Expat Explorer...Switzerland!

The next stop on on bus trip was Switzerland! We stopped at lunch time in Geneva for a quick bite to eat, after some searching of course...gotta find the best bang for your buck...er I mean euro no swiss francs! Thankfully Switzerland was the only country that we had to get different currency, having the euro really is helpful when traveling to different countries in a short period of time. During our lunch break we could find a ATM and get some money out so a bunch of us got different amounts out. Normally ATM's give you a variety of 20's this one gave me 2 bills 1 one hundred bill and a fifty bill. When my friend Babu took out 350 swiss franks for him and his wife it only gave him 3 bills! He said that he was holding a lot of money in his hands but really didn't feel like it with 3 bills that looked like monopoly money.

We didn't have much time to site see around Geneva as it was mainly our lunch break, but after we had some delicious pizza we walked around the shopping area and got some pictures with the Jet d'Eau. Which is one of the crowning symbols of Geneva, a fountain of water pumped 140m into the air. The spectacular plume was once an occasional pressure release for hydro-power generation on the Rhône River, but people liked it so much that in 1891 the city created a permanent pumped fountain. Thank you wiki travels for that tidbit of information, our tour guide gave us a quick synopsis of the city when we first got there but couldn't remember it all so wiki travels helped me out. On a side note there, if you are ever going anywhere type in the place with wiki travel beside it into google and the website like wikipedia but just for traveling comes up. It gives a quick history of the place and then has the major sites to see and do. It also gives you information where to eat and has a break down of cheap, moderate and expensive and the same thing for where to stay. So check it out before you travel somewhere as it has been a good help for me and my travels...I threw away my travel book and just use wiki travels!

Geneva

Jet d'Eau

Lunch on the steps!

Tourists pictures..Emily!

Dad

And Mom!

After some more time driving in the afternoon we arrived in Lauterbrunnen. Which is a small unspoilt village nestled between the towering walls of a sheer-sided valley. Our accommodations that night and the next was in a beautiful old wooden building (no smoking...don't want to set it on fire!) Just looking around at the surrounding areas by our hotel was beautiful. There was a waterfall near by (that I didn't get a chance to walk to...next time!) and beautiful snow covered mountains! It was just beautiful all around in Lauterbrunnen!

Bus & Hotel

View 1

View 2!

The next day we had the whole day to explore the area. There was a train that you could take that brought you up to the "top of Europe", called Jungfraujoch. You could explore different areas up there and apparently do some snow sports as well.  I thought this sounded good and thought "when would I have a chance to do this again? Might as well do it while I can!". My parents thought differently and decided to take quite a few cable cars up and look at a different area which looked almost better than my experience (and cheaper too!).  It was really beautiful at the top and loved seeing the mountains covered in snow even though it was getting close to summer it was still there. The whole place I felt was very commercialized for tourists and almost everything was inside (because being outside is too cold...haha come to Canada to experience cold!). Having it all inside and connected by tunnels and stairs just didn't seem like the way to experience the snow and mountains. When I came back and talked with my parents about their day, it seemed like what they did would have been more worthwhile and their pictures looked beautiful.

The highest railway

The plateau

So beautiful!

Back inside

Hanging with the crows at the top of the sphinx

On our "glacier walk"

After 45 min of hiking we ended up here...overly expensive food and disgusting washrooms. But beautiful views!

Walking back was more fun!

Through the tunnel

Ice palace round 2

Ice palace

Jungfrau..Top of Europe!

It was cool to go to the top don't get my wrong. But if I were to do it again I would go with my parents and see the different waterfalls etc that they saw. Switzerland is a beautiful country and would love to explore it more! Our next stop on our bus trip Italy....leaning tower of Pisa!

For more pictures click here ----> Switzerland Pictures