Matterhorn.....Take Two!!!

Well we attempted to visit the Matterhorn earlier this week and it just didn't work out. We went to Zermatt, where the Matterhorn is located, and it was so cold and foggy that we couldn't see anything. I mean nothing, not even a hint of the mountain was visible. So now that we are into our free days Matt and I decided to give it one more shot. And it was so worth it!! It was a gorgeous day, not a cloud in the sky! We spent more time on the train getting there, than we actually spent in Zermatt, but it was worth it to me. It seems like if you are going to be in Switzerland then you should see the Matterhorn while you are there. Others may not agree with me, but I don't care. I thought it was an incredible sight to see!








This was the first attempt to see the Matterhorn. Not a whole lot to write home about.
















This was attempt number two! Obviously a much better day! So glad I got to see it!

Yvoire!!

So today we went to France!! It was just across Lake Geneva, so it wasn't too far, but now I can say I went to France. So that's cool. Yvoire was a cute little town with lots of shops and naked old ladies laying out of the dock trying to get a tan. Matt and I were really thrown off when we saw this old lady just roll down the top part of her one piece swimsuit to tan her upper half. It was like a train wreck, we just couldn't look away!! Yikes!! We spent quite a bit of time in Yvoire, but before that we were in a little town called Nyon. That is still in Switzerland. There we got a kebab. Which isn't meat on a skewer if that is what you are thinking. It is this awesome sandwich with mystery meat (I find it better not to ask what I am eating over here, it just makes it easier) and lettuce and tomato and carrots and chili sauce and other things and it is amazing!! The chili sauce a was a little spicy for me so I had Matt go and fill our camelback with water at the fountain nearby. Unfortunately, Matt can be a little bit of a klutz and he spilled water on this lady that was sitting near the fountain eating her lunch. She was not impressed with Matt and said a few choice words to him. Lucky for us, we didn't understand a word she said! Good times!

Cowbells

So today was our first free day since we arrived in Switzerland. It was kind of weird not having a set schedule. Usually we are constantly looking at the clock to make sure we aren't late to something. Most the time we don't even know what we are late to, but we know we are late. So it really threw us off this morning to wake up and not have anywhere to be. So we were pretty lazy the first part of the day. I read a lot in my book and we just kind of hung around until about noon or so. By then we were all getting a little antsy to get outside, so Matt and I and our roomies Jackson and Eliza decided that we would go for a walk to Aigle. Which is about a 30 minute train ride from Leysin where we are staying. We walked for about an hour and realized that Aigle was really far away. So we went back up a little ways and took the train down. No need to walk anymore than we have to. Since that is all we do every other day. During our walk we passed this herd of cows. You know at first you think it is kind of cute and fun to see all the cows with their cowbells on, well you are wrong. It is like a really obnoxious off-key wind chime that never stops. You keep expecting it stop and it doesn't. At first I didn't really even notice the cowbells, but once I did that is all I could hear. Surprisingly I got a little annoyed with the cowbells and was glad to reach the train station and block out the noise. Once we reached Aigle we took a little walk around town and went to this medieval neighborhood, where all the building are very old. And of course there is a castle there. So we went to the castle and had a look around. There are so many castles that some of them have been turned into museums and tourist attractions. So the castle we went to was a wine museum and we could buy glasses of wine for six francs and keep the glass. It was really tempting to do this and then we remembered, oh yeah we don't drink wine. So we didn't do that. But the museum was actually kind of interesting. We saw some really huge wine casks!! They could probably fit my whole living room inside of one of them. My living room isn't that big. It was a fun little castle and it was cool to see the vineyards up close. They sure do put a lot of work into the vineyards. It didn't look like fun to me, but maybe they enjoy it! Overall it was a good day! Nice to relax a little.

Euro 2008

Well we went to Sion today. It was really cool, but we were there for a long time. A little too long in my opinion. Today is the first day of the Euro 2008 Cup. People over here are nuts over soccer and are so excited for the tournament. There were people dressed in all sorts of crazy gear, and traveled for a while just to get to a place that you could watch the game on a big screen. Not even to be at the actual game. I love it!
While we were in Sion today we went to this really old Basilica (church) where we had the opportunity to have a private organ concert on the oldest playable organ in the world. It was really neat to be able to listen to the old style of organ. I liked to sit and imagine what kinds of events it had played for over the years that it has been around.
While we were in downtown Sion they were having a sidewalk celebration. There were street performers and vendors all over the place. It was really fun to just people watch and observe the culture over here. It is really hard not knowing the language. We don't understand what people are saying and they don't understand us. I don't know why that is surprising to me, but I guess I kind of expected more people to know English. Ignorant American, I know. Despite the fact that we can't talk to anyone, other than the people in our group, we are loving it here. It is gorgeous and we can't wait to see more of this awesome country!!

We are finally here!!

Switzerland!! What a beautiful country! So we left Salt Lake on Sunday morning at about 7:15. And we arrived in Zurich on Monday morning at about 8:30. We traveled all through the night. It was a long trip and I am already not looking forward to the return trip home! When we got into Zurich we still ended up having to take a 3 hour bus ride from Zurich to Leysin, which is where we are staying. As soon as we got to Leysin we checked into our hotel and had some lunch, then we had to get down to business. We went to the ATM and got some Swiss Francs, so colorful! and the we went and activated our rail passes. Doesn't sound too hard, except for that the train station is at the top of a very steep hill. It totally rocked my world! After that we continued hiking up the mountain to this lookout over Lake Geneva. It was really beautiful, but we were all so tired that we had a hard time really taking it all in. After the jet-lag wears off, hopefully soon, we should be able to really enjoy all the wonderful things around us. Here are a few pics of our first day here. Enjoy!!