Switzerland (and Koln)

Thursday afternoon the three wayfarers left for Bern, Switzerland by way of Koln (Cologne), Germany, amongst other stops. We spent an hour or so in Koln - just long enough to tour the massive DOM Cathedral. It blew away Notre Dame in Paris. Somehow, the church in Koln avoided the bombings of WW2. The rest of the city fared significantly worse.

We stayed with a Swiss girl named Irene in Bern. She lived in the same building we did until about a week ago when she moved back to Switzerland. Irene (pronounced more like Airin - with a rolling 'r') is originally from a small Swiss village near Meiringen.

Friday, while Irene was at work/class, we went to Luzern. Luzern is a typical Swiss mountain town: located amongst towering mountains on a large, clear lake. We spent our time doing what we do best. We bought some bread, two bottles of booze, and meat for a picnic. The Swiss didn't seem nearly as receptive to picnicing in public as some other peoples have been. Then, we wandered aimlessly and went eventually went back to Bern.

Saturday, Irene took us by train to Interlaken and by car to her village. It was about as picturesque as you can imagine. Her village is home to about 1000 people. The main source of employment - as near as we could tell - is the massive powerplant located on the eastern edge of town. Irene's Dad is one such employee and was kind enough to take us on a tour of the powerplant, located some 2.5 km inside of a mountain. At one point, he stopped and said, "Lake such and such is 60 meters above us." The power is generated hydroelectrically taking water from one lake, running it through turbines and then putting the water back into a lower lake. This part of the tour wasn't quite as interesting to us as it obviously wasn't our first tour of a hydroelectric power plant.

Saturday night we had a Swiss feast of sorts. We made cheese, then chocolate fondue. We dipped bread in the cheese and kiwi and bananas in the chocolate. It was delicious and extremely filling.

The train and car rides through the mountains were some of the best parts of the trip. Unfortunately, it was rainy/cloudy and the tops of the mountains were blocked from sight. Irene was pretty disapointed we didn't get to see her Alps in full form. None the less, we were more than impressed. Switzerland is the most naturaly beautiful country I have been in thusfar.