The first weekend there I went to Bern (the capital of Switzerland) on Saturday and on Sunday got to meet a cousin I haven't seen since before the age at which you are able to remember things without being just told that you were there or did something.
Bern was nice. It wasn't the best weather, but I got to see the apartment where Einstein developed his Special Theory of Relativity. I have to admit it was pretty cool. Then I walked around a bit and saw the bear pits (the namesake of the city, Bern=bear). It is a city known for a lot of fountains and it was quite interesting.
On Sunday we drove around the area near Zurich and saw several of the smaller cities. We also stopped at a huge monastery in Einsiedeln which was actually quite beautiful and unique, and for once was not just another church to add to the list. Then we had lunch/dinner in Rapperswil which is on the south side of Lake Zurich and beautiful. Very nice views and a great garden/castle for walking.
Zurich is beautiful, but my heavens is it expensive. I find myself doing the exchange into euros instead of thinking about the fact that the Swiss Franc is equivalent to the dollar, because if I thought about the cost of things in dollars I would have lost my mind already. I just try to soften the blow by thinking about the amount in euros which makes the number smaller, but doesn't actually lower the price. I guess it is so insanely expensive there because the taxes are so low, but as someone not getting those kinds of tax benefits, it is a bit of a strain on the bank account. (Oh funny side story, I spent the last 2 weeks trying to survive in a foreign city with absolutely no cash. My EC card wouldn't work so I quickly had to learn which places accept credit cards. Dresdner bank has now officially joined the sh** list.)
I realize this post is a bit sporadic and random, but it is hard to summarize these past two weeks into anything I think someone might potentially be interested in. My apologies.
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