Friday, October 28, 2011

Last Stop - die Schweiz

I was very excited about our last destination before finally heading back to Germany. And not just because of Switzerland's magical landscape, breathtaking mountains, delicious chocolate, and abundance of cheese. We were going to visit the Bühlmann's, the family I stayed with for 3 months when I finished high school.


And I was not disappointed. Our drive in was beautiful. From Luzerne (where we had lunch) to Berne we took back roads through small villages, with the late afternoon sun reflecting off the luscious green hills, wet from a quick afternoon rain. And when we arrived at Willadingweg (great name!!) I was greeted by Swiss parents, and it all seemed so suddenly familiar. In true Swiss fashion, we feasted on fondue that night, gorging on bread and hot bubbly cheese. 
Eating fondue with Ueli and Trix.

The next day Martin, Simon and I headed out to explore. I wasn't sure how much I would remember about the city. Things were familiar, but in no way did I know my way around. Back in 1998, 3 months seemed like SO LONG, and now when I think about it, it was not long at all. Regardless, we enjoyed walking along Aare River, with it's clear blue waters inviting us to come back in warmer weather. We walked all the way to the city, enjoyed some hot chocolate, and gawked at the extremely high costs of everything in Switezerland. WOW!


Then we headed home to meet Ueli and head out for a drive in the hills. We drove to their beautiful summer lake house, through small villages, over covered bridges (well, under the cover), and had some amazing views of the Matterhorn and Jungfrau mountains. A light layer of clouds rested at their base, making it look like these majestical mountains were floating on air. (Managed not to take any pics.)

For dinner that night - raclette! More cheese - this time with potatoes. A great meal to go out on.

We headed out the next morning - destination Düsseldorf. Always sad when vacation ends, but it was different this time. Now, vacation doesn't just mean getting to check out cool places (like Italy!), but spending time together as a family. It's hard to fit it all in with busy work schedules and no family nearby to watch Simon for an hour here and there. Being on vacation felt good because we were a family - all day, every day. Can't wait for our next vacation!

All vacation pics here.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Simon, thank you for your Blog, I also really like Switzerland, hospitality rather like in southern countries, cleanliness and the wonderful nature. Fondue with cheese I do not like that much (the last one had very odd cheese, so I lost my lust for fondue that night, unfortunately). Alexander from www.diskrete-lieferung.ch

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  2. Fondue, that´s quite an experience not to miss in Switzerland. For me, this is a nice place that I really like visit whenever I have the opportunity to do it again :-) Also, always a good thing to try out restaurants & pizzerias in Switzerland!

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