Part IV: Day Trips

After spending the first half of our trip traveling throughout Switzerland, we decided to slow things down and do day trips from Geneva. Wednesday was the most beautiful day. We had a terrific time visiting the International Olympic Museum and Chateau de Chillon.

Diane at the Olympic museum

Montreux

Chateau de Chillon

My lovely wife

Gotta have a pic in front of the Chateau

Thursday, we lingered around Geneva, played some checkers in the park and then hit up the European UN headquarters and International Red Cross Museum. I loved the UN and Diane preferred the museum. To top of the night, we made a Thanksgiving dinner at home: Geneva style! We ate ham, mashed potatoes, freshly cut tomatoes on fresh mozzarella; all with a little bubbly. Oh yeah, don’t forget the freshly baked bread!

Checkers in the Park

European UN Headquarters

Thanksgiving Dinner

Part III: The Good and The Bad

Monday wasn’t the best day on our trip…we spent 5 hours on the train and the towns we visited were…well, a little disappointing. Interlaken, a fabulous summer resort, was pretty dead. A few shops were open, but that’s about it. We then proceeded up the mountain to Murren, a little ski town–which unfortunately was even more dead than Interlaken.

Fortunately, we ended the night with a pleasant surprise: Luzern! After a day of seeing nobody, we were so thrilled to see lots of buildings, lights, and people! We spent the night at the Magic Hotel and got “upgraded” to an Egyptian resort.

On Tuesday, we created our own little walking tour where we visited the castle walls, saw the Glacier museum, and checked out the boutiques. We then headed over to Zurich and spent the afternoon checking out the high-end malls and shops–all out of our price range, of course.

Lastly, we thought it would be “fun” if we ran the last mile back to train station. OK, so it was totally not fun. We were hot, sweaty, and we totally missed the train by ONE MINUTE! Diane was quite upset at me (for good reason).

Hanging out at the train station

Lots of snow, but that’s about it…

Tram ride to Murren

Murren (Ski Town)

Luzern = Happiness!

Magic Hotel

Egyptian “upgrade”

Luzern by day

Lion statue at Glacier Museum

Thanksgiving Sky

In case you missed it, there was a beautiful event that took place on Monday night. The moon, Jupiter, and Venus were all visible to the naked eye. According to press reports, they won’t be this close together for another 44 years.

Part II: France

So, after a long night’s sleep, we finally woke up around 10:00am. Since France is literally a 10-minute drive away, we decided to visit some small towns. The first stop on our trip was Annecy: a small, cute French town with lots of little shops. That’s one of the things that is terrific about Switzerland–lots of small towns; a totally different lifestyle. Few shops were open because it was Sunday, but we still managed to peruse through a few stores selling artisan crafts and local farm goods. We then proceeded to another town (I’ll have to get back to you with the name) and ate lunch there.

The problem with not speaking French is that sometimes you don’t get what you order. I ordered a bruschette with tomatoes while Diane and Gloria both ordered a different kind of bruschette. We also ordered two hot chocolates with caramel and one regular hot chocolate. Guess what he brought?! One bruschette, two hamburgers and fries, one hot chocolate with caramel, one regular hot chocolate and a Coke. Are you kidding me?! How did bruschette turn into hamburger? And when did hot chocolate become Coke? Enjoy the pictures.