We wanted to see a bit of Switzerland during the 3 weeks that Matt and Isaiah will be here in Germany. The Swiss Franc is stronger than the Euro right now so we knew our trip to Switzerland was going to have to be strategically planned. An affordable hotel would be important- really important.
We were headed to see a castle several hours South East of where we are staying and decided to make our trip to Switzerland an extension of the castle visit. Switzerland was only 2 hours South of the castle (instead of 5 from Schwabisch Hall). The decision to see Switzerland was last minute. Once we decided it was a go, I quickly got online to book our Hotel. I read the first review of the Hotel and it said 'Beautiful View'. The Hotel was literally a quarter of the price of anything else I could find.
It was late afternoon by the time we finished up with our castle tour and headed into Switzerland. We were all stoked that it was a sunny afternoon which enabled us to see the scenery. The road we were on followed the base of the Swiss Alps for most of our trip which made for a beautiful drive.
You've just spent the day at a fairy tale castle
You've followed the Swiss Alps into a picturesque town in Switzerland
just bring the car to a halting stop now and get out.
The sun had gone down as we were entering the town of Lucerne. The exit we took to get to our Hotel was in a sketchy neighborhood.
'How do you lock the doors in this car' was my first words as we pulled up to a stop light
Our GPS had us take a left turn on a narrow street and start winding up the side of a mountain. Switzerland has had quite a bit of snow, so, the farther up the mountain we went, the narrower the road got (due to snow pack on the side of the road)- and the farther away from town we got.
'This can't be right' is what Matt kept saying
'The reviews said it was a beautiful view' was my constant response
It's completely dark now
We kept winding around until we saw a dimly lit three story motel (it seemed 'quaint' when we first pulled up). It was all but vacant when we opened the creaky old wooden door- I was still thinking quaint and beautiful view.....Matt was starting to tell me 'this place is freaking me out'- The boys were with Matt on the creepy feeling.
The Hotel had a small restaurant- Ellie was tired so I headed up to the room with her and the boys went to the restaurant.
As soon as we got to our room, I walked out onto the balcony and snapped a pic of the view (and then posted it). Ellie had fallen asleep and I decided to sit on the bed and do a bit more research on our hotel (Matt doesn't get freaked out easily).
As the screen on my computer lit up, loud screeching sounds started coming from the room next door. It sounded like someone was dying so I went out into the pitch black hall (I learned later that you had to turn on the hall light each time you went into the hall) and stood by the door wondering if the police needed to be called....
It's wasn't the sounds of a hurting person
I'll just leave that right there
Fifteen minutes later, the boys come up the elevator- Matt said they heard what was going on right when they stepped into the hall- They all just sort of looked at each other and busted up laughing...and then were horrified- Matt walked over to the door and banged on it until there was silence.
That set the tone for the entire night
A run down creepy hotel with paper thin walls that was doubling as a brothel.
The googling had begun- Where were we??
Bedbugs, Dirty, paper thin walls were the reviews
the hotel also kept being referred to 'something you would see on the shining' (which we had never seen)
The boys had their own room just across from us- by 4:00 a.m. I told Matt that we needed to give them something to remember this hotel by (as if they wouldn't already).
I quietly went to their door and scratched on it.....
ahahahahahaaaaaaaa!! I scratched and scratched- long scratches down the door
I went back to our room for a few minutes and then headed back to the boys door (trying hard to contain my laughter)-This time I shook their door knob just a bit....
I heard movement from their room and then I heard Ryan open his knife
I had to shake the knob just a bit more, as I did, Isaiah say's in a firm voice from behind the door 'YA?'
I died laughing and told them it was me.
Isaiah said he had been up most of the night because it sounded like someone was dragging furniture down the hall. He was awake the first time I scratched on the door (and was freaked out)- He got up Bum's (what he call's Ry- for the longest time we thought the was calling Ryan 'pube's- so we started calling ryan pube's) and they devised a plan of how they would defend themselves if someone tried to come into their room
They were both standing behind the door, ready to pounce when they opened the door for me.
We left at first light- Matt said he saw the people from next door as he was walking out- I told Matt he should have walked by them and made loud obnoxious sounds like Forest did in the movie Forest Gump when his principle walks by him (after being in the house with Forest's mom).
When we drove out and saw the hotel in the light, the peeling paint and run down balcony's, it all started making sense. The worker from the hotel bending down and pouring warm milk into a cat's bowl was the last view out of the car window.
We headed down into Lucerne and were greeted by strange looking clowns and really expensive EVERYTHING.
We stayed for an hour and then loaded back up into our car, which we had parked in a parking garage under the city. The machine to get out of the parking garage would not take our credit card so the pile up of cars behind us was GREAT. There was honking and chaos until the attendant finally came down to the garage and let us go without having to pay.
Good buy Switzerland and thank you for the 'Shining' experience!!
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| Along with these clowns everywhere were the heads of the clowns hanging from poles- It really was odd! |
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