My last four days in Baseball analogies

So it’s been a while since I had a positive post. But I’ve been having very positive experiences!!! I won’t bore you with all the details (unless you ask), but here are the highlights of the last four days in baseball analogies: America’s national pastime, the place where I am not. So, here goes – play ball! Munich, Germany: single. I hate to put it there, because I thought it was a home run until I went to Switzerland. Absolutely beautiful city center, the most photogenic city I’ve ever been in, and nice hostel. Day one I got a free city tour and then went to the Deutschemuseum, a huge museum with an incredibly large amount of information about science and technology, of which unfortunately only about a quarter was in Engish. Great museum for German speakers though… I did enjoy exhibits on the caves of Altamira, the old musical intstruments show, and the history of photography. Creepy building with not many people in it. Not a hit, but with only 3 Euro admission at least not a strike: ball one. Day two, I started out going to Dachau concentration camp. Very sad place with reconstructed bunkers, original crematorium, and a very nice new museum in the old administration building. Overall, another pensive and great experience.
In the afternoon I went to the top of the highest church tower in town (great views, best 1 Euro spent so far),

took a stroll through the Olympic park (Munich 1972),
and caught sunset over the city from a very nice tall hill. Good day, but the terrible train night was after it (see last blog post)(like a triple play with an infield fly rule [is that possible Dad?]) that slightly dampened the mood. Next up, Bern, Switzerland: double. After a VERY difficult time finding my hostel and a good place to eat (swing and a miss, owing partly to the fact that there were two similar-looking clock towers in town that I kept confusing for one another), I got a tour of the Swiss parliament building (free and totally awesome!!!!), saw the famous bear pits (bears have had a pit in Bern since the 1200s, and are VERY CUTE),

and went through the art museum. This town is amazing, and is the prototype medieval town. It has 8 km of gothic arched shopping colonades due to a 1400s fire and great rebuilding effort that included a beautiful cathedral too. Great little city, and a nice hostel where I splurged on a single room (great idea). Next up, Solothurn, Switzerland: triple. I had finished all I wanted to see in Bern, and saw that Solothurn was a suggested day trip from Bern. It actually had a stop on their metro, and was billed as the “model Baroque town.” I find Baroque architecture kind of nauseating, but was willing to give it a try: GLAD I did. I don’t know how, but it was even cuter than Bern. From the moment I grabbed the tourist booklet (this intricately folded and really efficient brochure) I knew I would like Solothurn. Great Baroque cathedral, original city walls still in place, and rows and rows of crooked streets with amazing provincial architecture.

Lots of free museums, and lots of cheap goods: I stopped at a cosmetics shop and bought a mini-shampoo for a franc! Also, I saw all the kids at the Gymnasium (school) going to this one place and returning with food, so I thought it would be cheap. It was the grocery store, and it was cheap. Katie was right that I need to eat more on the trip :) and I ate the best I had so far, buying cheap bread, salami, fruit, and milk to actually get full! What a concept. I saw the natural history museum (lots of animals stuffed and grandparents with their grandkids looking at them), the Bern history museum (with some very strange exhibits but an exceedingly friendly tour guide), and the Old Armory museum, with an impressive collection of medieval and onwards canons, suits of armors, swords and guns, and a history of the Swiss military. Sweet place. I was kind of sad to leave Solothurn – it seemed the most like a place I would want to actually live. Definitely had some RBIs on that one. Took a train to Interlaken, and set out to find my hostel: boy did I have no idea what I was getting myself in to. I’d booked Heidi’s Hostel online, but apparently the staff doesn’t know what computers are, for they had no idea I was coming. Heidi was this at least 80 year old lady who’d been running the hostel for 59 years. WHOA! I think she maybe should have given it up 30 years ago. She and her son Hector ignored me for about 5 minutes as they discussed whether Switzerland should have given so much money to Haiti. You know how your cousin has that other grandma that isn’t yours, but you’ve awkwardly gone to her weird house before once, and it smelled funny and had out-of-date cluttered décor, and all you wanted was to have your own grandma back? That’s what Heidi’s Hostel was. It was like the Leaky Cauldron without Diagon Alley or magic. Heidi seemed to have no idea what was going on, but I guess there were enough rooms, as Heidi led me to my 5 bed dorm with 5 different 1970s sheet sets. No internet of course, but I went to town to another hotel to get it – don’t worry, Heidi told me to take the key out of the front door and use it when I got back. Wow, this place operates with rules and trust of 59 years ago – kind of comforting actually. I don’t even want to think about the janky bathroom with it’s ill-fitting toilet seat and moldy shower with a dangling pipe for water distribution and only one nob on the hot that you had to take off the wall and refit to the cold spoke to turn it for cold water. Heidi’s Hostel had me stuck in a pickle, running for my life, not sure if I’ll be out or safe. But, guess what? Apparently everyone else wants to avoid Heidi’s Hostel too, so my 5 bed dorm room only had me in it! Two nights of single rooms for dorm price – can’t beat it. I think I made the steal. Finally, up to bat comes Interlaken: resounding HOME RUN!!!!! But if you want to hear about skiing in Switzerland, read the next blog post: this one is too long already! On to extra innings! Peace!