A weekend away

Ciao everyone.

Or Gutentag.

Or Bonjour.

Or hello.

I mean, really. All of these were applicable this weekend, all in a span of 48 hours. It was a real whirlwind of cultural experiences, travel, expenses, laughs, back-aches, and instant falling asleep.

I am back from Milan and Interlaken with Kirsten, and I had an absolute blast. The time of a lifetime, really. Was it stressful at times? Absolutely. But all experiences have those moments. I have more memories from this weekend than I do really of any other 48 hours span in my life, really, and I don't think that's really an overstatement. If anything, it's right up there with any other span like it.

Friday, I got up pretty early as I couldn't really sleep all that well. Too excited, I guess. I got up and watched the Vice Presidential debates and thought that Biden looked really strong and Palin looked outclassed a bit, especially when she just kept talking about energy and not the questions she was asked, but whatever. Besides the point. I got out and got to the airport pretty quickly and made it on my flight without a single hiccup; the plane was 40 minutes late getting in, but I didn't care since I had several hours to wait for Kirsten to get in anyway.

Whilst waiting for KK to arrive, I asked for directions in Italian and the lady responded without a second thought with a complicated set that I managed to follow enough to ask a followup question and she just kept on talking, and I was so excited that I'd done a decent enough job to get exactly the information I needed; it was pretty cool.

While I was waiting at Terminal 2 in Milan, I was just waiting at the arrivals area and it kept getting more and more crowded, and I didn't really know why. Terminal 2 is a discount airline hanger. . . but also a private, chartered jet terminal as well. And who arrived after that but AC Milan, or one of the most illustrious and famous soccer clubs in the world. I mean, Ronaldino, one of the most recognizable players in the world, got off and the people went CRAZY. Schevchenko, Dida, Kaka; girls shreiked, men cheered, and it was really, really cool. The paparazzi was swarming too and I was just in the right place at the right time I guess. The picture of the guy with the glasses is Ronaldino. Google him, he's really, really famous.

Kirsten got in about an hour or so after that and we just got a snack and worked our way on the trains into Milan, then on the Metro to the Duomo, or main church. It took us about an hour or so to get there, and we just scrambled around, doing our best to get to where we needed to be and working our way around. We made it there and just started to pour right as we ascended the staircase, and the stop came RIGHT up to the Galleria and the Duomo. It was raining really, really hard for a few minutes, but we snapped a few shots of the Duomo and heard a bunch of shrill yells from across the huge piazza, but didn't really think too much about it at that moment, and continued into the piazza as the rain moved along.

The Duomo was breathtaking. Massive, expansive, and imposing, to say the least. I thought it kind of looked like a really intense sand castle, personally. Pictures fail to describe, really, but they do give an idea of just how big if you look at how small the people are. I've now seen two of the Duomo with Florence and this one as well as several churches here in Roma, and every one is just as impressive as the last. It's difficult to say which is the most amazing, because they're all so unique and amazing. Really enjoyed comparing this one to the other ones.

As we got closer, we saw what that yells were from earlier: MTV Italia films it's TRL in Milan between the Galleria and RIGHT next to the Duomo, and the Jonas Brothers were there to promote somthing or other, I don't really follow them and they were infinitely less cool than the Duomo. Girls were literally looking as if they were about to faint and Kirsten and I both just rolled our eyes. You're right next to the Duomo and you faint because of the Jonas Brothers? Get your life in some sort of perspective, people.

But we watched for them anyway. They're famous, after all. I took a picture of them on the huge screen, and it'll be online soon in my pictures area, which is picasaweb.google.com/nomomentwasted, just in case you've forgotten. Expect all of my pictures up soon.

With that, we went into the Duomo and had to have our bags checked, which was annoying since they were so full of stuff that it was difficult to really unpack and pack quickly, but the guards were pretty nice about it, so whatever, I suppose. Inside, there were tons and tons of stained glass windows and we just were in awe the entire time of the candles, windows, and huge interior. Stained glass like you wouldn't believe. It really reminded me of Notre Dame, and Kirsten said it may have been even more impressive; I have to take her at her word (which is of very high value in my book) since I've never been, but it was impressive, no doubt. There were several aisles, huge in scope, that were all positioned together to make a large cross, much like the Duomo in Florence, but different, as well. There were tunnels underneath the central alter as well, and Kirsten and I ventured underneath. All in all, very, very cool but also very dark, so diffcult for pictures, but feel free to browse later to see if it makes it any more real.

We left about half an hour later out into the Galleria, with people starting to dissapate after the departure of the Jonai. We made our way outside and snapped a few more photos before heading off to the Galleria, which had high end designer fashion, shoes, etc, and was underneath a really big arch into a covered area of architectural coolness. We wandered around for a little while, but were both starting to get pretty hungry and, although it took us a while, we went to a crepe place and had a pretty good dinner before heading out on the Metro again over towards Stazione Centrale for the Train to Interlaken, which left at 6:25.

The station was insanely busy and we just pushed our way around to get our tickets and after a little confusion, we found our train and hopped on, got our seats and got a coke and a water to settle in for the few hours to Spiez, where we'd have a break for about half an hour before Interlaken.

The train left around dusk and we really just camped out looking out the window until it got too dark to see, but during that time we saw Lake Como, which was brilliant. So beautiful. And huge, too! I never knew it was that large. We passed on by it after dark and we watched the Office together on my computer before arriving in Spiez (pronounced something like "spay-zuh") and the first thing we noticed was how cold it was: very. Kirsten was coming from mid-80s heat and I from mid 70s down to low 40s or upper 30s and we really felt it getting off. Spiez is officially in Switzerland too, so we kind of celebrated that fact of a new country together, and bought our remaining 15 minute tickets and got some Swiss Francs back in change, as they are not on the Euro.

Cool thing about Switzerland (and this is one of hundreds): they have two official languages: German and French. But they also tend to speak Italian and English as well, so it was really cool to just flow between languages and try to say what you wanted to say. German, however, is the most prominent, and neither of us speaking any made it quite a funny scenario a few times. German is hard, for sure, and the signs made me laugh as they were really pretty indecipherable if they didn't have another language on them.

At the station, we met an Argentine who was traveling too and very chatty, but it was fun to talk to someone else who was going along. It passed the time, anyway, and we got on the train and proceeded to be excited yet tired as we rolled into Interlaken West at 9:45. We saw a taxi and just hopped in after asking if the driver took Euro, and he (thankfully) did. We hopped in and about 5 minutes later we were in Wilderswil, at our hotel, and we checked in and loved our little chalet-style room immediately, both because it was adorable and because it meant we could clean up and sleep, which we did, but not until after I discovered Star Wars in German on TV while Kirsten cleaned up. Cool story, I know.

Next morning, we awoke and looked out our windows (which were pitch black the night before in a town with no lights, really) and saw an AWESOME view of the Yungfrau. Yup, we had arrived, and we both were so excited, pretty darn amazing.

Let me just say this in advance: I love Switzerland. I mean, I love it there. It was the most naturally beautiful and peaceful looking place I've ever been, hands down, no questions asked. Just looking at it all makes you feel a little emotional, it's just brilliant. Absolutely fantastic.

We got ready and headed downstairs to our included (i.e. free) breakfast, expecting just a little something and instead were presented with full service and huge bounty of breakfast foods at our disposal. Breads, croissants, jams, honey, cereal, milk, yogurt, oatmeal, eggs, meats, and cheeses were all laid our with fresh tea and juice and we ate several platefuls, wishing we could squeeze in more and more. I could have, but decided three trips back was enough for then.

We got together and checked out around 9:45 and set off to explore Wilderswil for a while, and man, what a place. Just beautiful and natural and fresh air, unbelieveable. Places like that shouldn't exist. I mean really, they're unreal. We wandered down the winding streets, 7000 feet up, looking at the gigatic mountains that rose up seemingly instantly and with the changing tree colors and greens of the grass mosses, accented with the snowcapped upper mountains, it was spectacular like I've never seen.

Man oh man did I wish we could stay forever.

We just walked around, taking in the utter silence and perfect views, feeling like we were seeing something out of a movie, not our lives. It was too perfect for reality, just amazing. I wish I could have brought you all with me to show you just how crisp and fresh the air is, how moving the sights are, and how beauitful the little town was, but all I can do is post pictures and a video, hoping it gives you a glimpse, if nothing else, of what we were feeling.




We took tons of pictures and wished we could stay, but we had to go to Interlaken to see it too, so we took the bus and about ten minutes later we made it into Interlaken again, this time in the day, very excited to wander around and check it all out. The mountains are so amazing, I run out of words to describe it all, but know that if I am speechless, it really is something. The town, however, was just like out of a little Swiss village because, oh wait, it was one. The roofs were decorated in some fun designs in some instances, while others were painted funny colors. I could go on all day about this, but for brevity's sake, I'll just say it was amazing, because it truly was exactly that.

I think here I'll just say that I cannot describe it any more than I already have, and to just look at my pictures later after I get them posted, since I promise it'll be worth it.

We got some food at a local pub and a few pints of local lager and just warmed up both physically from the heat and from the warming meal and brew befored heading back out into the words again. We got some Swiss chocolate (because how could you not, right?) and wandered a bit more through the village, so happy to be having such an experience together.

All good things, however, come to an end. Unfortunately, they do. But we still have Milan ahead after the train ride a scenic venture at that, so we made our way back to the station, got our tickets and booked our way back towards Milan, seeing Switzerland pass us by out the window as we reluctantly bid her farewell. We will return though, just not for some years time, but I know I haven't been there for the last time. No way.

We got into Milan and realized we had no small bills for our Metro ticket, so we had to scrape every last cent we had and even collect a few pennies off the ground to make due, but we did it and had a good laugh about it afterwards, as we only needed to go one stop and that one stop ended up being literally within view of the station. Oh well, we made it and got checked in, relaxed for a minute and headed out to get some food and see Via Buenos Aires, or the super-shopping area in Milan.

Tons of fashion, what can you really say? Milan didn't knock my socks off, but it's still really cool. We got really good gelato and later Pizza and another good brew with dinner before walking back and retiring for the evening a little early. We were exhausted and slept hard, as we had more than earned that rest.

We had to get up though and make it to the station to get to the planes so we could go back to our homes and take more trains and busses and transportation to get home, and that really just sums up today. I won't see Kirsten again until Cairo, but we have so much going on between the two of us between now and then I know it'll go by so fast, just like the past 7 weeks have.

And that's about it, really. I mean, there's so much more, but this post is a monster already. I couldn't have asked for a better travel partner and had a fantastic time, and although we both spent hefty sums to go, there is not an ounce of regret you'll ever purge out of me.

I hope your weekends were great as well, here are two parting pictures to reward your making it through this blog!














Until next time,

Ciao.