Bon jour from Switzerland!

I know...I missed a country. After departing from Paris, the amazing city of lights and music, and the best pan au chocolat I have ever tasted, I caught an overnight train to Stuttgart, Germany. The tickets were a great deal, and I found out why when I boarded the train. Instead of being more like a bus with seats that went back a little, the train had small compartments with seats against the walls that did not recline at all. I guess I should have sprung for the couchette, which had a bed. Oh well, 7 hours isn't that long right?

I actually had a great time on the train! The sleeping wasn't the best, but I met a great German girl who was also coming from the festival of music in Paris. She was taking the train all the way to Munich, which was good to know because I, being a train newbie, thought it was stopping in Stuttgart for good and I wouldn't have set an alarm. We chatted a bit and exchanged info, because I thought I might head to Munich after Stuttgart. After a few hours of bumpy sleep, envying the cute Turkish couple across from me who had each other as pillows, I made it off the train at the right stop...at 4am. The S-bahn wasn't going to start running unti 5am, so I had an hour to kill in Stuttgart, where I speak absolutely none of their language. Adventures! After navigating the restroom, which cost .50€ to use, I managed to order tea and a croissant from the station bakery, finding it a bit too intimidating to leave the station while running on 3 hours of sleep. I have found it much safer to order tea than coffee here in Europe, because it seems that their "cafe" is either super bitter, or super sweet. I'm looking forward to Italian cafe in a few days!

I successfully caught the S-bahn to the right station, and my friend Maxime kindly met me there at 5:30am so I didn't have to find my way to his appartment on my own. This was very good, because the street names here are ridiculously long and they all look rather the same to me! Upon arrival, we both promptly went back to sleep for 4 hours. :) He had taken the day off work to show me around, so despite the rainy weather (unusual, he tells me), we set off to explore the main city center. One thing I have noticed about Europe: the churches are all amazing works of art in themselves! Just wandering around the old buildings is enough to make my days. We stopped in the Opera building, where we were able to just walk in and watch them assemble a set on stage from a balcony. They don't lock any doors there! Maxime says it is because the German people are all very by the book, and therefore everyone is quite trusting. I just know that we would never have been able to enter without a tour group in the US. After that we wandered around, found a great indoor market, walked through the shopping district, and caught the S-bahn out to a beautiful park near the city. After searching for at least half an hour, we finally found an entrance (there was a lot of construction going on that confused things), and found the famous tower in the middle of the park. At the top of the steel and cable structure, we were treated to an incredible view of Stuttgart and the surrounding valley. Later than night we had drinks with Maxime's french friends at a restaurant called Joe Penas (spanish) which I thought was funny. French conversation, in a Spanish bar, in Germany. haha.

The next day was quite uneventful, as Maxime accidently locked me into the apartment when he left for work in the morning. There was no way to unlock the door from the inside without a key, and the one he left me did not work! (It lock turned out that the lock was just very stuck) This led to a day of laundry in the bathtub, journaling, writing postcards, and brushig up on my English grammar before my class in Prague. Unfortunately I had no phone or internet, so I was very unconnected. All was well in the end though, and it makes for a great story! Maxime was very sorry, and made me delicious Mexican food that night.

The next day I ventured into the city by myself for some H&M shopping before Italy and Greece, then hurried back to the apartment to meet our other friend, Emmanuel, who came to join us from Switzerland. Maxime was working again, so Emmanuel and I explored the huge zoo of Stuttgart during the afternoon. I love animals, but zoo's are just a bit depressing with their small cages, and sad looking animals. I prefer the Wild Animal Park in San Diego. We met Maxime for dinner, then went to get drinks at an amazing bar on the roof of a shopping garage! They had turned half of the roof into a "beach" complete with sand, lawn chairs, and lounge beds with canopies! It was really fun just hanging out, sipping some prosecco, and looking at the lights of the city through palm fronds.

Stuttgart is known for cars. Both Mercedes Benz and Porsche have much of their business there. In the morning, Emmanuel and I visited the Mercedes Benz museum. It is gigantic! Although from the outside it doesn't seem huge, the way it is designed, like a double helix, you wind through it so many times it took us 3.5 hours! It was interesting, included lot of German, local, and world history, but if you know me, that is a LONG time to spend on cars! We were famished after, so we went to the city center for some cheap food and an incredible ice cream. This place made huge ice cream dishes in large martini and margarita glasses. We opted for warm raspberry with some kind of liquor and vanilla ice cream. It was yummy, but the presentation was really the highlight. Again, Maxime met us after work and we headed back to Joe Penas for dinner and happy hour drinks (for only 4.50€! that is less than the US!)

The next day was Saturday, and we woke up early to a thunderstorm and heavy rain...perfect weather for driving to Switzerland! Fortunately, Emmanuel is used to driving in the snow (to and from his job as a ski instructor in Nendaz) so I wasn't too worried. There is a misconception that the German's drive incredibly fast on the autobahn. Yes, the speed limit is 120km/hr and in some places it is unlimited, but most cars go about 80-90 miles an hour, and due to much construction, super fast driving is impossible for more than brief periods of time. For lunch, we stopped at a charming little town on the side of le lac leman (lake Geneva). It was my first glimpse of Switzerland, and the giant fork in the water convinced me that I was going to like this country, although how I could have doubted with Emmanuel constantly telling me how wonderful it was in his country, I'm not sure. We made it to Martigny around 3pm, dropped our stuff off in the archaelogical office of Emmanuel's father (where we were going to sleep!) explored the ancient roman ampitheater he helped recover, and headed out to see if Martigny was really as great as Emmanuel constantly says.

The description of this beautiful village will have to wait, however, as the battery is running low and Emmanuel is looking at me to say, you have been on the computer for ages, I want to show you my town, not just my house! And I, also want to explore. So, a bientot!