Quick Update #2

Guten Tag from Switzerland!

The last two weeks have flown by with one adventure after another, which unfortunately leaves no time to blog (and internet access was no longer free).

After Zaclyn left Paris, Emily, Heather, Matt and I continued to explore the districts and see the major sites (Notre Dame, Musee d'Orsay, Sacre Coer, Versailles, the Louve, etc.). We got a morning train that took us to Koln for the day. Even though is was cold and rainy, Emily and I braved the weather and took a walking tour of the old city and saw the Rhine river!
The next day we took another morning train to Frankfurt, where we said auf wiedersehen to Heather and Matt as they left to return home to the States, and we picked up our car (a nice Mercedes B-class) and started our driving adventure through the German countryside. The few days were filled with cute medieval villages and castles, including the famous Neuenstain by King Ludwig II (Sleeping Beauty's castle is based on this).

We returned the car in Munich and spent a few days exploring the city and also took a day trip to Dachau, the first concentration camp in Germany. It was a work camp and it was shocking and sad to see what happened there. Even though it was a hard tour to do, I am glad I did it. It is a good reminder. Before we left Germany, we made sure to stop in a bierhaus for one more yummy, cheap meal of sausage and beer.

A long morning train was catched to take us from Munich to Zurich, and we filled the time watching the nice scenery and playing a few games of Skip-Bo! We arrived in Zurich during a big rain storm and had no hostel reservation. We fought the weather, figured out their tram system, and made our way across town to book some beds for the next two nights. Zurich was a nice city, but very expensive. We did enjoy some good swiss chocolate though! There wasn't much to do in the evenings, so we saw some movies (in Switzerland they don't dub, only add subtitles in Germand and French). Keeping with the theme of the trip, we saw "The Other Boleyn Girl" and "27 Dresses". On the way to Bern, we stopped in Lucerne for the day, a town I liked alot better (even though their museums are way too expensive). Lucerne was very quaint, surrounded by the snow covered Alps and filled with friendly people. Here we got to enjoy the very Swiss meal of cheese fondue!

Then on the way back to Paris (and eventually London), we stopped for a day in Bern (home of the Bear Pits) and will spend tomorrow in Geneva. No trip without Switzerland would be complete without snow and this morning Emily even got to experience snow flurries for the first time in Bern!

I have just a few more days left with Emily before she returns to the States and I meet up with Ben in London!

Auf Wiedersehen!