Swiss Cheese and French Fries

Zermatt

After our time in Italy we travelled north to Switzerland. Our first destination in Switzerland was Zermatt, a ski resort city overlooking the monstrous Matterhorn mountain. Being big on skiing, Zermatt didn’t have much to offer in terms of museums or indoor activities. But our purpose in going to Switzerland was the Swiss Alps and we spent most of our time hiking. The first day we were out hiking for about 3.5 hours and the second day around 6 hours. The legs were really feeling it when we got done! In this first Swiss stop, we discovered the expensiveness of Switzerland. Food was twice as expensive as in the states and even the trains were more expensive. The Swiss are surrounded by different languages (Italian, French, German, etc.) so signs and labels usually had at least three languages on them. One other note of Zermatt was its use of electric cars. To reduce carbon emissions and increase visibility of the mountains, you cannot drive gas powered cars in the city.

Stream that runs through Zermatt

Hiking!

Matterhorn Mountain

Vevey

In planning our trip, it made more sense to stay in southern Switzerland that to head north to cities like Basel, Bern, or Zurich. So from Zermatt we went to Vevey, a middle-sized city along Lake Geneva. Planning Vevey for one day was with the intention that it would be a city we could stop through on our way to Geneva but we found that the area has enough to spend a solid week there. The cities on the northeast side of Lake Geneva work together to give free transportation between them so Brian and I started in Vevey by leaving Vevey with a train up into wine country were we saw thousands of potential grape veins. We walked back down the mountain to Vevey and ran across the headquarters of Nestle before going east to the city of Montreux by train. From Montreux we checked out the Castle “Chillon” which is the best castle I’ve been to in Europe. We also saw statues of Freddy Mercury and Charlie Chaplain who both finished their careers along Lake Geneva in Montreux and Vevey. Vevey turned out to be my favorite city in Switzerland for it’s small size but great view of the lake and surrounding mountains.

Vevey, Switzerland

Chillon Castle

Lake Geneva with the castle over my right shoulder

Geneva

The next morning we went to Geneva which is one of the biggest cities in Switzerland. We only had a half of a day in Geneva because our train to Paris would be leaving at 4pm. I really only wanted to see some monuments and pieces to the Reformation in Geneva and  I got to all of the things I had hoped for. We saw the cathedral of St. Peter where John Calvin gave sermons and walked around the campus of the college Calvin founded. There is a massive monument with the nickname “Reformation Wall” that depicts major role players in the Reformation. We didn’t do much else in Geneva except lounge around and play giant chess in the park. We caught our 3.5 hour train ride to Paris and spent the evening of the April 5 finding our hostel from the train station and getting some sleep.

Reformer John Calvin's chair

Lunch in a park while playing giant checkers

Jet d'eau fountain in Geneva

Paris, France

The big city of Paris was a big finish to our long European vacation. Brian and I spent three full days in the city, which allowed for us to settle a little bit and buy food ahead instead of buy food day to day. On Friday the 6^th we spent the day in Europe’s most popular museum, the Louvre. When I saw “the day”, I mean it. I could’ve easily spent weeks in the maze of that museum but was limited to just over five hours. In the evening I went to the cathedral of Notre Dame for Good Friday service. The next day we followed the river east through Paris, passing by the Arc de Triomphe, the Army Museum, the Grand Palace, and the Palace de Chaillot. We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower and ate our packed-lunch in the Eiffel, overlooking all of Paris. To finish the day, we waiting for almost two hours to make sure we made it into Notre Dame for the Easter vigil mass. At almost three hours long, Easter vigil in French celebrated by a Cardinal (Andre Vingt-Trois) in a packed Notre Dame was unreal. Our last day, Easter Sunday, we went to the Pere Lachaise cemetery to see the graves of Oscar Wilde, Jim Morrison, Chopin, and others. An hour walk north led us to a basilica on a hill nicknamed the Paris Taj Mahal that gave us a glimpse of the city from a different perspective. To finish our last night in Paris, we laid on the grassy park gazing at the Eiffel Tower lit up at night. To fulfill the Pulp Fiction line, I ate at McDonald’s and ordered a “Royal with cheese” – a quarter pounder with cheese. Oh and French don't claim fries to be theirs. On the last day I had a crepe, the first in my life. I feel like I’ll be impartial to French crepes for the rest of my life.

Notre Dame cathedral

Does this need a caption?

I guess this one doesn't either

Outside the Lourve

To conclude the post, I thought I would share with you five things I’ve missed a lot during my Easter break travels. 

1. Family - Easter without family just feels weird and sad.

2. White's Dining - Scrounging for food everyday got tiring so campus food sounds really good. 

3. Clothes - We didn't have much room for a wardrobe so Brian and I lived off of one pair of jeans and 6 shirts each. 

4. Showers - Having clean and large showers weren't an option in hostels, and in Paris our hostel ran out of towels so Brian and I decided to go completely natural for the last four days of the trip. Don't judge me. 

5. My bed - My bed back in Goddard is amazing but sleeping on a two inch thick mattress with a pillow the size of a baby made me miss my bed back in Chester. 

But with the limitation of all of these things has come a greater appreciation for them. Showering, changing clothes, food at all, a nice bed to sleep in, and a loving family aren't common commodities to everyone in the world. This trip has shown me how blessed I am and that the little things, like a nice pillow, are never to be looked past.