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Budget Analysis

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Since today was our last day in Switzerland, we decided to do something spectacular. To get a full day of Swiss culture, we jumped on the train at seven o'clock in the morning and headed to a city south of Zurich called Lucerne. Lucerne is a charming, touristy city that is split down the middle by Reuss Lake. Frescoed buildings, churches, chapels, and bridges are what Lucerne is known for. We arrived around 40 minutes later and rented bikes for the day at the train station for $26.40 per person. We then gathered all of our items and made our way into the heart of the city.
The first place we visited was the Lion Monument. This depressing statue of a dying lion was created out of sandstone to honor the 700 Swiss mercenaries killed in 1792 in Paris. The loyal troops tried to defend the royal family of Louis XVI when revolutionaries attacked the Tuileries castle during the French Revolution. In Latin the phrase, "To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss" is inscribed above the lion. After this, we rode our bikes through the Old Town. This dainty part of the city is filled with clusters of medieval houses and cobbled roads. The atmosphere of the bustling marketplace still thrives today. Vendors selling vegetables, flowers, and fish, is a regular occurrence here. Next, we pedaled our way to the famous Kapellbrücke Bridge. Apparently, this "must see" is a medieval covered bridge that runs across the Reuss River. The Kapellbrücke was built in 1333, and it was previously used as a lighthouse, or lecerna in French. The word, lecerna, is said to be the origin of the city's name.
By around six o'clock this evening, we were famished. We found a restaurant called Fritschi. The building, covered in beautiful frescoes, was hard to miss. The main item of the menu was Rösti, or potatoes. Everything was Rösti, which is potatoes that have been boiled, grated, and fried, and was delicious! A traditional meal was called spiegelei, which were potatoes with an egg on top. Katie Stanton loved it, but Katie Burnet almost barfed for the second time on this trip.
After our hunger was satisfied, we took a night walk along the waterfront of Reuss Lake. As we reviewed all of the experiences we had on this trip, we admired the lovely moonlit scenery. Finally, around nine at night we decided, in spite of our instinct to "accidentally" miss the train, that it was time to head back to the house. This trip to Lucerne was a fantastic end to our trip in Switzerland.
Today we traveled to Zurich, which as you remember from our airport traveling, is only 15 minutes away. We rode the bus and arrived in the city around ten o'clock. We decided to sleep in a little after the excitement from yesterday. We traveled to two interesting and educational places today. We visited the Fine Arts Museum and had a wonderfully delicious meal at a restaurant nearby.
For a small admission of $18, we were allowed entry. The Fine Arts Museum was mostly devoted to 19th and 20th century artwork but also contained ancient art as well. It is considered one of the most modern and sophisticated museums in the world. Its largest collection was that of Edvard Munch but also had works of the famous artists Picasso and Monet. Once again, bad luck seemed to follow Katie Burnet around everywhere. She slipped on an untied shoelace, reached out in front of her to grab something, accidentally touched one of the ancient pictures, and set off the alarms! She must have some seriously bad karma. Security rushed to the scene of the "crime" immediately, and it took Katie Stanton at least 15 minutes to explain to them in English that Katie Burnet did nothing wrong. We all felt bad for her embarrassment, but we couldn't help laughing. Finally after three hours of looking at over 3,000 paintings and sculptures and 48,000 drawings, photographs, and films, we were ready to leave.
By the time we actually left the museum, it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon, and we were hungry for lunch. We discovered a nice restaurant nearby called Bierhalle Kropf. It's a local place, and we had the time of our lives. The locals were pleasant, welcoming, and always made sure our glasses were full! The restaurant was decorated with stain glass windows, chandeliers and hunting scenes with stag horns on the walls. The food portions were spectacular for the prices; Lindsay had to take some of hers to go. The rest of us ate like pigs, but who could blame us? Katie Stanton remarked that she thought it was amazing that Swiss people weren't fat! Our favorite item on the menu that is indigenous to Switzerland was definitely the meat pie. It's a delectable pie made out of puff paste filled with meat with a mushroom cream sauce and served with rice. Kaitlyn even asked the chef for the recipe. For dessert, we tickled our taste buds with a dish called Palatschinken. It's very similar to a chocolate crepe and was just as delicious as the rest of the meal. We finally said our goodbyes to our new Swiss friends around seven o'clock. We made it back to the house around 7:45 in the evening.