{lucerne}
{zurich}
{berne}
{.... and our last stop: gruyeres}
pictured above: our whirl-wind tour from the north to the south of switzerland, all in one day! when we arrived to lucerne on saturday night, we glanced at the map and figured we wouldn't have much to do besides walk a pretty bridge and look at a pretty lion*, so we planned to visit a few other cities on our drive back to geneva. usually i like taking a few days in a spot to really get a feel of the land, but i won't say no to crossing a few cities off my bucket list pretty darn quick. lucerne was a beautiful, small town, and zurich felt more industrial and business-y. bern felt the most cultural, although we only walked one or two streets. we saw einstein's apartment, where he developed his theory on special relativity. and GRUYERES, guys. the city that the cheese is named after (or the other way around?). after we walked up a STEEP, steep pathway covered in pebbles (switzerland hike part 2), we came upon the most quaint little village situated next to a castle that overlooked grazing cows and rolling hills. we ordered "raclette," a type of cheese that is placed underneath a heat lamp, and then, when all is warm and bubbly, is scraped off onto bread and potatoes. raclette comes from the french word "racler," which means "to scrape." if that isn't heaven, i don't know what is. although geneva didn't really strike my fancy right away, i'm pretty taken by the rest of this country.
"once in a while it really hits people that they do not have to experience the world in the way they have been told to."
- alan keightley
* mark twain deemed the lion sculpture, which was carved after swiss mercenaries were killed in the french revolution, "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world."
