Switzerland : New Year’s

Decided on Zurich for New Year pretty last minute. I knew of course I had to see fireworks. NYE is my favorite holiday and fireworks are an absolute must, or else there’s no point in celebrating anything and certainly no point in staying up so late.
So I picked Zurich to pack another country into my first six months in Europe. (This was 13) Quickly bought train tickets, the cheapest airbnb, figured out where to watch the fireworks and took off, as per usual, with no particular plan. Like Auh-Lex, the best kind of plans.

New Year’s Eve at the lake

All I knew was Zurich put on a great fireworks show at the lake. Sure wasn’t hard to figure that out with how packed it was! Vendors were set up with all kinds of food and drinks. I had a couple cups of gluhwein to stay warm, a piece of pizza and some mini donuts.
Squeezed into a spot on the bridge and waited 30 minutes for the count down. They didn’t really do a count down though. Luckily I looked at my phone at 11:59 so I looked at the clock app to see the last 20 seconds click by and then some people cheered and people kissed and … well I just stood there by myself not feeling a single bit different or happier. Oh well. Better luck next year? Although I’m certainly glad to put 2019 in the grave.
The fireworks start roughly 20 minutes after midnight. Don’t ask me why. But finally the street lights turned off and the show began. I had pretty high expectations after watching the San Diego Big Bay Boom for July 4th and no pressure that this is my favorite holiday and I’ve now spent lots of money just to come see this show.
I was a few rows back so I actually watched half the show on other people’s cell phones until they finally stopped recording and I stood on my tippy-toes.
Here’s a really cool thing: when you live in Europe you never understand anything anyone says and so when you hear English, especially an American accent, your head snaps around trying to locate the human these familiar sounds come from. This happened to me on the bridge, in Zurich, Switzerland, some four-ish hours from where I currently live and thousands of miles from America. Wound up standing next to a couple from Boston. I love when I find out how small the world is.
The fireworks ended, people scattered, and I hurried my cold body to the right tram station.

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Hiking

Before I left on this trip I knew I wanted to do something big and monumental for New Year’s day. I figured a hike would suffice as that’s always the best times where God and I can talk, I’m reminded of the strength of my body, and I’m constantly in awe of creation. Sure enough that’s exactly what I needed. I woke up after roughly six hours of subpar sleep determined to do something for the day. I used the AllTrails app (not an ad, I wish, but highly recommend) and found a trail. So I found the city it started in, I checked google maps transit options and headed out. I walked to the station, bought some trail snacks, took two trains and a bus and ended up in Brunni. Opened my app and just started walking.

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Grosser Mythen

I got to the top of the gondola lift which left out of Brunni and this is where if you saw my social media stories I thought I would go up that huge rock to the building. Well, I made it to the base of the rock and couldn’t get past a large steep snow patch without actual snow shoes and it was already past the ‘Danger do not pass’ sign (or atleast maybe thats what it said?) So I turned around for the sake of my life and to still enjoy my day. Coming back down that little area I found a quiet spot where I realized the valley was full of clouds, not snow, and I just sat and listened to nothing and to God and to sweet sounds of nature. *These are what, due to a recent conversation with a friend, I’m now calling The Thin Line. Spaces and moments caught so tightly between Earth and Heaven where it feels like you’re possibly in both at the same time.*

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To keep the rest of the story short I left this spot, walked to one spot, saw some people and a building across the sea of clouds and said ‘How do I get there?’ so I wondered around some more, did a quick cut back because I was not going the right way, and found myself on another trail headed to another peak. Here I found you can take a gondola ride up from another city and start skiing or enjoy a meal with an incredible view. It was at this point I messaged the family group chat and asked who was awake (it was barely 6am at home) but I just had to show dad these views right that second. So we facetimed and I showed them all where I had been, the mountains, the cute tiny monster children who were zipping past me on their ski’s, and we talked about how wonderful God’s untouched creation is. Side note: bless my mother’s soul for taking me skiing when I was young. Wow the energy it must have taken to not only get her stuff together but also mine. Children are monsters.

Again from here I found another trail on the app, had to make a few turn arounds, but followed a trail to another peak because I couldn’t fathom having to end this hike yet. I made it safely across open ski slopes without getting hit or making anybody fall like I had just done snowboarding a few days before this trip and ended up spraining my wrist. Very considerate of me. I finally made it up to the highest peak I could get to before the sun would set and I’d really be screwed. I enjoyed that view and headed to the closest town where the trail ended. Google maps shows the fastest walking path over the mountain from Brunni to Ibergeregg is 5.2km. I easily did double that considering the side trails, couple turn arounds, and I didn’t follow their suggested route by any means.

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But did I die?

When I finally arrived to Ibergeregg my whole body was sore and boy did I smell bad. I checked the transit and turns out.. there were no upcoming departures for the bus stops right there. So I tried to talk to one guy who made me go ask a lady in the restaurant who spoke English who said the next closest bus stop was in such and such town.. the closest bus stop that did have scheduled departures was some 3.5 miles away still. Super! So I walked outside upset with myself that I didn’t quit sooner and that I should have gone back the way I came. But, where’s the fun and adventure in that? So I asked a young female in the parking lot if she knew anything about the buses (young women typically speak English and they’re nicer to me) and she said to ask her boyfriend because he was from Switzerland so I walked up to a strange man across the parking lot and asked him. This is where God comes in! I was getting pretty upset realizing truly the next operating bus stop was 3 miles away, the sun would set in about an hour, I had just hiked several miles, I was cold and tired. I was overwhelmed with what felt like a terrible mistake and my whole trip was going to be awful now, until a wonderfully kind, amazing human being in this group said in her best English “No way you walk to the bus that far. We take you.” I insisted that I didn’t want to be a bother but just needed to know the best way to public transportation and she said again “It’s not safe for you to walk this road, it’s getting late and is way too cold. We will take you.” And so, as much as my mother would have had a heart attack had I told her what I was about to do, I got in their warm car and prayed.

Small world again, the girl I first talked to and her mom were born and raised in Stuttgart and she just recently moved to Switzerland to be with her boyfriend. How neat this is who I would find in the parking lot. Bless their souls! They drove me roughly 30 minutes away to Einsiedeln train station safe and sound. Way past that first working bus station. Wow.

So, I bought a ticket and grabbed the next train 10 minutes later and headed back to Zurich for a warm shower, a full meal with a couple glasses of wine and some much needed rest.

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Trail recap: started at 1, ended at 8. Got to 2, made it to 3 at the base and had to turn around (social media video), made it out to 4 which I could see from 3 and this is where I called mom and dad, got to 5 and knew I wanted to go to 7 and eventually 8 but until I made it to 6 before I realized I wasn’t going toward 7 so I turned around back to five, crossed the slopes (social media video) through the toughest part of the hike to 7, then made my way steeply down to 8.

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Extra Things & Air Bnb

Swiss Francs are probably the most beautiful money I’ve seen. I thought England had nice money until I used an ATM in Zurich and saw a butterfly was coming out of the slot. So vibrant. Random fact: Exchange rate was 1 Frank to 1.03 USD so the trip was only expensive if I made it expensive.
The Airbnb was great. Cheapest in the area, roughly 27 minutes transit to downtown so it was out of the city which made it quieter and more homey. I walked in and found my name on my door, didn’t understand the importance until I realized there were four bedrooms upstairs all rented out for the weekend with everyone’s name on it. I went out for the day NYE and came back around 6pm because I didn’t want to stand in the cold for another 6 hours waiting. So I tried to nap until about 10 and headed out again. When I got back to my room that evening to rest there was a bottle of champagne and a little note at all our doors. So sweet and really made the stay nice. They had a nice booklet with top attractions, restaurants, how to get around, water, an umbrella, and the host was very nice. I highly recommend for the area.

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Switzerland is my favorite European country now. I can’t wait to adventure more of it with mom and dad in April around Grindelwald with more hikes and scenery.