Wilhelm Tell

I woke up and showered. They have holders for the shower head! One of my few gripes about the hostels in Greece was that you had to hold the shower head in one hand to get yourself wet. It was incredbily annoying. In Switzerland, that is not a problem, thank God. I packed up and left my big backpack until I came back for it before I left. I decided to walk down to the waterfront one last time. It was drizzling a little while I walked but not too much. The mountains were obscured by clouds (view from near train station piture 1). I am glad it wasn't like that when I arrived yesterday. I bought an almond cake thing and some orange juice for breakfast and ended up not finsishing it so I had for lunch on the train as well. I ate my breakfast in a bus shelter on the lakefront beause all the benches were wet. Haha, that must have been a sight to see. I hopped on the scenic train up to Fluelen which is on the end of Lake Lucerne (picture 2). There are four scenic train rides in Switzerland and this is one of them. The train ride is called the William Tell Express because this was the area in Switzerland he supposedly came from. William Tell is a folk hero for the Swiss like Daniel Boone is for Americans. The train ride was quite scenic and actually passed through a tunnel that was 10 miles long. Geez. You couldn't totally make out all the mountains because of clouds but I saw enough to get a pretty good idea (picture 3). There were lots of valleys and I could watch the architecture change from Italian to German influenced. The train ride took about 1.5 hours.

I arrived in Fluelen and decided to call a hostel in Lucerne. I called the hostel and got a reservation but accidently left the Rick Steves Switzerland on the garbage can. I walked around trying to figure out where to buy tickets for the ferry and when the ferry left. This was easier said than done because everything was in German. I finally realized I didn't have the book and found that it was gone. Huge, big, large, bummer. I was pretty depressed about that. It was from the Kensington Library which makes me feel bad because they are never getting it back now. Oh well. I bought a ferry ticket to get across the lake. It was kind of expensive but I figured that I would probably never be able to do it again. The boat had restaurant like seating inside and benches outside. I sat outside the whole time (picture 4). That was pretty cold especially since I was so used to eighty degrees and sun in Greece (it was windy, fifty, and cloudy). I survived and looked at the scenery. The boat trip was 3 hours long so I looked at the scenery and read more of The Lost World. Super good book. The clouds were hanging low in some places and not in others (picture 5). I got to Luzern (the way they spell it here) and started to walk to my hostel. On the way, a young guy asked if I needed help. That was nice of him. He said that he went to school near the hostel and backpacks would always walk by it looking lost.

My hostel is ok. One of the guys in my room is from Canada and another is from Beijing but speaks English fluently. I was hungry so I used my Let's Go (thanks Amy) and ate at a, what else, kebab restaurant. I swear, I can't escape them. I got a Hawaiian kebab. It had ham, chicken, pineapple, and lettuce and tomato with some amazing sauce. Eating it was messy but delicious. I walked around Luzern a little bit after that. I walked along the river that cuts the town in two. I walked up one side and down the other. There were not that many people walking around. I saw the famous wooden bridge (picture 6). Very cool. I also saw the awesome fescoed walls of the houses (they painted the outside of teh buildings). The architecture just makes me want to smile (picture 7). Gingerbread houses or whatever. I went back to the hostel and went online. I bought a ticket for Sunday night to Amsterdam so it looks like I am going there. Haha. No turning back now I guess. I finished reading The Lost World. I am going to Jim's tomorrow.

Bye!

Churches and Art: I Love Italy

The z is where the y is on this keyboard (the same on the keyboard of my Uncle Jim in Bern where I am updating this entry). Weird.... I started my day in Milan. I woke up and the guy who runs Amirai Hostel told me that breakfast starts at 8:30 am. I went to his room and woke him up to make me breakfast. I felt bad but he said 8:30 so that's when I showed up. There was tea, croissant, bread, and jam. He let me use his computer while I ate. I left the hostel with both my backpacks because I was heading straight to the train station and Swityerland when I finished sight seeing. It wasn't really raining but did drizzle a little bit throughout the day.

I started by riding the bus to the Duomo (picture 1). The guy told me "Take bus #54 to the Duomo. It should take 10-15 minutes." and that's all he said when I asked how to get there (he was still groggy). I found the bus and rode it for a while... There was no stop called Duomo. I finally realized after riding the bus for 40 minutes that I was probably passed it. Haha. So I got off the bus and took the same bus but back the other way. I got off at a stop where a bunch of people got off (my "follow the crowd" theory). It turned out I was only two blocks from the Duomo. Awesome. I walked through the fashion district and saw all the big names, Versace, Ralph Lauren, Dolce and Gabbana, etc (picture 2). The Duomo is really sweet. It has tons of spires with statues on top and all the needles. It reminded me of cathedral in Seville (that one had a lot of spires as well but no statues). There are over 3,000 statues in and on the cathedral!! Wow. It felt good to see a big Catholic Cathedral again. I had missed them when I was Greece. I guess the Greeks prefer small congregations and Catholics prefer big ones I hemmed and hawed and going on the roof but ended up deciding to do it (with both my backpacks no less). It wasn't that high up and I was glad I did it. The roof gave you great views over the town and of all the statued spires (picture 3). It rained a little up there but that didn't dampen my spirit. I walked over to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana next. This is the most famous museum in Milan. I saw Titian's Adoration of the Magi, Caravaggio's Basket of Fruit (the first and best Italian still life), Raphael's School of Athens, and Da Vinci's Portrait of a Musician. I really liked the museum nad all of those paintings. There was a TON of other art in the museum that I kind of had to brush over because it was getting late. There was a mosaic around a staircase that I adored (picture 4). The courtyard had some cool statues as well. It felt good to see some good art again as well. Just like with the churches, it had been a while. From the museum I went back to the Piazza del Duomo and had lunch. I ate a cafeteria type place and had some cheese stuffed noodles with a bowl of fruit. It was more than I wanted to pay but worth it. I had some gelato (I was in Italian, I had to) and walked around the square (picture 5). I took the metro to the train station and hopped on the train to Lugano, Switzerland. I really enjoyed the short time I was in Milan (except the confusing buses). I didn't get a chance to see The Last Supper which sucks but I didn't have time (it is in a small church outside the center of town and you have to have online reservations).

I rode the train to Lugano which is just barely in Switzerland. In fact, the Italian border is just across the lake that Lugano is perched on. The whole lake is surrounded by green hills (mountains I guess) and is extremely beautiful. I got lucky and it was actually kind of sunny sometimes while I was here. I got off the train and went to my hostel which was only five minutes from the train. It is located in two pink former mansions. Really awesome. There was a group of German speaking students staying there. They were loud, just like I was on trips in high school. I walked down the hill to the Old Town. I passed by the cathedral which was very pretty. I walked down the arcaded shopping streets. It was very Italian looking and the arcades reminded me of Bologna (picture 6). I walked along the streets and over to the city park. The park is on the waterfront and has sculptures throughout it (pictures 7). I walked back along the waterfront past a McDonald's and a Burger King. There were some guys outside the Burger King playing chess with big pieces on the ground (picture 8). I along the waterfront to the other side of the town where I went into a church. The church had a huge fresco of the Passion of Christ. It was painted by a guy they call "the Raphael of the North". Very pretty. Then I walked back through the town again and stopped at a department store to use internet. The biggest difference I noticed between Switzerland and Greece is that everything closes really early here. The town was basically dead by 6 or 7 pm. In Greece, that's when people just start coming out.

Food in Switzerland is crazy expensive. A Burger King meal is 10 CHF and the conversion rate is basically one to one. Ouch. I had bratwurst, tater tot things (way nicer than that sounds), and salad for dinner at a restaurant. It wasn't too expensive, for Swiss standards, and tasted really good. Bratwurst is one of my favorite foods. The rain started coming down hard while I ate so I had to scurry back up the town. I stopped at the train station and bought a little bit of chocolate for dessert (I'm in Switzerland). The chocolate was so fantastic. I ate it while I finished up reading Zorba the Greek. I liked that book quite a bit. Zorba lives each day as if it was a new one which is a very admirable quality if you ask me. I started reading The Lost World by Michael Crichton and then went to bed. The guy on the bunk above me burped a lot throughout the night. Not exactly attractive.

Tomorrow I am off to Lucerne. I will stay there until Thursday afternoon and then head to Bern.
Only 10 days till I am home... Holz crap.

Bye!