| Breakfast of scrambled eggs,
tea, coffee, and cereal. Talked about need to speak loudly on
phones last night. Kyle said he knew one person's family based
on phone conversation. Dale said something about his brother
saying he's now speaking with an American accent. |
Kyle said we're adults. Told
us to stop partying at bed time. Said we owed bus driver an
apology for keeping him up. |
| Dale, Joe, Liz, Julie, Aaron,
Steve, Darcy, and I played 21 (Blackjack). Liz found out that
Darcy's name was spelled "Darcy," not some special
name like Daasi or something because he was Aussie. |
|
 |
Aaron modified 21 to
"Strip Blackjack." Started off by taking off shoes
at each loss. After the distinct smell, we put our shoes back
on. Tried to play Chinese Poker, but ended up playing Go Fish! |
| Aaron posted a picture of a
woman on his little wall in the back. He kept nodding his head and saying “Yeah.”
We took turns watching him savor his little dorm
room.
|
Aaron introduced one of his
CDs to the bus. Kyle introduced him to the term "Middle
of the Road Music" because Ali was going to throw it out
to the middle of the road. |
| Kyle
got really into explaining the Swiss. He began by asking if we knew
how a small country like Switzerland could remain a neutral country
despite the wars. He said that all men aged 20 to 50 were in the
military and had a service record book. Basically, this book was
almost like a CV, and if you didn’t get good marks, you may not
have a job. He added that those in the front of the bus can see
marks on the ground where ballards would rise, if necessary, to
prevent an invasion by tanks. He also said that at a push of a
button, bridges and tunnels could be blown up. He added that
airbases were camouflaged and divider chains on the motorway could
go up and down for landing strips. He added that there were nuclear
bomb shelters in the tunnels.
We
were all really getting into Kyle’s tour speech, and then he said
that even the Swiss cows were trained. Some of us looked at each
other, and given the way Kyle told the story, we were very
interested in what he had to say about the cows. Then, he popped a
CD in and played “Cows With Guns,” a tune that is somewhat
similar to The Simpson’s “Canyonero” song. After this song, Bruna figured out what the
term "cheesy" meant.
|
| At base of Mt. Pilatus, Kyle
got us tickets while Moises handed out maps. Aaron was joking
(I hope) about shaking the cable car down to the ground. |
|
 |
As cable car ascended, got
foggier and colder. Last thing we could see was some sort of
playground. |
| When we got off the cable
car, it was freezing. Many could barely move. After watching a
video in the waiting area, we crammed into a larger cable car. |
|
 |
At the top, we went to
souvenir shop that featured some cow bells. Outside, Kyle
threw the first snowball. He then pointed us toward the caves
for our next journey.
Caves were damp, cold, and
dripping. Floor was damp, had ice, and was slippery. Air
condensed as we exhaled. Had trouble taking pictures because
we couldn't stay in a single position long enough because it
was so cold.
|
| Came to a fork in the road.
Wondered if we should turn back. Some called for help.
Fortunately, some of us went to the top and got a photo before
going down the really short walk back down. |
|
 |
Took the cog rail down. Took
pictures. Steph showed some of the pictures he took on his
Sony.
I wanted to roll down the window for
more pictures but...
|
| We were bumped to a
"better" hotel, with foosball and a pool table. Had
two sinks in each room (great for laundry). Walked to nearby
Hotel Europe for a good meal. Antiquis sat across from us.
Kyle said some pubs were
wanting our business and even printed up coupons for us. Hotel
Europe featured two for one specials.
|
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