XXI. Lucerne and my polka-dotted bubble

   This last weekend I met up with some American friends, and we went Christmas shopping in Lucerne. Shhhhhh!! Don't tell anyone!

The bridges in Lucerne

   Before I begin to indulge you with lot more pictures, I must first say that although I had the best couple of days this last weekend, they did come with consequences.
   My friend Hannah has a Gleis 7 card which basically means that she can travel everywhere in Switzerland for free as long as it's after 7:00 at night and before 5:00 in the morning. Of course she
wanted to make good use of this, so she stayed over at my house so that it was a lot closer to Lucerne.
   She also, is not yet fluent in German, so naturally, we spoke in English, and for once I could speak as fast as I wanted, and we understood each other. We both even come from Pennsylvania, so she was like the ultimate confidante.
   The consequence was that she left last night, and I was thrown back into German. For that one weekend I shared my little English bubble with someone else, but now I'm alone again with my polka-dots of German.
   Sure I can write my blog, and I can read an English book, but it's not the same as communicating with an actual person.
   Sure I can talk to my host family and people from school, but there are always limits. It's like trying to reach my hand through the wall of my bubble only to have it swallowed back. Or maybe my fingertips just brush the wall of the German bubble, and like a summer breeze, that bubble floats away before it can conjoin with mine.
   Setting that aside, those of you who live in Lancaster County should be familiar with the game Dutch Blitz, you know, the one with the little Amish people around the cards and a red buggy on the back of some of them. Well, Hannah and I played a game called Ligretto, and the rules are exactly the same. She comes from Lebanon, so she didn't realize it, but I did. Apparently the Swiss people definitely settled in Lancaster County. It's really amazing. It's almost like I'm delving into history just by living here.
   So, pictures...

By the Bahnhof in Lucerne

There are lots and lots of swans and ducks in Lucerne.

When we first got there, the sky was very cloudy, so I was very confused because I was positive that you could see mountains from Lucerne (I was there once before for a short time), but I couldn't see any. I was sure that the mountains couldn't exactly move on their own, so when the sky eventually cleared up, I was glad to find out that I wasn't crazy.

I guess these might be some early Christmas trees.

These little Luxemburgerli things were really yummy. They were like little soft cookies with cream in the middle.

In the Altstadt (old city) along with thousands of other tourists (lots of Asians).

Being silly with Haley and Hannah with hats.

There you can see part of a mountain that we couldn't see in the morning.

On the famous bridge in Lucerne.

It has really cool architecture and lots of paintings with history on them.

Yeah, that's me, and my picture was so pretty that Hannah and Haley both had to take one just like it. :)

View from the bridge.

We somehow found the lion statue (mostly by following the other tourists), and I bravely asked someone to take a picture of us. So proud of myself.

This picture was really a miracle because there were so many people that it was almost impossible not to get somebody in it.

We went inside this church.

This is the first European cathedral/church that I've been inside, and I must say that I was impressed. It is beautiful.

Looking at the ceiling.

This was at the front (and to the side) of the church.

A seagull who wanted to model for me (or probably wanted some food).

There's the mountain. I'm not crazy.

The last picture of the night, and I got a perfect shot of the mountain, bridge, and moon. Gotta love Switzerland.