Switzerland!

    So, I've been putting off writing this post for no other reason than I'm just lazy. So sorry to keep you waiting. I will write of my adventures in Switzerland now :)
    As many of you may know, I've had a life-long dream of visiting two countries. The first, is Sweden. The second, is Switzerland. Ever since I was little, I knew that I had Swiss in me. When I found out that there were still living relatives there, I made it my personal goal to go there and meet them and see where my ancestors were from. Last week I got to live that dream.
    So the day after I arrived I got up in the morning, had breakfast, and then they took my up a mountain called Mount Titlis. We took a cable car up the mountain, and then once we were on top we walked through a glacier cave, which was really cool, and then walked out onto the snowy peak. The mountain was filled half with skiers and snowboarders, and half with tourists. So the snow on top was packed, making it kinda slick. So Elsi and I walked up to the highest we could go, and looked out over all of the snowy mountains, and it was really cool. Then the clouds started to roll in so we decided to head back down. I definitely fell on my butt, and then slid partially down the little hill, so that was fun. But after that there were no more incidents, and we went inside to eat lunch. That's where I tried the Swiss Fanta, which was super delicious. I'm going to drink UK Fanta again soon, so I'll compare the two then, but the Fanta in Switzerland might beat the UK's. But we'll see. Anyway so after lunch we looked at the gift shop, and then we went back down the mountain and went to a monastery shop where they sold cheese made at the monastery.
    After that adventure, they took me to meek Heinri's brother. They had a really nice house, and an adorable dog that I befriended. It was a little awkward because they spoke German the whole time so I couldn't participate in conversation. So I tried my best not to be rude, and I hoped I succeeded, because there is no way to be sure, since they kept speaking German. After eating some raisin cake, we headed back to their home. I was super tired from the altitude and waking up early, so as soon as we had eaten dinner, I went to bed. That bed was awesome, too. They had down pillows and a down comforter.
    The next day we went up a mountain right behind their house and walked a bit to a look out point where you could see the entire lake, valley, and the mountain villages on the other side of the mountain. One of those villages was Obstalden, where my great great grandparents were from. So that's where we went next. It was so pretty, with wild flowers everywhere and looking out to see snow capped mountains. I saw the church my great great grandparents were married in, which was small and simple, and protestant. In the church they had uncovered paintings from pre-reformation times, when the church had been Catholic. The church was built in the 1300's. It would be so cool to be able to be attending a 700 year old church. And the pastor's house next to it... let's just say I wouldn't mind living there. It was a gorgeous house on the outside, I can only imagine the interior. And how many secret passages there were. But anyway, after this we went to their daughter's house and I had these amazing vanilla cream filled pastries that were so. good. I can't even begin to describe them. I met the daughter and two of her sons and her daughter. They were all really nice, and spoke English, so I had a good time there.
    Thursday, the next day, Heinri and Elsi took me to the Nyffeler's where I'd be staying the rest of the week. They're also relatives of my grandmother, so it was nice to meet them as well. They weren't as bouncy and up-and-about and Elsi and Heinri were, but they were nice. The highlight of staying with them was going to the town of St. Gallen on Friday. There they showed me the protestant church, which was gorgeous, and the catholic church, which was ridiculously gorgeous. The catholic church was connected to a monastery, which had a historic library in it. IT WAS SO PRETTY. I walked in and I couldn't breathe for about a second. There were manuscripts and books from like the 800's. It was definitely a top moment of my life.
    Saturday the Nyffeler's daughter came over and we talked, since she spoke better English than her parents, and she was very interested in the fact that I want to be a missionary. So we talked about missions and world view for a while, which was a very interesting conversation. Then, after lunch, I went with them to a lake on the border of Switzerland, Austria and Germany. I asked them what the name of the lake was, and the daughter told me it was "The Lake of Constance." This sounded really familiar to me, and then I realized there was a Council of Constance. So for the rest of this walk along the lake, and while eating delicious ice cream, I was thinking, "What was the Council of Constance? There was one, right? There has to have been one. It sounds to familiar. I don't think it had to do with the reformation? What was it?" Over and over in my brain. So when we got back I looked it up and with the help of the internet I remembered that it was the council that had to do with the Papal Schism back in the 15th century. The council was held on the German side of the lake though. But still. I was like, this lake has some historical significance. Same lake, just the German side. An unexpected visit to a historical place.
     On Sunday I headed back, taking an early train out of Herisau to Zurich so that I could walk around for a bit. I had to buy something so that I could get change for a luggage locker, so I went to get some Fanta, and this guy who was my age was like, "Fanta..." and did this head nod thing and I looked at him and went, "Yeahh..." Which, in retrospect, probably sounded like, "Ja..." to him, so then he started speaking German to me and I was like, "I... don't speak German?" In awkward English (because English is weird to speak for me now, idk) and he asked, "Français?" And then I told him "Oui...." and he asked me if I was in Zurich on a long vacation and I explained that I was heading back to Paris that day and he then asked me if I was French, and I said no, then he asked if I was Swiss, and I said no, I'm an American. And he just looked at me and went, "American?!" Like this was the greatest and weirdest surprise to him. I guess he didn't expect an American to speak French? I dunno, but it was kinda funny, 'cause then I just left to find my luggage locker.
    Zurich is a nice city, not huge, but not small. The river that runs through it opens to a lake. It's really pretty. I walked along the river and went to visit Grosmunster, the church Zwingli pastored at for a while, and then meandered around. There were a bunch of food vendors out, so I bought some fried apples with vanilla cream, and those were super yummy. I couldn't find any souvenirs so I headed back to the train stations with 10 CHF to spend, which is like, 12 bucks, so I bought some chocolate and saved the change as souvenir money. Then I came back to Orleans and that's that. I'll blog about that in a separate post because it'll probably be very feely and emotiony and thought filled more than telling you about events happening. But yeah. I leave for Cardiff tomorrow, so that's an exciting dream that's coming true.
     Auf Wiedersehen!