Switzerland - Fondue, Wine Tastings, & Wonderful Hosts

While we expected Switzerland to be our coldest stop, we arrived to beautiful, warm weather...who would've planned that! Well, our extraordinary host, Natalie, said that she ordered it just for us! Natalie is a good friend of Hannah's from Cairo. They knew each other in high school and haven't seen each other in six years.

Natalie was waiting at the train station when we arrived and whisked us back to her apartment (some of you might have seen the view, Hannah posted a picture on Facebook but here it is again). For the next four days, Natalie fed us "Egypt style." No, not Egyptian food (it was mostly Greek). But she fed us and fed us and fed us....and then fed us some more! It was nice for Nick to experience a little taste of Egypt. :) She also treated us to almost everything and made our stay extremely comfortable.

Our first day there, was the perfect day to relax. Natalie had to work so we slept in and took it easy for the first time in five weeks! It was amazing! We watched TV, walked by the lake, walked around town, and watched more TV. It was a great start to Switzerland. While we were relaxing, Natalie was getting promoted - congratulations, Natalie!

Friday night we met Natalie's fiancée, Vassilis. He is Greek but came from Zurich to spend the weekend with us (and Natalie of course). It was great to meet him, get to know him, hear about how they met, and their future plans. Friday night they took us to an amazing restaurant seated on a cliff overlooking the lake and the Alps for drinks - where they had their first date (no wonder Natalie stuck with him). The sun was setting over the crystal clear water...it was spectacular! After, we went to a delicious Italian restaurant in Vevey and ordered huge pizzas and calzones.

At dinner, we learned all sorts of things about Switzerland. We learned that anyone can create change...they just need a petition and a certain amount of signatures and then their petition will be voted on by the whole country. Recently, there was a national vote to increase the number of vacation days from four weeks to six weeks - the people voted no! They thought it would be bad for the economy. The people also voted no to lowering taxes and making it illegal to smoke indoors. The government in Switzerland really believes that the people will vote whatever way is best for the country, not just best for themselves.

On Saturday, we took a nice drive in the hills of Switzerland to a castle/vineyard. We toured the castle and were told that we could spend the night...for only 400-500 CFK (about the same in $) per night. Maybe next trip! Next we sampled wine made from the vineyard surrounding the castle. All of the wine samples also came with specific food samples. It was interesting how the food really did bring out the taste of the wine.

Next we drove to Geneva and walked through a water jet that shot water 100 meters up in the air, ate Movenpick ice cream (one of Hannah's childhood favorites), drank coffee in the old city, saw Christina's new house, and had Swiss cheese fondue! It was a very fun and full day.

On Sunday, we had a big brunch together and then toured Chateau de Chillon (Switzerland's 2nd most toured site, according to Natalie). Chateau de Chillon is a castle right on the lake and we were able to walk all around it. We saw prisons, tortures room, lookout rooms, bedrooms, bathrooms (and where all the waste fell).

By Sunday night, we were feeling sort of homesick. So we gave in and had Burger King for dinner, since it was a travel day/night and we were wanting a taste of home. The prices are far from the ones at home though...$14 for a chicken sandwich meal! Absolutely crazy...And we had to wait quite awhile for our food, so not considered fast food in our minds.


Now we are taking a night-train from Switzerland to Prague, Czech Republic. It is the longest train ride of our trip - 13 hours. Hopefully we get some sleep tonight in these rock solid beds!