May 19 - My last full day with Linda. We drove to Lucerne in the morning and met her friend Valon, who had tickets for us to visit Mount Pilatus. Visting it was quite an ordeal, though. First, we took a 90 minute boat ride on Lake Lucerne to Alpnachstad, a village at the base of the mountain. Next we spent 40 minutes on the steepest cog railway in the world (seriously) to make it to the top of the mountain. On the way up my train stopped beside another train that was on its way down, and in the other train I spotted a guy from my home town with his mom. I wasn't completely surprised to see him because I knew he had been participating in a foreign exchange program in Lucerne for almost a year. They didn't see my obnoxious waving, and after a few minutes we continued up the mountain. At the top, a man approached us upon seeing our Westminster gear and asked if we were students at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. I said no, and it turned out that he was from Kansas City and hadn't heard of our Westminster. Poor guy. Anyway, once we reached the almost top of Mount Pilatus we walked up a couple short trails to different peaks for better views. The views were absolutely amazing, and I hope my pictures made it look at least half as beautiful as it really was. We opted to take a 30 minute gondola car ride down the other side of the mountain. Good thing I'm not afraid of heights, huh?
At night we drove to Zurich so I could experience a popular Albanian hangout. It was a lot of fun and a great way to end the first part of my trip!
May 20 - Linda and I went our separate ways (A big thank you to the Osmanajs and all their relatives for being such wonderful hosts!). Our adventure came to an end because she has a job that starts soon, but I'm only halfway done with Switzerland! How's that, you ask? Well, two years ago my parents hosted a Swiss foreign exchange student named Meret Keller, and now I'm staying with her for a couple more weeks in her hometown of Kerns.
My little Swisster's house is a hotel (Hotel Burgfluh) turned apartment complex, and it's, for lack of smarter-sounding words, freaking awesome. After arriving at her apartment we visited Lake Sarnen and played a round of mini golf with her boyfriend and younger sister Senta. Later in the evening Meret (18), Senta (16), and their oldest sister Eliane (20) drove me around the lake and through neighboring villages. All of us were exhausted at the end of the day, and I think everyone was in bed by 10:00.
May 21 - Slept in. Surfed the web. Ate chocolate. Awesome.
May 22 - I think I'll go on a walk.
Below: The view from Mount Pilatus
