LindsieHill: Day 2

On the bus headed to our first visit!! Listening to Defying Gravity. Apparently the Glee version is good… who knows, I’ll vouch for the official CD ;)

Yesterday we went up the cable car to the peaks of the mountain we’re living against! We’re completely surrounded by the Alps, and really, they’re beautiful. The cable can sit six, and you just begin this steep upward climb. The peak offers views of the mountains in each direction. Trees, open green space, and rocky sections surround us. There were a lot of funny poses going on, falling off the mountain, doing yoga on the rocky cliff, conquering the world pictures.

I had the great fortune of being the only one not wearing blue! Instead, conveniently enough, I had chosen to wear (before knowing we were headed up the mountain for a picture session) in a bright pink shirt! I stand out a lot in every group picture. My jacket wasn’t any better, green. And to top it off, it is the first day since those junior in high school days that I’ve worn glasses. Even in high school catching me with glasses on would have been a feat. I pretty much wore them in ap biology if it was a rough day and that’s it. Here, I am on day two of wearing them everywhere.

This is all due to the great blessing of having one of my eyes get infected. This happened in Ghana, and my eyes were struggling for over a month. I thought I had recovered. Something about visiting other countries ;) I’ll be bringing eye drops with me on trips for the rest of my life.

Funny Side note:

I just heard the words “precipitous death” from the right side of me. Landon is recording people chatting, interviewing Jessica Nield. This road is full of turns, many of which are steep, and the road is a narrow two lanes. Travelling down in a large bus, I’m quite impressed with the driver.

I’ve been highly amused at how much Spanish is being used among ourselves on this trip. I think it helps us feel better that we don’t speak French J For my part, I’m having a hard time not using a few words in Twi, mostly ‘debe debe’, and ‘madase’.

Anyhow....

today had cool stuff in it! I've been really impressed how much closer this little group is now even than 48 hours ago. Being here has helped us to come together, at least initially ;)

This morning we had a beautiful drive to the Callier chocolate factory! (where the ominous 'precipitous death' was discussed). The drive of course was beautiful. Its going to get repetitive, but honestly, Switzerland has had nothing if not beauty everywhere we've seen. Actually, it feels kind of like Utah, except more alive, clean, and frankly, manicured. All the fields and plants look perfectly taken care of and trimmed, the paint on the roads looks new, the farms look perfect, the stores/homes all look picturesque and well taken care of. Everything just seems very well done, its amazing.

The chocolate factory had a little disneyland-ish tour. A voice guided us through a different room with the story of the history of chocolate. We started in a jungle, went to a merchant ship, then to a king's court, etc. It ended in watching some chocolate being made, and then a free piece at the end! I must admit, that tour is a great marketing tool. You don't feel at all like you're being marketed to, and to be fair most of the time you aren't. But at the end, the final little video explains all their different kinds of chocolate, which kinds are the finest, etc. knowing more about what chocolate is what - even just a little bit - helps a lot! Otherwise you just sit looking at a wall of chocolate that you're confident tastes great... but you have too many choices.

Also.. in addition to their great little tour and free piece of chocolate.. you then walk into a room with a huge square bar... filled with chocolate samples. Its literally enough that you don't want to try one of each (even though at the beginning you're certain you can handle it). After trying a piece of dark chocolate, I literally couldn't taste the next piece. The texture of that next piece was fabulous. the taste? I honestly can't tell you.

Bar of Chocolate

Ghana meets Switzerland

I was also able to reconnect with Ghana!!! Of all the cocoa beans to taste, I certainly made sure that I tried the Ghana-ian ones. They tasted great! the first 80% of the time before it came bitter. I do think that there's is better though... others were complaining about the cocoa they tried claiming it tasted horrible and that the taste was only getting worse and worse.

Ok, last thing! Gruyere! Gruyere is a tiny little town somewhere in the Swiss Alps, that is beautiful and tiny and quaint! Actually, walking into the little square that makes up most of the little township, I began singing "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast. Just couldn't help it! Cobblestone street, cute fountain with a few flowers around, castle, church, and really expensive little restaurants. Everything is beautiful, and it was a heaven made for willing photographers! I was so disappointed I hadn't brought more batteries! Mine survived, but I had to start being a lot more selective to make my camera survive. Batteries in this little town cost about $9 for a pair of double A's. Yep... welcome to tiny little tourism town in Switzerland.

Just one of the beautiful views

Part of the Castle

Walking into Gruyere!!!!

Does it make you want to sing?

This little town was so quaint and beautiful, but we had to keep reminding ourselves this wasn't Disney's depiction of what its like... this IS IT. So unreal, so beautiful. Then going through the castle was even more powerful feeling that... this just can't really be it! I was standing looking at 4 suits of armor used between 1530, and then 3 other ages (honestly, don't remember when). Looking at it, I just thought... these are cool. No, Lindsie, think... this is not a remake. These are not models. This armor was covering some man in battle in 1530! Same things with the furniture, fireplaces, and art on the wall. This was actually appreciate and used by people living hundreds of years ago. Someone lived in this elaborate room while ruling over serfs and merchants outside. Someone washed their face in this basin and lived a life surrounded by art and tapestries. It was very difficult to try and accept these realities, however, I loved every bit as much as I could get myself to believe!