Wednesday, December 3, 2014

They Tell Me I Visited the Top of a Mountain

This morning was yet another early one.  We had to be on the bus by 7 so that we would be on the train platform to Mt. Rigi for the 8:10 train as we are in the German part of Switzerland and the Germans are never late.  Except for this morning apparently as the train left at 8:12 am.

It was very foggy out, we could barely see 20 feet ahead of us let alone the top of the mountain.  Jelle assured us that the fog should lift by mid-morning that the view would be spectacular.

The train was heated, so the 45 minute ride to the top of the mountain was at least warm.

Getting to the top was pretty anti-climatic.  The fog prevented us from being able to see anything.  We were joking that we could have been anywhere since we couldn't actually see the top of the mounting.

Unfortunately the fog never lifted, so no spectacular views.  The highlights of the trip were seeing people who have never seen snow play in the snow and that we made a new friend - Cow.







We took a cable car down the mountain.  That was admittedly a little fun, it would have been more fun if we could actually see anything through the fog.  At the foot of the mountain was a lake and a cute mountain town.



Then it was back on the bus for another long ride to Venice.

Right after the Italian border we stopped at a rest stop to get some lunch.  Our driver's wife met him with clean laundry and took his dirty laundry back with her.  That was pretty cute.

We received our first taste of Italy - chaos.  Chaos combined with loud passionate-sounding talking and no respect for lines.  Whatsoever.  Lines in Italy are a wide and a few people deep.  The parking situation is also chaos.  They park wherever they want - sidewalks, medians, blocking people in.  If there is 6 feet of open space, there is a spot to park.

Our hotel in Venice was OK.  Unfortunately we were staying were 80% of Venetians actually live - not in the lagoon.  So, after a 1/2 boat ride in we finally got to see the real Venice, and it was beautiful.

We first took a ride down the Grand Canal.




Then we walked around St. Mark's Square.







Tomorrow we come back to see glass blowing and GO ON A GONDOLA RIDE.  So excited :)

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