alping it up

---

My apologies for the curtness of the last few blogs, it's been a rough few days where I had to remind myself that I was on holiday and supposed to be having fun. Sometimes coming up with a "stay positive" mantra is harder than people give it credit. But hey, Switzerland has calmed my soul - and I've just finished paying an arm (not the leg too, just an arm) for internet that will last me until I leave here - so away we go!

As a side note I find it hilarious that the only way I know what days of the week to put here is by checking the calendar where I have the places I'm supposed to be blocked off. That's the best part of being on holiday I guess - doesn't really matter what day of the week it is, you just giv'r until the sun goes down (or you're exhausted) and move on to the next day.

Friday - Post blog I stayed up chatting with a few of the people in my hostel and found out one of them is a French Olympic sprinter (he does the 100 and the 200 dash). A hilarious personality who refused to give me his name, all he would say was, "when you watch the Olympic games, you will know it is me." Right, sure... Headed to bed later than intended and said goodnight to the older French woman (from Marseille) sleeping in the bunk below me who insisted that it was easier for me to get into the top bunk than her. Right, whatever - I managed. Was just on the cusp of sleep (around 3am) when the four girls from Finland came crashing into the room. They flicked on all the lights and began talking at full volume, they also took turns going to the shower and slammed the door while entering and exiting the room. After about a half hour the woman below me lost it on them, she flung back her covers and came out of the bed on the verge of screaming. The catch? The Finnish girls don't speak a word of French (English sure) and the woman doesn't speak a word of English (French absolutely), neat. I listened to the screaming match for about ten minutes before climbing down and playing translator. Fifteen minutes later the light was out and everyone was in bed - ridiculous I tell you. Woke up late and scrambled out of bed to shower, eat, and pack to be out the door by 10am. Got on the bus, made it to the train station - stood in line for 2 hours to get my tickets for the night train. Now, the catch? The train was leaving Nice at 7:45pm, I had to get off in Mulhouse at 6:40 and catch a train to Basel and then a train from Basel to Luzern. This is not an issue for any other country, in France? Big problem. I can make my reservation for the night train in line A, but because the other two tickets are technically for the following day I have to go stand in line B for another 3-4 hours. Ummm, bite me. Locked up my stuff and headed down to the beach, I figured I'd take my chances that the two early morning trains would be empty. Wandered la vielle ville for a few hours, bought some incredible fruit, bread, and cheese at the market - then sat myself down in the shade for a picnic and some people watching. Nice was gearing up for the Ironman competition (which took place on Sunday) - the crowd around there was amazing. Athletes from all over the world of all shapes and sizes, watching some of them train around the shores was fascinating. Now, I was wearing sunscreen but that didn't really seem to matter to my body - while sitting in the shade I managed to scorch my legs something good. Feeling the burn and exhausted from the heat I made my way into town to track down some aloe vera lotion. The pharmacist at the counter who sold me the product gave me a good 20 minute lecture about sun health and sun safety, it was like having another mom right there in France. Headed back to the train station and puttered around that part of the neighborhood before finding a pharmacy that could fix my cane! 2€ and a giant smile later grandma was back in action!

Climbed on the night train only to realize that my stop was 2 hours and 4 stops short of our final destination. The fun part of night trains? After 11pm they turn off all the lights in the sleeping compartments and stop announcing each station, which generally means you have to guess as to what is going on. Due to nervousness as to the stop situation I didn't book a couchette, which turns out to have been a good idea because my cell phone/alarm clock died and I wouldn't have been able to wake myself on time anyways. The fun thing about the French and long distance trains? They all smoke too much, meaning whenever there's a stop everyone piles out on to the "non-smoking" platform and lights up. The biggest/strongest guy generally stands guard on the stairs watching down the tracks to see when the conductor gets back into the engine car, when that happens everyone tosses their cigarettes down onto the tracks and clambers back in. Our "look out" generally holds the door open (against the mechanism of the train) to make sure everyone makes it back inside - hilarious. I was awake for almost the entire ride and spent a good 45 minutes camped out beside the door with three other travelers sticking my head out at every stop trying to figure out where we were. There were also no route maps available ANYWHERE, but hey - made it to Mulhouse in one piece.

Saturday - Well, I guess this brings us to rather early Saturday morning. Wandered around the Mulhouse station until I found my train to Basel - met a lovely German man who speaks a little French and we chatted for most of the ride. By the way, switching directly from French (and also French with almost no English thrown in) to German is like changing gears without a clutch - bad news bears. Was managing though. Made it to Basel around 7:30am - it was already in full swing for that night's Euro game, incredible really. Got on the train to Luzern was happy to find out it was only going to be another 2 hours, finally my cranky mind could calm down a little bit; I'll just lean against this window and.... zzzzzzz
I woke up as the train was pulling out of the Luzern station. Deciding it was useless to panic I sat back in my seat and assumed I would get off at the next station which couldn't be more than 10 minutes down the way and take a train back to my destination - everything would be fine. This was a regional train - it stops at every little milk town between here and eternity. Or the code for the train changed while I was asleep and the next stop was an hour and a half away. *sigh* Saw some beautiful countryside before racing across some unknown station to get on the next train back to Luzern, which was a milk run - took me another 3 hours to get back to where I needed to be. Made it to the main train station only to realize I had lost my hostel information somewhere in transit and that I needed to change money into Swiss Francs - GAH! Wound up paying money for a Starbucks coffee (shame, so much shame) because I knew I could get a half hour of internet with my purchase. Made my way to the hostel only to discover that I was 2 hours early for check-in. Needless to say I was extremely cranky by this point, all I wanted was a shower and a nap. Hung out in the lobby until check in, got my bed and went upstairs to crash. Lay down in bed around 6pm thinking about the giant pile of unimpressed I had become over the last 20 hours in my journey from Nice to Luzern. Ate dinner at the hostel after an hour in bed, watched the football game, paid too much money for wireless and then was ready to commit homicide when the system ate my time (1hr at 8 francs, so virtually 8 cdn dollars) because I didn't
"log out" properly. Good riddance day, I'm going to bed!!

Sunday - Met some of the girls in my room because the mass of Asian tourists were up and waking everyone around 7am - we had breakfast together and then made plans for the day. Met a woman named Pat from Orlando who was here for a wedding, she was staying in the youth hostel because the American dollar is so bad right now. We went down to the city and walked the edge of lake Luzern for a few hours before getting on a "tour train" that took us around the major sites of the city. Met up with a few boys from the hostel and Pat went off on her own, we ate lunch beside the lake - standard backpacker meal of bread, cheese, sandwich meat and a few pieces of fruit shared with the help of my pocket knife. Once we had our bearings we wandered the city for a few hours and I left the boys to spend some time at a war memorial. Made it back to the hostel for a quick nap, dinner and the football game. Battled with the internet some more and lost more time - I swear it's a money grabbing conspiracy. Made plans to perhaps do the cogwheel train (steepest in the world) up to the top of Mount Pilatus before heading out to Interlaken the following day. I just seem to be collecting Americans everywhere I go, these boys were older (my age, thank goodness) and a bit wiser as to the ways of the world. It made for good conversation for once. 😊 Met up with a few Aussies on the road as well, and a couple who bought scalper tickets for the Holland-Russia game the night before. They had amazing pictures from near field level - they're broke now but said it was worth every penny. Went to bed way later than intended, but hey - that's the price you pay for meeting great people.

Monday - Ran around all morning like a chicken with my head cut off. Set an alarm for Pat because she didn't have a clock and couldn't get back to sleep after rousing her at 5am. Managed to doze off around 8am and then couldn't drag myself out of bed until 9am. Having a rail pass has really been a blessing, I am not sure where all this negative "waste of money" controversy comes from. The three of us (myself and two American boys) had passes which meant we were able to get tickets for the Pilatus journey at 50%!o(MISSING)ff. Feel free to check it out - Mount Pilatus. Rode the train up the mountain to the 7000ft peak and did a few "easy" and "medium" hiking paths up a little further. We spent a few hours on the top of the world just looking out over everything, it was a balmy 16 degrees up there which was a perfect break from the 35-43 degree weather that's been on my tail since Paris. Went down a series of gondolas and a bus back to Luzern to have backpacker lunch and then climb on the train to Interlaken. I wound up sitting next to very friendly man who is a heart surgeon, turns out I remind him of his youngest daughter and he immediately took me under his wing for the first leg of the train ride. It was like having my own personal tour guide, every stop he told me about the history of the area and pointed out things of interest. I was sad to see him go after an hour but it was one of those incredible traveler moments you hold on to forever. The train ride was beautiful, some incredible scenery the whole way to my destination. The best part about Swiss rail? You can pull the windows down almost all the way and hang out the side throughout most of the journey - I had full intentions of napping but instead spent the trip in awe dancing from one side of the car to the other taking it all in.
Now, as much as I love the Swiss people and the countryside their sense of direction and timing leaves a bit to be desired. I disembarked at the train station, said goodbye to my companions and headed off on what was supposed to be a "leisurely 15 minute walk" to my hostel. Was more like a 30 minute hike - my walking pace aside.
The hostel is called "Funny Farm" and is actually the back end of a 4 star hotel in the area. There's a beautiful swimming pool sort of embedded in the middle of the scenic views. I managed to get some laundry done tonight and meet a few people. I may just sleep in tomorrow (breakfast is not included, and I am not forking out 10 Francs for the "buffet") and spend the day beside the pool. The original intent on coming to Interlaken was to participate in the plethora of extreme sports this area is famous for. Alas the ankle may change those plans slightly. It'll save me some cash in the long run, but sort of puts a damper on tomorrow. We'll have to see what the lay of the land is when I get up. In the mean time I've made plans to head to Heidelberg after Vienna to spend some time with Jessi - should be a nice way to end the trip. It's weird that things are slowly winding down, but I am definitely looking forward to a real shower, a comfy bed, rolling around on the floor with my zoo (I miss my Artaud and the puppies, it's true), a meal that involves steak (no bread please), and confirming a surgery date for the wounded limb. I suppose the thesis falls in there as well somewhere, but it doesn't make the top 5.
Sleep just sounds too good to be true right now, happy Monday -

---

Photos

Opera Beach - Nice
aka - sunburn central

Löwendenkmal
Memorial to the Swiss guards killed during revolutions in France during the beginning of the 17C

Comments

[Lanalu]

I was so excited for sleep too.... and if you have time the Calgary folk fest is also worth coming home for! It's been three days since I've been home and have been ignoring the real world so far... Enjoy H-berg! Make Jessi take you to Distil!