Respite, How I Welcome You

I've been super lucky enough to have spent the last 10 days in, what I believe to be, one of the most beautiful places on earth. The beginning of the Swiss Alps with some distant, but still just as loving, family and my best friend, Jen. We met in Zurich last week and have spent some great days together eating lots of good food and enjoying some much needed rest and depending on the endless kindness of Ursi, Marianne and Susie.

A brief itinerary I think will suffice for this post along with some pictures. Like I said, I met Jen in the airport in Zurich. I was a bit delayed getting out of Amsterdam and she had to wait for me for a bit but all was good. We got on the train and headed out to Spiez, where Ursi picked us up right away. Everything about traveling in Switzerland[minus the cost], makes it effortless. I had not a care in the world.Everything is clearly marked and the great thing is, if you aren't sure you can ask because most everyone speaks English. YES. Brilliant. I was immediately on vacation from the moment we touched down.

So, we met up with the rest of the family, had brunch at Susie's and Hans's, dinner at Marianne and Fritz's twice. Stefan and Lucas took us to a great aqua park, with an awesome sauna and outdoor pool.

They then took us to Bern where we tried roasted chestnuts and had some legit hot chocolate. We went into Thun with Susie and Hans for a huge parade of Harley Riders dressed like Santa Claus.

Fritz played in that parade too.

One of the days we made it out the Zermatt to see the Matterhorn and took the Gonergratt Bahn. I absolutely love the trains, I would have liked to take a longer trip but time and mostly money didn't allow us to.

So, all in all, we spent some good quality time with the family in Faltschen, Bern, Thun and around. Our excellent hosts have been nothing but giving, obliging and hospitable.

I hope that when they all make it to California sometime soon, we can do our best to return the favor. I'm heading back to KZ tomorrow morning, gearing up for a good 2 days of travel before I'm back to my site. For now, I'll end this here and pick up soon with more news when I return.