Switzerland part 2

Greetings!

So when we left off, I had skied down Jungfrau mountain on my way back to Interlaken. Our next stop was a Chocolate Show at Schuh (pronounced Shoe) Chocolates. We were met by a Master Swiss Chocolatier who introduced us to the fine art of chocolate and gave us a few free samples. And when I say a few, I mean enough to ruin your dinner and outweigh you. He was very generous, and realizing he had a captive audience of college girls, capitalized on making us happy. And happy we were. Milk, dark, and super-dark (there was a name for this, but i don't remember) chocolates passed around the room and then he brought out the truffles. Oh, the truffles. They were filled with everything from caramel to mocha to pistachio, and they were to die for. We loved every minute of it!! This is me, our teacher, and Santa.

Next, we needed some American food after a long day on the slopes. Interlaken is the proud home of a Hooters, so we went there for some chicken wings and burgers. We watched the Olympics with the rowdy Swiss, who, not surprisingly, are very good at winter sports.

The next day, we woke up and had a few hours before leaving the Alps, so we went back to Schuh for their world famous hot chocolate. It was served as steaming milk in a glass, with melted chocolate waiting in the bottom to be stirred. BEST. HOT. CHOCOLATE. EVER. And that's saying something, seeing as this was my 4th of the trip. Amazing, but we only expected the best from Schuh.

The ride home was long, but through the Swiss and Italian countryside so we had lots to look at. I got some pictures out the bus windows as we drove out of town. All in all, it was a somewhat unexpectedly amazing weekend. I met a lot of new people, ate my weight in chocolate, and got to see the Alps, which are quite a sight to see.


This weekend, I'm checking one of my life-long dreams off the list: Paris. I honestly cannot tell you how excited I am to be going. My earliest dreams of where I wanted to travel only included one place-- Paris. Mom's trip memories and Julia's study of French in Chicago only fueled that fire. And now I FINALLY get to go. In 5th grade I did a research project on Notre Dame Cathedral. On Friday, I get to see it.