Days 7 and 8- more Switzerland!

Hello friends!

First, I have uploaded several videos to my YouTube account to free up some space on the camera. Enjoy!

Saturday we spent a relaxing day in Basel and took advantage of knowing a few locals. We wandered the streets for some sight seeing and since it was a Saturday there were people everywhere and several street mucisians to listen to. The difference with street performers in Europe and back home is that they are actually very talented individuals who can make a living off of what they do. And the music is also extra exciting because of its diversity. Within a one mile radius we heard a violinist, an African quintet and gamelin music, all of which were excellent. We also spent some time soaking our feet on the Rhine river and catching some sun rays. You can float down the river in the middle of basel and as it grew warmer and warmer we all wanted to. So, nat was wearing a few layers and realized she could strip a few and jump in for a swimm. So, she did! We were all insanely jealous, untill she got out of the water in her makeshift wet suit freezing cold with about twenty people starring at her. Everyone got a huge laugh out of it, especially a young Swiss couple sitting behind us. It was great!

We had dinner at katies cousins house and then went out for drinks and to a club much later. Everyone knows they neither nat and I are huge fans of clubs, but our new Basel friends convinced us to at least experience it... So we did andvit was not at all what I had expected. It was just like any American club with disco lights and loud techno music and a large dance floor. The only difference was that you could hear at least three languages at any given time, the drinks are smaller nobody knows how to dance. They just crowd together in the dance floor, bob their heads a little and sway to the beat. It was hilarious! I'm also not sure what time the place closes, but the sun was coming up on our walk home...

Needless to say we got a late start to the day today, but it still being quite lovely. We wanted to get to Salzburg by tonight, but we had to go through Zurich so we took a little detour through Lucern first and it was worth every second! We got to Lucern and had about fivev hours before we had to get back on the train. So we found the fastest way up the mountain and one bus ride, a short hike and a gondula ride later we were standing in the middle of the alps. I can't even begin to explain how beautiful this was so i'm not even going to try. Watch the video when it's posted. We took an alpine sled ride walked around a little and headed back to the base to jump back on the train.

The train ride from Switzerland to Austria was also unbelievable. We were literally travel through the mountains the while way. Passing by tiny rivers, cottages, towns and even castles. I hope everyone who is interested and hasn't seen the alps yet has an opportunity to see them sometime. Any words I would use could not describe their beauty justly.

Tomorrow begins our music tour in Salzburg! From what we've seen so far it is a beautiful small mountain city. Stay tuned!

Till then, adieu.

The girls.