This weekend we departed for Switzerland. What would a whirlwind weekend trip be without some train problems?
Prior to our 5:16pm department, Sarah and I contemplated grabbing an earlier train, but we decided it wasn't necessary. We had over 2 1/2 hours before our flight left-- plenty of time, right? Wrong. We arrived in Amersfort on time, but suddenly we heard voices on the overhead: never a good sign on a train. I listened closely, trying to pick out words I recognized, and these were the only two I could pick out: Schipol niet. I looked around at the faces of the other passengers: frustration, sarcastic grunts, and faces other than smiles filled the train. I asked a few of the other passengers what had been said and they informed me that there was no train to Schipol. I must have looked like I was going to be sick because they immediately offered for us to follow them to Amsterdam Centraal. Meanwhile, some lady came frantically up to us asking what to do. I informed her we had no idea what to do and we were following some locals around. Evidently she took that as, "Come on and tag along with us!"
So, waltzing from Amersfort to Utrecht, Utrecht to Amsterdam Centraal, were 3 Dutchies, 3 Americans, and 1 random lady on the verge of tears that everyone forgot was following them until she would randomly announce that she was so glad she wasn't alone. Maintaining visuals of the Dutchies the entire time was crucial to our arrival to Amsterdam Centraal, but once we got there, we were on our own. We hopped out of the train, and suddenly I heard the voice again: Schipol niet. Sarah and I realized at the same time we had to do something else. We gotta get a cab! So, there we went, sprinting out of Amsterdam Centraal, running into some friendly cops along the way who pointed us in the direction of the cabs: a line of over 100 people. Perfect. We are already late and now we'll be waiting forever for a cab. I decided to go back and ask the cops if there was another way to the airport. Nope. I turned away disappointed. "Wait," one cop said. "If you are smart, you will go to the big hotel across the street and flag down a cab there." Perfect. I ran back to the line, yelled for Sarah and Katie to join me, and there we went-- dodging traffic, stopping for nothing, and finally landing the sole cab: an additional cost no one anticipated.
Alas, we arrived at the airport and joined our other 2 companions. We boarded our flight and all seemed nice and dandy. Well, we arrived in Basel, grabbed a train to Rheinfelden and began asking for directions to our hotel. That's weird, no one has heard of that street... then someone spoke up: that's in Germany. My travel companions were not so pleased with this news. Fortunately it was only a 15 minute walk and we had a really nice room with wi-fi and breakfast included. We woke up early to catch a train to Lucerne-- the city I had been dreaming of.
Well, turns out Swiss trains are a bit more pricey than we anticipated, adding to the rapid plunge of our bank account balances, but alas, we arrived in Lucerne and toured the city on foot: the lake Lucerne, beautiful views of the Alps, climbing the city wall, the famous bridge, a small market, and a famous tree. We then traveled to Zug to get into our other hotel. We walked around that city for awhile and then found McDonalds and headed back to our hotel to hang out for the evening.
Early the next morning we woke up and headed out for the caves of Hollgrotten Baar. We were told by numerous sources we could walk there, but it would be about 40 minutes total. We were also advised to take a bus line 3 to Baar and walk from there. So, we decided to walk to Baar and figure it out from there. After a 25 minute walk, aimlessly walking through the town of Baar (observed by every bus line 3 driver in the city), and a few questions for locals, we decided to take the bus to the stop of Paradise and then walk the remaining (what we were told would be) 25 minutes to the caves. About 10 minutes into the walk, we realized it wasn't 25 minutes of walking; it would be 40 minutes of intense mountain hiking. Perfect. My cutesy boots and skinny jeans just screamed, "I'm ready to go hiking!" I'm certain the locals got a huge kick of us.
After about 15 minutes, we lost 2 men, but 3 of us pressed forward. We were going to see the caves! Alas, we arrived at our destination of the caves. However, we suddenly realized we would be crunched for time if these caves took the 4 hours we were told they would take to get through. It was now 10:35am. We had a train to catch (in Baar, a 40 minute hike and 5 minute bus ride away) at 3pm. We asked the ticket man how long it would take. A huge sigh of relief was released when he said it took an hour. We bought our tickets and entertained the caves. It was amazing! Not only were they unlike anything I'd ever seen before; they were unlike anything I'd ever touched, climbed, or jumped on before. Because we're in Europe where everything is permissible, we took the liberty to climb everything within sight-- and by "we," I mostly mean Sarah. She was scaling things left and right.
We re-surfaced from the caves covered in dust and other cave remnants and proceeded to eat lunch and walk back to the bus stop the guide informed us was 20 minutes closer and less of a hike. We began walking back, thinking we wouldn't even take 20 minutes to get there. Well, wrong again we were. Instead of a 40 minute mountain hike, we had a 15 minute straight-up inclined paved road to trek up. Nothing says "Switzerland" like climbing things and being sweaty all day.
However, at the end of the day, I have never been so proud to say I have hiked a mountain, submerged in caves, walked up a 90 degree incline, and still caught my train to Zurich to explore city #4 of our less than 48hr long weekend.
We met up with Kaitlyn and LaRae again at the airport, discussed our afternoons, waited in line for our delayed plane, grabbed Burger King back in Schipol, and finally made it home to Zwolle at 11:14pm.
What was concluded at the end of the trip:
Jennifer's planning is limited to lessons and nights on the town.
Swiss people are outdoorsy, climbing and biking everything they can.
Swiss people like everything holey-- including their tourists' wallets.
As much as I will forever complain about leaving our stomachs empty with their holey cheese, our wallets empty with their monopoly Franks, I rest assured that Switzerland did not leave my heart empty with its beautiful scenery and wonderful company. All in all, I'm glad I went and that I was accompanied by company that can laugh at my Activist personality that overlooks details... like booking hotels in different countries, and loves the sense of adventure all the same.
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