I love writing about our Europe trip. Every time I sit down to the computer to write I get excited butterflies in my stomach...being able to revisit the memories is such a treat.
Day 11: Thursday 26 June 2014
So in my last post about our day in Venice I mentioned our breakfast in Venice...you remember, where they played country music in the breakfast room. Ha! Still makes me laugh. Anyway, after our breakfast we made our journey back to the train station on foot. It was about a 15-20 minute walk from our hotel. Good morning exercise. We were about to embark on our longest train journey. Venice to Bern was about a 6 hour train ride, it was kind of nice though, being able to see the Italian and Swiss countryside. Really beautiful. I wrote in my journal and slept, so it went by fast. In fact, that's usually what we did on our train rides. Here's an excerpt from my journal regarding our Italian experience:
Italy has been good -- minus the theft in Rome - - but we're ready to see a new, cleaner, country.
My impression of Italy is that unless you're here just to visit and see all the touristy things, I would not want to live here. The streets, at least in the cities, are dirty, and even before we were robbed I didn't feel super safe. Although, I think it also has to do with the language barrier - - feeling vulnerable becasue you can't speak the language and help yourself when you need it. I think I'll like Switzerland and France better for that reason; knowing Michael can communicate will be really helpful, for every reason.
That about perfectly sums it up. I would totally go back to visit Italy, but not for as long. Once you've seen it, you've seen it. Know what I mean?
So on to Switzerland!
So we made it safely to Bern. We got off at the main train station and found a connecting one that would take us to Zollikofen, where we were staying at the LDS temple housing. By metro it's about 10-15 minutes north of the city center. Michael was familiar with the route....to be honest, I was super amazed by his memory. He hadn't been to Bern since...2009, I believe, but he still knew exactly where to walk and how to get us to the temple. We got off the metro and I kept saying, "how long till we're there...." and he was like, "we're close," and boy, he wasn't kidding. It was funny just as I was about to say, where's the temple, we walked right up to it! It is a beautiful place. I didn't know, but it was actually the 9th operating temple. Switzerland, of all places! Dedicated in 1952. Very cool. It was undergoing some renovations at the time, but it was open and we were able to go.
So I mentioned we stayed in the temple housing. The reason why they have it is because this temple serves Italy, France, and Switzerland...so when people go, it's probably the only time they will go all year, so most people stay a few days. It was a very cool experience to be surrounded by so many people from different countries and backgrounds. Really opens your eyes to how big the world really is.
We checked in to our rooms, yes rooms. We were not able to book a couples room, so we had to sleep with other people in bunk beds - dorm style! It was fine and it was only for a couple nights. There were three Italian girls in my room. One was probably about my age and the other two were probably 15-17. It was funny. None of us spoke a common language. The girl close to my age asked if I spoke Spanish. No. I asked about English or French and she said no. Ha! Best part though was that we all felt comfortable with each other. I love that about the gospel. Everyone is family. The older girl even let me borrow her shampoo! It was a sweet experience.
We didn't do much in the evening. We ventured out to find a grocery store so we could get all the essentials we needed for the next two days. When we came back we prepared our dinner in the common kitchen and dining area. We actually ran in to a young family that recognized Michael from his mission! It was so cool to see his eyes light up in that moment. After dinner we explored the temple grounds. The church owns quite a bit of land there and there was a beautiful trail that we took a short hike around. Switzerland is magnificent! I could totally live there. And when I mentioned earlier we looked forward to a cleaner country, Switzerland definitely lived up to that!
This is the common dining area. See the clear refrigerators in the right of the picture. They are full of everyone's food!
My room!
Isn't this breathtaking??
Day 12: Friday 27 June 2014
We let ourselves sleep in a bit this morning. The fast pace of our Italy tour was catching up to us! We didn't have big plans for the day. Just to freelance explore the city of Bern and then attend the temple in the evening. It was our only full day in Bern. We ate a light breakfast and then set out for the city.
First thing we did was go atop the Gurten mountain. This tower provides an amazing view of the city! It was kind of wobbly though, and that freaked me out.
***Insert angels singing of how beautiful this place is***
There was a beautiful park at the top of the mountain and we walked all the way around it. This was one of my favorite spots... I mean, come on. How amazing is this view?
The hills are aliiiiiiive.
Downtown Bern
The River Aar
The Bärengraben, which translates to Bear Park. The Bear is a symbol of the city of Bern.
One of my favorite pictures!! Looks like a postcard, doesn't it!!??
We took a quick nap here in this park...everyone else was doing it, so it seemed like the thing to do!
CHOCOLATE!!!! So delicious. Really lives up to the expectation. Sorry, we did not bring any back for y'all. We ate it.
Found one of my favorite things on our walk back. Swiss street cat!
Day 13: Saturday 28 June 2014
So for this day we originally planned to stop off in Lausanne and Martigny on our way to Geneva. Since the train we were taking would stop there anyway, or so we thought. We got on our train in Bern early Saturday morning and found out it would actually go all the way to Martigny, but not Lausanne. Which was OK, because Martigny was the main place we wanted to see. Michael served part of his mission in both places, but Martigny was his last area...and I had an ulterior motive as well. We took one of our engagement pictures with one of the Robert Indiana's LOVE sculptures at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR.
Exhibit A:
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| Credit: Tangible Photography |
Anyway, if you clicked the link, you will see that these sculptures are all over the world! Perfectly enough, there is one in Martigny! Small, Swiss-town, Martigny. So I told Michael, we just HAD to get a picture. We won't be going back to Switzerland for awhile, so it was our only chance. So we took the train to Martigny, and set out for the museum where the sculpture was! Only bad thing about stopping off for a few hours was that we had to lug all our stuff around. We survived though!
Here's a map to show the geography of all of these cities!
We made it to the museum just before it started to rain! True story - more like, LUCKY story - so it cost 25 Swiss francs to enter this museum - each - and there was no access to the sculpture garden without entering first through the building - I saw why, because it seemed like the sculpture garden was their main attraction/feature. Luckily Michael was able to speak in French at this point and explain to the front desk that we came all the way from America, just so we could take a picture with the sculpture! His plea worked and they let us run in and out to get the picture!! Tender mercy!!
Here it is!! Thanks random foreign couple for taking the pic!! I plan to have a whole wall of these in my house someday!
This place is so beautiful.
Michael took me down memory lane - - this was the post office where he sent some of his last letters to me while he was about to finish his mission! So nostalgic and weird for me to actually be there with him!
We ate lunch at a small sandwich shop, which was delicious! Then we went on one last expedition to find Michael's old mission apartment. We found it and unfortunately I don't have any pictures! Funny because there were missionaries still living there and they were home! Michael had a fun time chatting with them. A couple of them even knew some of Michael's old companions, even though it'd been almost two years since he'd been home.
We hopped back on the train and headed toward Geneva. We actually rode through Lausanne, so I got to see it, but we decided we were too tired to stop and just wanted to get to Geneva so we could go even further down mission-memory-lane.
Our train actually took us to the Geneva airport, where we would pick up our rental car! This was the only time we had a rental car and it was SO nice to have that freedom again. I think if we did Europe again I'd want a car the whole time...at least in the small towns. First place we went was Michael's old mission home. A beautiful property! Again, I was amazed of how easily Michael was able to remember where to turn and which exits to take - although, he was there for 6+ months, so I guess it makes sense he'd remember. Still, I was impressed. And he readjusted to driving a manual really well too! I was SO nervous at first, especially since it was a rental car. Ask him how many times I said, "be careful."
Michael scoping out the empty home. - - It's empty because the Geneva Switzerland mission no longer exists. It joined the Lyon France mission about half way through his mission. He helped move everything to Lyon. The church still owns it obviously, because someday, it will need to be re-opened! The work is hastening!
I wouldn't mind living here! Maybe we can come back in 30 years and be the mission presidents. :)
Michael taught me how to drive manual!!! It was scary, but I did it! Drove around the block! How many people (outside of Switzerland) can say they learned how to drive manual in Switzerland??
Beautiful view of the city!
It was so bright! Ha! We propped our camera on the car for this one!
We arrived in Geneva about 2pm, five hours earlier than we'd originally told our host family we would, so we decided to check out the United Nations. There was some sort of scary sounding protest going on outside of it, so we didn't stick around too long.
After the United Nations we headed toward Gex, which is actually in France, just off the border of Switzerland, to meet up with the family who so graciously hosted us. We stopped at a boulengerie for a snack and got some bread to take to the Serrano family as a thank-you for letting us stay with them. When we arrived we got a classic French welcome! Hugs and kisses - it was so sweet. The family was so welcoming and you could really tell how much they loved and appreciated Michael's time as a missionary. They didn't speak English, but I was actually amazed at how much I understood! I couldn't speak back very well, but I knew what they were saying! Makes me more motivated to keep studying, I so want to be bilingual. Biggest culture shock was not eating dinner until 8:30pm and finishing at 10pm - I was so tired!
Day 14: Sunday 29 June 2014
So, I have no pictures from this day, but wish I did! We went to church and that was great! This was the first ward where everyone recognized Michael and was so glad to see him! A few people even said, "we've heard about you!" Which made me smile. They all knew Michael was writing me letters as a missionary and it was so fun for them to actually meet me.
We had lunch with the Houdin's - a sweet young couple with a young son. To my pleasure they both spoke English and we had a WONDERFUL meal with them. We stayed for four hours, went back to our host family's home, took a nap, then got up and left to eat dinner with the Bishop's family. Michael said this is how his whole mission was! So warm and inviting! I loved the people in France. I loved seeing the gospel in the homes, the spirit is the same wherever you go. Again, we didn't eat until late and we stayed until 11pm! I could hardly keep my eyes open I was so tired! Wonderful meal, but man, I cannot stay up that late.
Day 15: Monday 30 June 2014
We left the Serrano's home about 9am because we had to return our rental car by 10am. We dropped the car off and found a locker room at the train station to leave our bags and then we ventured into downtown Geneva for a few of hours.
This is the Reformer's Wall in a park downtown.
Lake Geneva
Michael and the Jet D'eau
After seeing these few sights we had a quick lunch at a fancy cafeteria type place - they had everything you could want - but man oh man, it was très cher!! We headed back to the station, got our bags and then we were off to Lyon for a week!
Thank you, Switzerland! You were good to us!
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