Switzerland to Israel – Day 6

July 27, 2012

Today I unfortunately had to say goodbye to Switzerland and the Empting family, to whom I give my greatest thanks.

I truly had a wonderful time. I arrived at the airport far two early, and so with two hours to kill, bought an unnamed magazine, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Once I boarded the plane and found my seat, 29G I realized what I good choice I had made at check in. I had the emergency seat with no passenger next to me and so could stretch out my legs the full way! As everyone else boarded, the flight attendant stood next to me in the extra space and we had a most enjoyable conversation. He was a french national working for swiss airlines and could speak a whopping seven languages fluently. Thus, each time he passed to offer food or drink we attempted to play out our interactions in a different language. On another note the plane food was actually delicious, though no photos this time.

Landing in Israel I immediately felt at home. Walking through the terminals and even going through passport control felt entirely natural. I soon caught a sherut (large public taxi) to Jerusalem from the airport, on which I helped an American ex-birthright girl find her way around.

Once I dropped my belongings off at my cousins, I took off to Beit Yehuda, where my brother and, close friend Sarah Silverberg, were staying. Unfortunately though I had not informed him when I would be arriving, my brother Adi was hardly surprised to see me. With an exam the following day on medical words in hebrew, I left them relatively early only to have to wait for forty minutes for the bus back home to arrive. A late night, soon to be followed by a reasonably early morning.

Switzerland

Favorite Food: Raclette & Chocolate Gipfle
Favorite Language: French
Best Attraction: Luzerne
Best New Friend: Lena & Joi
Best Feature: Natural Beauty

Ranking: ☆☆☆☆☆

The Alps – Day 5

July 25, 2012

It’s about time to describe the breakfasts I have been having every morning. They are some of the most lavish I have had in my life, replete with berries, cheeses, breads, cereals, drinks, fruits and jams. Of particular note are the cheeses visible in the photo, ranging from Tete de Moine (as in the below video), to Gorgonzola, to Brie.

The breakfast spread was positively delicious and was eaten for all five days I was there!

Each morning we consumed a good punnet of raspberries alongside a good few blueberries too! Also available were currents of both the red and black varieties. It was also at the various breakfasts that I discovered a real liking of swiss pastries, from the buttery gipfle to the brioche. Zopf, Swiss Sunday bread, somewhat like challah is delicious too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today was my last full day in Switzerland and it was spent traversing the Swiss country side, the highlight of which was a trip to the Alps! As it was Summer, the Emptings and I were prepared for at worst some cloudy weather. Unfortunately for us, fate had other plans and we faced a windy barrage of raindrops, pelting us as we caught the chairlift to the summit of one of the mountains. As we walked back down, we came across a little cafe which we entered for shelter. I tried a traditional Swiss drink, the Rumpunch, a very sweet, syrupy, hot drink. I didn’t like it much.

 

Exiting we saw a rare sight: wild eidelweiss growing on the side of the road. I of course took photographic evidence and was then informed by the Emptings that it was in fact illegal to take flowers away from the Alps, and so left it there.

On the way back to Zurich we drove via a town called Elm, that was completely annihilated by a rockfall caused by over mining the mountain nearby. If you look closely in the photo below you can see where they fell from. The fall left only two survivors, who were up on the hill that day, in contrast to most of the village that was engaged in some celebration. Elm was rebuilt and is home to a factory producing some famous Swiss drink whose name escapes me, but is milk based (and awful too!)

The evening was spent back in Baden, with both Carmen and Eva, and we whiled away the hours recalling the times we’ve had together and the mischief we’ve all gotten up to since.

 

Luzern – Day 3

July 22, 2012

As you can see below, the afternoon started with a visit to Sprungli Zurich to pick up a few choice items (will be posted later). After that it was time to drive for a good forty-five minutes!

Following that it was off to visit a beautiful cathedral/monastery of the reformed church, where I learnt about the reformation under the three different leaders; Calvin, Luther and Zwingli. I also drank some of the holy water and am feeling much enlightened. As we came out of the monastery, it started to rain and a couple taking their wedding photo’s was unamused (see photo).

Off we went again, driving another forty-five minutes to the beautiful city of Luzern (Lucerne) where my favorite music artist, Regina Spektor, was playing for the Blue Balls music festival. Much to my dismay, her only performance was on Friday night and thus I had to give it a miss!

A major tourist attraction of Luzern is the chapel bridge (pictured below with the flowers) and the old city walls and towers. Both of these were visited promptly, before settling for a little lunch. Of note in the city is the beautiful tolling of the bells.

Shabbat comes in really late in Switzerland, as the sky barely darkens in summer till well past 7PM. Thus with plenty of time, Eva’s parent’s took us by surprise and brought us to the bar at the top of Prime Tower Zurich, the tallest building in the city. I should mention too that in Switzerland I drank an awful lot of alcohol compared to usual, as it seemed to be drunk with every meal.

Dinner was delicious raclette, a swiss specialty of cheese melted over various vegetables at the table! Served, as per usual with a stout glass of wine. Again, I needed a relatively early night.