Until next time...

Many times people tell me never to say “goodbye” but instead to say “see you later” because you just never know when and where you might see someone again.  Well, I realize we are not exactly seeing each other, but you’re definitely hearing from me a bit sooner than you had probably hoped for;)  I have had a few requests for one final e-mail.  An e-mail that would sum up the adventures of Roysland and Knight and an e-mail that would wrap up my final days in the beloved land that I will always consider to be a second home.  So, I hope you’re not too bugged to see my name pop up in your inbox, but if you are you can complain to one person in particular...my dad 

Kelly arrived on May 2nd at approximately 4:30pm.  I am convinced that the moment she arrived in Europe the Good Luck Fairy poured a whole satchelette of the good fortune dust on her blonde, norwegian head.  This is my theory for a couple of reasons.  The number one reason being that the moment she walked into baggage claim, her suitcase was already there.  Now, Malpensa airport is notorious for making people wait at least 2 hours for their luggage, I have been a victim of this nonsense twice now.  The second reason is that from the day she arrived there were blue skies, fluffy white clouds and warm rays of sunshine gracing us with their presence.  Quite the opposite from the week prior to her arrival.  The third and final reason that I am now a strong believer in the Good Luck Fairy is that Kelly and I’s trip went flawlessly, that is until the very end...

For her first dinner in Switzerland we ate pizza.  The two of us joined Cinthia, Lucas, Lucas’s brother Nikolas and Nikolas’s girlfriend Georgia, at Nik and Go’s house for pizza.  Being the sociable person that she is, Kelly had no problem contributing in the dinner table conversation. Nik, Go, Lucas and Cinthia all did a wonderful job speaking English and at the end of the night I was exiting their home hunched over from laughter.  

The next morning we woke up early, grabbed our daypacks, walked to the bus station, hoped on a bus that took us to the airport and then hoped on a plane that flew us to another airport in Italy and finally we took a train that dropped us off in Rome.  Our flight left at about 8:30am and we arrived in Rome about 2.5 hours later.  From the moment we stepped off the train we were bombarded with salesmen trying to get us to buy their different bus tours of Rome, “how are you going to see all of Rome without a Bus tour?” they exclaimed, we calmly responded with a “no thank you” and started to walk into the city.  Initially we had no idea which street to start walking on, but we looked at our map and slowly but surely started finding our way towards our final destination, Rome Student Hostel.  Our hostel was located on a semi-busy residential street, complete with trees lining the sidewalk providing some shade from the warm Roman sun.  We checked in, dropped our heavy bags off on our bunk-bed, grabbed the essentials and took off in the direction of the Coliseum, all the while wondering who are 4 other roommates were going to be.  

Coliseum from a park bench.

We found a nice little restaurant with an outdoor patio and snatched up two lovely seats that allowed us to gaze at the enormous structure that we would soon be exploring.  Several times throughout lunch I couldn’t help but excitedly spurt out to Kelly, “the Coliseum is right there! We are eating lunch right outside of the Coliseum!”  We sat next to two incredibly nice German’s, Stephanie and Yurk (not to be confused with Jerk, ha;)) who gave us the lowdown on the Coliseum and their favorite sites in Rome.  I am still thoroughly impressed with the citizens of european countries and their inexhaustible ability to converse in English at the flip of a dime.  I realize that one doesn’t need to speak 3 different languages in order to live in the U.S, but I wish we did anyway.  Anytime I have the opportunity to talk with someone from a different country I feel very fortunate.  Sharing experiences, advice and stories is a beautiful thing.  Anyway, we polished off our first meal in Rome, pesto pasta and gnocchi with a nice cabernet and walked towards the grand arches of the coliseum. 

Our first gelato outside of the Pantheon.

Standing in-front of the Pantheon amongst some lovely Rome streets.

The Coliseum was the first exhibit on our list, followed by the Palazzo Venezia, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain.  The next day we put a few more miles on our Asics as we ventured off to find Vatican City where St. Peter’s Basilica and the the Vatican museum, which is home to the Sistine Chapel, were all waiting for us.  During that 2nd day we also crossed the Bridge of Angels which leads to the Castle of Sant’Angelo, and entered the Piazza di Spagna where we basked in the sunshine as we sat and ate gelato on the Spanish Steps.  While enjoying the sun, the view and the gelato we also sat and had our caricature drawn;)  

Trevi Fountain!

Entering St. Peter's Basilica.

Inside the dark and almost gothic Cathedral

Spanish Steps.

Each building and each piazza were all uniquely different from each other, which is why I have a hard time deciding which immaculate piece of history I enjoyed the most, however, I’d have to say that the Coliseum left me speechless for the majority of time that I spent within its grand walls.  The Coliseum was once capable of holding 50,000 spectators.  It was built in about 8 years thanks to the help of more than 10,000 slaves (this information is from the mouth of our tour guide).  The wooden floor, where the gladiators battled against wild animals is no longer there, but you can see beneath the floor where the gladiators and the animals waited to meet their fate.  Throughout this time period of the Colosseum games, approximately 500,000 people and over 1 million animals died in their fights for survival.  As I walked around I tried to picture what it would have been like to watch one of these events, but the mere thought of it all was just too overwhelming for me to grasp.  

One more quick tid bit about our time in Rome...we had the chance to witness a wedding!  I don’t remember the name of the church, but there must have been well over 100 steps leading up to the church doors from the street below.  The bride exited gingerly from her elegant, old white car and began her assent up the stairs.  We didn’t stick around long enough to see her reach the top because with the heels that she was wearing she was moving at a snails pace, but many other people did.  There were people lined along each side of the steps, taking pictures and watching in anticipation, either for her to reach the top or for her to fall on her face and tumble to the bottom in a heap of white lace.  The whole scene was quite surreal and I wish I knew more about who she was and how much money was spent on renting out this lavish church.  

Ok, time to skip ahead to our time spent in Switzerland.  Kelly couldn’t wait to get back to Switzerland where we didn’t have to worry about getting smoked by a motorcycle or tour bus as we attempted to cross the street.  We were both looking forward to seeing the green and tranquil landscape of Svizzera opposed to the cement that is Rome along with it’s many honking cars and ambulance sirens.

First we took a lovely train ride to Zurich where we met up with Nina, a girl who had studied abroad 5 years ago in Fosston, Kelly’s home town!  Nina took us on a tour of the city and we spent some time shopping in Zurich’s old town.  The old town of Zurich is absolutely enchanting.  The cobble stone streets, assortment of flags, old clock towers and sparkling lake make me feel like I am floating through time in a fairy tale, hoping to stay asleep for just a few more minutes.  

Look out from a Cathedral tower in Zurich.

The famous Freitag store!  We bought bags, of course!

Kelly and Nina, reunited again!

What's that say, Kel?

That night we ate at a charming little restaurant, where we hadn’t a clue as to what we had just ordered.  The menu was all in German and no matter how hard we tried we were unable to understand our waitress.  In the end I would go back and eat at this pub every day for the rest of my life.  I had some sort of hash browns along with a few very tender pieces of meat covered in a divine cream sauce and Kelly had a mouthwatering portion of Cordon-blue.  

The next two days took us to Montreux and Luzern.  Montreux’s lake combined with the plethora of flowers surrounding it were from another world.  Tulips of yellow, red, purple, white, and pink swayed in the wind while marigolds practically lit the lake on fire with their orange petals as fiery and warm as the smoldering coals in a bonfire.  The main attraction in Montreux is the Castle di Chillon.  Situated right at the lakes shore with the mountains surrounding it from all sides, all I could do was stand there and remember to inhale and exhale.  

Che Bellaaaaaa!

Just your average sized fire place.

Romeo oh Romeo...

Luzern was breathtaking as well, but there was more hustle and bustle there than in Montreux.  The two main attractions in Luzern are the old bridges and the dying lion monument carved out of stone by Bertel Thorvaldsen.  Luzern and Zurich are in a tie for my favorite cities in Switzerland.

Old and famous bridges in Luzern.

Luzern's sleeping lion, carved right into the rock.

Ok, now if you remember back to the beginning of this e-mail I had said that our trip had gone flawlessly up until the moment we reached my apartment.  Well, long story short I didn’t have the key (for a very good reason) that opens the down stairs door of my apartment but the guy who lives in my building, Luchano, knew this and proceeded to leave it open for me.  Well, he must have forgot and locked the door before leaving for the weekend.  So, when Kelly and I strolled up to my door with pictures of warm showers and a comfortable bed dancing in our heads, we were instead greeted with a locked door.  Several phone calls later Kelly and I stood outside of my apartment with my president, assistant coach, general manager and his mom, one friend/referee, a mechanic and his wife, Cinthia and my neighbors.  2 hours of drilling, hammering and more drilling and the result was a broken lock and an open door!  I have quite a bit of this fiasco on tape and also a piece of the lock as a souvenir;)

Ok, the end is near, I promise.  Kelly and I’s last full day in Switzerland was spent doing something called canyoning.  Here is a website that shows what it’s all about.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FngkIbLIhdU&feature=related

Our group consisted of me, Kelly, our guide Tom and an older man named Rudy.  Tom and Rudy were both from the German speaking part of Switzerland and contrary to many of the people we met along our way, they did not speak much English.  The several hours that Kelly and I spent jumping, repelling, swimming and sliding down this canyon are the most adventurous hours that I have spent in my life.  After a bit of training in jumping, repelling and sliding it was time to start the real thing.  Our first jump proved to be the hardest task for me to complete out of everything that followed.  Rudy, Kelly, Tom and I stood on a rocks edge looking down into a pool of water that was 10 meters below us.  When Tom announced that this was going to be our first jump my stomach must have done about 10 summersaults and then my throat decided to involuntarily contract and make it hard for me to breathe.  As my anxiety continued to increase I stood and watched as Rudy and Kelly fearlessly jumped over the edge.  I couldn’t even believe it, Kelly had absolutely no problem jumping off the edge.  She said a quick 1, 2, 3 and then she was airborne, plummeting into the freezing mountain water below.  I stood on the edge and counted to 3, but unlike Kelly, my feet remained cemented to the ground.  I counted again, nothing.  I counted a third time and when I found myself still standing next to Tom he told me that he was going to hook the rope up and have me repel down.  Well, I told him in a very unconvincing voice that I didn’t want him to hook me up to the rope and that I was in fact, going to jump.  I could hear Kelly and Rudy cheering me on, but their voices were quickly drowned out by my screaming bloody murder as I fell through the air and hit the water.  At the end of the day I was happy and proud of myself for jumping, no regrets.  

Me and my neoprene suit!

Our guide, Tom.

Once we had made our last slide into a large pool of water and we had changed into our dry clothes, it was time to venture over to the nearest Grotto, or Pub, and have a coffee.  The 4 of us sat at a wooden table outside.  I am not sure how we managed to communicate as much as we did but all in all it was an enlightening conversation as we learned about how many bones Tom has broken in his life and the greatest height that Rudy has jumped from.  

That night was my last night in Switzerland and so it was time to make the rounds and say goodbye to the family that had taken me in and called me one of their own.  Hugs and kisses were given and a few big alligator tears were shed.  Afterwards, Cinthia brought Kelly and I back home.  I proceeded to pack up my suitcases and clean out my cabinets when I heard a knock at the door.  I slowly opened the door with a twinge of curiosity and soon found a handful of my teammates, coaches, friends and of course my swiss family, standing there with big smiles on their faces, gifts and food in their hands and shouts of “Auguri!” coming from their lips.  Cinthia had gone and organized a surprise going away/birthday party for me on my last night in Switz;)  Kelly had known about the plan, practically from the first couple hours that she was in the country and so she was ready with the video camera.  She came around with me all evening as we interviewed each person who had come into my life during the last 8 months.  I even had my own Swiss birthday cake.  The cake consisted of 2 loaves of french bread, cut in half the long way and then covered in nutella with 23 candles sticking out.  The loaves were being held all in a row and so I ran down the line with as much air as I could muster and tried to blow them all out.  The night was perfect and once again, I couldn’t have hoped for anything more memorable.  

Part of my Swiss family, Anja, Cinthia, Liliana and la nona, Rosilde

Everybody in the living room.

Receiving gifts, a heart warming photo album from Cinthia;)

Alright, that’s all folks!  I am officially back in the U.S and my Swiss fairy tale has come to an end.  Thank you for coming with me on this journey and for all your support throughout the last 8 months.  Every e-mail and every piece of mail that I received were precious gems that I kept stored in my mind, reminding me of all the people back home who cared about me and wished me well.  

Enjoy the summer, and I’ll see you all later;)

Love,

Leslie