Lucerne and Trains

Post engagement night, Keith and I spent the day paddling around Lake Lucerne.  It was awesome.  We both went for a short swim, but the mountain water was wicked cold and we both sunk about a foot deep into sand when we stepped on the bottom…it was so gross. 

I can touch the bottom the lake here, but it was too gross

That evening we took the train to Bern and from there an overnight train to Barcelona.  The sleeper cars were 159 Swiss Francs a person, so we were forced to ride in coach.  It looked great!  The seats reclined, there was loads of legroom, and we both thought we’d actually get some sleep.  The entire night was a disaster.

Before the night was frustrating

Around midnight we stopped in Geneva, were about five other people boarded our car. The lights in the car were dimmed and most people were sleeping or pretending to sleep.  Two middle-aged women “sat” in the seats right behind us.  They were so loud.  My seat wasn’t reclined very far because by this point I realized the full reclining capabilities of my chair just caused me to slide out and it was more comfortable “sleeping” sitting up.  Even though the women had  more legroom than other people had due to my sleeping situation, they still tried several times for force my seat into the complete upright position.  After this (which they tried again later in the night), they went around the other passengers, poked them until they woke up.  The women wanted their blankets and water…I think.  This continued on and off throughout the night.

The other bit of excitement was when a guy got kicked off the train for not having a passport.  Since Switzerland isn’t part of the EU, we needed to present our passports.  The man looked like he was from the sub-Sahara.  At first it sounded like he gave the woman papers that weren’t his and then he kept saying (in poor Spanish) that he needed more time to look for his passport.  He was given until morning.  Somewhere in France police officers boarded the train and demanded this man’s papers.  When he couldn’t present his documentation, they took him.  The man put up a fight…grabbing things on the train to keep him from being kicked off.