The Road to Switzerland

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Today's drive was going to be the longest driving day of the tour. We left Paris for Lucerne, Switzerland. Sitting on the coach for such a long period of time is like hell and we tried to pass the time by listening to our IPOD's, reading a book, but mostly we used the time to catch up on some sleep. Me, Amy, and Patrice tried to kill some time by playing Poker. We all knew we were in Switzerland when the landscape became much more rugged, mountainous, and greener. You could just tell by looking at the cars and the homes that the Swiss enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in the world. While stopped at a rest stop, one of our tour mates, Mandy from Toronto left her wallet including her passport. She didn't realize it until we were far from the rest stop and by then it was too late to turn back. Thankfully, Matt phoned the rest stop where they still had her wallet and arranged for someone to drive her back once we arrived in Lucerne. She was in tears and we all felt bad for her. I know I would probably be freaking out as well. A lesson to learn I guess- Keep track of your wallet and passport at all times! We arrived in Lucerne and the first thing we did was to get dropped off in front of a few shops so we can shop for Swiss watches and army knives. Matt recommended a few shops and the symbiotic relationship between tour manager and the shops was so irritatingly obvious. Everyone seemed to buy a watch or army knife for folks back home. I was just content looking around as I had already purchased these things on my last visit. All I really wanted to do was to find a bathroom, which turned out to be a chore in itself.
We walked over to the river where the beauty of Switzerland becomes apparent. The fresh air, snow capped mountains, and the clean quaint streets really hit me as I was standing there alongside the river. We played with a few of the swans and Suzanne insisted that one of the swans was trying to imitate a ballerina. We walked across the Chapel Bridge which is one of Lucerne's main attractions. I lagged behind everyone else in the group just trying to soak in as much as possible. We all pretty much figured this was going to be one of the spots where we were going to chill out and relax. Little did we know that this was going to be the first of many major party nights. Back on the coach, we headed over to our hotel. Tonight's hotel was not too bad, much better than the previous two hotels. Patrice and I had a decent size room with enough space and a good view of the surrounding mountains and the street below. At dinner, Patrice and I sat with Rebecca and Julie, 2 friends traveling together from Australia. After dinner we all got ready for our nighttime boat cruise around Lake Lucerne. Once we all boarded our little boat, it became quite obvious that this cruise wasn't going to be about enjoying the sights as it was already dark by this time. This cruise was going to be all about having a few drinks and getting to know the others in the group. We cruised around the lake and were given some information about the surrounding sights, as if anybody was able see anything. We all just sat around having beers, chatting, and taking photos. After about 4 beers, the cruised ended and we all disembarked. Matt led us over to a local bar where we were going to hang out for awhile before heading over to a club. First things first, I headed over to the bar and got myself a vodka tonic, one of many that I would have tonight. As I sat there, some local guy started talking to me about what I was doing here in Switzerland. Then he started asking some personal questions. I hope he wasn't hitting on me! Needless to say, I rejoined our group. We all just sat around a few tables talking and when the music starting playing we started to dance a bit. I think Me, Patrice, Amy, and Suzanne were the first ones up which kind of got everyone else to get up off their feet. At this point, I was pretty drunk and while trying to get low on the dance floor, I dropped my vodka tonic and the glass shattered all over the floor. It was quite embarrassing as I was beginning to resemble the obnoxious American tourist everyone loves to hate. I looked over at the other side of the bar and it looked like everyone was just staring at us. We all continued to dance for a bit before making our way over to a club. We didn't have to walk too far before we arrived at the club. It was pretty dead and since we already had a few drinks in us, we all pretty much headed straight for the dance floor. Good times for the next 2 hours as we danced away and drank more. A few potential hookups for the night eventually started to form. We all left and most of us were pretty drunk or very buzzed. Rob was completely out of it. He stood in the middle of the street and just started to vomit standing straight up. It was pretty groce and this seemed to trigger my need to vomit. I bent over the side of the road and started to gag but nothing came out. We started to walk back to the hotel when we saw a pizza place that was closing up. We all invaded and purchased a slice. Nothing beats pizza when you're drunk except maybe Del Taco. While walking back, Amy was shit upon by some bird above in a tree. She didn't even notice it until I pointed it out. We were all laughing hysterically after that. Back at the hotel at who knows what time to call it a night!!!

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