Magellan Project 2017: Chocolate Empires in Europe

Today I wanted to explore a bit of Frankfurt before my meeting with the chocolatier. I went down to the U-Bahn station that is close to my Aribnb and it was surprisingly quiet. I heard no trains, the escalator wasn't running and I saw and heard no people. I walked down the stairs and onto the platform and no one was there. I read the sign that usually displays the train times and it said that the U7 train is being operated on. It referred people to use a bus line instead. I am thankful that I know German and could understand the sign. If this happened back in Belgium, I would have been lost. So I decided to walk to the city which took about 30 minutes. The walk was quite peaceful. I am living in a very residential area. The apartments are very nice, there are few people, little traffic, and everything is clean. I got to the city and went shopping on the main shopping street. The clothes are so nice here and they have such good deals. I soon located Römerberg which is a public s...

Today was my last day in Zurich. I checked out of my Airbnb at 9:00 and headed towards the train station. I had to take one train to get to the main train station in Zurich (Zurich HB). I then got on a high speed ICN train that took me to Geneva, Switzerland. The train ride was a little over 2 hours long. Because of the Eurail Pass, I was able to sit in first class seats. The seats were large and comfortable and there was ample leg room and storage. There were only 5 of us sitting in first class out of the 15 seats. Here is a picture of one of the seats and some of views I experienced on my commute. As I arrived in Geneva, I knew that I needed to purchase a transportation pass in the train station. After looking around for a bit and asking two people for help, I was finally directed to the right place and was able to purchase a transportation card. The lady who sold me the card also told me what tram to get on. Once I got off the final tram stop, I used goo...

Today, I woke up and made breakfast. I then headed straight to the train station to go Läderach chocolate factory. I was very nervous about taking the right train and getting off at the right stops, however, I had no problems. Thanks to my Eurail Pass, I was able to get from Zurich to Bilten, Switzerland without having the stress of purchasing tickets. The train was quite comfortable but I was paying more attention to the views. The commute lasted about an hour, where the track ran right along Zurich Lake. Here is a video of the view of the Lake from the train and a picture of my first Eurail Global Pass trip that was stamped by the conductor. My experience at Läderach was more than I could have imagined. Upon arrival, I asked for Susi Baumann, the woman that I had previously emailed. She arrived with a warm welcome and took me on a private tour of their chocolate facility, explaining the history of the company, their chocolate making process, and why she thinks Lädera...

I am honored to be a Lead with Languages Blogger where this content will be included with my blog posts for my Magellan Project through W&J. Recently, I entered a competition sponsored by the American Council of the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), Eurail, and Generation Study Abroad entitled "Your Story on the Rails" where I was awarded a First Class Global Eurail Pass. I am grateful for the opportunity to travel through Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium using this pass and I cannot wait to embark upon and share my journey with everyone.