Lessons learned in Switzerland

Alright, a change of pace from my last post

(Which, by the way, was not done in anger or depression,
or even stress.
Because I feel like some of you were worried...and there's no need. Trust me, I'm happy)

And I'm still here to tell you the good, the bad, and the ugly of this trip of mine. 

So. Switzerland.
-Make sure your train is a train and not actually a bus. Yep. This happened to us. We watched as our "train" number on the screen kept moving up and up with something strange in place of a station number. We just thought it was running late, and then finally it just disappeared and we thought, "Huh? How do you miss a train that never arrives?" and then we found out. Oh. Everyone failed to mention we shouldn't be looking for a train, but a bus. Duuuuh.

- Have a good book to read for those long train rides. Yes, it is worth packing the extra weight (and the extra cost buying one in Europe). If you don't want to buy a new one, a lot of hostels have a book exchange - drop off your book and pick up a new one. I was to attached to the book I bought in Europe, so I carried it all the way home with me.

-4 weeks is a loooong time to be moving around from place to place every night. I wrote in my journal at this point: "The train ride was so long. The day was so long. This week is so long. I have done it - I have reached my limit. 3 weeks is my max, 2 weeks is perfect. I am so ready to be home in my own bed with my husband." By this time, my body was starting to break down a little --- sore knees, tired feet, icky hair and face, grouchy stomach.

-After the above realizations, the temple is a sweet retreat and engergizer. Heather's parents were married in the Bern temple 20+ years ago, and it was one of Heather's request that we visit it. Even though I had forgotten my temple recommend, we were able to look me up and get me in. Our baptisms were performed in Italian, and other ordinances were in French. It was a lovely cultural experience.

-Public transportation is expensive. It cost 16 swiss francs to get us to the temple. Which was a 15 minute bus ride. Ridiculous. But really, the only way to go.

-Find your comfort food. I was soooo excited when I saw Ramen noodles for sale at the hostel. And I had no idea that I had even missed that food. But I did and it was sooo simply divine and comforting and wonderful. Just a bowl full of cheap noodles made my day.

-The top of a mountain in Switzerland is not your typical top of a mountain. We climbed "Bern's own Mountain!" Mount Gurney (by climb, I mean, paid 10 francs to get a ride to the top and walked back down). At the top was a restaurant, a tower (to get even higher!), a park, trails winding everywhere, bathrooms, a ski jump, frisbee golf, and a spectacular view of rolling hills, the old city of Bern, and the miles of surrounding farmland. It was so beautiful and such a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.

-Timing and weather is vital while planning a trip. Somehow we had excellent, sunny weather every single day....but we kind of forgot about Easter. Pretty much the whole town of Bern shut down early Friday for Good Friday. We were unprepared for that and had to do an expensive McDonald's trip instead of getting groceries like we had planned. Then, that night was pretty much party central right outside our hostel (which was deep in down town Bern), and we woke up to quiet (probably hung-over) streets littered with confetti.

- Learn to use your many resources as a backpacker in creative ways. In the hostel they had a "free food" stash, which included pasta and soup. We knew the next day would be a long one, and with no grocery stores open, we took advantage of everything. We cooked up the pasta the night before and stored it in a bowl we got from McDonalds and a bag we had from previous grocery store trips, bought a bottle of spaghetti sauce from the hostel, and that was our breakfast, lunch, and dinner the next day.

- Things I wish I'd brought: chapstick, one nice shirt, a towel, sunscreen, and a hat that didn't scream "American!" Telling Europeans you're from America causes the same cringe as telling people at BYU-Hawaii you're from Utah...

- Things I'm glad Heather brought: Phase 10

-If your bag is getting heavy, mail things home along the way. It may be expensive, but it saves your back. Except this plan failed when I sent Swiss chocolate home to Adam for Easter and it didn't even show up until two weeks after I got back. Bummer.

- I learned a very valuable, humbling lesson most of all in Bern. You can't go to Europe with certain expectations of what you're going to experience. It's never what you think it's going to be. It's the same concept as judging a book by its cover - every single preconceived notion of what I'd imagined a place to look like, feel like, be like, had been wrong. Not better or worse, just completely different.Before I left the USA, I looked up photos online of everwhere I was going. One photo of Bern literally brought tears to my eyes out of excitement and anticipation -- and once I got to Bern, I kept searching the city for a certain view, a particular angle of the bridges and the river and the houses -- I was looking for that photo, and I was actually disappointed with Bern when I didn't see it. Ridiculous, I know. If I had instead gone to Bern with a blank slate, an open mind, there would have been no chance - or room - for disapointment. It wasn't until the morning when we had to leave and I was sad to be going so soon and I started taking more photos that I realized I can't base my Bern on someone else's Bern. I needed to find the beauty in today's Bern - and as I pulled my camera away from my eye and that thought out of my head, I looked at the photo I had just taken, and I realized it was more beautiful than any other photo of Bern I had ever, or would ever see. Because it was mine.