Hello Reader. Sorry for the pause in blog entries. My parents came for my last two weeks of break and we were so busy with crazy adventures, I had no time to write. Now that life has returned to somewhat of a norm (hmm funny how normal Freiburg feels now, I like that) and I have sat down to crank out these tales, many there are.
They arrived on Tuesday, April 8th at Zürich airport. They had some delays here and there, but I didn’t mind waiting with my amazing John Steinbeck book, East of Eden. I couldn’t stop smiling when they finally got out of security, mmm I love my mama and papa. We got our brand-new rental car (60km on it, later I’ll describe why we can’t have nice things) and we set out north to the town of Hüntwangen, near Eglisau and the Rhein river, to a childhood friend of my dad’s, Renate, and her family. That night I was surprised to discover that I can finally understand Swiss-German, a strong dialect of German, that always had escaped my ears before. I was so proud of myself that I think I scared this ability away for the rest of the trip because it was never as easy as our first night.
The rest of the week was filled with a trip to Freiburg to get the glasses I forgot at home (oops) on the twisty-turny roads through the Black Forest; a museum visit and dinner with the cousins, aunts and uncles; and soaking in the nearby Zürzach bathes. All was great, but my parents and I were eager to get out on the main event of our trip: Croatia – agreed on because we all wanted to go somewhere south with beaches.
On Friday, our big trip began. We plotted our route straight south through Switzerland. First through Zürich, then to Schwyz and along the Vierwaldstättersee. This area sparked an interesting lecture from my father about the ancient stories of Switzerland that started with three cantons (Uri, Schwyz und Unterwalden) banding together in the protection of the Alps. He retold my favorite story of William Tell and my mom and I were very captivated. Everyone was in great moods because for once my dad was rambling and we were enjoying it. :P
In the Alps my dad also told us of his adventures in military service (all Swiss boys must do military service at age 18/19). After this we entered the longest tunnel of my life, the Gotthart tunnel, that goes under the heart of the Alps, approximately 11 miles long. When we finally exited the tunnel, we were in the Italian part of Switzerland, ergo pizza lunchtime. We continued down this Italian foot until we entered Italy, traveled around Milano and began to get antsy to find a hotel for the night. We ventured off the highway to a small town named Desenzano on the Lake Grada. Our hotel had an incredibly friendly clerk and we ate leftover pizza and watched CNN until retiring. The next morning, Saturday, we decided to stroll through the town and it was sunny and it was nice and wonderful. We bought a Herald Tribune and head on our way to Croatia.
Then it happened. Maybe 10-15 minutes on the highway we got into a traffic jam. A camper reared ended us at top speeds and both cars caught on fire. My parents and I ran from the car, all that was saved my mom’s purse and my dad’s camera and wallet. All we could do was whimper as our car burned to the ground. We were near Verona, so after the paperwork was done, we taxied to the train station and took the next train back to Zürich. Shit happens right?
Side note: That day we bought another Herald Tribune at the train station, only to leave it in the bathroom. We bought yet another one in the Milano train station when transferring trains. We only mention this day, therefore, as the Day We Bought Three Herald Tribunes.
The following three days we picked up the pieces and got on with our vacation. We got another car (duh, gotta have dem wheels), got new contacts for me (my glasses flew off my face in the car and I was blinded) and got new clothes for everyone. On Tuesday, we went to Bern to get new passports. From Bern I think we felt a little more whole. My parents want to show me Lucerne, and we went to every funky little town in between. There was this one town called Fankhaus that cemented my mom’s saying, “You don’t need to go to Disneyland, go to Switzerland.” It was BIZARRE. Lucerne was very very pretty and we got the greatest old hotel where we drank wine and laughed the night away.
From there we went to visit my dad’s oldest brother again for coffee. The next day we were able to have dinner with my Godfather Hansueli (another childhood friend of my dad’s) and his lovely wife and daughters (one of whom, Sereina, is my absolute favorite).
On Friday we went to Freiburg and they found a cute hotel near my apartment. On the weekend, we took a spontaneous trip to Baden-Baden, to go to the bathes (luxurious-luxurious.) Everything that could go right did go right in Baden-Baden including friendly people, great meals, cheap wonderful hotels, and sun sun sun. On our way back to Freiburg, we took the scenic route through the Black Forest again and it was spectacular. Spring decided to go all out for our last European road trip together.
On Monday I went back to class and it was nice to come home afterschool to their hotel and tell them about my day and do my homework on the table like I used to do back in
Seattle with them.
They only stayed until Wednesday before heading back to
Switzerland for the rest of the week.
They fly home tomorrow.
What a trip.
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