Switzerland

I arrived in Lausanne after making a stop in Stuttgart then Zurich. The interesting thing about that journey was when I went to buy lunch in the Zurich train station. I was able to order what I wanted using all 3 languages I knew. I asked the girl behind the counter in English if they took credit cards, she responded in English. Then I asked what was in the sandwiches in Italian and she responded in Italian. Then while I was looking at the menu, she asked me in Spanish if I wanted anything to drink. I don't know how she knew I spoke Spanish as well but it worked out in the end. Pretty cool.

Carla lives in a beautiful lake side town (Lake Geneva) that has spectacular views of the Swiss and French alps. On the other side of the lake is France and the mountains look like they just plunge right into the water. The hillside of Lausanne is covered in vineyards. I tried the local white wine of Lutry, it was really great!

The first night I was there, Carla's stepfather Andre, made incredible fondue. I hadn't eaten fondue for years and never cared for it. But now I know what I've been missing out on. Carla's mother, Rita, doesn't speak English, and neither does Andre. But the beauty of it all was that Rita spoke Italian. I was able to fully communicate with her and listen to all her stories about her life and about Carla's childhood. Hehe.

The next day Carla had to give a presentation, so I spent the entire day with Rita and Andre. We went to the mountains, Chateau D'oex, or something like that. Normally there is 10 feet of snow but I guess they had a bad year, so there wasn't very much at all. It's still beautiful though. We ate lunch at this place that makes their own cheese. We watched as they filled this cauldron with 200 liters of milk, heated it up and eventually pulled out all the curds to form the cheese. We even got to help a bit!

The following day Carla and I walked around the downtown area of Lausanne. It's a really cute little town with curvy streets and hills. Later that night we met up with a couple of her friends for dinner. All her friends were able to practice their English with me because let's face it, I can't even pretend to speak French.

We called it an early night because we had to get up at 3am the next day for our flight to MADRID!!!!