Today, as with all of our class trips, we got up at 6 am to eat breakfast and make it to the ferry to Lucerne. As usual, I was a bit tired from the night before, so I was a bit lethargic. It has also been cold and rainy the past few days, making us even more tired.
The boat to a train to another train to a bus and we arrived in the middle of nowhere, Switzerland. We were going to take a tour of the Emmentaler cheese factory which is the typical "Swiss Cheese" (the one with the holes).
Our tour guide was very funny, however, I don't think she intended to be. Her English was severely lacking and so she repeated herself a lot and quite often didn't make any sense. It didn't matter though, we got the general idea. Did you know that the enzyme that curdles the cheese comes from the inner-lining of a cows stomach? Wild.
After the tour, we all ate our bagged lunches and then Dee, Jules and I went to look at the cows that were grazing on the field. There was one specific cow that I felt attached to...we'll call her betsy(original, I know). She looked me right in the eyes and I felt that we had a connection. Then, a moment later she lifted her tail and took the biggest dump that I have ever seen while she was looking me in the eyes! No shame what so ever! I couldn't believe it...I now know where the term "Cow Pie" comes from- this thing was HUGE!
Anyways, enough about poop. We went to the gift shop and I tried a sausage that was absolutely amazing. After I bought it, I was informed that it was made of horse. Oh well, it's still really good and now nobody will want to share it with me. I also bought a slice of cheese that I like the best. It turns out that that type of cheese is the one that is hand-made by the little cheese-man that works in the hut that was on the tour. He still does it the old-fashioned way to show the guests how it's really done. It is really yummy.
After that, we got back on the bus to the train and headed for Bern, Switzerland's capital city. We were all very tired and not really feeling the weather, but we still had to journey on the scheduled, 2-hour walking tour of the city.
It actually is a cool city, and the sun came out for a bit, though it was still freezing. My rain slicker wasn't getting the job done of keeping me warm. Our tour guide also had the volume of a mouse, so that made things a bit difficult.
Fun Facts learned on the tour:
-Bern is German for Bear, which is what the city is known for because the people that first went there said that they would name it after the first animal they saw. Apparently that was a bear.
-Bern is a small city and is surrounded by a horseshoe-shaped river as to prevent attacks during the middle ages.
-Bern, like Geneva, played a large role in the Protestant reformation. There is a main cathedral that, during the reformation, was changed into a protestant church.
-There is an astronomical clock in Bern, simmilar to that of Prague. It's show which happens on the hour, every hour, is quite intense (even moreso than Prague).
We had about 30 minutes to ourselves and then we were back on a train that took us right to Lucerne (Where we, of course, caught the ferry :) )..I could tell that I was really tired because I fell asleep on the train without any pillow or head rest.
Though the weather has been crummy, it has still been a great past few days. I am still awaiting a response from The Delawana Inn Resort and Spa in regards to employment...My computer is officially broken, so I will not be able to check it unless the computer lab is open.
Goodnight=)
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