Swiss Chocolate and Gelato

This morning we finally got to tour the Palace of Nations, which was super awesome! We saw a couple of rooms where representatives from all 193 member countries would sit and discuss issues. An interesting fact I learned was that although the representatives sit alphabetically by country, the order changes depending on whether the host language for the conference is English or French. So, for example, if the conference is in English, the US goes under U (obviously). But the French name for the United States is États-Unis, so if the conference is French we’re in a totally different place. It sounds like the main language of the conference will only be either of those two, but most delegates can still converse in their own tongues. And, as our guide pointed out, you couldn’t order the countries in, say, Chinese, because they don’t have an alphabet.

Before boarding our train, we stopped in a little Swiss chocolate shop (I mean, really, that was kind of essential) where I basically wanted to buy everything in the room. Unfortunately, I didn’t have that much money- Swiss chocolate is delicious, but expensive!

Once aboard the train, we passed the time taking gazillions of pictures of beautiful snow-capped mountains that make me feel like Heidi. We were later joined by a couple from Salt Lake City to whom we enjoyed speaking very much. They were well-traveled and interested in many of the same franchises as we were, and we had a great time talking about places we had each been or sharing stories from places the others hadn't been. It was a lot of fun, probably more so than if we had just stuck to our own devices for the rest of the trip.

We made it to Milan, whereupon we checked into our hotel. We soon ventured out for dinner, finding a trattoria with lots of pasta. Then for dessert we achieved an important milestone: Our first Italian gelato. Needless to say, it was extremely tasty!

It's too bad we don't have more time here, but we're getting up early tomorrow to fit in an extra excursion before we're off to Venice.

GUYS THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT. They have real live peacocks at the UN!

The Swiss chocolate shop... yummmmmmm.

My first Italian gelato!