France - Switzerland 2001 (4)

You ready for the rest.... This morning we woke and bid farewell to the lovely family that put us up. I say we cause Eric is leaving at the same time to go to southern Switzerland, near Lake Geneva... and I am off to Luzern. We took the train down to Interlaken together and said goodbye. Don't jump to any conclusions.. there was no romance, just friendship, and like all encounters in travel, that one had to end. We'll be in touch via e-mail and maybe see each other in the states. It's odd to make friends in Switzerland or anywhere else over seas that only live ten hours or so away in your own country.. strange. The train ride from there was beautiful, but I relish my reading time when I ride trains cause it's the best so I read more than I gawked and then after a while, I just reflected. It's sad to keep saying good bye... Funny that tomorrow I will see my German friend again and by 3pm tomorrow I will see Beth, James and David.. all USA. So, I get to Luzern. Disembark, pay to use the WC (toilette) and make my way to the hostel, which ends up being a bottom floor of student housing. Big and impersonal unlike what I just came from. This town is actually more of a city and I was in shock when I first got here after my solitude last week.

I quite dread being back in the city. All the cars and neon signs and people everywhere. And it seems strange to hear so much German and see it on every sign. Don't let that seem ignorant of me, it's just that Switzerland seems like it should have its very own language... The other funny thing is that I totally fit in here. I keep getting spoken to in fast German. No one jumps to the conlcusion that I am a tourist, which is refreshing. Once I checked in to my ward... The room having all white walls and furniture, no rug and orange blankets... a bit sanitary, ya know.. I walked around the corner to .... yes, the climbing gym.. Kletter Halle. I was very disappointed. It ain't no Rockreation... not even a woody. It may be better in some people's eyes, like those that were there. I got greeted in ferocious German by this tall Anglo with glasses who had someone on belay. After I said Nicht sprecken sie Duetch or whatever, he kept going. Finally someone was able to tell me that they had rented the place out until later that night... I wasn't too bummed cause they didn'thave any bouldering anyway, just leading and tr'ingand I didn't have a partner, obviously...

So, from there I made a big figure 8 around the town, saw it and now know it like the back of the pinky nail on my left toe... I didn't really see much.. But I did see that famous wooden bridge that apparently burned down in 1993 and has since been rebuilt. I also walked down some stairs which end in the river and are used to embark boats and I busted out the remainder of the loaf of sesame seed bread I had been living on all day (with brie cheese) and I fed the five swans and four ducks, females... 3 babies and the mom... until my bread was gone.. Guess what I did discover though. I spotted among the many water birds here, some Coots. I don't even know if that is what they are called, but that is what I have always known them as. They were always on our lake in the winters. They are the little black/grey ones with maybe a bit of white on the head which never fly.. They only run across the lake to join in the partaking of breaded goods. I always wondered about that whole flying thing cause they were there one month and gone several months later.. and I tend to doubt that they pack it all on their backs and huff it on foot.. but, what you don't see you can argue for or against really, right? I went to a tattoo parlour and almost decided to get my neckdone when I figured... A) dad and mom would probably not laugh at number 5 and B) in German, I might not explain the shading I would prefer adequately.. So, giving up on the town of Luzern I drifted to the movie theatre and was ever so delighted to see that it was yet another movie in English that I had not yet seen... The Mexican, with Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts. He usually doesn't do it for me, but it was all good in this movie. Maybe that Anniston woman is good for him after all...

Now, I'm listening to the Gypsy Kings, a Korean woman talk to her country folk on the phone and my own rampant thoughts which are fighting for seniority.. I'll be going to bed now and getting ready for my drive to the beach.. approx. 4 hours.

Love, loyalty and all that good stuff... Oh yeah, FYI.. My dad just sent me a note that there was a fire in a stable in Fontainbleau the week I was supposed to go and 24 horses were killed and many more burned badly...show horses.. For a reason.. many of us say it.. It's a cliche for a reason.. Everything happens for a reason.

ciao