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The final day of the vacation is always a sad one. But a well-said phrase from our program director of the Viking Kvasir states otherwise. "Don't feel so sad that the journey is over, be happy it happened." I'm certainly happy this Rhine Getaway took place, and although I missed out on many opportunities to drink alcohol, I have no regrets.

However, the final day also is the busiest day on our agenda. Starting at nine in the morning, Mom and I would embark on a tour around the surrounding terrain, highlights of Lucerne, and its lake. Of course, we were going along with a much larger group, containing passengers from our cruise as well as another. I was actually looking forward to this tour since it pretty much summed up Europe.

Starting from the Swiss Alps, we went up a small hill, Mt. Pilatus, of 2,132 meters/7,000 feet by means of a cogwheel on a mild slope of forty-eight degrees. The mountain, named after Jesus Pontius Pilate, was his burial place. A lot of superstition hung around the caves within the mountain, but I was not here for history. The mountain probably provided the best and easiest accessibility of any peak in the region. Although the weather conditions were spectacular up the top of Mt. Pilatus, the time of year wasn't quite ideal. Global warming has reduced the amount of snowfall, even in mountainous areas. Essentially, if you're not above sea level by 4,000 meters/12,000 feet, there won't be any snow during the summer months. On the bright side, the warm weather and clear skies allowed for unbelievable views of Jungfrau (4,158 m/ 13,642 feet) and Finsteraarhorn (4,274 m/14,022 feet). Because only been given an hour, we had to rush around the peaks, scouring for good pictures, and eventually briskly pacing back to the meeting point.

We took a quick break from the morning hiking with an hour's drive from Lucerne to Einsiedeln, Canton of Schwyz (cantons represent counties). There, a swift forty-five-minute stop was set, allowing for a glimpse at the Einsiedeln Abbey established in the 10^th century. The town itself was smallish, so I wasn't expecting much of the abbey. However, I was stunned to see a diamond within the coals. A high ceiling of Rococo patterns with two double-cross Baroque bell towers drew my attention immediately upwards, then to the sides where tens of hundreds of paintings and 3-D frescoes protruded from walls. Even though I've seen tons of art on this trip, these large canvases still amazed me. Right smack dab in the middle, surrounded by the Chapel of Grace, was the Black Madonna. This centerpiece of pilgrimage blackened by centuries of dust and the soot of candles and incense, as the name states, was hidden in WWII from the Germans to avoid its destruction. It was recently put back, restoring the glory of the abbey.

The afternoon summed up the other half of Switzerland, the food. That essentially covered cheese and dairy products, from chocolate to yogurt to chocolate-flavored yogurt. Kinderdijk, Netherlands has already shown us a family-run farm, that makes its own cheeses. Today we happened to be on a Swiss farm to produce hay milk in addition to the regular one, but the cheese making was left to the local milk manufacturer. On a much shorter description of the milking process, we were wandering about a dairy stall to meet 30 cows and a breeding bull with their calves. Because I've heard the story before, I focused on the cows this time around. You know, when you stare them in the eyes, they stare right back, and their gaze follows you around until they think there is another more interesting person to stare at. And when you pet them, either they accept your touch, shake their heads and deny it, or try to lick your arm. The latter didn't occur once, but twice.

Dinner was served at a cheese maker facility, Milk Manufacture and it was as fondue as one would expect. After walking through another different process of cheese making, this was the one that utilized many more machines and less manual labor. Its cheese wasn't produced in just one kind. From Brie, and Buffalo Cheese, to Mozzarella, all types of cheeses were sold directly after production. However, I'm not quite used to the strong cheese smell and gagged a bit when entering the storage room. Therefore, during the dinner fondue, I didn't eat as much as I thought. Besides, someone put a lot of Kirsch into the fondue, and I haven't grown a liking for alcohol just yet.

As time flew by, it captured the final stop in this Rhine expedition, most likely for this year. Internationally, I think it has been more than enough for the summer break as the new academic year of 2017-2018 is around the corner and my high school era will begin in 4 days. Since my 8th grade was over in early June, I've gone down the Danube, immediately transitioning to raft the Rhine. Rivers aside, the culture and taste (minus the alcohol) were something out of this world. Europe continues to stun and surpass Aiden's expectations. But after this trip, I'm really not sure where to go next. It's all a surprise from here on.

【红霞译文】

度假最后一天总是令人百感交集，但“维京·知识之神”号游轮策划部主任说得好，“不必为即将结束的旅行难过，而应为出游带来的收获高兴”，莱茵之旅的确让我欣喜若狂，其间尽管错失了不少喝酒良机，可我一点也不后悔。

然而，最后一天往往是旅途中最为忙碌的一天。从早上九点开始，我和妈妈便踏上环游卢塞恩周边山川湖泊之路，当然这回我们要和维京其它游轮的乘客会师组成观光大军，对之我早有期待，毕竟它将给欧洲之行画上句号。

放眼瑞士白山山脉，我们先从2,132米/7,000英尺的小山包云峰入手，齿轮火车沿着斜坡刚好达到48^o的山路爬行，该山名取自曾经设法免受惩罚耶稣的犹太总督庞提乌斯·彼拉多，他死后葬于此地，难怪洞穴深处流传着各种迷信说道，但我不是为探寻历史而来。这一带山连着山，很容易从一座山头翻越另一座山头，尽管云山天气好得难以置信，但每年这个时候季节并非是最理想的，全球变暖早已减少降雪量，深山老林地区也不例外，从本质上说，只要海拔低于4,000公尺/12,000英尺，夏季休想看到雪花。从好的方面来说，风和日丽有助于辨认白山山脉数一数二的少女峰（4,158米/13,642英尺）及黑鹰峰（4,274米/14,022英尺），因为只给出一个钟头自由活动时间，我们必须加快速度，捕捉各个山峰奇景异貌，直至最后心满意足返回集合地点。

在结束上午登山活动后，我们稍作休息，随即从卢塞恩驱车一小时抵达施维茨县隐士镇。借助45分钟短暂逗留之际，我们粗略参观了当地十世纪修建的隐士修道院。小镇地域不大，我实在没法想象修道院规模如何。然而一旦置身其中，我立刻被华美的装饰所吸引，抬头仰望洛可可式建筑，天花板高高在上，两座巴洛克式钟楼各自带有一个双十字架，教堂对侧数以百计的平面绘画和三维立体雕塑从墙壁上竞相而出。本次旅游所到之处我见过的艺术作品可以说数不胜数，但隐士修道院这些巨幅壁画依然叫我惊叹不已。主堂中央恩典小教堂里坐落着黑圣母马利亚，这尊朝圣者心中重要雕像历经几百年来灰尘洗礼烟熏炭烤，如今已变成名副其实的黑色。二战期间瑞士人为免遭德国佬破坏而把它藏了起来，直到最近才物归原位重展修道院荣耀。

时至下午我们没忘体验瑞士另类生活──饮食，从巧克力到酸奶再到巧克力风味的酸奶，归根结底离不开奶酪及奶制品。荷兰孩童堤防家庭经营的农场已向我们展示过奶酪制作工艺，今天碰巧又来到瑞士一家农场，它不光生产常规牛奶，而且还生产干草牛奶，其奶酪制作则完全由当地牛奶工厂完成。待听过农场简介，我们来到牛棚与卅头奶牛、一头种牛及其小牛们相见。因为之前对类似情况有所了解，所以这回我把注意力全部放到奶牛身上。你知道，当你盯着奶牛不放，它们也会注视你的一举一动，直到发现其他人值得关注为止；当你抚摸奶牛，它们要么顺从表示同意，要么摆头表示反对，要么试图舔你的胳膊，后面情形并非偶发事件，竟然一连出现过两回。

晚宴设在当地牛奶厂，正是人们所期待的瑞士火锅大餐。这家奶酪生产更多采用机械化工艺而非手工制造，并且不只打造一种产品，从布利干酪、水牛奶酪到意大利干酪，所有新出炉的奶酪产品全部直销，不过我还不太习惯气味重的奶酪，走进储藏室有点反胃打嗝，因此到了晚餐开吃火锅的时候，反倒没有想象得那么起劲。另外，有人在火锅里放了不少樱桃酒，而我尚未到喜欢喝酒的地步。

随着时间推移，这趟莱茵之旅到此落下帷幕，而且极有可能将持续到本年度结束，我觉得这个暑假出国旅游的时间足够多了，再过四天，2017—2018新学年我的高中生涯将要开始。自打六月伊始初三结业以来，我先游玩了多瑙河，接着又漂流莱茵河，两河流域文化与饮食（除酒而外）是当今世界不可或缺的东西，欧洲继续不负儿歌重望，但打道回府后，我真不确定下一个目的地，从现在起就让它是个谜呗。

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2017: Alpine Waterfront Towns, Swiss(瑞士白山水乡)

2017: Einsiedeln—Abbey & Cheesemaking, Swiss(瑞士隐士城—修道院与奶酪工艺)

2017: Lucerne—Pilatus the Dragon Mtn, Swiss(瑞士光晕市龙山云峰)

2017: Lucerne—Heart of the Country, Swiss(瑞士光晕市─大地原点)

2015: Great Wall, Beijing(北京万里长城)

2014: Reunion w/ Old Friends(老友重逢)