Already in love with the Swiss!!

Well we made it! Switzerland is amazing! The 16 hours of travel time, 13 of which were in air, were not as bad as we expected them to be! I was in the middle of watching HSM3 when I got interrupted by a 5 year old girl sitting in front of me. She was wanting to be entertained and I was happy to help. I found out she spoke 4 different languages fluently and then french only a little. All at age 5! Is that not crazy?

While waiting in line to get our passports stamped, we soon noticed how quite everyone was and made us realize why they think Americans are so loud. It was not like people were not talking. They are just much more quiet about it. Other than the many different languages spoken on the plane from Atlanta to Zurich, this was probably are first encounter with cultural differences.

We proceed to make reaservations for our train trip to Florence, and thinking it was too easy, we then found difficulty figuring out the pay phone! No one seemed to know, and after spending 7 francs on one phone call, we went to get a train to Heardbrüg (not sure on the spelling). The machine would not take Rylie's credit card and after everyone behind us was trying to help us out, we finally gave up and went to an actual person to get our train tickets. The train was not as compicated as we had imagined and we made it to our desitination easier than planned!

Rylie and I soon met up with Rafael, the nice man who is taking us up for our couple nights in Zurich and it did not take long for us to see just how hospitable the Swiss can be! Knowing he would have other plans, we both assumed we would schedule are plans around his and his girlfriend. But neither one of us figured he would give us a key to his apartment so we could come and go as we pleased! He just met us. Can you imagine doing that in America? We joined him, his girlfriend, his sister (who we later found out was his step-sister) and his brother (whom we later found out was not his brother at all) for some Sunday brunch! The restaurant was so different from what you see in the US. Open doors on both sides to let the nice breeze flow in, couches everywhere, and people sitting and enjoying their meal for hours, just talking and hanging out! It was so nice to not be rushed for a meal but really enjoy it! And the cheese stick things we got (I could not tell you what they are called) were delicious!

We soon found out that Rafeal takes his sister and brother from his dad and stepmom for the weekend so they can have some time to themselves. This just amazed me! I loved this idea of spending time with his syblings. He loved hanging out with them and you could see it as they spent to day together just how much they cared for one another!

Rylie and I set off to take an adventure riding the Tram, and after about 15 minutes of tring to figure it out and asking people on the street to help, we finally got out day passes and rode to the lake! Lake Zurich was georgeous! In the far distance you could see the Alps and across the way was the pretty scenery of houses and hills. Not too different from Washington! The nice refreshing lake, the amazing scenery and people who are almost too comfortable with themselves, made for a very relaxing afternoon in the blistering heat! I am sure to get a nice tan by the end of this trip! We started to walk back, and realizing how tired we were, ended up falling asleep for a few hours until Rafeal and his girlfriend arrived. They put in a movie for us (in English) and we sat in his theatre room to enjoy the film! We then decided to call it a night and prayed we would fall asleep to avoid jet lag!

The atmosphere here is so different and the fresh air, quiet roads, and amazing company, just make me love Switzerland! We are now about to walk to town and see what amazing thing we will find next!

So Ciao for now!