Category: General (Page 13 of 18)

I regret to inform that my trip has been cut short by the death of my grandfather. I will be flying into Tulsa this Friday evening.

I want to thank everyone for your support. Your comments have been the little taste of home that has gotten me this far.

Thank you,

Bryan

The Swiss countryside is like nothing I have ever seen before. Where I am staying, I can look out a window and see three mountains. If I go stand out in the street, there are mountains all around me. I’m on a little island in the middle of two rivers. I can walk five minutes and be standing next to some of the most beautiful blue water I have ever seen.

I met another American in Paris, who is living there for a few months and daytrading to support himself. When I told him that I was coming to Switzerland, he decided to take a week off to come join me. It’s been nice to have a friend along for a bit.

Yesterday, we went for a short hike up the “small hill.” It was only about 1300 meters (I’m really not sure exactly how high it was I just know it took about three hours to get up, and an hour and fifteen minutes to get down). Dan and I did some number crunching and estimated that it was just about a ten mile hike. At the top there was this nice little restaurant that served us “Lemonade” (Sprite), and french fries. The view was just awesome.

The downside of Switzerland is that it is very expensive. The Swiss Franc and the US dollar nearly have a one to one conversion rate (which is a very nice change), but everything costs nearly 50% more than in the US. Some things more… for instance, a Big Mac here (not that I’ve eaten any McDonalds) costs 12.50 Francs. Yes, that’s about $13.00. I nearly crapped myself when I saw that. The beer isn’t that expensive though. It’s very comparable to a beer in the States, but soda is very expensive. A 50ml bottle of Coke costs nearly $3.00, while you can get a big bottle of beer or wine for the same amount.

The place I’m staying is actually a hotel. They charge something like $25/night to stay here, but if you are a couchsurfer, then they let you stay for free, although the room isn’t as luxurious. Everyone gets full access to all the things offered here though no matter if you are paying or staying for free, so we have been buying most of our food at the supermarket and making it in the kitchen.

One of the hardest things now is speaking proper English. I don’t know what it is about being in a foreign country, but after trying to speak French for a week, I find that it is much harder to speak proper English. All of my sentences get mixed up, and trying to find words is a little harder (especially for someone who already isn’t the most articulate person in the world). Typing this little entry has already taken me a half hour (but I’m also doing other things while typing).

Well, I am also posting new pics of the mountains, so you will get a chance to see what I am experiencing.

I’m going to the lake now.

Lyon has been great. It’s not like any of the other tourist cities that I have been to so far. Sure, Lyon has old buildings and lots of people, but the people don’t act like they do in the other tourist cities. When I was in both London and Paris, it always felt like everyone was disconneted from everyone else. I suppose it’s because if you met someone, you could probably expect to never see them again, so why make the effort? Lyon is different in that everyone here goes out of their way to talk to you.

For example, I went to a bar the first night I was here. Everyone was very young, and I was definitely out of place, but there was a tennis match on the tv, and a French man was playing. I started cheering for the French guy, and when people heard me speaking English, they went out of their way to come talk to me. It felt a lot like being at McNellie’s without not knowing how to speak the same language. In fact, I only bought two beers, but was served five or six. They just kept appearing in front of me. Since then, every experience has been just like that. Everyone is very friendly and goes out of their ways to talk to me. Not only that, but I haven’t had to spend any money. The person that is hosting me keeps buying the food. I have offered many times, but he refuses to accept my money. He is very nice.

I leave tomorrow morning for Switzerland. I will be there for at least one week. When I get to Switzerland I am not sure if I will be able to get internet, so I do not know the next time that I will be on the internet. We’ll see.

Until next time,

Bryan

So, after a couple days of walking around, I have found that Paris is just wonderful. The costs here are much lower than in London. There are markets on every corner, so rather than buying a lot of groceries all at once, most people just purchase what they will eat that evening. Also, everything is tiny here. The apartments are all small. Many are only one room with, maybe, a bathroom. Also, the serving sizes here are much smaller.

The food here is wonderful. You can walk down any street and see two or three small shops on within a few blocks. Usually for breakfast I have just went to one of those and spent €.5 for a peach or two. The fruit is delightful, and there are so many different choices.

I went to the Eiffel Tower yesterday. It was nice to finally see. It’s very tall. Much larger in person than I ever imagined. I didn’t go to the top because the line to get there was about an hour and a half long. I did get some pictures from the second level though. I have seen the Louvre (haven’t gone in yet, perhaps today), the Arch de Triumph, and Champs Elysses (sp?). I have so many pictures, but I am not currently able to upload them. I can’t wait to get to a place where I can do that.

I will be going to Lyon within a couple days, and then Switzerland a couple days after that. I have found a place called Interlaken (http://www.interlaken.ch/index.php?id=53&L=3). It is beautiful there from what I can tell.

Looking forward to more later.

Bryan

I won’t be writing very much on this post because the French keyboards are very different than US keyboards.

The person who I am staying with doesn’t have internet, so, once again, I must use internet cafes. Luckily, the costs in Paris are much lower than in London. I am not so worried about blowing everything in my bank now.

Okay… enough of this.

Bryan

PS – Imagine this, switch Q & A, Z & W, move M to the right of L, shift to get numbers, and switch around all the punctuation. Then you will have an idea of what it’s like on this keyboard.