I planned on going to Switzerland when my parents came to
Rome, so we went to Geneva and Interlaken for 5 days during the first week in
April. My aunt and my cousin were also visiting at the same time. We flew into
Geneva first, and spent the day driving around. Geneva is apparently the watch
capital of the world, so we were surrounded by thousands of different watches.
We went into a park where there was a clock designed with flowers, and you
could tell the flowers had just started to blossom. We also went near the lake
and saw the tallest water fountain in the world. It was situated in the middle
of water, and went straight up. I didn’t think it was very pretty or anything,
but it was interesting to see because it is one of Geneva’s tourist marks. We
spent the afternoon shopping on Mont Blanc Street, which is the famous shopping
street. My parents and my aunt bought really nice watches that originate from
Switzerland. Afterwards, we drove around to find this Mexican restaurant
because I really wanted Mexican food. Sadly, it was closed during the afternoon
so we ended up eating falafel at a random place on that street. The falafel was
not that good, but the red-hot chili sauce was delicious. Also, I quickly
learned that Switzerland was the most expensive country that I have been to.
Medium fries are around $7 at any given place, and even McDonald’s will cost
you an average of $15-20 per meal. It’s a good thing I had Sammy paying for every
thing…..I mean he always pays for everything, but it’s much easier to eat $7
fries when he is handing over the bills. Although, several times I got into
arguments with him because he wanted to pay large amounts of money for things
that were not worth it.
We left for Interlaken mid-afternoon, and it was a very
beautiful scenic car ride through the Swiss Alps. Interlaken is a small town by
the Junfrau mountain located in the Bernese Alps. We drove around the small
city and ate at an Indian restaurant – it was pretty good and it had a Michelin
Star (highest rating for a good restaurant). The next day, we woke up and
walked around Interlaken and it’s park. It was chilly outside but the mountains
with the snow looked so beautiful and surreal. My cousin Ami and I decided that
we needed to do something fun in Switzerland, since it is known to contain some
of the best extreme and thrilling sports in the world. We decided to paraglide.
We drove up to the mountains and choose random pilots to paraglide with when we
got to the top. They told us that we had to pick the pilots because we had to
“choose our destiny”, and then they told us that if anything happened to us our
families would receive $150,000 in compensation. Not what I wanted to hear when
I was about to jump off a mountain 4,000 feet high. Once we got to the top, I
was clipped onto a large parachute and then attached to my pilot. He told me to
sit far into his lap because we would basically be married for the next twenty
minutes…..shady I know. Once we were all fastened onto the parachute and all,
we had to run downhill on the mountain – as if we were going to jump from it.
This was the scariest part, because I was the one leading. After about 10
seconds, we were floating in the air around the Swiss Alps. It was a really
amazing experience, but not as thrilling as I expected. I think skydiving would
be much much scarier. Still, it was the riskiest thing I have ever done, and I
was very calm and excited for it.
After our little sporting event, Ami and I did a chocolate
show at this famous chocolatier that has been around since 1818. We learned how
cocoa beans are grown and how powder from the bean is used to make various
types of chocolates. We were allowed to sample milk, dark and white chocolate
chips – and I can honestly say it was the best milk chocolate I have ever had
in my life. The dark chocolate was much more bitter than the States, but still
tasty! We also got to dip strawberries into the milk and dark chocolate that
was being melted in a machine to form into chocolates. I was in heaven. Lastly,
we were shown how shaped chocolate was made (like the bunnies around Easter)
and were allowed to sample other chocolates. We also received a voucher to buy
chocolates from their chocolate shop, and Ami and I each got a pastry and a
chocolate shoe. Afterwards, we shopped around for postcards and went to dinner.
Ami and I went to fondue while my parents and my aunt went to search for
“American style pizza”. – Apparently Italian style pizza did not have enough flavoring
for them. We choose a place called the Chateu, and it smelled like dirty, wet
dog when we stepped in. I was so desperate for cheese fondue, I decided the
smell would not bother me. I was wrong, in between dipping my bread into the
cheese, I had to sniff my hair so that I would not pass out. Ami felt the same
way, so I was NOT exaggerating. When we left the restaurant, we met up with my
family and let them smell us. They were not pleased. That night, my parents
went to a nearby casino while Ami and I had a drink in the lounge and went to
bed early. It was a good thing that we left Interlaken the next morning,
because it was raining hardcore and the sky was really cloudy. We spent the day
driving through Bern & Laussane, and stopped in Montreux for the afternoon.
Montreux is on the Swiss Riviera, and it has a really pretty scenery because it
surrounded by water with the Swiss Alps in the background. We went to the
Chateau de Chillon which was first constructed in 1160 and was located right on
Lake Geneva. It was really cool to walk through the various rooms and see the
artifacts, and my parents enjoyed it because they haven’t been to a museum like
thing in ages. We finally made it back to Geneva in the late evening and went
to the Mexican restaurant for dinner. The nachos were really good, but only
because I hadn’t had Mexican food in SO long. The next day was Easter, so most
things in Geneva were closed. We slept in and drove around during the
afternoon. We visited the United Nation headquarters and the world trade
building and took pictures around it. Many of the UN conventions take place in
Geneva, so that was interesting to see. For lunch, Dominos was one of the only
places open so I settled for my own small sized $25 pizza made with processed
cheese. I’m going to have a hard time eating “processed cheese” pizza in the
States after 4 months of fresh mozzerella in the US. In the evening, we went to
a nearby casino where I played roulette and loss. I really had fun playing that
though, and was winning for a little bit of the time. There was also free
chocolate all around the Casino, so I stuffed about 50 pieces into my purse and
pockets. Swiss chocolate is really really good and really really expensive, so
this was totally worth it. I forgot to mention that chocolates are always on
the reception desks at all hotels in Switzerland, and I had to have eaten at
least seventy pieces of free chocolate during my 5 -day trip. Overall, the
Swiss Alps were absolutely beautiful, and the chocolate was the best chocolate
in the whole world.
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