Designers and Tunnels

First order of business: If you plan on mailing me anything, there is a part I forgot. You have to include another person's name. So it looks like this:

Jessica Fleenor
c/o Bütschi, Salome
Melchtalstrasse 20
3014 Bern/BE
Switzerland

First of all, to answer a question:
Q: "Who is on your shower curtain?"
A: No clue. It looks like a piece of artwork, but I really have no idea.

And yes, my camera is definitely done for. My dad has already dropped me off for the night and I don't know how to get the pictures off of his camera, so I apologize for no pictures today.

Today, we drove to Milan (Milano). The drive through the Alps was beautiful. It reminded me of driving to Bristol except the mountains filled your windshield! No sky to be seen at all. All mountain. We also drove through a lot of tunnels, one of which was six miles long and the other was twelve miles long. I really thought we would die of carbon monoxide poisoning before we got out. The Swiss would prefer to spend a ton of money to dig through a mountain than to pave a road over it.

On the way we stopped at what us Americans would call a rest area. There was a Blackout store (clothing), Coop (the grocery store I mentioned earlier - for you Virginians, it's like a Ukrop's), and a Marche (Mar-shea). They had some of the best food I've ever had, mind you it's just a stop along the highway. I had a tomato and mozzarella salad with pesto. For dessert I had a pineapple, raspberry and blackberry tart with a sweet cream in the middle. The desserts were so pretty because they put a sugar glaze on the top. They looked fake because they were so shiny.

After we ate, we went through another tunnel and when we came out, we were suddenly in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland. I know this because all of the signs were written in Italian. The language was much easier to understand and pronounce because of my background in Spanish.

When we hit the border, the rain immediately stopped. No sun, but at least no rain. When we drove into the city, there were cars everywhere. I mean everywhere! If there was the smallest patch of land that they could fit the front two tires on, it was a parking spot. Not to mention there were roads that went it every single direction. It felt like NYC, but European.

We walked around for a little while and all I saw were designer stores. You name it, they had it. D&G, Chanel, Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and some I've never even heard of but I knew they were pricey. I think the cheapest place I saw was Guess and Swatch. I bought a really cute ring in the Swatch store. I know you're thinking "Why didn't she buy a watch?", but the ring was just SO CUTE! We didn't stay long because it took about four hours to get there and we still had four hours back.

So we drove back through all the tunnels and Alps. I got some great shots of the Alps on the way back. We weren't driving through much rain, but it seemed like when we got near or on a mountain, it would start to rain. As we passed a huge lake, the sun began to come out (finally!) and we stopped in this little town along the lake, called Breckenreid. It was a gorgeous town - it reminded me of going to the beach. It even smelled like one. The Alps were in the background of the turquoise lake - it was just an amazing view. If I ever come back to Switz, I'm going to stay there.

When we got back, we stopped at an Italian restaurant that is just around the corner from my house. There were a lot of football (soccer) fans in there watching the game. It reminded me of Americans and the superbowl. They were hilarious - I kept hearing, "Hup, Holland!" We talked to a woman who's husband was at the game (the game was in Bern tonight), and she was at the restaurant alone. She was from Romania, and spoke English very well - she understood us better than the Swiss. She even talked to the waiter in English because that was the only language both of them could understand. Definitely a new one for me!

Tomorrow, I believe we're going to take a cable car up an Alp and walk back down, so I'm excited for that. Also, we're going to go buy my bus pass and ride it so I can see what it's like to ride to work - hopefully they are better drivers than the GRTC bus drivers in Richmond!

What I learned today:
- The sun actually does shine in Switzerland. When the sun actually is setting, it's still dusk at 10:30.
- My camera is done for (luckily my dad is leaving his with me).
- Gas is about $8 a gallon and is only available in mid-grade and premium, so there is no cheaper kind.
- Visa is not such a good idea - most places prefer cash.
- If you drive into a tunnel, GPS cannot find you.


Love,
Jessica