Nodding Nelson

Gruezi! from Switzerland. Today, another cold and cloudy day in Switzerland, began again by catching a ride to the train station (Stephen's uncle brought us so we were able to leave a little later). Today's conquest: Luzern...about a 45 minute train ride. more like an hour and a half if you don't sleep... Luzern is known for it's old bridge (see pic...soo pretty) built over the river and for it's scenic view from the lake. Once we arrived, we headed straight to the trusty ole "i" symbol for tourist information (they always have free maps)...let me also add that the woman we spoke with was quite helpful, I would say the most helpful person in a tourist center I've ever encountered. She was pleasant and gave us information before we even thought to ask. and deal that the info place was in the train station, instead of around 17 corners and down dark ally-ways like usual. The info she gave us: that we could take the boat ride to other parts of Luzern FOR FREE (because of our Eurail, STEAL!)...she also gave us the lengths of various boat rides and the most picturesque place to stop, Weissig (we took her advice).

Around Luzern, we wandered aimlessly for about an hour (waiting for the boat), got some hot chocolate (which is exactly what I needed...Switzerland is COLD as soon as it's cloudy) she got the hot chocolate, and mauled it, drinking it like it was water and gummy goodies, looked at some huge, beautiful, overpriced wine glasses, fed some birds with our sandwiches, and finally made it to the boat. Despite the rain and clouds, the boat ride was very pretty...we couldn't quite see the mountains, but at least got the see the town from the water and the base of the mountains. The picture to the left is the engine. It was visible from the middle of the boat, which was pretty neat. also, we had a group of screaming school children on the boat, futhering leading me to assume that these people have no Volume control, I mean one kid was yelling at the water, come on kid, thats terrible.

We got to Weissig, got some snacks, and wandered to a park bench by the lake that was underneath a tree to block us from the rain. Not only did we feed mallards (including a crippled one) the birds I swear follow Erin, knowing she will feed them because everytime we sit down to snack the come up, and only to us.. but we also completely dissected a family's dynamics (Leland, I am going to come to Cambridge, attend Darwin College, and publish work on group dynamics, since that's such a novel concept...) that was playing chess near us (since they have big chess boards and pieces randomly throughout places in Switzerland). We did get them down to a T, which stems from people watching experience, which I must say, we have a lot of. Anyway, by this time the boat was pulling up so we rode back to the city. On this trip, we caught a guy nodding off (James-remember Jaclyn Green) and Stephen got a video...please watch, it is hilar! Also, this is about the 15th time we filmed him nodding off...this guy COULD NOT keep his eyes open. SO funny!...and then, when the train was stopping in Luzern, he woke up and tried to help the shipmen tie the ropes to the poles...Sir, please...you are not fooling anyone...everyone saw you sleeping and jumping. This was so hilar, we were literally crying by the time we got this video, which did take us about 10 tries, and he really tried to get up and help, all sloppy and uncordinated from sleeping to hard, hilar. Oh, we also saw baby swans and gave them a treat too.

We caught a train back to Stephen's aunt and uncle's house (on a packed bus full of kids on the way home...loud) again no Volume control and were met by a delicious dinner and a black forest cake for dessert. Tomorrow we fly back to Cambridge (although its campus is unbelievable) leaving cow bells, fresh cheese, farmland, and home cooked meals behind :(

Another side note: everyone here does the 3 cheek kiss, for any small greeting or goodbye...I love it (even though the only person I've exchanged this with is Stephen's aunt because we don't have friends...and I don't hug randoms). I get jealous when I see people do it. Friendly but not too friendly. It's my fave. Aufwiedersehen Mike, Gail, und Andreas! We will miss you guys!