fall break (part 2)
*edit* There were going to be pictures in this post, in order to make it not completely worthless, but Blogger is being petulant again. So you'll have to find the pics yourself over at Flickr. Sorry.
All right, so I got lazy. The rest of my vacation is old news by now. I put the pictures up on Flickr already, but I'll make an attempt to finish the story too...
All right, so I got lazy. The rest of my vacation is old news by now. I put the pictures up on Flickr already, but I'll make an attempt to finish the story too...
Zurich
Following my afternoon in Liechtenstein, I took the train on to Zurich. I more or less got off the train and fell in love with the city immediately. (It helped that a lady gave me a free bottle of shampoo not 15 minutes after I arrived. A whole bottle, too, not just a trial size.) Zurich felt, to me, very cosmopolitan, very young and hip, yet of course respectable and...the English word is failing me, but, you know, the banks and all that. Plus, Zurich has that old European feel I love: it still has a great Middle Ages Altstadt (old city), with mazes of narrow little streets, some of which are pitched so steeply they actually put stairs over on the side.
The weather was great while I was there, sunny though cold. I walked to the Zürichsee (Lake Zurich) and sat for a while soaking it in.
I'd been wanting to see Switzerland, of course, because I want to see everything, but I wasn't expecting to be as thrilled with it as I was. The only downside is that everything is really freakin expensive. That, and Swiss German is a whole different language. It's really not fair of them to call it Swiss German, cause then I feel stupid when I can't understand ANYthing. Still, it's a great language--more friendly, chatty sounding than high German.
Following my afternoon in Liechtenstein, I took the train on to Zurich. I more or less got off the train and fell in love with the city immediately. (It helped that a lady gave me a free bottle of shampoo not 15 minutes after I arrived. A whole bottle, too, not just a trial size.) Zurich felt, to me, very cosmopolitan, very young and hip, yet of course respectable and...the English word is failing me, but, you know, the banks and all that. Plus, Zurich has that old European feel I love: it still has a great Middle Ages Altstadt (old city), with mazes of narrow little streets, some of which are pitched so steeply they actually put stairs over on the side.
The weather was great while I was there, sunny though cold. I walked to the Zürichsee (Lake Zurich) and sat for a while soaking it in.
I'd been wanting to see Switzerland, of course, because I want to see everything, but I wasn't expecting to be as thrilled with it as I was. The only downside is that everything is really freakin expensive. That, and Swiss German is a whole different language. It's really not fair of them to call it Swiss German, cause then I feel stupid when I can't understand ANYthing. Still, it's a great language--more friendly, chatty sounding than high German.
Interlaken
After a day and a half or so in Zurich I went over to Interlaken to meet M. Horning and her parents. We stayed at Beatenberg Bible College, up on a mountainside above Interlaken, for the weekend. It was ridiculously beautiful. The water in the lakes is impossibly turquoise, and we found it fascinating to watch clouds and fog move through the mountains. Everything's different, up that high.
Mary and I spent our time taking Kaffee und Kuchen breaks in the afternoon and watching The Lord of the Rings in German with two of the students living at the college.
Then I went home with the Hornings, by way of France (drove just over the border and ate some French pastry) and Heidelberg (looked at the castle and ate Chinese food). I saw the inner workings of the Army base in Gießen (north of Frankfurt) and went to Mary's German class with her. We also took a couple little side trips to see the Münzenberg castle and the city of Marburg.
It was a bit strange getting back to Berlin, since I'd only been here three weeks before leaving for two. At first I felt like Berlin might just be the next stop on my vacation. But I'm back into the usual routine by now. I'll tell you more about it later.
Mary and I spent our time taking Kaffee und Kuchen breaks in the afternoon and watching The Lord of the Rings in German with two of the students living at the college.
Then I went home with the Hornings, by way of France (drove just over the border and ate some French pastry) and Heidelberg (looked at the castle and ate Chinese food). I saw the inner workings of the Army base in Gießen (north of Frankfurt) and went to Mary's German class with her. We also took a couple little side trips to see the Münzenberg castle and the city of Marburg.
It was a bit strange getting back to Berlin, since I'd only been here three weeks before leaving for two. At first I felt like Berlin might just be the next stop on my vacation. But I'm back into the usual routine by now. I'll tell you more about it later.
Labels: travels
