Some very dear friends of ours, the Schneyer's, decided to spend their spring break in Switzerland with us. They had a fantastic deal flying from Chicago to Paris and took the train into Lausanne. They arrived late at night and I headed down to the train station to pick them up. It was off to bed to start of our first day of exploring where else but the Callier chocolate factory. That is one place the kids don't mind going over and over again.
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| Kids minus Aaron who was home with Randy, waiting for the tour to start. |
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| Group shot after indulging in a ton of chocolate. |
Afterwards we headed to Gruyere and took a quick trip before heading home. This was the first time I had actually been up to Gruyere as I have only been to the cheese factory. It is a cute little town where cars are not allowed. The kids enjoyed running around and exploring.
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| The girls and Dane on the outside wall. |
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| Kids in Gruyere center. |
It was Kari's birthday while they were traveling so we celebrated with cake after dinner on their first day. As you can see the kids were having a great time and Aaron was thrilled to have some boys to play with.
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| Kari and the kids getting ready to blow out the candles. |
On Sunday it was Randy's turn to play tour guide while I stayed home with Sydney. We only have one car and it is a 7 seater , which isn't quite big enough for a party of 9. With Sydney's bad knee, sledding isn't the best activity for her to do just after getting off crutches. The run they were going on was 7km and would take roughly 45 minutes to go down. They had a beautiful day and it wasn't too wet since it was the end of the season.
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| Schneyer's with the sledge and ready for the chair lift. |
Kari is a little scared of heights so the chair lift was a little nerve racking, but the kids helped calming the nerves and she made it to the top.
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| Matt taking a picture of Randy, who had Aaron with him, and Reid. |
Lunch time was a good ole picnic with baguettes, meat, cheese, and other tasty stuff. This was the second day for a picnic and wouldn't be our last. By the last day Dane wondered if we picnicked from the back of the car everyday for lunch.
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| Kids enjoying their delicious lunch. |
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| Aaron and Dane with their fuzzy hats to keep them warm. |
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| Reid and Aaron taking a pit stop for a picture. |
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| Aaron and his favorite salami stick. |
On Monday we roamed around Lausanne as I had to take Sydney to the Dr for a knee follow up. In the morning we went down by Ouchy to take in the sights before they headed into town while I took Sydney to the doctor where she got a thumbs up for her knee. They went to the Cathedral and stopped at a cafe that serves fabulous hot chocolate drinks. They serve it with a spoon since it is almost the consistency of pudding.
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| Reid (right) and Dane (left) along Lake Geneva. |
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| The boys and their hot chocolate - Dane couldn't wait he was diving right in. |
After grabbing lunch we headed to Chillon castle. I loaded the iPods with the walking tour and they were off while I caught up on my to do list.
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| They got a kick out of the toilets that fed into the lake. |
One night we made a traditional Swiss meal called Raclette. It is boiled potatoes and then you melt cheese and can cook meat to eat as a meal. We usually put our meat and cheese on our potatoes, but Hailey likes her cheese with pickles. Pickled tiny onions and pickles are a common side dish when serving raclette.
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| Kids took their turn first with Raclette. |
It was a fantastic long weekend with The Schneyer's and the adults enjoyed many bottles of wine while playing euchre into the early morning. It was boys vs girls and we played to the best of five. The girls had a excellent lead, but in the end the boys came from behind and won the 5th game. Kari also learned that Swiss wine doesn't give her headaches! They headed to Paris on Wednesday for a few days before heading home on Saturday.
