Switzerland part 2

Ah, here I am again...
My sister Jo and I have spent 2 days being tourists, and I have been trying very hard to learn some basic Swiss-German... I can say please, thankyou, sorry, "mineral water with bubbles" and have learnt to read some of the signs in train stations and in the cities!!

Yesterday (Monday) Jo's host mother Maggie took us to the Rheinfall, waterfalls on the Rhine, very close to the German border. (See photo above) It was pretty amazing, so loud and absolutely huge. The Rhine is the greenest water I have ever seen, it's like the ocean but clear. We took a boat ride out to a huge rock lookout in the middle of the falls and climbed the steepest stairs ever to the top with about 30 other people all speaking different languages.

We then went into Germany to one of the very old villages, Laufenburg (above), where it suddenly occurred to me that I was in fact on the other side of the world!! More dollhouse buildings, painted in different colours, each with coloured shutters and window boxes of geraniums. So many buildings in this area have that, even the most glamourous or most dilapidated buildings have geraniums growing in window boxes!... the village also had cobbled, narrow streets and flags everywhere... Swiss, German, French and Italian. People drive their little European cars up these tiny streets and everyone says "achtung!!" (careful/watch out) and jumps out of the way.
We ate at a swanky German restaurant, where everyone says "guten Targ" as you walk in, and we ate wurst and käsesalat (basically sausage meat, but we ate it cold and chopped up... tastes like stras from the Coles deli at home... and cheese salad). We ate this whilst overlooking the Rhine, and someone's yard which had four HUGE rabbits grazing on the grass (I miss my bunnies!!)
We then walked through the old village of Laufenburg and crossed the Rhine on a footbridge into Switzerland to the Swiss town of Laufenburg... much like the German one but with more Swiss flags! It was really warm yesterday, about 24 degrees again. I don't think the concept of being sunsmart exists here, and neither do smoking laws... everyone smokes everywhere.

Last night Maggie and Jörg invited Jo and I to their choir, and much to Jo's disgust I agreed and dragged her along. Despite the choir conductor giving all directions in German, I managed to figure out that he said I was an alto and l Iearnt some of the songs. After my jangled nerves settled, I sang along and really enjoyed it. Jo even sang and translated a few things for me. We walked home through Frick, the town where she lives, and crossed the autobahn (freeway) where the speed limit is 120km/hr!
I had been awake since 5am so by the time we ate rösti for dinner (my new favourite meal), I was sound asleep, fully clothed, at 10pm.

Jo and I got up early today and caught the train to Zürich (50 mins) then another train to Lucerne (another 50 minutes)... what a beautiful city! (Photo above is the chapel bridge in Lucerne) Built around Lake Lucerne, and surrounded by alps (not that we could really see them, it was 10 degrees, cloudy and raining), the city has some amazing buildings (yes, more shuttered windows and geraniums!), bridges, little paved squares behind main streets and various museums. When the rain came down we disappeared into the Picasso museum to see an exhibition of the photographs taken by Picasso's friend Duncan in the 60s and 70s. There were also three small rooms housing some of Picasso's original works.
No trip to Europe would be complete without venturing into H&Ms, where I bought a summer top, on sale for CHF8 (less than 8 Aussie dollars) and a black beanie for the wintery weather that has descended on Switzerland in the past 24 hours.

We caught a bus to the Lucerne Lion, a huge carving into a rock face of a wounded lion who is a symbol of protection and rememberance for the city. It was HUGE and set behind a large pond, surrounded by gardens- very picturesque.
One of the most random things to have happened so far was that we were asked to be interviewed about the musical "Hair" by some girls, after much confusing talk in German and English... something about a school project... not sure what kind of school studies the musical "Hair" but anyway, that was an interesting conversation.
Dinner tonight was more Swiss food, cheese and potatoes of course, and more wine... Maggie and Jörg are going to make me fat and an alcoholic in no time.
I had a funny moment in a shop where I went into French mode, saying "excuse moi" to a lady who responded with "pardon" in a thick accent, to which I replied "merci beaucoup" and then suddenly realised what I was doing.

These blog entries are partly for my own benefit, as I don't want to forget a single moment of this trip, it is truly mind blowing, despite shitty weather. Jo is incredibly fluent in Swiss-German, which I have been told is rare for an exchange student - mostly they speak "high German". She translates everything for me in shops and asks questions for me. I really do now understand what people mean when they say you can learn a language so much more when you are immersed in it overseas. I have picked up on so many little things, and I knew no German at all before I left, except for maybe Volkswagon...

I haven't had the chance to upload photos, and may not bother until I get home, so for now I hope my descriptions and ramblings will do to let some of you travel vicariously through me, as I have done through so many people before! (12/10/07 - am now uploading photos to complement the entries!)