April Adventures Part One (I'm sorry my wit failed and I couldn't think of a better title)

Guten tag, everyone!

It is April 18^th, and Lydia and I have officially been traveling for more than a week now. It has been two days since we waved goodbye to my aunt in Zurich, and we are currently on our way to Salzburg after an hour-and-a-half delay in Buchs!

We began our trip last Friday, April 10^th, in Geneva – since then, we have also been to Bern, Zurich, Buchs, and Sevelen in Switzerland, and the sixth smallest country in the world: Liechtenstein! Everything has gone almost perfectly according to plan… except when things didn't go to plan, as they happen to do every so often (especially when you're an ignoramous dunce like me). 

So let’s start at the very beginning: with Dani being a dunce! 

April 10^th, 2015

In the wee morning of Friday, Lydia and I joyfully boarded our train in Rennes to stop over first in Lyon, and then continue on to Geneva. Napping most of the way and being our giggling selves the rest of the time, we were thrilled to find that there was a Starbucks immediately upon entering the Lyon train station.

You know what that means?!? Orange mocha frappuccinos!

In reality, we both got lattes. I just had to use the opportunity to make a Zoolander reference. 

While Lydia guarded our bag, I waddled my way over to the corporate coffee chain and ordered myself a Café Latte, and, for Lydia, a Caramel Latte (skim milk, of course). I was contentedly standing at the corner waiting for our deliciously warm beverages when all of a sudden, I almost, quite literally, shat my pants.

From pure HORROR.

You see, it was at this exact moment in time, standing there with my eyes the size of planets and my mouth hanging completely open, that I realized……

I had forgotten my Eurail pass.

MY 300 EURAIL PASS TO TRAVEL. FOR TWO AND A HALF WEEKS.

I must have looked like a gawking idiot standing there, staring into the distance as if I had just witnessed a scene from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, because a Frenchman  waved his hand in my face to get my attention.

In shock, I wandered back to Lydia, innocently waiting for her Caramel skim milk latte, and declared, “We have a huge problem.”

After explaining the situation to an equally horrified Lydia, and with only a few minutes left to stay in the train station, I frantically started making calls to Antoine (who luckily lives in the same residence as I do). I woke the poor guy up, and, in tears, tried to explain the situation (“You have to go in to my room! You have to send me the train pass! I HAVE TO HAVE IT!”) Like the wonderful man he is, Antoine dutifully made his way to the reception desk at the residence and asked if he could have permission to break into my room (as I had the key, four hours away), find the train pass and send it to me via expedited mail.

The immediate response was a short, haughty, and thus very French “non.”

However, the completely overwhelmed, blithering mess that I was, I nevertheless managed to spit out some comprehensible French phrases on the phone to the woman at the reception desk, and she finally agreed to accompany Antoine into my room (100% forbidden according to resident policies, but evidently my tears of sorrow pulled on her heart strings) to retrieve the train pass.

An hour, a dozen phone calls and four emails later, Antoine had expedited the pass to my hostel address in Bern, to arrive three days later. Lydia and I drowned our sorrows in a bottle of white wine on the train. 

My advice to you travelers: Never. Forget. Your. Train Pass.

At this point, we believed that everything was going to be okay, even if I was going to have to buy my train ticket separately from Geneva to Bern on top of the pass that I had so sensibly forgotten. So, we decided to forget about the Odyssey of the Train Pass while in Geneva – the trip could only improve from then on!

And so it did. We met up with my aunt (whom I will lovingly refer to as NeeNee from this point on) at the Hotel Jade (delightful), and immediately headed to the botanical gardens lining the lake. After exploring old town and taking a boat ride across the lake, we enjoyed an absolutely FANTASTIC meal of fondue and white wine, provided by a merry Spanish couple who had lived in Geneva for forty years.

The white fondue was made of Vacherin cheese and the classic Gruyère, and it paired best the potatoes. The yellow fondue closer to the forefront of the picture was provençale: tomatoes and spices were added. It paired best with bread! 

While in Geneva, we also took time to visit...

THE UNITED NATIONS!!!! HURRAH INTERNATIONAL LAW!!!

We took a tour of some of the conference rooms used today by the UN, as well as the ancient Palais des Nations where the original League of Nations was founded.

We also went to the Red Cross Museum, and learned about the international humanitarian aid they provide!

On April 12th, we hopped on our train to Bern, the wonderfully charming capital of Switzerland. Our first afternoon, we hiked the hill to the Rose Garden (sadly lacking in roses) to see a killer view of the city.

We also visited the Bear Garden right next door (sadly lacking in bears). Luckily, they had enough fake ones to keep us tourists happy! 

While in Bern, we made many different friends at our hostel, Backpackers, including Aman (not AY-man or AH-man or Ah-MAHN, but more like Ay-mun. NeeNee created a new name for our friend each time we saw him), Alex from New Hampshire, and our Mexican friend I can't for the LIFE of me remember the name of. 

Now, you're probably wondering: did Dani get her train pass in the mail at the hostel like she was supposed to?

And to that, I must reply: is life EVER that easy??

The answer is a short, haughty, and very French “non.” I did not get my rail pass as previously planned.

That afternoon, after about 30 more minutes of phone calls, a frantic run to the almost-closed post office and a KILLER headache, I was told that my pass was, in fact, in Bern...two miles west of the hostel. I would need to pick it up the following morning in person at the package depot if I wanted to retrieve it before our train left at 10:02 the next day.

And so the Odyssey of the Train Pass continued.

April 14, 2015

We woke up bright and early so that Lydia and I could take the tram west to the mail depot. After ten minutes of tram and ten minutes of walking, we finally arrived…. At a massive warehouse full of nothing but packages and giant, hulking men in the middle of Bern’s industrial district.

Needless to say, we were a bit out of place.

We first went to the wrong office. After finding the right office, sweltering hot and full to the brim with 200-pounders of the opposite gender, we had to wait about ten minutes for the manager to help us locate the letter. Ten more minutes of phone calls passed.

Then (in thick German accent):

“We have little problem.”

The letter was apparently MIA, on the road, in a truck headed towards our old hostel.

After my blood pressure had enough time to skyrocket and I was about ready to murder everyone in that bloody depot, the manager put on his yellow smock and lead us into the warehouse to search for the letter himself. Gloomy, stressed and infuriated against all things alive and good, I followed him, seething, with Lydia into the midst of hundreds of packages.

An additional ten minutes passed, and a God-sent miracle occurred: the man emerged, smiling, from the masses of packages with an orange envelope.

MY TRAIN PASS!!!!!!!

Literally throwing up my hands and screaming, I thanked the man profusely for his help, and we ran to catch the tram back to the train station and back to NeeNee. 

On to the train to Zurich we went, with three of three train passes in hand, and the Odyssey of the Train Pass was forevermore written in stone, ne’er to be re-visited again.

The next few days were spent in bliss, drinking far too much wine and enjoying the beautiful weather.

At the top of Uetilberg mountain. Killer view of Zurich.

4-hour boat tour of the lake -- we definitely caught our sun, and a fair amount of bugs too! 

What day is complete without adorable cupcakes named after celebrities and fictional characters??

On April 16th, Lydia and I hugged NeeNee goodbye and we went our separate ways. A short train trip later, the two of us arrived in Buchs, Switzerland, where we couch-surfed in order to visit Vaduz (the capital of Liechtenstein) right across the river!

Rosemary and Ernst's home. 

Our couch-surfing hosts were named Rosemary and Ernst. Rosemary showed us around their old farmhouse, complete with chickens, goats, and backyard garden.

Me playing with the family cat at dinner.

Why, hello there! 

We even had our own room and bathroom!!

We immediately hopped on Rosemary’s bikes and took a tour of the nearby farmland, past Sevelen, over the river and into Liechtenstein, the sixth smallest country in the world!

Surrounded by the Swiss Alps on all sides, views were definitely not lacking.

The next day, however, we were not so lucky: after six days of sun, the rain finally caught up with us – it drizzled the entire day, so we spent it inside two of Vaduz’s museums. The first was the Kunstmuseum, full to the brim with contemporary art that certainly was not our cup of tea. Slightly disappointed, we made our way over to the Landesmuseum to see the Marilyn Monroe temporary exhibit… that I absolutely adored. I had so much fun learning about such an icon, and it made up for the “art” at the Kuntsmuseum!

Seriously. Rocks dipped in paint on the floor are not art, people.

With the trip almost halfway over, our adventures keep taking us further and further east. So without further ado, we will say “adieu” to Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and “hallo” to Austria!