Switzerland

In the middle of August, I moved to Paris, France.  I will be living here for a year to do campus ministry in the city with Agape (Cru in the U.S.).  I am still trying to decide if, and how, I should blog about this experience.  I am living and working with a team of seven other stinters - us who are here doing ministry for a year - who are recent college graduates.  Three of us stinters are here for the first year, and the other five were here last year.  There is also one full time international staff lady that we work with in doing ministry.

This fall, our team divided up to visit fall retreats that other Agape movements in France had.  Since we were working over a weekend, we all got a comp day - we all got the same comp day even though our work weekends were different.

Since we're living in Europe and travel to get around is so easy, we are trying to squeeze in some trips.   With a long weekend, this was the perfect opportunity.  Everyone but one stinter decided to go.

A few of us started planning the trip a few weeks back.  We were trying to find the cheapest option, that would be in nature, with the cost of a train, AirBnb, and a car rental.  Traveling with a group and dividing costs between everyone, definitely seemed to help reduce costs.  After looking into a few places to go, we came to the conclusion that going to Switzerland would be the cheapest.  So, we spent a weekend in the Swiss Alps!  It was all of our first times in Switzerland!

We left Paris Thursday afternoon and took the train to Berne, Switzerland.  It was about a four hour train ride.  We did have a five minute transfer in Basel, Switzerland.  Wow, it was quite the transfer - starting off our weekend well.  Our train to Basel was coming in late.  We had a five minute transfer and needed to figure out which train we needed.  We ended up running up the stairs and then right back down - the train we needed ended up being right across the platform from the one we came on.  We had to just run onto the train.  We made it - BARELY!  And then, at one of the small stops, we had to switch train cars because we were in the wrong one and we didn't want to get fined.  Anyways, we made it Berne Thursday night.

A few from the group went to pick up our rental van - we rented a nine passenger van.  Some of us went to Läderach - a chocolate shop that was recommended to us.  With living in Paris, we have meet people from all around Europe (and the world).  We have made two friends from Switzerland.  When they found out we were going to Switzerland, they gave us some recommendations of some foods to try (I also like to ask about what foods I should try)!

Läderach was a shop that one of these girls used to work at.  She said that it is owned by Christians and that they treat their employees well - and, the chocolate is good and they let you have samples!  Her favorite is the white chocolate with pistachios, almonds, and orange.  I had to try it - it was surprisingly really good!  I also got some dark chocolate with nuts.

We got some dinner at The Butcher in Berne.  It is mostly a burger and fries place.  I wasn't very hungry, so I just got fries.  They were delicious, and the burgers were looked great too!

^^Cass^^

Our Airbnb was in Heiligenschwendi, near Thun.  It really didn't take us that long to get there from Berne.  It was basically that ideal, rustic cabin in the woods.  It was nothing fancy, but worked great for our group.  The owners actually live in Wisconsin.  When they found out we were a group of missionaries, they ended up giving us a discount!  They are Christians and met in YWAM.  They said that they have a place we could stay at in Wisconsin if we wanted too.  I just found this really neat and like a little gift from God.

We ended up visiting Switzerland during a wonderful weekend!  The trees were still colorful.  It was a perfect temperature to go hiking in.  It rained a little, but nothing too much.  Oh, it was just lovely!  These pictures can't even capture the beauty of this place.  It was so pretty!

When we got to our cabin, it was really dark outside.  It was so fun to see the view we in the morning!  A lot of the time it was foggy/cloudy, but during the clear times, you could see snowcap mountains!

My experience with AirBnbs is that they have been in really interesting places.  Like you have to take a very random, hidden road to find it.  To get to our cabin, we had to go down a very steep driveway, which was right off the main mountain road.  The driveway lead to our cabin and the next door farmer.  It was quite the experience going down the driveway, especially the first time in the dark!

There was a sign in our Airbnb that said the farmer next door might have fresh milk, eggs, and cheese.  So, Cass and I decided to go check in the morning.  The farmer lived real close.  When we found him, we was on the phone, so we had to wait a little bit to ask him.  He didn't speak any English, so we used Google Translate to ask our questions.  We were able to get a dozen eggs from him.  The milk wasn't ready yet.  But, he did offer us some cheese!  He had a cheese room - he walked in and cut us off a chunk of cheese from the wheel!  It was so fun to see.  (The room definitely smelled like lots of cheese.)

I used to not like cheese.  It has been growing on me over the past few year, and I am starting to really like it now after living in France!

^^Cass and the farmer dog.^^

There were cows all over the area that we were in!  I loved it!  They all wore cow bells (which, I believe was invented in Switzerland).  It was so much fun to just go outside and hear cow bells.  These two cows next to our cabin were really friendly.  They are so cute!

On Friday, we went to get some groceries (we found an Aldi in Thun).  Then Cass made us some eggs before we went out hiking.  She has a special recipe for making a large batch of eggs - so good with the farm fresh eggs!

^^Thun is located on a large lake.^^

On Friday, we hiked in Lauterbrunnen, which was down in a valley.  The hike was mostly hiking on a path - pretty flat, but very pretty.

^^Lauren with her camera, taking lots of fun pictures!^^

At one point, we did venture off the trail, through a pasture, to the bottom of this waterfall.

^^The girls.^^

Along the path that we walked on, was a stand that had cheese on it.  You could leave your money and take some cheese.  So, we got some cheese - it was REALLY good!

^^I love checking out the grocery stores when I go to new places.^^

Some foods that I was told to try, but didn't were Rivella (a carbonated drink that is really popular), Ovomaltine (I did buy some, but haven't tried it yet), cheese fondue (one of the Swiss friends actually made it for me and my roommates, but I didn't have any in Switzerland), and Basler Läckerli (you can go to a Läckerli Huus in Basel for a variety of flavors, or get the original kind in the grocery store) .

On Friday night, we grilled some meat and veggies for dinner.  One thing I was told to try were Cervelas, a Swiss sausage.  We grilled them.  I thought they were pretty good, especially dipped in mustard.  It was kind of like a hot dog or grilled ring bologne.

^^Little did I know, that I was just about to climb up this mountain.^^

On Saturday, we went hiking in Grindelwald.  We left right away in the morning.  It took us a little while to find a place to go hiking once we got to the town.  But, the wait was so worth the hike!  This hike was a HIKE.  It is crazy to think we were hiking up a Swiss mountain!  It felt like we were way up there, but really this is just a baby mountain compared to most of the Swiss Alps.  We were just in the northern mountains of the alps.

Saturday's hike was my favorite part of the trip!  I was definitely sore the next couple days, which was fun!  The hike was beautiful.  We saw glaciers too.

Landjäger was another food that I was told to try by a Swiss friend.  They were basically beef sticks.  I ate them for a lunch on the hike with some bread and cheese!

^^This was my favorite part of the hike!^^

Some us had a later train home than two others.  We sat in a Starbucks in Berne to wait for our train.  I decided to go out to find a bakery.  I just asked the lady there what some popular things are.  I wanted to get some bread to eat with lunch later and a pastry.  She was so kind and helpful to give a me a couple common things to pick from!  I got a bun that she said was made with milk, and a pastry, that she said was like a croissant filled with nuts - it was really good!  As I was just Googling to figure out what pastry I ate, I think it is a Nussgipfel.  I'm now seeing lots of other delicious looking treats from Switzerland online!

After living in a new culture for a couple months, it was so interesting to go and experience another culture.  I thought most people in Switzerland spoke English, and better English, than in France.  Also, when we were in Berne on Sunday morning, it was so quite.  But, there were some people out.  The fashion and atmosphere of the city was definitely different from France.  Things in Switzerland also seemed more expensive.  And, oh, the air in Switzerland was SO clean and fresh.  ESPECIALLY compared to Paris.

Paris is becoming home.  Even though it is nice to get our of the city, it is also nice to come home, and right now home is Paris.