Switzerland to Home

Going home...

I am back in Berkeley now, after a magnificent 10-day tour through Europe.

After Italy, we spent the night in a very clean and typically German YHA hostel. The next morning, we hopped on the ferry back to Romanshorn, Switzerland, and then took the train to Lucerne, a stunning city on a lake bordered by scenic mountains. During this brief stop in Lucerne, the girls took advantage of the great scenery by shopping indoors at american stores.

After lucerne, we took a scenic train ride through the mountains to Interlaken, where we bedded down at the Backpackers Villa hostel and a pair of smelly (but friendly) roommates. On 1/4, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to snowboard in the Swiss mountains. The snow actually wasn't all that great, due to Europe's record high temperatures this winter. In some cases, some of the snow had just covered the ground a week ago, most of the snow was icy, and rocks and grass were still visible in parts. Nonetheless, the scenery was amazing, with Mt. Eiger and the Jungfraujoch (German for "really big mountain with really expensive train ride") and their numerous glaciers overlooking the ski resort in Grindelwald.

Audrey and P, not avid skiiers, took the train to Montreaux to check out the castle and Swiss Riviera. We reunited that night and shared our pictures on the train ride back to Zurich. The next day (1/5) we hopped on our flight back to JFK, where Audrey and I continued back to California on our marathon 24-hour travel days. I got back to SFO at around midnight on 1/5, sans luggage, but happy to be home nonetheless.