Days 41-51 + Swiss Appreciation Week (Days 52 - 59), + Day 60

I arrived in Mettmenstetten Switzerland on Wednesday June 9th (Day 41) and set about doing absolutely nothing. Almost.

After I arrived, I still had to finish a paper for study abroad and a slew of quiz`s. It took much longer then anticipated since eating takes so long, and we would always slip into long conversations. Taking it slow was the right thing to do, and eventually school assignments gave way to reading books, talking with Barbara and her friends, and bugging her two daughters. It was rainy during these days, and it was a great excuse to stay inside. Travel is great, but after a solid 7 weeks of it, I had museums, tours, paintings, and sculptures coming out my ears. Sperlonga was a nice break, but as I found out when I get to Mettmenstetten, I needed a few more days to rest.

Mettmenstetten is the home of Barbera and Thomas, friends of my family ever since they lived in NJ for a few years. That was back when I was almost too young too remember, but old enough to remember ambushing Thomas with ninja stars :D

This past week, donned "Swiss appreciation week" (Days 52-59; 20 June Sun - 27th), was a succesfull attempt to enjoy Switzerland. I climbed two mountains top to bottom then back down again, went to the transportation museum, biked around, visited the LDS temple and Bern, and watched multiple world cups games amidst hundreds of fans.

I couldnt have fully done Swiss appreciation week without Barbara

Barbara has been quite the kind hostest. I have eaten many good Swiss meals, and she has helped me to plan my trips around Switzerland. It really helps to have someone who knows the area.

The transportation museum was interesting. There were many displays that were attempting to show how bad driving a car was, when compared to taking the train. As with most propaganda designed to influence for a cause, I failed to buy it. One thing I have learned is that charged issues sometimes use simplification of the facts to mislead, I think this was no exeption. Maybe the underlying cause is a good one, maybe not.

Rigi and Pilatus were the two mountains I climbed. They were both up at about 2000 meters, so it was a pretty decent hike from the valley. You can take the train part way up Rigi and all the way up Pilatus, but I am just one of those crazy Americans and had to walk all the way up and down. Im pretty sure I was the only one doing so on both occasions, but it could just be early in the season...

Hiking Rigi, I realized what a city kid I am. Some of the trails go through cow pastures, and I just may have taken a few "short cuts" on the way up through some fields. I was fairly nervous around the cows. I have never really been in an enclosed pasture with them before, and I have to admit I kept close to the barbwire fence in case I needed to hop out, which proved useful near the summit.

So there I was, tired and near the top, so I did the two things that you shouldnt do. I stopped and looked at the cows. Apparently that made them uncomfortable because one of them started at me, bellowing as she came. she didnt sound happy. I was pretty quick under the fence and on my way. Not that I was really in danger, but its good to keep moving and not get too close. In preperation to hike Pilatus Barbara told me so. I can certailny say, she is right.

Pilatus was a pleasant enough hike. I only had to circumnavigate one heard of cows that had parked itself on the trail, and convieniently all around the sign that said which way to go. (I guessed right). Many beautiful vistas. Switzerland is like a combination of the trees and green of Michigan and the mountains of Utah. I really dig it. As I climbed, I saw a handful of people but when I reached the summit there was civilization again. I almost laughed, with the hotel, construction crew, restaurant, souvenear shop, and groups of tourists, I was back in the city...only it was 1500 meters higher then the towns clocktower.

Mountain baiking in this region is great. The mountains are an intricate web of roads and trails. Rather then following a map, I usually just pulled out a compass, looked at the possabilities, and headed off in a direction. It worked great. I went a couple times up to Thurasee, a lake close by. I went to a few passes, and along the ridge east of thurasee, Albis. Nothing too extreme this time, as I usually brought along a book and made good use of it.

Bern was pleasant enough, and I spent most of my time by the river and then looking at a few of the historic stops on the city tour I downloaded onto my iTouch. I also visited the LDS temple close by and met some nice people there, like Phillus from Zurich.

As hard as it is to leave, I have to move on. So I prepare for my next journey as I make my way towards Athens, stopping in Zagreb and Belgrade on the way. Then at some point I move towards Spain as I meet up with Chad for festival in July. Today, Monday June 28th is my 60th day in Europe. I have about 59 Days left, so this is the half way point. Looking back, I have enjoyed my time here, and it has gone by incredibly fast. Soon it will all just be memories, but for now, I go to new adventures, making new stories, and finding those memories.

Ciao for a few.

Days 36 - 38 Sperlonga

The study abroad officially ended with BYU on Thursday, 3 Jun 2010. Friday (Day 36), I went to a few more sites in Rome, then Ryan, Carson and I took the train down to Sperlonga (but not before leaving most of our stuff with Denis, a friend of a friend of Carson. When we made it to Sperlonga public transporation had ceased to go from the train station to the beach, so we slept in the train station that night. Before we dozed off, we met Susana, a middle aged German woman on vacation. She offered to split a taxi, but we declined.

Saturday (37) we took the bus down to the beach and set about doing nothing. When we got there the place was empty, but by around 1:00 it was hopping with people. As the day wore on, we walked around the hill town and discovered lemons and aloe vera. we got some food at a local grocery store and set about having a pic-nic on the beach. Susana came walking by and she invited us to meet her friends. We waited till we were finished, done watching the gorgeous sunset, then headed over to meet her friends, two other middle aged Germans also on vacation, and the nicest people ever. We all went for some Gellato and sat around and talked for a bit when they invited us to crash at their flat for the night. Miss a night in a flat on the top of a tower in an Italian hill town? I dont think so! We all went back and snacked on some unbelievable local olives, meats, and artichokes in their flat before crashing in their extra beds.

Sunday (38) we realized there was no LDS church where we were, so we read some scriptures...and built a bamboo hut! The Italians all looked at us like we were crazy (and we probably were). We found bamboo in the hills behind the beach, and using some string, palm leaves, a knife, blankets, and an extra speedo we found as a flag, we made ourselves a nice little hut to hang out it. We also harvested some lemons and useing some sugar we made ourselves some lemon drinks by smashing up the lemon with a knife, adding some sugar, letting it stew for a bit, then drinking it straight out of the lemon. Oh man it was delicious! I proceeded to get a wicked sun burn from swimming in the mediteranian and could not hold anything on my back for a few days (thats when the natural aloe vera came in handy...they wanted 17 euros for a bottle of Aloe Vera in Rome...H*** NO!)