Blog 6 FRANCE!!! May 28th

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To be perfectly honest, I did not sleep well last night. I was still so angry and in shock of not being able to access my bank in Europe. Not to mention, watching everyone book their tickets to Paris was majorly depressing! I had some breakfast and the stuffed my suitcases full of things from the room. We travelled to Hergiswill, Switzerland to visit the Hergiswill Glass Factory. This was an amazing factory! There was lots of history in this factory. The men who worked there were barely paid any money, and they always owed their boss money when they would get a credit. They also worked under dangerous conditions. After the tour of the glass factory, we got the chance to visit two of the glass shops; one was discounted and the other wasn't. I really wanted to get my mom something here, but of course, I had no money! That was really depressing. I don't mean to sound emo or anything, but, being in a foreign country with no money and everyone else has money just makes you feel like crap. Anyway, I saw lot of neatly crafted items such as a leaf, star, ornaments, etc. There was even a maze that you could go through to get a sneak peak of the glass factory and different items you could play with. I wouldn't say that the Hergiswill is a tourist attraction. The really cool thing about the shop is that you can blow your own glass, but you are really only blowing it into a ball. I think the Hergiswill glass factory is a nice attraction in town, but I don't think that people would come here just for the glass. You can pick up some nice decorations, and I think that the glass factory is a great tourist attraction during the Christmas season. I am sure thousands of people come to get Christmas gifts and such. It is also a great place to have a field trip as well because of the tour you get.

After the glass factory we went to Lucerne to have 2 hours to shop and eat lunch. I started off with a group of people, but I ended up by myself. It's like one moment you are with people, then you turn around and they are gone. I didn't mind it. The only bad part is that I had no money. I had about 15 Swiss Franks on me and that was it! Still being upset and angry, I just went to McDonalds and got a cheap meal, well cheap compared to the other meals; $6 for a double cheeseburger and small french frie isn't really cheap. I walked around for a little while, and then I bought some gummy bears and that candy shop. They had the biggest lolipop!! It had to be like 2 or 3 feet tall! Afterwards, I walked into a bookstore to mainly use th restroom. I looked around and found some english books. I found this book call "The Other" by David Gutterson. The book is about two friends who look alike and live two different lifes as they get older. It cost about $8 so I bought it. That was the last of my money!! I decided that I would start reading my book by Lake Lucerne and wait for everyone else to show up. Arabella said to meet by the boats. But then I realized, there are boats everywhere!! I was standing there, but I didn't see anyone. For about 10-15 minutes, I am freaking out histerically because I could not find anyone. I asked someone where the boats met, and she said on the other side so I started to walk that way, and I ran into the group. Phew! I was so happy, and then we headed to our next tour.

We walked about 10 minutes and we were at the "Hotel Palace Luzern". This is a 5 star hotel in Lucerne. We got a tour of the hotel, and mingled with a few of the employees. The hotel was very nice, the rooms were amazing! The suite had it's own living room and a TV that rises up so you can watch TV in bed. Something that was different about this hotel that is different from the others, is that you can rent the banquet room without being a guest or spending the night. The Victoria Jungfrau made you get rooms to stay while Hotel Palace Luzern did not. Also, the hotel had original marble floors and a contemporary look. Also, this hotel had seasonal employees, especially during the music festival in September and October. The hospitality in this hotel was nice.

After this tour, we loaded on the bus and we are headed to Strasbourg. This was a 3 hour bus ride! The scenary was nice though. We arrive at the Chateau de Pourtales and we put our luggage down and we have dinner. We had salad, this chicken and I had tiramasu!! It was amazing!! By far the best! We finished eating dinner then Arabella gave us a tour of the hotel. Apparantly there is a ghost here named Melanie or something like that. The hotel seemed very creepy!!! However, I got my own room so I was excited!! This place is like something out of a movie! Oh well, I went to bed and I slept wonderfully!

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