every country or bust!
from lucerne, switzerland, i went up nearby mount pilatus! there are options to take a series of cable cars, or a cog-wheel railway, or one up and the other down, which is recommended. the cog-wheel railway is the steepest in the world! at the summit, there are hiking trails and many different viewpoints. sadly it started to rain heavily once i got up there, but it was still amazing!
my second day in zurich, at ann’s urging, i took a quick and very efficient train ride to nearby lucerne. it too has a very nice old city, and a famous wooden covered pedestrian bridge in the center of town.
i had just under two days in zurich en route to saudi arabia, and it was great. i walked around the very nice old city, seeing many churches, such as fraumunster church, which has stained glass windows made by marc chagall, and grossmunster cathedral, which has a belltower one can ascend for some nice views. in the afternoon i went to zurich baths and thermal spa, which is a wellness destination housed in a former brewery. there were no pictures allowed inside, but you’ll have to believe me when i say it was amazing and very much worth the swiss entry price. there was a rooftop thermal infinity pool where i watched the sun set over the zurich skyline!
i perused kunsthaus, zurich’s major art museum, as it was free the day i was there. nice, but in my view not worth the $40 typical admission on a normal day.
i had a another layover in geneva, switzerland. i got to spend some time with my friend joel, and it was great to catch up as it had been a few years since i saw him last! we walked around the city, saw the united nations headquarters, and he took me on a tour of the university where he is getting his phd – the graduate institute.
i had one final day with a car before leaving italy, and liechtenstein was was a nearby country i had never been to, so of course it beckoned irresistibly! liechtenstein is a doubly land-locked micronation nestled between switzerland and austria. i drove through switzerland to get there, which ultimately took significantly longer than expected as the road was narrow and it was heavily snowing in the high mountain passes. one can buy a swiss motorway vignette for a rental car allowing travel on swiss expressways which would have made the journey much faster, but i decided i didn’t want to spend the money just for one day. some amazing scenery on the long drive though! i finally got to liechtenstein at about 4pm and explored the capital of vaduz a little. it is a fascinating principality which has impressively managed to maintain its independence for many centuries. there is a national castle perched on the mountain where the royal family still lives, and hosts annual parties for local graduating high school seniors, etc. there is also a famous covered bridge connecting the country to switzerland.
after all that driving i needed some r&r, so i went to the nearby swiss town of bad ragaz to experience their amazing thermal spa pools called termino. the admission is a bit pricey, but worth every cent. there is an indoor and outdoor thermal pool with jets and fountains, and it was raining outside and it was glorious.
i then went even further into the spa and found an amazing outdoor sauna center, with about ten different types of saunas and steam rooms surrounded an idyllic central courtyard, each varying in heat and humidity levels. all participants were required to be naked; when initially i was unaware of this rule i was yelled at in german by a staff member until i complied. every hour on the hour there was a german aufguss sauna ritual! ritual goers including me silently congregated in the sauna at the correct time, claiming our spot. the sauna rock heater was then turned to maximum, and german deep house music blasted through the speakers as a bodybuilder sauna master entered the room, wearing only a small towel (to differentiate him from the rest of us). as the german deep house tunes intensified, he ceremonially crushed essential oil-soaked ice onto the central sauna rocks, which immediately turned to hot steam and infused the room with scents of eucalyptus, mint and licorice in succession. after each new essence, he moved about the room whipping a towel in the air, blowing hot air and scent onto skin. each lasted about 20 minutes, and at the end there was a rush for the ice-cold outdoor showers because everyone was so close to passing out from the heat and the epicness. i went to a few of these, and it was amazing!
after spain, i headed to the good ‘ol usa for three weeks! my sister and her three congenial roommates in harrisburg, pa were kind enough to let me sleep in their living room! it was a lot of fun to meet some really nice new people in the english language again! frequented subway (like every single day), chipotle, walmart and the local ymca – a highlight was zumba class! lots of studying. crashed a random church christmas potluck where i made some new friends! my sister and i ate an amazing amish meal communally with some random strangers! what is it about america and all the highlights invariably centering around food? nostalgically drove my old car around rural pennsylvania in the middle of the night with country music cranked. driving cars- that might be one of the things i miss most about that side of the world. i had to fly back on christmas eve to be at school on time. christmas day i spent wandering the deserted streets of geneva, switzerland, cold and alone. it wasn’t the end of the world though. considering that geneva is surrounded by france, i decided to use the day to walk to france to blow my remaining euros on a turkish doner for lunch. then back to school!
my dad and i stopped in bern, switzerland while riding trains around europe.
my dad and i stopped in geneva while riding trains around europe.
