Contiki Switzerland

As we’re cruising away from Paris, France and entering the country of Switzerland, I am having visions of Swiss yodelers drinking hot coca while wearing lederhosen and making cuckoo clocks.

We make a gas stop on the way to Lucerne and I rush to the convenience store to buy some famous Swiss chocolate.Sure, we have Tolberone in America but they’ve got over ten other brands, in a convenience store!I stock up on some Swiss chocolate and while I do, everyone notices the cheesy Swiss flags and hats lying around.That’s the explanation for this picture.

I start eating my delicious Swiss chocolate as we head into Lucerne.Lucerne is a city of great beauty, small-town charm, and amazing surrounding.In addition to being home to a lake, the city is surrounded by the Swiss Alps.The streets are narrow and the buildings quaint.It is in one of these quaint buildings that I buy myself a genuine Swiss Army knife using Swiss Francs (an interesting currency with pictures of old men on the dollar).While walking towards our hotel, we are amazed at the scenery around us.I honestly found this to be the most gorgeous city in my travels.

We have dinner at STEDKELLAR not knowing much about it.To our surprise, it is one of the best dinners of the trip.Stedkellar serves traditional Swiss food including cheese fondue with bread and delicious lamb.The most surprising element of the restaurant however was the show that went on.What we thought would be a mild introduction into the Swiss culture turned out to be a full-on-head-first plunge.The show started off mildly enough with some yodeling and instrument playing (including the broom, yes the broom you sweep with).As the show went on, it got wilder and wilder.Contestants including Contiki leaders Marc and Jason were brought up to partake in a yodeling/beer drinking contest.I had lots of fun laughing at the contestants trying their hardest to give a good yodel.We also went on stage for a traditional dance which included plenty of arm swinging.Then there was an elaborate version of the chicken dance which somehow ended in a Conga line.Yeah, the Swiss are wild.Just when we though the show was over, a cow comes out of the kitchen and attacks the patrons eating.Okay, it wasn’t a real cow, but it might as well have been.One or two people dressed in a cow suit went up and started licking people with a prosthetic tongue.I was hoping to get some action but unfortunately the cow was only into the ladies.

After the exhilarating experience that was the Stedkellar several members of the Contiki crew decided to take part in the Lucerne Blue Balls festival by swimming in the river.I opted not to since I went swimming in a glacier in New Zealand about a week-and-a-half before, but that’s a whole other story.After getting some pastries and beer, we chilled in the hotel lobby for a while before hitting the hay.

EuroTrip Day 6- July 31, 2006

I wake up bright and early to enjoy another wonderful continental breakfast before we hope onto the Contiki coach, listen to our day songs, and head towards Austria.We make a stop on the way to Austria, in a little place called the Swiss Alps, by way of Mount Pilatus!Although I am definitely strong and capable enough to climb the mountain on my own, I decide not to show off and instead opt to take the gondola up to the top.Actually, the mountain is so high that one gondola doesn’t suffice; we need to take two different gondolas.The gondola is uplifting, no pun intended, because we get to see the beautiful Swiss farmland complete with fields of green grass, small wooden cottages, and cows with their bells attached.It’s a beautiful sight and I find the sounds of the cow bells strangely calming.

We arrive at the top of the mountain and adjust to the high altitude, making sure to take in deep breaths of fresh mountain air.I immediately bust out my camera and take about 20 photographs of Lucerne down below.All the gondola riding has made me a little thirsty, luckily Kelly Clover points out a wooden trough for me to drink out of.

On top of Mount Pilatus you’ve got a couple options: there is an obstacle course, there is a gift shop, there is a wiener/coco/beer shop (my favorite), and there are a couple trails up that lead even higher up the mountain.I don’t travel all the way up by gondola to wimp out on a ten-minute walk so I get pumped up and start jogging up as high as I can go.I don’t mean to brag, but I reached the top of the mountain about five minutes before anyone else.Actually I do mean to brag, that’s totally worth bragging about.

At the very top of the mountain we all decide to embrace nature and take tons of dorky photographs.We took pictures of us in the sky like gods, hanging on to the mountain for dear life, and mediating.

After climbing back down, I grab some hot Swiss chocolate, enjoy, and hangout with everyone for a good while.We take a train on the way down and I think we had a little too much fun, because several of us were going back and forth between cars and jumping up and down like monkeys.

Before heading into Austria we make another stop at the principality of Liechtenstein, which has a total population of around 30,000 people.I grab some world-famous Liechtenstein burgers (not really) with my Canadians, Megan and Brittany before we get back on the coach. We also make a stop at world-famous Swarovski Crystals.This one-of-a-kind shop is truly unlike any I have ever been in.Not only do you have to buy a ticket to get in the shop, they have this crazy fucker in front of the shop.

The shop itself is rather amazing with everything diamond related you could ever want.I purchase my mom some earrings, we get back on the coach, and we finally arrive in Hoftgarden, Austria and our hotel, Haus Lucas.

The hotel is really a big house with a bar on the lower level and a dining room adjoined to it.We have dinner where we are served by local helpers and lovers Hans and Helga who are later revealed to be none other than our bus driver and tour manager, dressed in drag.After enjoying dinner we are all treated to some local shots called Glacier Ice.You can just have one, so after dinner many of us stay at the bar drinking the night away and talking about the exciting mountain bike riding taking place tomorrow.