The Neat, Clean, Quite Solvent Country

I don't know if I can ever forgive Faulkner for writing the painful As I Lay Dying (aptly named by my high school peers as "As I Die Reading), but he had it right about Switzerland. It was one clean, neat, perfect little country. It was so beautiful, it hurt my eyes. The rolling hills of the Alps were so lush and green! The first city we stayed at in Switzerland was Lucerne. Though the Netherlands was my favorite country we visited, Lucerne was by far my favorite city. It is nestled right in the heart of the Swiss Alps (which look a great deal like the mountains of Utah) and it's defining characteristic is the Chapel Bridge built in the early 14th century that spans across a breathtakingly clear lake dotted with beautiful, white swans. Lucerne also has an impressive city wall from the same time period complete with holes in the stone for shooting arrows at attackers. Sel LOVED the city wall as it reminded us a little bit of the wall of Gondor from Lord of the Rings. It helped too that Lucerne speaks German so Sel was able to help us order food and figure out where to go.

Sel shortly after being named King of Lucerne with his fancy little hat.

Too beautiful to be true!

This one is for Grams-she LOVES Patrick Jane. Huge crush.

We also had a bit of a face off between Kit and one of the Lucerne swans. It was one of the best moments of the trip..wait, one of the best moments of my entire life. Mr.Swan was distracted looking at me when Kit ran up behind it and poked it in the back. It turned around looking super confused and then challenged Kit to a duel. She accepted of course and then shouted the battle cry of "Bring it on!"

It started to hiss and walk menancingly toward her and luckily the light changed or that swan would have gotten seriously messed up by Kit. :)

Beautiful Sculpture honoring the Swiss Guards

Totally drank out of this and didn't get any diseases



Playing around in the Swiss Rain. I actually sang "Singing in the Rain" in German...or in some sort of language..



One of the 14th Century murals on the Chapel Bridge.

After our wonderful time in Lucerne, we traveled to the Italian speaking Swiss city, Lugano. We sadly got there right before sunset so we didn't get to see much of the city. The hotel though was AMAZING! They had a magically glass shower that you could push a button and it would tint the glass. Sel and I had WAY too much fun playing with that. That evening we took a boat tour on the lake to a little Grotto restaurant owned by the most eccentric little Swiss-Italian man, Peter. He was such a fabulous host and the food was delicious! Our entire group got totally wasted and were more than entertaining to watch for the rest of the night.

Lake Lugano

This is the cup they drink wine from..or in our case, Coke Light.

I love this one so much! We were lucky to be there on such a gorgeous night.

Lugano Chapel at Sunset. I only took a trillion and two pictures of this

If I had the choice, I would spend the rest of my life moving between Switzerland, The Netherlands, Austria and Germany. Writing this makes me miss Europe SO much. Who wants to fund a trip for me to go back? Or wants to buy me a cottage in Switzerland?