German Holiday: Days 5&6

Today I am sharing days 5&6 of our trip! I was going to share 5-8, but the post was just simply too long.

If you missed days 1-4 you can catch up here.

Lugano & Lucerne

Day 5

We made the drive from Lake Como to Lugano. We explored for the day and swam in Lake Lugano. It was hot, but it was beautiful. 

**Rather than drive straight from Como to Lucerne we decided to stop in Lugano to split up the drive. Even though it isn't a very long drive, 5 people and their 3 weeks worth of luggage crammed into a Golf makes for a tight ride. We thoroughly enjoyed the stop.**

Lugano, Switzerland

It reminded me a lot of Como, but was charming in its own way!

The BIGGEST watermelons I've ever seen!

We were looking at a swan. Perhaps even talking to it... ;)

Swimming!

After enjoying a street food lunch we made the rest of the drive to Lucerne, Switzerland. We checked into the hotel, and hit the downtown for dinner.

The famous Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge). It is the oldest wooden covered bridge in Europe.

Walking across the bridge.

We moseyed around town for a bit before settling on a traditional Swiss restaurant for dinner.  

The food was fabulous, and by far the most expensive meal I have ever had. When people tell you Switzerland is expensive, believe them. Because it. is. expensive. in a way that you can't even imagine!

** At this point of the trip I got Skeeter Syndrome (Google it if you dare). The Swiss mosquitos didn't like me. At all. My bites were huge (like the size of bagel bites) and they all blistered. It was disgusting. So wear bug spray - if only I had.**

Day 6

Day 6 we were going to the top of Mount Pilatus. Prior to this vacation Blake and I decided we were going to hike to the top. Well, Blake's brother (Aaron) is an experienced hiker and he looked up some technical bits about this hike and it was decided that it was probably a bit too much for me. SO - Blake's parents and I bought the Golden Tickets and Blake and Aaron hiked to the top. 

The Golden Ticket

You purchase your tickets near the train station at a little booth. The Golden Ticket consists of a boat ride on Lake Lucerne, a ride on the world's steepest cog railway, an aerial cableway, a panoramic gondola ride, and then a bus back to Lucerne. 

Here is a map of the Golden Round Trip. Cost: 106 CHF.
A bit pricy, but if the hike isn't your thing and the weather is good the Golden Ticket is well worth the money. Plus you get to dance and sing I have the golden ticket. :)

The pictures are going to be a mix of the hike up and the ride up. Blake's pictures and mine. :) Blake and Aaron set out a bit earlier than us since it would take them longer.

The start of the hike.

The view of the train I rode up. 

Lake Lucerne

Cows and the train. 

What I was doing while Blake was hiking to the top - enjoying a latte. ;)

The cows! Blake said they were so close at some points that he could touch them.

If you are interested in hiking to the top, the trails are well marked.

Hiking!

Views for days.

My boat ride.

Blake could see the top!

Here we come on the train.

The inside of the train.

We all made it to the top! 

To celebrate, we got beer. I mean, Blake worked really hard. ;)

Amazing views.

It was a beautiful day.

Take a time out. We did. We got off where you change from the aerial cableway to the gondolas. At this stop they have a toboggan run and you best believe we rode it. :) It was amazing. I must've been so excited that I didn't take one single photo. 

Here's a photo from their website. Since you needed to see it. 

It was a long, amazing day. We celebrated with pizza and an early sleep. 

Join me tomorrow for Days 7&8.

xoxo

First Encounter with Food & Day 1 in Braunschweig

Hallo!

Before I even left the states I looked at the food options for my hotel. I needed to be prepared, because I knew I would be starving. My hotel had two options - 1. A buffet and 2. A really fancy restaurant with a menu entirely in German. I knew that I would be going to the buffet. Dinner was served from 6pm to 11pm. I showed up around 6:30, and it still wasn't open. I waited outside for 10 minutes, before I decided to ask someone. They informed me that it was closed today. WHAT! It just was closed, for no reason. That is how things work here. Things can be closed, and that is completely normal.

So I had to go to the Fancy Smancy restaurant with a menu I didn't understand. I walked in and it was empty. I kid you not, not a person in there. I am thinking, there is no way that I am the only person who is hungry for dinner, but I was. I was seated at a table by the window.

Not a bad view!

I ordered water - still, and a glass of white wine. My waitress spoke very little English, but she knew what I was asking for. At least with those two things. She brought me a menu after taking my drink order. I read through it and was quite surprised by how much I could make an attempt at understanding. Artischocken, means artichokes. Easy right? Except when you see zwiebel (onion), then all hope is lost. I saw the words salmon, vegetables and (insert German word here) potatoes. I didn't know what the word in front of potatoes meant, I am not entirely sure I even know now, but I saw potato and thought how bad could this be! She came to take my order and I pointed to everything, she smiled and walked away. I thought okay great!!! 

She brought out the most DELISH bread and butter. I mean this bread was SO good that I ate the whole basket, and there was at least 7 pieces in there. It was warm and soft and so so good! She then comes by with this small plate, and tells me it is Beef Tar Tare from the Chef. I was kind of embarrassed to take my phone out at this point of the meal so I don't have a picture of this. But it was better than your thinking. It was raw beef with finely minced red onion and pine nuts on top. I ate it in two bites, it was a fairly small portion. But IT was AMAZING. Honestly. I don't know that I would've eaten it back home, because it is raw BEEF. However, Germany has a much higher beef quality standard than the US - so I felt it was okay to eat.

Here is my salmon, with veggies and potatoes. The green swirls on the other plate are herb butter. (More people came in to the restaurant at this point, and they had their phones out, so I felt comfortable to snap photos)

It was really tasty!

Fast forward to breakfast! I knew that Blake was landing around 10am, and we wouldn't be to the hotel in Braunschweig until around 12 noon. So I knew I needed to have a little breakfast, because lunch would be late. I ordered room service breakfast the night before. It said pick a beverage (coffee, tea, milk, etc.) and some bread would come with it. I thought perfect, a little toast and coffee! 

Here is what arrived at my door at 8:30am! Cold cuts, cheeses, jams, tons of bread, yogurt, and of course coffee - A WHOLE CARAFE!

I wasn't upset by the above arrival, a little surprised but not upset! It was delicious, and the cheese and meats complemented the coffee surprisingly well. Further research has it that this is a completely normal meal to eat at 8am. 

Here is Blake with all of our luggage signing his life away for the car! Technically we have a rental car from Avis. But we will have it for 6 months. Then we will get a new rental car from Avis for another 6 months. This is a loophole to not having to get a foreign Driver's License. 

Here is the cute little car! A Volkswagen Golf in a nice white! Surprisingly, it fit all 6 of our suitcases and us!

Part of the requirement of the car was that it had to have GPS. We typed in our Braunschweig Hotel address, and calculated the route. The lady was telling us where to go in German, Blake and I exchanged a glance and 20 minutes later we figured out how to have the lady speak English. Now we could leave the airport parking lot! 

It was about a 45 minute drive from the Hannover Airport to our hotel in Braunschweig. We go apartment hunting next week. We will be living in a hotel (our temporary housing) until we find an apartment! We had planned to eat lunch at the hotel restaurant, but guess what it was closed too! Until Sunday! WHY? I have no idea! 

Thursday, May 5th 2016 in Germany is a National Holiday! No, not Cinco De Mayo; Ascension Day. Ascension day is a holiday that marks Jesus' ascension to heaven, according to Catholic belief. It is the 40th day of Easter, or 39 days after Easter Sunday. Post offices, banks, grocery stores, shops, some restaurants ALL closed on this day and everyone is off of work! Ascension day is also Father's Day in Germany. So guess what the Germans do. They drink in the streets and party all day long! Nothing says fathers day like a good beer. Prost! We saw numerous people with wagons full of beer and music just roaming around. Oh yeah, it is also legal to drink beer in the streets.

And in the car if you are a passenger! We found a corner store that was open and I got myself a beer.

We drove into town, since our hotel is on the outskirts of Braunschweig and we went exploring. 

This is a photo of the main train station in Braunschweig. (A really crappy photo - sorry!)

A McDonalads!

I have no idea what this is, because it was closed. But it is wild!

A street in Braunschweig.

We went to a pizza place for lunch. Certain beers were the same price as a coke!

Our lunch beers!

Buildings that are apart of the mall (I think)!

Photos of the town!

And yes, a STARBUCKS!

After our roaming, we stopped for another beer in the middle of the town square area. There were tons of tables set up and people were just enjoying the sunny day! This place served beer, coffee, and fancy ice cream desserts!

A park we found :) We hope to find an apartment near this park.

One last beer at a place by our hotel! Yep, that is a playground area, in what appears to be a backyard. It was the oddest thing, but very smart! Kids play and parents drink! 

Next Monday tune in for a post about our shopping experience, and our first weekend!

Guten tag!