Why Should You go to Switzerland?

   Switzerland is a wonderfully unique country filled with different sites and landmarks for everyone. Whether you want to see the historical aspect of so of the castles and old towns, or you want to emerge you senses in the culture that can be found through out. The landscapes and environment of Switzerland are exceptional; snow-covered mountains, crystal lakes and tree filled forests as well as grassy plains. In short, Switzerland is not lacking when it comes to natural features of its lands. 

   The culture you will find in Switzerland is amazing; their history is rich and the people speak multiple languages. If you decide to go to Basel during the Fasnacht carnival, prepare to be amazed. It is called by locals to be the "most wonderful 3 days," and is world famous for the participant's festive costumes and masks, and the musicians who play and parade through the streets. But, while it's an amazing aspect to Switzerland, it's only a tip of the iceberg in terms of what the country has to offer. 

   If you are more of a sporty person, no need to worry, there are many things that you could find your self doing. For one, you could take to the slopes, perhaps sledding, skiing or snowboarding; or you could go and watch a hockey game. Hockey is extremely popular there, the stadiums always fill up with the crowds that come to see the games. 

  When looking it over and weighing your options, the real question would have to be "why not got to Switzerland?" Switzerland is like a eat it all buffet; you can go along and pick and choose what you want, and pile your plate high with everything good in the process. So, is there any reason to why you wouldn't want to pack your bags and leave now?

Day 12 - 3 March 2015

   We woke up from our sleep around 8 am in order to start packing and getting ready for our long plane trip ahead. We would be in the plane for a total of 12 hours, not including layovers, so we could use that time to get any extra sleep we aren't getting in the mornings. We checked out of the Geneva Hostel and headed over to the Airport at 10:30 which gave us 2 and a half hours to get ready. We got to the airport at 11 am and sat down and waited for the plane to start boarding. 
   
   At 11:40 the plane was boarding and finally left 30 minutes later. We got to Montreal Airport at 2:30 PM, which might not seem that long of a ride, but due to time changes, the plane ride was 8 and a half hours. We had a little over an hour to get some Airport food and walk around, because we were tired of being in a plane for 8 hours. At 3:30 PM our plane started boarding and we got ready and boarded. The plane departed at 4 and lasted an hour and a half until we got off at the next stop. 

    We landed in Toronto at 5:45 and had 4 hours to wait around before hitting our next plane at 9:30 PM, so we grabbed some food and hung out at the airport lobby, because we had all of our stuff with us. At 9 our next flight began boarding and we got on and settled before the plane departed at 9:30. Our last plane lasted a little over 2 hours and we got to Raleigh at 11:15, and it took us about 30 minutes to get out of the plane and get our stuff. We were finally able to get a taxi to our houses and we all got home around 12 AM.

Day 11- 2 March 2015

   We woke up at 8 am to a light drizzle outside our room this morning. After grabbing a quick meal around 8:30 at the hostel breakfast bar, we made our way over to the train station, where we would catch a train back to Geneva at 10 am. We said goodbye to the city and boarded the train. The entire ride was three hours, and the views outside the windows were beautiful, most things were still covered by at least a light dusting of snow. The whole experience was pretty relaxing. When we arrived in Geneva at 1 PM, we exited the train and station before catching a bus to the Novotel Geneve Aeroport, which is a hotel attached to the airport, to make it easier the next morning when we would catch our flights home home. 

                 History

  At 2 PM at a small lunch in a nearby deli, we made our way to the city center and walked around, taking in the sights that Geneva had to offer. We then made our way into the old town of Geneva. We walked around for a bit enjoying the architecture and character in the buildings around us. We then made our way up to St. Peter's Cathedral, which overlooks the whole of the city. There were a total of 157 steps to the top of the tower, and the view of the city was definitely worth it. The architecture and detail within the church its self was amazing as well. 

  After spending about 4 hours looking around at the buildings and cathedrals, we headed back to the hostel on a bus. We looked around and found a place to eat at around the area at 6:30 pm. We headed back to the hostel at around 8:30 PM and started packing and getting ready for the day ahead. 

Day 10- 1 March 2015

         Culture

   Waking up today and then leaving to go to Lucerne at about 10:30 am and eat some breakfast. We arrived at 11 am. We were all really excited about doing the Foxtrail today. A Foxtrail is like a scavenger hunt, you try to follow the 'fox's' trail throughout the city. We took the Luno Maxi trail which was difficult, we started at 12:45 pm. We traveled around the city in search of the boxes. The trail was really long and complicated, we had to go to places along the lake and on the outside of the city too. 
   I thought that it wasn't going to take all that long but I was wrong. Apparently we are terrible at riddles and activates, it was supposed to only take about 4 hours but instead to took about 6 hours. Anyways we finally caught the fox at about 6:45 pm, it may have taken us forever but we still had a lot of fun. I think it was harder for us because we don't know the area as well. What was really cool about it was that we got to see the city, and it was beautiful. The building there many have maybe a little old but that made it cool. Since there is a lake there, there was a lot of birds, on the roofs of buildings in the water and on the bridge. Since we got done so late we just got dinner at one of the local restaurants at about 7:00 pm then we finished and left at 8:30 pm. We got back to the hotel in Zurich by about 9:00 pm and went to bed.

Day 9 - 28 Febuary 2015

      Environmental

   Today we woke up at about 9:30 am then ate breakfast. We started to go to Aletsch at 10:30 pm. Today it was in the 40s but we still bundled up because we know that since today we are going to be in the mountains then it will probably get colder when we get there. We arrive at 12:30 pm, it is here in this area that the Aletsch Glacier is found. Aletsch Glacier is the largest glacier in the Alps. Also in this area there is a lot of skiing and tobogganing. 
   Around the area there is a reserve, the Aletsch Forest. There is many different kinds of animals and plants in the reserve. We took a hike in the Aletsch Arena, specifically the Nostalgic Snowshoe Tour. Before that we looked around at the nature there because ti  was so beautiful. The tour was about 3 hours long, we took the 3- 6 o'clock tour. The views were beautiful, we started off the tour by taking gondola ride to Moosfluh. So we then hiked around on Moosfluh and then went to Riederfurka. By the time that we started heading back, night had started to fall and we could see the sunset. It was beautiful, and the mountain range made it even more amazing. We arrived at 8 pm and had some dinner. The tour was fun and tiring so we were happy to go back to the hotel in Zurich and get some rest at about 9:30 pm.

Day 8- 27 February 2015

ZC Bern

   We woke up to a gray overcast in Zurich at the Hotel at around 6:30 am. We spent around an hour eating our breakfast at the hotel. It consisted of yummy eggs and toast with some orange juice. We packed our bags in the hotel to travel to another one hotel, just in a different city; Bern.

   We were very excited as we bought tickets to a hockey game to watch ZC Bern play the EHC Biel. We were looking forward to the match up and couldn't wait for it to be 7 pm (game start time) any faster.

   We caught a cab to take us to the train station and we took a train to Bern. It was a long train ride, so we checked into our hotel and took a nap for around 2 hours to catch up on sleep since we woke up very early this morning. It was around 2 pm when we woke up and we headed off to get some lunch that consisted of slices of meat on a sandwich with a little sauce they had at the counter. 

Culture

   We then explored Bern finding interesting things on the way like another child eating monument- the child eating fountain. It brought amusement to us as we didn't know there was another child eating monument in Switzerland. It was time to head to the hockey game we'd been waiting for all day. 

Sports

   The puck dropped and we were ready for 60 minutes of non-stop action and physical play throughout. The ZC Bern won as we were hoping for, 3-1! We ate at the concessions at the stadium because the game didn't end till 9:30 pm. 

   We then got back to our hotel at around 10:30 pm from the game and fell asleep quickly as we were extremely tired from the days adventures! 

Day 7- 26 February 2015

Mala Gorge

   We decided to wake up at 8:30 PM and go to to "Mala Gorge", which is a very important landmark to Zurich.  We headed to a local cafe for breakfast and ate till 10 am. At 10, we caught a cab to the Mala Gorge, which took us about an hour to get to.
We arrived at the Mala Gorge a little bit after 11.

Nature

   The Mala Gorge was very deep and slippery. Our guide told us to not move too close to it or else we might slip and fall into it. After that, we went back into the city via our cab at 1 PM and visited the child eating ogre.

Culture

   The ogre was tall and intimidating. I bet it scares many children each day they walk by it. We then headed off for lunch and we had a light meal consisting of buttered bread and cheese along with a little wine to top it off. Our group then hopped back into a cab at 3PM and it brought us to the train station as we used our passes to travel to Bern where the famous Zytglogge clock tower is located.We ended up finishing with the Clock Tower around 7PM.

History

   We had a grand tour of the landmarks around it and inside the tower. There was much more to see than a clock! After, we traveled back into the city of Zurich to see our final destination in the city, Rhine Falls at 7 PM. The mist of the falls fell onto our cheeks and we saw a rainbow under the waterfall, glimmering off the water. We ended up finishing with Rhine Falls at 8:30 PM.

   We got back at 10 PM and after our tired day we had snacks in the hotel because we had such a late lunch. We went to bed around 10 pm ready to hop back up the next day to visit Bern and watch a hockey game!

Day 6- 25 February 2015

   We woke up at 9:00 am from the Basel Hostel and spent some time packing, today we would be going to Zurich to explore the city. We spent an hour getting our stuff packed up and spent another hour eating the complimentary breakfast. We walked over to the bus station, the bus took us to the train station which took about 10 minutes to get there. From there we took a Train ride to Zurich which took us around and hour and a half. We arrived in Zurich at around 1 PM, when we got there we immediately went to the local Zurich Hostel. We spent an hour and a hald unpacking and putting our stuff away. We took a bus to get to Uetliberg, which took us about half an hour.

History
   From there we went to the service desk that was near Uetliberg, which is a giant mountain located in Zurich. In order to go to the mountain you had to buy cards there which we around $30 a piece for each of us. The mountain was amazing, it was a 2 hour walk and we also spent 2 hours going down the sled slopes. The mountain is covered in snow during the winter, so we came at a perfect time. 

   We got done around 6 pm, from there we went back to the hostel which took another 30 minutes. We went down to the streets of Zurich and found a nice restaurant to go eat dinner. We ate until 8 PM. We explored the local streets around Zurich because we were tired from the busy day, we went to a few local shops and got some deserts from the city. We headed back to the Hostel at 9 PM to go to bed.

Day 5 - 24 February 2015

   We were in no rush today, so we decided to sleep in till 10 am and get a late start on the day instead. We headed downstairs at 11 am and ate some complimentary breakfast. After eating breakfast at the hostel, we headed out to continue exploring Basel and the festival at 12 pm. The second day of the carnival is one of the more relaxed days, so it isn't so hectic as the first and last days. To kill some time before the afternoon festivities, we wandered around the city, exploring the city and exposing ourselves to their culture. At 1 pm, we headed into a local cafe and found some food to eat. After grabbing lunch, we explored some more and before we knew it, it was already the evening and we watched as the Guggemuusige, or masked musicians, filled the streets of the city with their improvised cacophony. They were decedent in their costumes, and although their music was improvised, they came together to form a beautiful harmony with all their instruments. 

Indigenous Meal:

   For a late dinner at 9 PM, after watching and following the parade of the Guggemuusige, we went to a local restaurant and ordered a cheese and chocolate platter to share. The Swiss are well known for their cheese and chocolate, so decided to take this opportunity to try it for ourselves. The sample plate consisted of different types of cheeses and chocolates, all of varying consistency, texture and taste.  The food was exquisite, and we were able to see why they are so well known for their chocolate and cheese. After our spectacular supper, we headed back to our hostel at 11 pm to retire for the night. 

 

Day 4 - 23 February 2015

Holiday/Festival

Schedule

   Today we got to explorer the many wonderful sights of the Fasnacht Spring Carnival on the opening day! The weather was sunny with no chance of rain, but the chilly thirty-seven degree weather with a slight wind chill caused us to all dress warm. The carnival was so exciting we did nothing but enjoy the sights and sounds of it for the entire time we were out of the hotel after eating breakfast at 8:30 a.m. to arriving back at the hotel for dinner at 6:30 p.m. Before we went to the carnival, we purchased carnival badges, and then headed out to the carnival.

Carnival

   While we were at the Carnival on the first day, we saw people with masks with extreme exaggerations of emotions, like the Joker from Batman. People dressed up like clowns and played instruments such as trumpets trying to make the streets of Basel as festive as possible. We followed the moving carnival through the streets of Basel and danced along to the wild beats of a festive band up to the center of the city. Large crowds of people moved with us as we blasted the day away with the most colorful and wide smiling clowns in the world. At 2:30 p.m., we entered a village with some restaurants and we grabbed some cheese and milk as a snack until we could arrive back at the hotel at 6:30 p.m. As we moved from each town and province in Basel, the spirit of the carnival never dimmed as live bands played music through their over-emphasized costumes. 

   At 4:00 p.m., we headed back to the hotel to get dinner and retire for the day in our rooms. For dinner, we ate chicken accompanied with rice and steamed carrots. We returned to our rooms and went to bed at 8:30 p.m.

Day 3 - 22 February 2015

Science and Technology

Schedule

   After waking up in the morning at 8:00 am, we packed up, ate breakfast, dressed accordingly to the thirty-six degree (Fahrenheit) weather, prepared for a slight chance of rain, and checked out of City Hostel Geneva by noon. After checking out of the hotel, we used a bus pass and took a bus to the train station and arrived at 2:00 pm. After arriving to the train station, we used previously purchased train tickets and took the train from Geneva to Basel and arrived at 4:30 pm. After that, we got a bus pass and took the bus to Youthhostel, and arrived at 5:15 pm. After checking in and unpacking, we ate dinner at 5:45 pm. For dinner, we ate grapes dipped in chocolate and swiss cheese. We finished dinner at 6:45 pm. Then, we got a bus pass and took the bus to the Congress Center.

Congress Center

   The Congress Center had several examples of modern technology including audio-visual media technology, communication technology, lighting technology, sound technology, and information technology. We were lucky enough to be able to get to test the recording cameras while we were there and took turns recording each other saying a few lines from Romeo and Juliet We stayed until 8:15 pm. Finally, we took the bus back to the hotel and went to bed at 10:00 pm.

Day 2 - 21 February 2015

   Around 7:40 am our plane landed in Geneva and we had to wait to go through Customs, it took all 5 of us roughly 15 minutes to find them, 15 minutes waiting in line and 30 minutes for all of us to get through them. It was 9:00 when we got out, from there we waited for a local bus and got on. The bus took us from Geneva Aeroport to City Hostel Geneva, we checked in at 9:15 AM, from there it took us about 10 minutes to get set up and shown to our room, we decided to stay in the Hostel for about an hour and a half to get ready, shower and set up the room. 

History
   Around 11 AM we hopped on the bus to get to Chillon Castle, the bus ride was around an hour and a half, we ended up getting at the castle around 1:30.  The castle has many different underground passages, Courtyards, Great Halls and many more things that the Castle had to offer. We also explored the Castle's Chapel, Chamber and the defenses. It was a really cool experience to see such a huge building. We hadn't even noticed that 3 hours had went by and we decided it was time to go get something to eat. At approximately 4:30 PM we headed down the street from the castle and found some place to eat, we stayed at the place for an hour and a half and once we were all finished and payed for our meals we headed towards Lake Geneva around 6 PM. Since Lake Geneva is close to Chillon Castle we were able to walk there and not worry about any transportation. We spent 45 or so minutes at the lake looking around and taking in the nice views.

   We headed back to the bus station and got there at 7 pm. We took the 1 1/2 hour bus ride back to our hotel getting there at 9:30 pm.  From there we went to sleep and got rested before our next big day tomorrow.

Day 1 - 20 February 2015

   After we had all finished packing and getting ready for our trip we all drove to the airport together. It was 1 pm when we got to the airport and we sat around and waited for our plane to be called. The airport was pretty nice and the people working there were caring and helpful. At 2 PM, the announcer said that our plane was ready to be boarded. We went up and showed them our tickets and began boarding the plane. After we had gotten into our seats, we had to wait around 45 minutes for the plane to start departing. When we had gotten off the ground we could see the ground under us, we were pretty high up and it was a nice view. The plane ride took about an hour and a half, from there we had to get out and get something to eat because the we were pretty hungry at this point. 

   It was around 5:30 PM when we got to DC, so we had around 2 hours to get something to eat. We found a food court located near us and we were able to spend some time relaxing and eating. We headed back to the airport and we heard the announcer tell us that it was time to board the plane. We got our stuff and boarded the plane, it took us about 15 minutes to get through and get on. We had to wait for the plane to depart again which took about the same time as last time. The plane started lifting the air about 9:30 PM and we got ready for a red eye. The plane was a Boeing 767-300, which is a pretty decently sized plane and had many of seats available. We were able to rest up on the flight, which was a total of eight hours and five minutes; way too long to sit still, but it would all be worth it once we started our journey around the country.  

Itinerary

Day 1 2/20	Get to airport at 1 pm. Fly RDU-GVA Round trip $1013. RDU 2:17p-IAD 3:26 (1h 09m), 2h 04m layover, get something to eat, IAD 5:30p-GVA 7:35a (8h 05m)
Day 2 2/21	Arrive in Geneva 7:35 am, check into City Hostel Geneva at 9:15 am, leave at 11 am, get there at 12:30 pm, visit Chillon Castle finish at 3:30 pm,eat and start to explore Lake Geneva at 5 pm, leave at 6 pm, arrive at hotel at 7:30 pm and go to bed.
Day 3 2/22	Check out of Hostel 12 pm, arrive at train station  2 pm, Go to Basel (by train)arrive in Basel at 4:30 pm, check in to Youthhostel Basel at 5:15 pm, dinner 5:45 pm, finish and leave at 6:45 pm, Visit Congress Center leave at 8:15 pm. Go to bed at 10:00 pm.
Day 4 2/23	Eat breakfast at 8:30 am, Fasnacht Spring Carnival (in Basel) begins (we need events during the carnival here) leave for hotel at 4 pm arrive at 6:30 pm and eat dinner, go to bed at 8:30 pm.
Day 5 2/24	Woke up at 10 AM, Ate Breakfast in the Hostel from 11 am- 12 pm, Checked out the streets of the Festival till 1 PM, 1 PM- Ate at a local cafe, at about 3 PM, when we were done with lunch, the Guggemuusige came out and we watched them and explored untill 9 PM. 9 PM- Indigenous Meal ( Swiss Cheese and Chocolate Platter)Went back to the Hostel at 11 PM.
Day 6 2/25	Carnival ends. Wake up at 9 am, for Basel Hostel, pack and eat breakfast then leave for Zurich at 11 am, Go to Zurich arrive at 1 pm and go to Zurich Hostel, leave for Uetliberg at 2:30 pm, arrive at 3 pm, visit Uetliberg mountains leave Uetliberg mountains at 7 pm and go to Zurich Hostel, arrive at hostel at 7:30 pm and go out to eat, finish eating at 9 pm and go to bed at 10 pm.
Day 7 2/26	leave for Mala Gorge at 8:30 pm, eat breakfast at a local cafe till 10 AM, Visit Via Mala Gorge at 11 AM, visit the Clock Tower (Zytglogge) at 3 PM, visit Rhine Falls at 7 PM and go to bed at 10 pm.
Day 8 2/27	Wake up at 6:30 am, then eat breakfast and pack bags, Check out of hostel and go to Bern arrive at 2 pm and check into Bern Backpackers Hotel & Hostel Glocke, explore city, game starts at 7 pm, Hockey Game ends at 9:30 pm, get back to hotel at 10:30 pm.
Day 9 2/28	Wake up at 9:30 am, then eat breakfast, finish and leave at 10:30 am, arrive at 12:30 pm, start tour at 3 pm in Alestsch Arena, finish tour at 6 pm and head back to hotel in Bern, arrive at 8 pm and have dinner, then go to bed at 9:30 pm.
Day 10 3/1	Wake up and leave at 10:30 pm then eat breakfast, arrive at 11 am, start at 12:45 pm for the Foxtrail in Lucerne, finish at 6:45 pm, eat dinner at 7 pm, leave at 8:30 pm, arrive in Zurich at 9 pm and go to bed.
Day 11 3/2	Wake up at 8 am, eat breakfast at 8:30 am, take train to Geneva at 10 am, arrive there at 1 pm and go to next hotel, 2 pm eat lunch, head back after sight seeing at 6 pm, get dinner at 6:30 pm, head back to hotel at 8:30 pm and pack and go to bed.
Day 12 3/3	Wake up at 8 am, and continue packing, check out of hotel at 10:30 am, get to airport at 11 am, board plane at 11:40 am, Fly GVA-RDU, GVA 11:50a-YUL 2:10pm  (8h 20m),, there we eat and walk around, get on same plane 1h 50m, YUL 4:00-YZZ 5:32 (1h 32m), 3h 48m layover, there we eat and walk around, get on plane YYZ 9:20-RDU 11:03 (1h 43m) get home around 12 am.

1.00 US Dollar=.96 Swiss Franc
Item	Cost (USD)
Plane tickets (round trip)	$1,013.00
Swiss Pass (covers all transportation costs some museam entrance fees)	$305.97
City Hostel Geneva	$103.00
Youthhostel Basel	$135.00
City Backpacker - Hostel Biber	$110.18
Chillon Castle	$12.85
Bern Backpackers Hotel&Hostel Glocke	$152.94
Hockey Tickets	$24.87
Foxtrail	$43
Uetliberg Mt.	$31
Zytglogge	$7.78
Novotel Geneve Aeroport	$108.00
Spending Money	$500.00
Food Money	$500.00
Total	$2,547.24