Europe Day SIX

We had a crazy day today.  We got up on time for once.  At breakfast the cheese tasted and smelled like a chemical I used in biotech.  We also tried this cracker thing that tasted like cardboard and this cereal stuff. We then drove about an hour to Lucerne.  We took a walking tour and saw the old, beautiful buildings.  In Switzerland they paint windows on their buildings to make them symmetrical.  Half of the Windows are fake.  We saw the Famous Swiss Bridge.  It is a really cool bridge.  The bridge is made of wood with many baskets of flowers on the edge.  As you walk through the bridge, there is paintings on the ceiling depicting everyday activities from the time period the bridge was originally built.  It was burned down though, and later restored costing 2 million francs. Some of the original paintings also were restored, but many were lost.  We also went to this old church and from the outside, you would never guess the interior.  It was so gorgeous.  There was pastel yellow and pink decorations with a lot of gold. In the church the organ is at the back of the building. Someone is always in there playing it and filling the building with spiritual music.  After that we finally got to walk across the bridge.  We had free time for about 40 minutes and in that time we had to eat lunch.  Ashy and I went to pick up the knives we ordered for our families.  We then looked around because I really want to buy a swatch in Switzerland. We still had to find lunch because if we didn’t the food at the top of Mount Pilatus was around 30 Francs for one meal.  We found a place that was like a little sandwich shop.  I got a chicken avocado sandwich.  We found a little staircase to sit and eat in.  We were eating, and just talking and enjoying the view and a little bird came up.  Now is my time to freak out.  I don’t do birds.  Ash kept feeding it and it kept coming back. But as we left, I left some because he got scared away.  It was now time to meet the group.  Of course, we got way lost and turned around.  Turns out we were at the cities center not the edge.  We were 15 minutes late.  Oh great! We are dead meat.  We asked a construction guy if he knew English and he did, He gave us directions and then we started running.  He ran after us and said that there is another shop just like the one we were looking for the other way, so we ran that way.  We finally found it and got on the train.  We got a nice lecture, and lets just say no one was happy with us.  Then we headed back to Mount Pilatus and rode a ski lift type thing to the top.  While we were in the lift, it started raining and it was starting to get really chilly.  After we got to the top of the ski lift, we hopped onto the Gondola and went to the very top of the Swiss Alps. The Gondola fit most of our group.  As we were going up that it started to snow.  YAYYY! NOT! I am sick of the snow.  We just left the snow, us Utah kids.  We got to the top and went into the hotel up there.  We were given 2 hours to explore outside the Alps and hike on some of the trails up there.  Well considering it was snowing me and Ash looked at the Souvenirs and guess what I found….YES….a Swatch that I loved!  It is really cool and unique.  Then we decided to go outside and go in this little cave.  Turns out it was a giant pathway.  We followed, it had cuts in the rock for windows so you could see all the Alps.  We took tons of cute pictures but we also froze in the process.  It was seriously freezing.  We got super high and the view was so pretty.  You could see down and look at the fields and rocks.  You couldn’t see the bottom though because it was really foggy.  We got to the very tippy top and took a picture to prove we were there.  Then we started heading down so we weren’t late.  It was amazing to see the view.  When we made it all around and down the mountain we bought a postcard and switched money to change so we could have all the Swiss Franc coins.  Next on the list, we rode down the worlds steepest cogtrain.  It was cool to say that I have been on it and to see the mountain going down like you were walking. The view is outstanding! The weird thing about the Alps is, as you go down, its like you pass through all 4 seasons.  It is really weird.  We got to the bottom and found this cute little pier to wait for the boat to come and get us to take us back to Lucerne.  It was so peaceful to just walk on the boardwalk, sit at the end and just take in the country.  This whole place looks like a fairytale storybook.  It is also indescribable as most things in Europe are.  While we were waiting Ash fed a swan some baggette right out of her hand.  Talk about disgusting.  We walked a little more and the boat finally came.  We got on and sat against a wall so we could have a back rest. We swore that the wall had heaters in it, because it was so warm.  We asked Domitrious what language he thinks in and he said English.  Which is weird because that is the last language he learned.  We also asked about travel and he told us the places he’d gone.  We also got up and saw the steam engine.  You could see all the gears working as we were going.  They weren’t covered or anything.  Ash and I went to the very front where it was way windy and hard to walk.  Domitrious wanted to get up and walk so we went back to save the seats.  Then we just sailed peacefully talking and looking at the town.  Ash fell asleep and I tapped her to wake up and she said, “Why did you hit me?” I said to wake you up. Then she fell asleep again! I woke her up and she said, “I was thinking about braiding my hair, but then I pulled it” and she fell asleep again.  So I woke her up for the third time and I was just busting up laughing she was way confused and it all happened in a matter of 2 minutes.  I couldn’t even tell her the story I was laughing so hard.  We got back to Lucerne and had free time.  We went back to the knife shop to fix Ash’s brothers name cause it was spelled wrong, bought a few more souvenirs, and Swiss chocolate! Yum! I love Mocha Chocolate so much.  We just pretty much killed time and met back with the group, got on the bus and went back to the hotel for dinner.  I totally passed out! Then…for dinner we started with carrot soup.  I was hesitant to try it, but it was really good.  Then we had some rice which was good, the mystery meat again ): and a stuffed tomato.  For dessert it was this ice cream stuff and this is what people in my group said it tasted like: pepper, soap, orange, lemon, bitter, ice cream, cool whip, nasty.  Let’s just say it was super weird obviously and I hated it.  After we went to our rooms, repacked, and got ready to head to Germany in the morning.