March 25, 2010

This is Nancy's take on the Swiss trip.

Switzerland! Think postcards pictures and chocolate. Yes, being in Switzerland was like being in a life-size postcard! It is as beautiful as you ever imagined.

We arrived in Geneva on Friday afternoon to bright sunshine and warm temperatures. This weather was especially welcomed by the Swiss people because, as one lady said, "It has been a long, cold winter." We had a few hours to explore before heading to the Emmaus Institute, the Bible Institute where we planned to spend Friday night. We hopped on a bus...well, actually it wasn't quite a hop since we had to figure out how to pay for it...needed exact change for the machine, in Swiss francs. Thankfully, Miriam, one of our group is nearly fluent in French. After struggling for awhile to figure out the machine on our own, we asked the bus driver. He was quite helpful and we finally made onto the bus with our tickets in hand. Just as we were settling into the seats, one of the group suggested we would be more comfortable wandering around Geneva if we shed our backpacks. So, we hopped off the bus and headed back into the bus station to stow our backpacks in lockers which involved another quest for exact change. It turned out to be a great suggestion!

Finally we were back on the bus and headed to the City Center of Geneva. The bus was packed with a group of preteens from Ireland who were in town for a gymnastics tournament. We talked to them, as we always do when we hear English being spoken in a foreign country. Their Irish accents were really fun to listen to. Once at the City Center we headed to the river where we picnicked on bread and cheese (you have to do that in Europe, don't you?) After lunch we walked over to the the Monument to the Reformers...and Mike and Kati played a game of giant chess in the park. Before we knew it, it was time to get back to catch our train to Vevey where we would be staying that night. Somehow we found out that there was a train we could take back to the airport/train station/bus station that took only 6 minutes rather than 30 minutes by bus, and at the same cost. Duh! We took the train.

Back at the train station, we bought tickets to Vevey and found the correct platform so we could catch our train. Now, there are fast trains and there are slow trains (that stop at EVERY little berg)...guess which one we happened to be on? So, even though we thought we had lots of time to get to Emmaus...it took longer than expected. We panicked just a little as the minutes ticked by...we were to be at the Institute by 6:30 if we wanted the evening meal we had reserved. Finally we reached our little berg...we got off and looked around and found ourselves in the middle of a residential neighborhood with no idea which direction to go on foot. It was already after 6:30 by this time and dusk was approaching. Fortunately we saw a car with two women sitting in the parking lot next to the tiny, deserted train stop. Miriam talked to them in French and, after they gave us directions, the seven of us started trekking up, up, up a small street/trail through the houses. We had no idea how far it was but we felt confident we were going the right way. What a relief when we actually saw a sign ahead that pointed us on to the Emmaus Institute.

What I haven't mentioned is the beauty surrounding us...Geneva itself is nestled at the foot of the mountains and it is lovely, but it wasn't until we were walking along to the Emmaus Institute that I first felt the awesomeness of where we were...snow-capped mountains were in the distance, but not so far in the distance. This is when I first felt I was living this moment in a postcard setting that was real!

After more upward walking, we came to the Institute. Everywhere you can look from there is beautiful! We just couldn't get enough of it. I hope our pictures will actually be able to convey the beauty. Even though we were late, a hot meal was ready for us and we were shown to our rooms. Charlene, our hostess couldn't have been nicer. After our meal, we settled into our rooms for the night...no television or computers to distract us so we...slept.

Saturday morning the mountains were still there! That may seem obvious, but, you know, I just had to look out and make sure. We ate breakfast in the dining room... in full view of the mountains...delicious bread, yogurt, fruit and, of course, coffee and juice. Charlene told us, since we were returning to stay at Emmaus on Sunday night, we could leave anything we didn't need in our rooms till we returned. This lightened our backpacks somewhat...in fact, Mike and I combined ours so we only had one bag to carry. The rest of the girls and women decided that they each wanted their own bag.

This time we trekked down, down, down the hill (which by the way is a lot easier) back to the train station. Today, we were headed down the lake to see the most visited place in Switzerland, a castle in Chillon. After a short train ride we were at the castle. Once at Chillon, we toured the castle...well worth the couple hours it takes. Mike bought a hat since he had forgotten to bring one and he wanted to avoid getting sunburned. The historical aspects of the castle were interesting...the human suffering that went on inside despite the beauty of the surroundings outside is a subject for both poetry and art.

Once again time was getting away from us...this seemed to be an on-going theme...so after another picnic lunch we caught the train to Interlaken which we had hoped to explore. Riding a train through the mountains is the way to go. No worry about getting lost or traffic. Well, if you have a fear of heights, you may not want to look too closely at the tracks which are very close to the edge in some of the mountain passes. We passed through small villages, by late season ski runs, farms, waterfalls, streams, lakes, and wineries, and a few towns. It was truly one glorious sight after another. Again, we were on the slow train that stopped at many small towns so the trip lasted longer than we expected. We enjoyed every minute of it, but now realized we would be lucky to make our 6:30 meal at the place we were to stay on Saturday night. (the Bible Institute in Beatenberg).

We arrived in Interlaken and asked about the train to Beatenberg. That is when we found out there is no train, only a bus, and the last one of the day was gone. One of our teacher who is from Canada had had her first, second, and third ride on a train today. Now she would get her first ride in a taxi. We hired a 7 passenger taxi and headed up a very, very steep mountain to the Bible Institute. Again, we were about thirty minutes late for the evening meal. Not to worry. God was good and the hosts were kind and we ate a hot German meal. Did I mention that this part of Switzerland is as German as the area around Geneva is French. The language, the architecture, the food and the customs are all German here.

Since time had flown by and we hadn't gotten to do as much as we had intended on Saturday, we were determined to get an early start on Sunday morning. After breakfast, we sprinted to catch the bus back down to Interlaken. It was literally pulling out as we got on. Of course, for some reason the bus trip down the mountain was quicker than we had anticipated and we got to Interlaken an hour before the English-speaking church service we planned to attend. Since it was drizzling rain, we began to look for a place of shelter. We found just what we needed at a coffee shop and pastry bar. While some of our group had their picture taken with a group of American soldiers on holiday from Germany, the rest of us settled down to a cup of warm mocha. Since today was Kati's 11th birthday, Miriam surprised her with a chocolate bunny and we sang "Happy Birthday" to her for the second time. We had promised her we would sing to her at every meal today.

A little before ten AM, we headed over to the Brethern Church for service. The regular minister was out of town so the speaker was a retired missionary who had spent his career in New Guinea. It was great to sing and hear a sermon in English. I think that is one of the things I miss most about being in Portugal. After the service, we met others who were visiting the church. Among them were three young men from different parts of Africa who had come to Switzerland seeking asylum from the dangers in their war-torn homelands.

After a lunch of cheese fondue (a big thing in Switzerland)(of course we sang "Happy Birthday" to Kati once more)...we were off to the train station again.

It was time to head back to Geneva. This time we decided we would take the faster train and go by way of Bern and Lausanne. The trip gave us a very different view of Switzerland from the one the previous day...much flatter, less rural, more German and frankly, quite a bit less beautiful...but it was faster and if it hadn't been for getting on the wrong train on one of the switches we would have made it back to Emmaus with time to spare. The wrong train switch was a mini-adventure in itself...you know one of those things you look back on but in the moment it seems big...we rode the wrong way to the end of the line (which fortunately happened to be the next stop) took a taxi back to our starting place and found the correct connection.

As we trekked back up the hill to Emmaus it had started to rain, but even that didn't dampen our spirits because we knew where we were going and we knew a warm meal and cozy accommodations awaited us...we made the walk at a fast pace and got there in under 15 minutes!

The next day, our last, we headed out early for Geneva after settling up our bill at Emmaus. We had the routine down and were sure we would have lots of time to explore and "meander" around the city. Things went smoothly but of course time flew by and we found ourselves rushing around to do all the things we had planned. We bought take-away lunch (that is what it is called here) and ate in a little park. We found old town and explored the church where John Calvin preached. We looked at Swiss watches in lots of shops...none of us bought one. Suddenly it was time to get back to the airport to catch our Easy Jet back to Portugal. Just a few days ago I had commented to Mike, "Why would anyone wait to buy souvenir's at the airport?" As we were buying chocolate for Mike and a hat for Kati and a t-shirt for Nina I realized why...because they ran out of time while touring!

Our whirlwind Switzerland trip came to an end and we got back to Portugal Monday evening and started revving up for another week of school...but hey, spring break starts on April 2...so stay tuned.

Nancy