and i freaked for second because i thought i might have to buy another expensive ticket and also the train im on might be on an express train, lucky for me it wasnt and i didnt have to get another ticket. the guy opposite me ended up being helpful and showed me what i had to do to get on the right track. so after a bit of a delay i got on the RIGHT train this time and headed off to Switzerland. the surroundings outside were nothing short of amazing, the mountains were so big, they made me fell incredibly small.
i thought about heading to Innsbruck for the day but with the mishap i decided against it, i'm kind of glad i didnt go too, i only really wanted to go to see the Swarovski factory, sounds riviting doesnt it? but i didnt want to go for the diamonds but for the way they had been cut. i heard that there is one exhibition of a diamonds that are cut like a sun and moon dancing togther, which sounds all sweet, but if you take a photo with a flash the reflection creates a skull over the face of the moon. how cool is that!? anyway, i never saw it, but i think that now i heard about it, thats enough for me. i love concepts like that, it doesnt matter if i didnt see it.
Zurich a really pretty city, not very big and the buildings are a bit of a mix of old and new but all very classy and well looked after. I stayed in the old town which was cool, they had some cool shops not far from my hostel. but they are generally really expensive and well out of my price range, though i had to say goodbye to my Nudie Jeans while i was here, they had lasted me well. I had begun to wear 2 massive holes in my croutch and i feared that at any moment my junk may be out and about for all to see if i wasnt careful. i love my Nudies and i've been trying to find a pair to replace them for a while, but without much luck, (i thought that you could get them everywhere, not so) but i found a place in Zurich that sold them, when i converted it, they cost the same as they would in Oz so i bit the bullet and brought some.
I had a bit of a funny experience while i was here in Zurich, i was sitting at the computer minding my own business when this guy-slash-girl sat next to me, well, at this stage is was slash-girl because i wasnt really paying any attention to her, um, him, errr... whatever. i was typing away minding my own business when he said 'hi, i see your on facebook...' 'yeah, i am' i replied, i had now realized that she was infact a he. i wasnt being rude just because because he like to dress like a chick, he could've been wearing a chicken suit for all i cared, but i was in the middle of checking my email and it was costing me a small fortune, so my attention was on the computer. he kept chatting away at me for ages telling me he was originally from Brazil but was living here for a while and was a make up artist. i kept giving similar responses. anyway, my time had run out on the computer so i was stuck with this guy. he asked me if i'd been out to bars much in Zurich and i said 'Nup', and he said 'well theres this really great little bar around the corner from here, do you wanna grab a drink?' i dont want to sound like i didnt want to have a drink with him because i thought he was gay, but the gaydar was going off and i dont think it was JUST for a drink, if you know what i'm saying. so i had had to think of something quick 'err... i... um, don't really drink. but thanks'. poor guy, i felt terrible but i think it for the best for both of us. i dunno what it is, but guys always think i'm gay, like the old bloke in Japan (click here to check out the Japan blog) at least this time it was less awkward.
having said that, there are a couple of good bars here in Zurich (incase your wondering i didnt go to the one the guy had recommended), i met a guy from Argentina (not gay by the way) while i was here. he was great, he was so funny but i think it was mainly becuase his english wasnt so great so the words he used string sentances made his conversation so much more interesting. we came across one bar that had a band playing blues, so i couldnt help but go in. i dunno what it is, ive never really got into the blues before, but the last couple of years ive kind of started to get into it, my old house mate would play it a fair bit so it proberly came from there. anyway, the band were pulling out all the tricks. i noticed in the corner of the bar there was this big black guy who was sitting drinking who looked like he had emerged from the muddy banks of the Mississippi river just to grace us with his presence. they called him up to sing one song before they finished and this guy brought the house down. he was doing everything ad lib and im pretty sure at one stage he ripped out the line ¨your gonna be my hoochy-choochy-smoochy-woochy woman!¨ it was so funny.
Zurich is nice but to be totally honest there really isnt a lot to do here, they have a big lake but so does Lilydale, and i would say that Lilydale is a must see. its all very business here so i was quite happy to move on. I had heard a lot about Luzern while i was in Zurich. i was heading to Interlaken and Luzern was on the way so i dropped in for the day. Luzern is a small little place, but full on character. and i must have gone on the right day, when i was there there were these big brass bands dressed up as animals and other strange costumes marching down the streets playing music. sounds lame, and i think if i saw that in Melbourne i would head in the other direction but i becuase i was somewhere other than where i live, i was interested.
there most famous attraction here is a wooden bridge here called the Chapel Bridge that crosses over the Reuss River, supposedly europes oldest wooden bridge, it was built in 1333, it was actually pretty interesting they had paintings inside of it that depict Luzerns history dating back to the 17th century. connected to the bridge is a tower that originally was a torture chamber but had a few other uses. probably there second biggest drawcard is a thing called the Lion Monument, which is a 10 meter by 5 metre sculpture of a stabbed lion, left to die, that was carved out of a rock face. its The carving commemorates the hundreds of Swiss who were massacred in 1792 during the French Revolution. its quite amazing, even Mark Twain thought so, they had a quote by him about the sculpture in the tourst guide. apart from being quite nice, thats about all to see there, it was well worth the stop on the way to Interlaken.
So from there i headed off to Interlaken, which was a pretty little little train ride that wove its way around the mountains, and right by a huge lake, it was so beautiful, its blue rivaled the blue sea i saw in the south of France, just a little more icey. there really isnt much in Interlarken, its not very big, but its pleasent. But its Interlarken's surrounds are what i was here for, i'm not much of a skiier, apart from doing a bit of skiing at school, i've never really done it. but i heard you can do some intense tobogganing here infact its tobogan run goes for 15km. so i got up early and after a bus ride, a train ride, another bus ride i was at Grindlewald. but there was a catch, first you had to trek up the hill pulling the toboggan behind you (the lifts only went up so far) and it took 2 and half hours to climb it. it was one of the most grueling things i think i have ever done, i was with a couple of american guys who were playing pro basketball in France (dont ask me how i keep meeting these professional sports people) and even they were struggling. there was a restaurant at the top of the mountain (i heard it was extremely expensive because they had to fly in there supplies in with helicopters!), so i was thinking at least when i get to the top i can chillout for a bit, i think i got about 3 quarters of the way and it began to really struggle. i was so high up, above the clouds in fact, then i asked some people walking down the hill if the restaurant on the top was open, trying to keep my hopes alive, but they said 'no', as soon as i heard that i couldnt be bothered climbing another 45 minutes to get to a restaurant that wasnt open, i'd been climbing for about 2 hours by this stage and i was so hot, i never expected that considering how high up i was. my shirt was drenched in sweat, so i thought, bugger it. i sat down for a moment and took in the view, it was really quite something. and i can officially say that i have heard silence. its was dead quiet up there, just me and a million dollar view. once i had caught my breath i began sledging down, and it was worth the climb. i came off a couple of times but it was fun. when i got to the second stage i stopped and had some lunch, it was possibly one of the great experiences ever. there was some party going on, people were dressed up, they were selling local food and music blaring (what is it was Europeans are that song 'heeeeeey baby (oh ah) i wanna knooooow, will you be my girl?' they love it!) and i got caught up in a conga line. the food i had was brilliant. i got this plate with pickles, baked potatoes and melted cheese, i was so good. i was thinking to myself, im at a party in the middle of the Alps eating melted cheese, does life get better than this? all in all it was a brilliant day, except that i got really burnt, and i was so sore from walking up the mountain, i found muscles that i didnt even know i had. it turns out that Interlarken is meant to be extreme sports capital, because of hits hot air pockets its meant to be a really good for paragliding, because you stay up for ages, maybe next time.
fom there i was heading to Geneva but to get there i had to change at Bern, so i figured i'd have a look around. it was snowing heavily and it was a Sunday, which translated into Europe speak means: 'Nothing open', so i didnt really get to see it in its best light. one thing that saved me from the snow was they have arcades everywhere which i thought was so clever forward thinking from when they built this place, considering how much it snows. Bern is actually the capital of Switzerland which suprised me when i saw it, it was pretty small, too small to be a capitial. the Bern town logo is of a bear and they keep one in an encloser here, he didnt want to come out and say 'hello' while i was there, it was pretty chilly and i wouldnt want to get in the way of the whole hibernation thing, i was thinking of having a sleep too after all that treking the day before.
it was hear in Bern that Albert Einstein created the famous formula E=MC2, they have a Museum about him here but it was closed so i didnt get to go. one thing i think it funny about Einstein, it seemed like the smarter he got, the crazier his hair got, maybe someone should do a thesis on that... ok, maybe not. supposidly old Einstein was a bit of a ladies man, and had a couple of illegitament children. cheeky bugger! here i am thinking he is this nice old fella who played with numbers, when it turns out he's a dirty old fella playing the field.
while i was hear i managed to find a chocolate shop open, i couldnt leave Switzerland without sampling some of the finest chocolate in the world. i had a white chocolate, one with caramel and a milk chocolate with orange. i'm usually a white chocolate person myself but the orange was my favourite, but lest face it they were all delicious! anyway after a couple of hours i had to bid farewell to Bern and catch my connecting train to Geneva.
just as i was getting used to calling roads 'Strausse' and people speaking Swiss-German they had to go and change everything to 'Rue', thats right, in Geneva they speak French.
Geneva is quite different to the rest of Switzerland, i think Geneva is definately has a lot more french flavour to it, the architecture and food in particular but even the pick pockets, i saw one guy get something taken out of his pocket while i was here, i was too far away to yell out, i never had a problem but you've got to be so careful. it seems that every man and his dog has openned up a world wide organisation here, UNICEF, United Nations, Red Cross, there all here. out the front of the United Nations building is a giant wooden chair, but with only 3 legs, the other one looks like it has blown off. its meant to be a reminder to the people in Government who visit the UN of land minds. i was surprised to hear that while i was in Bosnia, that there are still a lot of land mines around, because its 'too expensive' to get rid of them, i thought that it would be more costly to stitch a kids leg back on than it would be to remove a bomb.
i had a bit of a walk around the city, its probably a little bit bigger than Zurich but not much more, but i think they may have sprun a leak while i was here becuase there was this massive jet of water coming out of the lake area... kidding! thats the Jet d'Eau, you've probably seen it before, its one of Genevas famous landmarks. The old town is quite nice full of expensive stores and churches blah, blah, blah! you know the drill. i was looking around at all these expensive shops and walked past a few people dripping in jewelry and i was thinking to myself, i dont need any of this. money to me really isnt that important, sure its nice to have nice stuff, but i wouldn't be breaking my neck to buy a Rolex. to me money just allows me freedom to do what i want, like travel, i hate asking for money or owing people money its just not me at all.
Oh, i ran into my Argentinian friend while i was here, he was flying out of Geneva so he was staying at my hostel for a night. such a great guy, i have never laughted so much. Geneva was nice but overall it was a very business-y kind of place and after a couple of days i was quite happy to move on.
since i've been traveling in Switzerland i noticed that a lot of there buildings, mainly there homes are almost intirely made out of timber which look amazing, they really fit right in with the surroundings. some of the bigger buildings are more solid, and its not uncommon to see a fesco on the side of them. but it was the newer building i really liked. the way theyre built is almost a formula. for instance the train stations i saw were either painted white, had stainless steal somewhere, had heaps of glass, and if there was writing, it was in Helvetica or in some other nice sans serif typeface. then they would paint a part of it a bright colour like an orange or something. noticed this in Austria and Germany too, they all looked might cool by the way. but you know what, i dont think i saw a single exposed brick house, they were all rendered.
I spent alot of time in furniture and book shops while i was here, i really love good design and being here is little walking around a trendy store like 'Space' but on a really large scale. it seems like everyone here has a Charles and Ray Eames creation, mark my words, one of these days i'm going to get me an Eames Lounge Chair and ottoman thingy. some other Swiss design that you cant ignore while your here is, the Swiss army knife, they flog them everywhere, even in every hostel i stayed in! while i was here i also found a shop that sold vintage advertising posters, just like the ones i saw in Cannes, so spent plenty of time in there.
you may not have noticed, but i've been trying to find really stereotypical things about a place and see if it really exsists or not, ie: are the french really that rude? turns out, the majority are pretty good. another one for France was, do you see mimes? and sadly i have to say, no. its kind of like Myth Buster's but without blowing shit up. for me Switzerland's stereotype that i wanted to bust is, are there really Saint Bernard with barrels under there chin? turns out i didnt find any along my travels. Stereotype: BUSTED! but i didnt get very high up in the mountains so they might hang out around there.
Your probably wondering 'why did Trent make one big blog about Switzerland rather than do posts about each town he visited? well its because Switzerland is so freaking expensive that i couldn't afford to fully write each post so i had to wait until i found a place with more affordable internet. sorry about how long it is, i was doing so well too. i can't really put my finger on why this place is so expensive too, its really just another country. anyway, time to say see ya later to the Swiss and head to Bruges
Nice post Trent.
ReplyDeleteBut you shouldn't have rebuffed the man/woman - you could have got a free bed for the night.