Welcome to Switzerland: Hello Amy, Davide, and Lausanne

After my little three-day stint in Amsterdam, I was to spend the rest of my vacation with my friend Amy and her husband David, who live in Lausanne, Switzerland.  Our plan was to hang out in Lausanne for about six days and then head on to Paris for the end of my trip. In the end it was like two separate trips for me, the one alone in Amsterdam, and this one, and though both were wonderful in their own ways, the second part with Davide and Amy were extra special because of them.

Welcome to Switzerland!

After only an hour's flight from Amsterdam, I was in Geneva, Switzerland.  Davide and Amy live in Lausanne, about 45 minutes awayy by train, and so I hit the rails and in no time Amy and I were bear-hugging at the Lausanne train station.  After a quick stop at a local cafe (I needed it!), we went back up to their place where I finally, after almost ten years, met Davide.  All I can say at this point is that he was as warm and welcoming as Amy, and as the next week or so wore on, he and I became fast friends in our own right.

From the very start, Amy was like, whatever you want to do, let's do, but as she and I always do, and with Davide in the mix, we had wine and cheese and meats and talked through till the wee hours of the morning...a perfect relaxing start!

Lausanne

Now I'd been to Switzerland a couple of times before, but on both of those trips I was in Luzern and Zurich and both times it was in April.  Those two cities are in the German speaking part of the country, more to the east.  Amy and Davide live in Lausanne, which is in the French speaking region and more to the west.  The city is located on the shores of Lake Geneva (which they call lac Leman), across from Evian, France.  It is also home to the International Olympic Committee.  I'd never been to Lausanne before this trip, and so my first full day was spent checking it out...

Amy and Davide live in the vicinity of the lake, and the major portions of Lausanne are located up the hill from there, so bright and early Saturday morning, she and I headed to the city's one subway line to get to the city center.   Maybe because it was a Saturday and maybe it was because it was the height of summer vacation season, but the city reminded me a lot of the city of my father's birth, Trieste, Italy, with the appearance of a mid-sized city, but with few people.  We meandered through the quiet streets, checking out the sites as well as the produce offered up on Saturday farmer's market day.

And of course, there was shopping!  Amy brought me to this very cool, Century 21-like department store where she helped me do some damage, but I am gonna look oh so good this year, lol.

Let's Get French

All in all, the day was a fun one, and again, just spending time with my buddy was what made it so.  Later on in the evening, the three of us had been invited to the home of a gay couple (who's names escape me at the moment), one of whom was cousin to Amy's friend Sylvie.  Neither of them spoke English, and so most of the evening was spent with the four of them speaking French and David and Amy stopping every once in awhile to keep me abreast of the conversation.  It was really a lovely evening, with good food and wine, and pleasant company, though admittedly for the first time in my life I wished I'd known French.

I do speak Spanish fluently and a little bit of Italian, but I French always confused me.  The rules of pronunciation in Spanish and Italian are pretty steadfast, but French is a whole other story,  Luckily, Amy had learned the language quite well in her nine years in Switzerland, and that day she slowly began teaching me both how to say words and what they meant.  That night I was also introduced to a little bit of French Swiss culture, which turned out to be a funny little sidebar to the rest of the trip.

Before heading out to the dinner, both Amy and Davide showed me that when you first take a drink of your wine and do a sort of cheers, you have to look the other person in the eye and say the word "Sante," which I took as "shantay," a la Rupaul.  Well, that was something I couldn't seem to get quite right during the rest of the trip and made for some pretty funny moments.  

So that was my first full day in Lausanne, definitely one to remember and the rest of my time spent there was equally as delicious!  Stay tuned...

In the meantime, check out my other posts on Europe 2018 below:

I❤️amsterdam, Part II:Canals, Red Lights and Coffee Shops

I❤️amsterdam, Part I: The City & Architecture 

I Was On a Paris Train

Luzern and a Mountain Called Pilatus

Well I think it's about time I get on with this Euro trip before I go on another one.  When last I posted, we were in Switzerland...Alpnachstad, Switzerland to be more precise.  We arrived at our retro chalet somewhere in the late afternoon and our only full day there, the next day, would turn out to be one of the best of the trip...

The itinerary for the day was full.  First, we were to head off by bus to the beautiful Swiss city of Luzern, where we were to have a walking tour.  Then it would be off to climb the majestic Mt. Pilatus before heading back into Luzern for some free time before heading back to the chalet for our last night in Switzerland.  I had some side plans, as well, which I'll tell you about in my next post, but suffice it to say that this was a day of beautiful scenery and good company.

Breathtaking Luzern

We got an early start on our walking tour of spectacular Luzern, probably one of the most scenic and serene places I've ever been.  Out of all the tours we would go on on this trip, this one was the least boring, and besides, there were plenty of beautiful vistas to check out while you weren't paying attention.  Among the many things we learned, two of them stood out.  One was the history of this long, cool walking bridge across a sheltered part of the lake which had burned down completely and restored.  The covered bridge is picturesque from the outside and even more interesting along its length, with beautiful original paintings depicting Luzern history perched above the walkway. 

The other interesting site was this monument in the form of a lion carved into the rock perched above a small lake.  The monument was dedicated to all of the Swiss soldiers who had perished in the name of other countries during battles they fought in as mercenaries.  Switzerland is a beautiful place, no doubt, but even today you can tell that there is not much of a life to be had in these remote mountain regions.  Young Swiss men have historically found being mercenaries a viable trade, as it offered the opportunity to travel and it took them away from the local farms where they'd surely have to find work were they to stay at home. 

For the rest of that morning, we simply marveled at the awesome beauty of this place.  Luzern is a quaint and peaceful city and we were lucky to have such a beautiful day in which to take it all in. Rather than describe it all in words, I believe pictures would better serve...

Mt. Pilatus

One of the things I was looking forward to the most ahead of our trip was Mt. Pilatus.  Living here on Long Island, I do not often get a chance to see mountains, which I always found fascinating, and compared to the mountains we have here in upstate New York, an Alp has got to be way more dramatic.  Waaayyyyy!!!!

As I had mentioned, the weather that day was absolutely beautiful for early spring.  Though the mountain was snow-capped, at the bottom it was all green.  We made our way to the first of two cable cars which would take us to a landing much further up.  Along the ride we got to see some of the most spectacular views.

  

Soon enough, we reached the point of elevation where snow began to appear.  As we climbed higher and higher towards the second landing, we became surrounded by the white stuff, but it was apparent as we exited the gondola that it was still a very warm day.  

Soon enough we were on the second gondola, a larger and newer one that fit about fifty people.  The whole crew boarded the vehicle for the last of the ascent, which was very steep, and once we'd landed at the summit, well I'll let you see for yourself what it was like...

That last picture is of a trio of musical performers who performed some decidedly appropriate music in the restaurant atop the mountain.  It was a very sweet ending to a very busy and exciting morning, and we were just getting started...

Wicked icycle!

Well I hope you've enjoyed my recollection and photos of this most beautiful place in Switzerland Really, this entire trip was the trip of a lifetime and I enjoyed virtually every crazy beautiful moment. Check out my other posts on Europe 2015 and stay tuned for the rest...

Amster...dam, Part I

Gouda Cheese and Clogs

Amster...dam: The End

Joanne's Broken Wheel

Hello Paris: An Afternoon at the Sacré Coeur

Making A Memory at the Eiffel Tower

When You've Seen One Gold Ceiling, You've Seen Them All

I'd Take Paris...Again!

Macaroons, Pranks and Belly Laughs in Paris

An Introduction to Switzerland...Beautiful Zurich

        

A Retro Chalet Among the Alps, Complete with a Side Order of Bosnia-Herzegovina

   

A Retro Chalet Among the Alps, Complete with a Side Order of Bosnia-Herzegovina

When I last left off on the trip to Europe, we had just arrived in Switzerland and spent the afternoon in Zurich, a very cool place.  Our next stop was a retro, 70's style chalet in a tiny little hamlet in the Swiss Alps called Alpnachstadt, just outside of Luzern.  The place was not modern by any means, not how it looked and not how it was run, but as I think back now, it was definitely the coolest and most comfortable place we stayed in the entire trip.

The pictures above depict the road where the chalet was...a quaint little village surrounded by beautiful snow-capped mountains. The school's group has been staying there for years now and it is, from what I am told and from what I could plainly see, pretty much the same as it was from many years ago. The Hotel Roessli is run by a burly, gruff Swiss woman and her young, twenty-something year old son.  The dad passed away a few years back and so now the youngster has taken his place in the family business.  

Though outdated in decor, this large chalet in the middle of nowhere was charming, albeit a little strange.  They sell items like pillows that the mom makes and other knick knacks found throughout the chalet and the keys to the rooms had to be put into boxes whenever you left the hotel.  There was a curfew, 11 p.m., and if you happened to be outside of the hotel after then you were in trouble.  Oh, and you were locked out of the lobby in the morning hours before breakfast, as I found out that first morning when I tried to get to that area early to pick up the place's only Wifi.  

The charm of the place, though, made up for its few oddities.  The expansive wooden structure housed many suite-like rooms on three floors towards the back of the building, overlooking the Alps, and a old-fashioned beer garden-like dining room on the main floor served as our familial atmosphere spot for breakfast and dinner.  It was nice to all be together for those meals, enjoying one another's company in such a beautiful place.

The rooms were quaint, and just like you might imagine a chalet would look like.  Wood paneled walls, nooks and crannies everywhere, a little room for zie toilette and another for zie shower, and mine even had a balcony...what a view!  The retro feel of the place didn't really matter...it was by far the most comfortable and coolest place we'd stayed in.

Bosnia-Herzegovina

Being a small, family-run business, the Hotel Roessli had a cast of characters that could have made up a sitcom, from the mom and son to the cooks in the kitchen to the bartender in the pub and especially the very strange waitress whom we called Bosnia-Herzegovina.

She was tall and thin and had a beehive hairdo just like Amy Winehouse.  She spoke with a heavy accent that sounded a little Slavic, but none of us were sure.  One thing was for sure, and that's that she wasn't Swiss.  Ivan tried talking with her, to be friendly, but he had a hard time understanding whatever it was she was saying.  I could tell from the way he was answering her very poor English.  I was standing within earshot of them though, as they spoke, I thought she said she was from Bosnia-Herzegovina.  Thus the name.  

From that moment on, Bosnia-Herzegovina became fodder for my own, made-up stories to give Ivan chuckles.  It turns out, she was in Switzerland to pursue her singing career, doing, of course, Amy Winehouse tunes.  She'd come to Switzerland partly to escape her abusive husband and terrible agent Fang.  She took the waitressing gig at the Hotel Roessli because they were going to let her perform on Wednesday nights at the bar in the hotel and she thought it would be a stepping stone to bigger and better things.  

For the remainder of our trip and even until now, Bosnia-Herzegovina's name comes up every once in awhile.  We were saying we'd wished we had her to perform at our European slideshow back in June, or perhaps a Europe trip reunion somewhere here on Long Island.  Well, wherever she is, I'm sure she's packing em in either still in the mountains of Alpnachstadt or maybe even somewhere in Transylvania.  Either way, we all miss her!     

I wish I had a video of Bosnia-Herzegovina performing Rehab or some other Amy Winehouse smash, but I'm just going to have to leave it up to your imagination what that train wreck is like.  In the meantime, check out my past posts on my trip to Europe and stay tuned for more...

Amster...dam, Part I

Gouda Cheese and Clogs

Amster...dam: The End

Joanne's Broken Wheel

Hello Paris: An Afternoon at the Sacré Coeur

Making A Memory at the Eiffel Tower

When You've Seen One Gold Ceiling, You've Seen Them All

I'd Take Paris...Again!

Macaroons, Pranks and Belly Laughs in Paris

An Introduction to Switzerland...Beautiful Zurich