Weekend of Improvisation

One would think that by now I would have gotten the hang of planning my weekend travels ahead of time and perhaps - as wild as it sounds - even organizing sleeping arrangements for myself before I leave Lausanne. Yeah, right. It hasn't happened yet, and this past weekend is too perfect an example of this lack of planning.

We were supposed to go to Ticino, the beautiful Italian part of Switzerland. The last train from Lausanne to Ticino, the one we were planning on taking, left on Thursday evening at 7:45 (Friday was a holiday - Swiss National Day). Things took longer than expected and ultimately we missed our train, which left us clueless and stranded at the train station. The problem is that going to Ticino is an expensive trip and we had all already bought passes that let us travel for free after 7 PM. So, hastily, we decided that because the trip to Ticino meant passing through Zurich, we could still take a train to Zurich, sleep there, and then head to Ticino in the morning.

And so we hurriedly boarded the train and in the first 10 minutes of the train ride it dawned on us that we had nowhere to sleep in Zurich (as if we had any place to sleep in Ticino). Luckily, three friends that we had made during the conference in Bern were living in Zurich for the summer. Thankfully they were in Zurich for the weekend and they agreed to accommodate us for night. Pulling into Zurich at 11:30 PM, I had little time to admire the beauty of the city and its orderliness. I was just tired and thankful to have a roof over my head while I slept.

It would be my luck that the next morning it was pouring rain. As Ticino is a place not to be seen in the rain, we decided to wander through Zurich for the day. Despite the rain, the grey sky, and the widely deserted streets, Zurich still managed to exude brilliance and beauty. The old town, with its cobblestoned streets, was, as all cobblestoned streets are, pure bliss for me. The lake was shimmering under the few rays of sunlight that pierced the clouds lining the sky. Once it started raining hard again, we entered Kunsthaus, Zurich's famous Museum of Fine Arts. I admittedly am not very well versed in art; however, I still managed to appreciate - perhaps not fully - and enjoy the art in the museum. More than anything else I enjoyed the ambiance of the museum.

As it was Swiss National Day, obligatory fireworks were going to erupt all over Switzerland. We decided to head to Schauffhausen to watch fireworks over the Rheinfall, Europe's largest waterfall. The town was perfect. It was a small, German, medieval-town. Although all the shops were closed, I found a small Turkish restaurant where I devoured a chicken kebab. Holy shit, that was probably the best kebab I've ever had. We walked down to the waterfall and amidst thousands of other people, behind the lake, we waited. The waterfall was mesmerizing. It was not very tall, but it still commanded authority with the amount of water it accelerated into the lake. The Rheinfall was surrounded by trees and two castles were perched high on adjacent cliffs. The fireworks were spectacular. They illuminated the sky and reflected off the lake, making it seem as if there were fireworks in two different areas. They went on for 30 minutes and afterwards, everyone rushed back to the town and to the train station. I will end my day here because out of embarrassment I would rather not say where we slept that night...

The next morning, needless to say, I was not very well rested. We headed to Lucerne and I met up with a different group of people from my program who were also traveling during the weekend. We headed to Mt. Titlis, Central Switzerland's tallest mountain. As we ascended in cable cars, typical Swiss cows were munching on the grass below, bells hung around their necks, ringing as they chewed the grass. The top of the mountain was breathtaking. At one point, I felt like I was flying in the clouds. There were mountains all around us, both snow covered and grass covered. Playing in the snow at the top of the mountain and walking through an ice cave, we eventually headed back to Lucerne, which is an absolutely gorgeous medieval city. We walked through its famous bridges, walked on top of its city walls, wandered through the city, and enjoyed sandwiches on Lake Lucerne. I took the last train out of Lucerne at 9 PM and reached Lausanne at midnight, thoroughly exhausted and in need of food and a warm shower.

The next day, the plan was to head to the lake for a boat tour of Lake Geneva. As it turns out, I woke up at noon and did not feel like going on the boat tour. Instead, we headed to a small town next to Lausanne and found a "beach" there - by beach I mean a park with a coast of pebbles and stones. Regardless, in the sun I slept, read, and swam. After several hours, we headed to Lavaux, a region widely heralded as THE place to purchase wine in the area. So, as expected, we didn't have plans for what we would do in the Lavaux region, except for the fact that I really wanted to walk through the vineyards that lined the mountain side at 30 degree angles and more.

To my pleasure, that is exactly what happened. We snuck through private vineyards, sampling the sour grapes hanging from the plant trees. Backs hunched, we walked slowly and furtively through the vineyards, admiring the plants, the vineyards all around the mountainside, and the lake on the other side. Admiring the view, we eventually headed back home, grabbing chicken kebabs and enjoying a beautiful sunset at the top of the city. Reaching home, I was content from the delicious kebab I ate and the beautiful views of nature that I drank in throughout the day.

Although the weekend was completely improvised, and although we did nothing that we had planned to do, it still turned out to be a great time. I got to see and do things that I had previously only imagined doing. I have always wanted to walk through medieval cities and walk through vineyards. Yeah, although these desires sound a bit cheesy, I really enjoyed doing these things. And to end, I would like to say that I am looking forward to this coming weekend, when we are again planning to go to Ticino...perhaps we will actually make it there this time. Au revoir until then!