Switzerland!!!!

I wish that I could have stayed in Switzerland ALOT longer than we did...it is SO beautiful and clean! Also the atmosphere is just AWESOME! The city we stayed in is Lucerne, to get there we drove through the Swiss Alps and took St Gotthards Pass which is 6,935 ft high! WOW! We passed Lake Como where George Clooney owns a villa! Then we stopped for about an hour in a beautiful city called Lugano. Then back on the coach for the remainder of our journey into Lucerne. Once we got to Lucerne we started sightseeing right away, we went and visited the Lion Monument, which is a memorial for fallen Swiss Soldiers! That night we went to a Swiss Folklore Party where we probably had one of our 1st good meals on this trip! Funny story about dinner, they started us off with some cheese fondue...really tasty. We ate some, then but were thinking we were gonna have it on our table throughout the entire meal and the fabulous entertainment! Well all of a sudden someone, not our waitress comes and tries to clear our fondue...so we ask to keep it a little longer, they give us a funny look and walk away. So then a few minutes pass by and another waitress comes and tries to clear our fondue again, once again we ask to keep it longer, and they walk away. A few more minutes pass and lo and behold yet ANOTHER waiter comes by where of course we ask if we can still keep it! Well this guy didn't quite get that all we wanted to do is keep it at our table longer, so he YELLS at us in broken English of course, "NO YOU CANNOT KEEP IT, IT IS FORBIDDEN, NOT A SOUVENIR!!!" Needless to say, we didn't get to keep our fondue, but we sure did get a laugh out of it!!! So for the rest of the evening we enjoyed some very cool yodeling,

alphorn blowing,

a broom being used as a musical instrument,

and many other really neat local instruments. Oh and I must tell you that this Swiss Folklore party was an "optional excursion" offered by our tour company, and when I read in my little itinerary booklet that this was an option...I was EXTREMELY excited, but to my dismay, I was the ONLY one that was excited :( HOWEVER, everyone else decided, WHY NOT!!! YAY!!! And let's just say that everyone is STILL talking about how much fun we had that night and how cool the entertainment was!!! Good call Monica!!!! WOOOO! The next day we went up Mt Pilatus, the top is 7,000 ft high, we got there via the world's steepest cogwheel railway (48 degree inclination). Unfortunately the weather that day was rainy and foggy and of course the higher we got the foggier it was, so we didn't get to see the awesome views for what they were, but trust me, we still got the feel for how high we were and it was still an experience. At the top we had some yummy authentic Swiss hot chocolate and then we too a gondola back down the mountain! The rest of the day was our to do whatever we wanted, bet you can't guess what we did? We shopped until we dropped!!! Ever since I was a little girl and my parents friends brought them back a cuckoo clock from Germany, I have always wanted one of my own...so since we weren't going to Germany, Switzerland is the next best place to get one!!! I was SO excited I just couldn't stand it, but these things aren't cheap so for the amount of money that I was spending I wasn't just gonna buy the 1st one that I saw...so we looked and looked and looked some more for just the right cuckoo clock @ the right price! We walked up and down the streets of Lucerne like 3 times and visited the same stores 2-3 times comparing and deciding! I felt bad to drag everyone around like that, but they were shopping in the meantime too and they were SO patient and helpful with me while I was on my hunt! Thanks guys for being so awesome, I really appreciate it! So finally I found it...THE ONE! Well ok the 2nd...cause the one that I REALLY wanted was SUPER expensive and I mean like RIDICULOUSLY expensive, so I compromised and got the 2nd best! Plus this one has a little bit more of a manly touch to it so that Tom will like it! The little birdie cuckoos on the hour and 1/2 hour and while he cuckoos the little wood chopper guy chops wood, then the people dance to Edelweiss and some other song and while they do that the water wheel moves! Really cute!