- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
It's been almost a month since I've last posted, but I have a pretty decent excuse - I was in Switzerland!! And for those days that I wasn't yet there and still didn't post, well, I was too busy getting ready for the trip =)
The main focus of the trip was a conference, The World Mysteries Forum, at which my father was one of the main speakers. After landing in Zurich, we took a train out to Basel, the university city of Switzerland, originally founded by the Romans long ago, where the conference was to take place.
My father's presentation - an awesome one, might I add - was entitled "Inspirational Mining: The Progress of Science." Other presenters, including professors, archaeologists, and physicists, to name a few, gave a variety of presentations on such topics as the possibility of life in space, ancient civilizations, the intelligent universe, and quantum tunneling. For a list of the speakers and their biographies, visit the 2008 Archives of the conference website.
An unforgettable experience, we made a lot of friends, learned a lot of things, asked a lot of questions, and have vowed to return again one of these days. At the conference banquet, we were also treated to a performance by musicians and performers from Basel's world famous carnival, the Basler Fasnacht, the biggest carnival in Switzerland and one of the top fifty in all of Europe.
Also present at the conference, and for many the main speaker and guest of honor, was Erik von Daniken, a well-known Swiss author whose theories, ideas, and questions regarding the possibility of extraterrestrial influences on mankind's earliest civilizations have been at the center of discussion, controversy, and new ideas for decades now. We had the pleasure of spending a good deal of time with him and what he had to say was more than enlightening and definitely one of the highlights of the trip, most especially the work he has done and questions he has asked regarding the Nazca lines in Peru.
Basel lies very close to the borders of Germany and France, and while we could've done some country hopping, we chose to make our way through Swiss territory, so after exploring the Rhine and city streets and monuments of Basel, we made our way to the Alps. From Basel, we took a train to the town of Interlaken, nestled between, appropriately enough, two lakes, and from Interlaken, we went by taxi up, up, and up to Beatenberg, the longest village in Europe. According to von Daniken, "It's the most beautiful place in the world," and I might have to agree. The view from the hotel was absolutely breathtaking, and the amount of things to do from the mountains was endless, starting with paragliding.
Yes, I paraglided, took pictures and video while paragliding, would totally paraglide again, and have to say it's one of the most relaxing activities I've ever done - credit to my Swiss tandem paraglider for the day with 20 years of experience who helped make everything go as smooth and safe as possible. After paragliding, we went scootering down the mountain, which entailed high speeds, lots of bugs, great scenery, lots more bugs, good exercise, and still more bugs. For the bug reason, we kept our moths shut and our sunglasses on at all times.
The hotel, the people, the food, the town, shopping in Interlaken, the cows (a lot of cows), the mountains (not to mention Jungfrau, known as "the top of Europe") - I already have a trip back there down on my calendar. After about four days in Beatenberg, we went by bus to Thun, where we took a train to Zurich. There, we met my father's cousin and her family, who my parents had not seen in 30 years. After two hotels, as awesomely accommodating as they were, it was refreshing to come home to a house with family.
In Zurich, there was city life and the stamp of history. Like Basel, we visited the cathedrals, walked the streets, took in the sights, and enjoyed the Swiss air. My father got a chance to visit one of the dwelling places of Huldrych Zwingli, a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland in the 16th century, my mom went to mass in one of the main cathedrals, Soraya and I captained a paddle boat on Zurich waters, and we all ate a lot of food and bought a lot of things - all considerably priced. Yeah, by far the most expensive country in Europe I've ever been to, you should come well-armed with Swiss francs if you should ever journey to Switzerland. As a good example, an HD miniDV tape, one that I spent days searching for, cost me $30...which I promptly returned to get a bargain on a $25 one down the street. Back home, I would've paid $10. As for food and taxis everywhere we went, from Basel to Zurich, also rather, in some cases even uber, expensive. But, seeing as we were on vacation, we were happy to oblige.
Will we return? You bet. Maybe next year? God willing?But am I happy to be home? Oh yeah =)
