Switzerland (and France, Germany, and Austria) and the ALPS!

As promised in my France blog, I'm attempting to catch up on the past couple weekends in which I have failed to blog in a timely manner. Finals are approaching really really fast with my last Psychology quiz tomorrow and then two finals, math and PR/advertising, on Wednesday. Thursday, my group of Sarah, Mike, and I, present our major cluster project that we have been working on for the past 3-4 weeks nonstop. So that's my current update. Now it's time to go back in time a few weeks in November.

It is November 20th, 2009. This trip may be the most unique trip because it is the one where we (myself, Alyssa, Renee [aka the badger], and Melinda [aka ginger]) actually have zero plans at all. It's another Friday, and this time, it is Alyssa's 20th birthday. For a solid week, I actually felt significantly superior and more mature than Alyssa because I was a whole year older. Now she has caught up to me and everything is back to normal. Anyway, unlike Paris, we all didn't get to go out to eat because of one minor detail.

We rented our own car and drove all around Switzerland the surrounding area.

So we rented our car from Geneva airport through Europecar. It was cool because in Switzerland, you only need to be 20 whereas in other parts of Europe, the minimum rental age is 21. So we drove through Geneva for a little while and then headed on NorthEast. Renee was my copilot for the majority of the trip (she was fantastic and was the only one under 20 at this time) and made her only mistake from the getgo. She had me turn right (accidently) instead of going streat. As a result, to get to our destination, Zurich, we had to go around Lake Interlaken and take the route through the Alps. However, this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The route we took from Geneva to Zurich must have been one of the most enjoyable, and terrifying, rides I have ever ridden. While we all took turns driving (even Renee for a little bit), I was designated mountain driver which was perfectly fine by me except for those times when the speed limit was 50km/hr going around a 90degree turn with nothing separating us from a 1000ft drop except for a little wooden fence.

The drive through the alps was beautiful. We even slept in our car (which was absolutely FREEZING). So we finally arrived in Zurich and hung out for a little bit. It is a nice town. But we decided to go travel to the country very near to the North. Germany. So we crossed the border into Germany and then headed East into the next country, Austria! Austria was equally beatiful with its Alps and such. We looked for the Von Trap family but didn't see them. So we drove up the mountains and kept looking but to no avail. We consoled ourselves with the fact that we could see snow above us and grass below us - very interesting combination if you don't live near the mountains.

Well anyways, we ended up revisting Zurich (north actually) to see the Rhein falls which, I must say, were a bit of a disappointment, especially if you've seen Niagara Falls. We heard words such as "best falls in Europe" and such but they seriously were maybe a third the size of Niagara and not nearly as impressive. We also visited Lindt chocolate factory but it was closed when we got there so that was also slightly disappointing, but still, it was well worth the trip to the Swiss Chocolate factory.

So we drove back to Geneva. This time we took a more Southern route than before which also led us through the Alps and eventually through the Northernmost part of France as well. We had nothing to eat throughout our trip but foods from German supermarket giants Lidyl and Hofar (known in the States as Aldi) because, for example, a whopper costed 11 swiss franks ($12) and the a Starbucks coffee was pushing 10 swiss franks. So it was definitely economical to shop in bulk than eat out in town.

So it was a completely and utterly joyful ride through the mountains. The Swiss Alps definitely made the Rockies look like a child compared to the Alps. All in all, this trip was also very relaxing as we got to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted, and still didn't have to spend very much money at the same time because we didn't really go out much (exept we saw 2012 in Luzern for 16 Swiss franks a ticket) and instead enjoyed each others' company and of course, we enjoyed the beautiful Swiss Alps.

So that concludes my weekend. While we didn't get to see any Eiffel Towers, Colosseums, or Stonehenges like I have in the past, I did get to see 4 countries and an immense section of the world's most popular mountain range, for the price of a rented car and 2 tanks of gas. This ended up being a priceless experience and I thoroughly enjoyed this entire trip.

Now I need to update you on my latest weekend trip before my time runs out here in London.

Love you all friends and family!
-Milt