A Chance to See Beyond Oneself

Switzerland thus became the next destination for a chance to see beyond myself. I spent almost three weeks in this country of limited proportions but found each location I visited to contain its own special features which placed Switzerland among my top 3 favorite countries. The culturally and artistically inclined city of Basel was my first stop; my accommodation was a comfortable mattress in the loft of a swiss architect´s apartment (a recent member of coucsurfing.com). The small city has some great architectural features and is home to the two famous architects, Herzog and de Meuron (my couchsurfing host took some classes with them). I spent the day exploring the town, which was fairly quiet and empty as Sundays most shops and museums are closed, getting a feel for the city, crossing back and forth over the bridges spanning the Rhine, and eventually meeting up with my couchsurfing host in the evening. We had some great conversations about European politics, swiss culture, and traveling. Since it was raining out we decided to stay in and eat chocolate, drink tea, and have some guitar duet sessions which turned out to quite melodious and complimentary to the solitude of the falling rain. The next day I spent some more time visiting the picturesque corners and alley ways as well as some museums and art galleries before catching my the train to the largest city of Zurich.

A friend of a roommate in college named Jonas, who visited with us for about two weeks in Santa Barbara, lives in Zurich and was more than happy to host me for a few nights. We enjoyed each others company in Santa Barbara and looked forward to spending some time together again. His flatemate and the two fo us all got along so well. While they were in classes at the university I would stroll through the rain contemplating life and soaking up all of the feelings that arose while walking around this moderately sized modern yet antique-like city that was statistically found to provide the best quality of life anywhere in the world. When my hosts would return from class we would meet up for a beer and they would show me around some of their favorite parts of the city. At night we would relax in their apartment and Jonas and I would talk about art, intentionallity, film, and music - it was quite a pleasant stay. One of the days while they were in class I went to visit my aunt who lives about an hour south of Zurich. It was both a satisfactory and sobering experience because her husband was sick with cancer in the hospitable and I could tell it weighed heavily upon my aunt Maria. It is always a pleasure to meet new family members but I was also glad it was only for one day - after a while the stories of old and the pictures of friends and family can exhaust one´s interest - namely, my interest.

And so from Zurich I purchased a train ticket to Lucerne. Why Lucerne you might ask? Well I´ll tell you: I heard it had a nice lake and a big mountain, a combination that always awakens my senses and reminds me there is a reason for living. Upon arriving I stored my belongings in a train station locker, got the lowdown at the tourist information office, bought some cheap sandwiches for my hike, and hopped on the first ferry that would take me across the lake to Mt. Rigi. My ferry ticket also included a ticket on the train that went the steep mountain side to the peak of the hill. Since I loathe hiking to the same locations people can reach by car or train, I decided I would enjoy the peak by train and find a remote spot to venture by foot. The view was stunning from the top: large dark blue lake below, endless snow covered alps in the background, small mountain towns in the distance, a small isolated moutain in the near distance I would conquer - happiness was guaranteed. From the peak I set off towards the pasture land that would lead me up to a small snow covered mountain top that was free from the other tourists wayed down by cameras and nordic walking poles. I enjoyed my packed lunch on this pristine peak, with the warm sun on my back, and my feet cooling off on a grassy patch bare from snow. It was a great reminder of why I travel. It was this moment that I knew happiness in its purest form; the feeling of being alone in nature, the straining fatigue that the peak rewards, that blissful knowledge there has to be more than just physical matter, the taste of bread, meat, and lettuce, the chorus of the cow bells below, the fusion of the green hills topped by the frosting of white snow - it is a sweetness that can almost be tasted.

After getting down the mountain and heading to meet my couchsurfing hosts I suddenly realized, upon finding my hosts not at home, that I was day off. I had arranged to meet my couchsurfing hosts the day before and this day I had a hostel reservation in Interlaken that I had made several weeks earlier. Woops! After my profuse apologies to my hosts, via phone, I booked it to the train station to make sure I could make it to Interlaken before my hostel reception closed and they would charge me for a room regardless of me getting a bed. After several hours on the train and wandering through the city by the light of street lamps, I finally arrived at my hostel Interlaken dead tired and ready for bed. After trying the local brew and chatting with the bar tender and two of my roommates from Wisconsin, I was off to bed.

The next day, as planned, I met a good friend and future housemate, Cameron Sublett, and his girlfriend Jamie, who were also traveling in Switzerland. We spent the rainy day talking about our lives, recent experiences, some of the lack of comforts that come with the travelers lifestyle, and made some plans for the next few days. In the evening I met an Austrlian traveler who I hung out with whenever I wasnt with my friends from home. Come the morning we were off to go walking in a pristine valley visiting several waterfalls and enjoying the solitude only that fresh alpine mountain air can provide. The day was mellow but stunning, lots of walking, and lots of good chatting. The following day we took a train high up into the mountains to look upon one of my favorite views of this trip. Green hill sides with scattered swiss mountain houses topped by dominating rock cliffs on all sides and snow covered mountain in every vertical direction. Breathtaking. Its the sort of view the keeps a smile on your face and a sigh in your lungs. Superb. No more words necessary, it will only hinder the imagination that such a sight should instill in our hearts.

It was sad to leave Interlaken because I almost felt like a local by the end of my time there. We had our favorite cafe where they would recognize us, all the people at the bar of the hostel knew me because I had to keep changing rooms every night because they were so full, and we had a favorite kebab place we ate a few times. Alas. From Interlaken I was off to stay with a girl I met Australia in the lakeside town of Thun. She spend the day teaching in school while I procured one of the free bikes that many swiss cities will provide and rode all over the perfectly small and story-book appearing town and into the country side. It was a day when I heard the voice of truth speak to me of the adventures to come and they were thus revealed in a fashion that reminds one that the mind is not the only one worth listening to. I met my friend Julie and her boyfriend in the evening, we talked for a while, went to bed, and I slept in and met Julie again for lunch the next day before I was off to the capital city of Bern.

And my goodness this is turning into one damn long blog. I apologize for my verbose disposition at this moment. I shall limit my words for now on!

Bern. Just grand. Old town was beautiful in its own medieval villiage type of manner. Stayed with two fun couchsurfers guys. My highlight with them was a BBQ we had on a big hill that was over looking the city. We laughed a lot. We knew how to transition from serious conversation topics to laughing about ridiculous subjects, good times.

Lausanne. French part of Switzerland. (There are four parts of Switzerland, the German part in the north, the French part in the West, the Italian part in the South East, and the Romansh part in a few eastern parts). Makes for quite the diverse country, each part is very unique, and has its own culture. I met up with a couchsurfing girl who couldnt host me but offered to show me around a little while my host was at school - very friendly and interest. I really got along well with my couchsurfing host though. She was a phd student in robotics and we had some great conversations about ethics, biotechnology, cultural relativism, anthropology, and on and on. That evening we went out with her boyfriend, flat mate, and a few other guys to go see some bands that were playing at the university campus. It was a jolly good time. Slept in late the next day, I was given a friendly reminder why I dont like drinking a lot of white wine, enjoyed the sites of the town that overlooked lake Geneva, and then met up with my hosts and their friends for a traditional dinner of cheese fondue on my behalf (cheese fondue is reserved for the winter time but they consented for the sake of a foreigner such as myself).

Next stop, Zermatt, the town closest to the Matterhorn - practically right below it. Obviously lots of big mountains all around. I made my own trail up a quite steep mountain side and found joy overlooking the valley and town below. Sore legs and knees kept me from hiking again the next day so I was off to the Italian part of Switzerland - Locarno. Small town, quiet lake, a place for middle aged tourists, but pleasant enough to visit for a day. Next day on to Chur in the Romansh part of Switzerland. I didnt do too much site seeing here, mostly just hung out with my couch surfing hosts. The town wasnt anything too exciting and I was a little tired from being on the go so much. We went out for dinner at one of my hosts friends house and then for a few drinks after. Fun but nothing to toot the horn over.

Next day I was off to Vaduz, Liechtenstein. Liechtenstein is the sixth-smallest independent nation in the world, population of about almost 34,000 people. Its on the eastern border of switzerland next to Austria. Its small and full of money. It has more registered companies than citizens - there are great tax benefits, so consider starting your business there. Also, open a bank account there if you get a chance, its even better than switzerland because they dont withhold 34% of your interest like the swiss do. Its almost like a little utopia town. Clean streets, nice modern buildings, artistic modern sculptures about, some few small parks, a big castle where the Prince lives overlooking the town. Funny little place. The evening was enjoyable. There were four californians, including myself, and an austrlian girl; we all went out for some drinks and found we had a whole room to our selves in one bar so we could pretty much do and say as we pleased. The other kids wanted to make a real night out of it while I knew I needed to wake up early to go visit my aunt the next day in Innsbruck in Austria. So at about 2 am or so I wandered back through the rain to the hostel that was on the outskirts of town.

And that was that.

Thanks for reading. I have no more words. I am very hungry and wish to keep the acids from eating through the walls of my stomach. So enjoy the truths you find and dont hurt the environment or animals or other people.

Cheers!
Karl