Alright, here goes nothing! The first four days of traveling…
*Disclaimer: This post is twice as long as “The longest post known to man…” just so that you can prepare yourself.*
*Disclaimer #2: I am very bitter right now because I just got to the computer lab after writing this post in my room and the picture upload will not work. Until I figure this out I am sorry to announce that there will be no pictures to accompany this post. GGGRRRR!*
*Disclaimer #3: After an hour of grueling work over a slow internet connection my photos have been posted on another site. I hope that this works for you and just so you know I think you might have to sign up to view the pics. Sorry! Link:http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=qyghf15.5vc0jw5&x=1&y=6kf8zf*

6 Sept.
We started out early on Tuesday, Annie and I went back to Roehampton to drop off more stuff that we shouldn’t have in our backpacks. My pack was by far the heaviest, it was insane. To say the least the computer had to stay and I had to hope that my iPod would be faithful in it’s ability to store my pictures.
We then got to the airport and flew to Montpellier, France. The flight was wonderful and the scenery was incredible but that all quickly changed once we got closer to Montpellier. We were about 20 minutes out from landing and the pilot informs us that the airport is closed due to a thunderstorm. We circled around for a while and then started making our descent. That was a very scary time, we jolted and rocked all over the place but our pilot was splendid and gave us all a smooth landing after the horrible descent. It was pouring when we got off the plane and entered an absolutely deserted airport. We came to find out that all of downtown Montpellier was under water and taxi drivers were only allowed to drive to some places.
The line for the taxi was unreal and considering there were only 2 or 3 taxis even out driving we waited a looooong time. Finally we found a driver who would take us to our hostel and we were on our way. We were all a little on edge about the whole situation and when our taxi driver stopped just below a climbing narrow street we became a little more concerned.
Much to our good fortune our taxi driver knew what he was doing and we found ourselves in our hostel trying to settle in. We were in a room with 20 beds, all girls and a small bathroom down the hall. Most of us were hungry so we decided to walk some of the streets to see if we could find something cheap to eat. We had no real luck with this adventure so we basically gave up on the idea of having dinner and decided to work on our itinerary for the next few weeks. We decided we were going to try and get out of Montpellier as quickly as possible for fear of the flooding getting any worse. Our next stop would be Geneva, then Bern (both in Switzerland), Innsbruck (Austria), and then Venice, Florence, Pisa, and Rome (all in Italy of course).
We met two guys from Spain who were studying in France and living in the hostel because housing was too expensive. They made fun of the fact that we couldn’t say Crepes… whatever. We played Spoons (that’s a card game, nothing sketchy) with them and had a nice chat with them. After several hours we decided it was time for sleepy time especially since we figured we would need to start off early for the train station. The night’s events were quite amusing, for one thing part of the ceiling fell down near the door… that made those of us on the top bunks feel real secure. Basically, morning came and we were all thankful for it.

7 Sept.
The morning brought with it more rain and a chill but it was encouraging to have the brightness of day. We checked out of our hostel and prayed that none of our next hostels would be in the same poor condition. We were tying to find a place to use the internet so that we could book our next hostel in Geneva. After visiting a pastry shop with no success in getting directions we were a little concerned that we might not find one. However, when we left the shop a teenage boy asked in his broken English if we needed the internet and he offered for us to go to his place and use his. This set off all sorts of alarms in my head but we went along with him to his apartment where he, his girlfriend and her best friend lived. We were able to book a hostel and we most thankful for their generosity.
We found a little pastry shop and got some breakfast and the man working there found out that we were from California and gave us a bag full of pastries for free (you don’t get that in America…). We arrived at the train station with high hopes of catching a train but to our dismay they said they didn’t know when the trains would be running again and that there were over 600 people who had spent the night there last night. We decided that we would do the same if we had to because it would be free and a rook over our head from the rain.
Then things changed very fast, the sky cleared and magically there were trains that would be arriving. The second train that was leaving the station was going to Geneva (how fitting). We went and got some lunch at Paul (I wonder who I thought about while I was there?). We got on the train and found out the hard way that there were assigned seats and had to move several times. It was funny to see who was really set on sitting in their seat and who really didn’t care at all where they sat. Once we were on our way the prayers of thanks started flowing and I was so amazed at how faithful God had been and our trip only started a few days ago.
We arrive in Geneva in the afternoon and started walking toward our hostel. Along the way we ran into a couple from Canada who were backpacking through Europe for a couple months. We arrived at our hostel and we were all ecstatic that we were there, it was absolutely amazing. We were in a room with 6 beds and we each had our own locker to store stuff in.
Roaming the streets sounded like a good idea and we basically went whichever way looked interesting at the time. Finally, all of us got hungry and we ate Kabab’s which are basically tortillas with lamb or chicken in them with lettuce, tomato, and sauce. We went down by the water and relaxed while eating. The girls decided that they really wanted chocolate (and who wouldn’t when you’re in Switzerland?). We all got different kinds and were standing on the street outside the shop and this man walked by and made the funniest comment about how good Swiss chocolate was, we all about died.
Unfortunately, while we were walking Annie kept getting all sorts of comments made about here and no one really understood why. I then realized that she was the only one that was wearing shorts. We decided to go back to the hostel and have her change so that she wuld feel more comfortable. Basically, we didn’t go back out. I don’t know who started it or what but we proceeded to have girl bonding time. We talked about so many different things and learned so much more about each other. Looking back I can tell that we would not have made it those three weeks alive if we hadn’t had that time to talk. One by one we all drifted of to a wonderful sleep and we were all thankful that we didn’t have any roommates that night.

8 Sept.
After showering, breakfast and getting ready we all set out to conquer Geneva… there was only one problem. Random piece of semi-useful information: Geneva’s independence day is the 8th of Sept. so if you want to do any sort of shopping then you probably shouldn’t go to Geneva on that day. All of the shops were closed and we hoped that that didn’t mean that everything else would be closed.
Luckily, this was not the case. Before we crossed a bridge we saw about 20 swans swimming for food that people we throwing them. It was a beautiful sight. We went and saw the Geneva clock that looks different throughout the year. Also, we saw the worlds tallest fountain. I think that they cheated because it’s not really a fountain like you would think it’s just a huge shoot of water in the middle of the river. Then we entered our first cathedral, there are no words to describe the beauty that was inside. I have to be honest, I’m a sucker for stained glass, a real big sucker. There was a strong feeling of holiness that can only be found in the house of God and it was stunning how it simply overtook me when I walked in the door. It was a typical setup of an ancient church, and actually another random fact: St. Pierre cathedral (that’s the one we were in) was where Calvin spent some of his time teaching. Isn’t that totally amazing that I was able to walk the same grounds and the great reformer! Alright, enough excitement… oh but it was so cool, I went into this other room off to the side and was greeting by ¾ of each wall covered with stained glass. Once again, there are no words.
I was in high spirits for the rest of the day so it didn’t really matter what we did, but there still was some pretty cool stuff. We went on the reformation walk and found this little park that had huge chess boards painted on the ground and there were a bunch of older men standing around watching an intense game. Also, there was this other game that we saw, mad props to whoever figures out what the heck this game is and how it is played.
Sierra found out that there was a gallery that had some of Picasso’s painting and when we arrived we were sad to find that the museum was, “closed until further notice.” There were many funny jokes about the owner wanting to keep Picasso to himself and he was being selfish but in truth we were all pretty bummed about it.
Jamye started to feel sick and so we decided to stop for lunch and then Annie and Jamye headed back fro the hostel while Sierra and I decided to go back down to the water that we were at the night before and take pictures. It was a beautiful boardwalk and it was so relaxing to not need to be anywhere and take as much time as we needed to do what we wanted.
After a leisurely walk Sierra and I headed back to the hostel and we all took a nap (I think that were getting old or something). We went out to dinner at a small place and it tasted pretty good. After we went to a bar and got Sierra some Bailey’s on the rocks. There wasn’t much of a night life, possibly because of their independence day, so we headed back to the hostel and found a new roommate who was already sound asleep. We were all doing the same thing soon after that.

9 Sept.
There’s nothing like waking up to rain, I can’t really put my finger on how exactly it makes me feel but I know that I really don’t like it (and I’m going to be spending a semester in London, what am I thinking?). Anyways, we all got ready and headed for the train station. For this trip we were on the 2nd floor of the train and had the most amazing view going through the Alps. Everything was so green and clear and crisp, and the sky was so blue, and, oh, I don’t know, it was simply gorgeous!
We arrived in Bern and after going the wrong way out of the train station and making our way down into a business building and getting yelled and everything else we finally found lockers and were on our way.
The feeling was much the same in Bern as it was in Geneva, the scenery very similar. We were at a much quicker pace there though and our bodies could feel it. We saw several beautiful clocks and I went into a church where the pipe organ was being played and I just about rolled over and died. I seriously could have sat there for hours! Alas, the other girls were not quite as excited about it and so we moved on.
Then we came to what Bern is famous for, their bears. They had about 6 bears in 2 different open air holes in the ground. It was really cool because they were vegetarian bears and you could by fruit to feed them. It was hilarious to watch them do all sorts of things to make you feed them. Just before we left a little boy somehow lost his shoe in the pit and one of the bears started to chew on it, everyone was laughing so hard. Finally someone came and fished out the shoe and all was well once again in that little boy’s world.
The next stop was a huge cathedral that stood many, many stories above the rest of the town. We were able to go up to the top of it and get a fantastic panorama of Bern and the surrounding cities. It was right around this time that I realized that I was starting to get sick. By God’s grace I was able to carry on for the rest of the day, and deal with the many adventures we still had to tackle that day (most of them being totally unexpected).
We got back on the train and headed to Zurich where we were supposed to find a connecting train to Innsbruck. We arrived in Zurich and tried to find an internet café during our hour layover so that Jamye could empty her memory card onto the internet. After much disappointment and a side of Jamye that I had never seen before (and haven’t seen since) and I hope I never have to see again. Somehow, it didn’t work, we’ll stop there. We get back to the train station and go to the platform that our train is supposed to be at, but there was no train. I looked on the board and it had our train but the platform number was gone and there was something in German on the far side. Finally after much asking around for anyone that spoke English Annie and I found out that the train we wanted to take had been canceled and we needed to take a train to Sargaus and from there we would have to take a bus to Innsbruck. We had about 2 minutes to get on the train before it left and amazingly enough (once again God’s helping hand) we made the train and we able to get on the bus to take us to Innsbruck.
It turned out that the bus was actually taking us to another train station about an 2 hours away that would take us the rest of the way to Innsbruck. By the time we got on the train once again we were all so tired, and wet (it started raining again of course) and hungry that our spirits were pretty down. We made our way to the dining car and had a pleasant meal where no one really talked but we all knew exactly how the other felt.
Just after we finished our meal we arrive to Innsbruck. Thank God we all got our second wind and at 11pm we made our way out of the train station to find a bus that would take us to our hostel. For whatever reason everybody gave me their money and I stooped down to get the tickets form the machine. I however, was unaware of A) how heavy my bag was, and B) how tired my body was from carrying my pack. I proceeded to fall over backwards not once but twice in a row. We all needed a laughing break, I just had no idea that it was going to come at my expense. After a fun time of trying to get me standing up again we had our tickets and were given directions for where we were supposed to find the bus. The bus ride was about 30 minutes and thankfully it dropped us off right outside of our hostel. Once we got checked and everyone got settled we all crashed. It had by far been the longest and hardest day of our trip thus far.
Well, there's the first four days in a nutshell... a really big nutshell, but seriously I still left so much stuff out. I hope you enjoyed reading my rambled thoughts and if you're confused at all sent me a post. Until next time.