Switzerland

Oh how we all love Switzerland! We arrived in Zurich around noon and fell in love immediately. How could we not? Zurich has lakes, mountains, and chocolate!!! Gabi, my (nicole) grandmother's second cousin met us at the train station and we magically fit the four of us girls and our huge packs into a european car! Gabi took us to his apartment near the center of the city, we dropped our packs, ate lunch, and went for a walking tour of the city. We saw the huge cathedral, the church with stained glass windows by Chagall, and commercial center. After the tour, Gabi left us to wonder through the shopping district for the afternoon. We met back at the apartment and Gabi had dinner ready for us. We ate with Dina (the eldest daughter), Gabi's wife, and Dina's friend Sandy. After dinner, we all (everyone at dinner plus deborah (the youngest daughter)) went to the lake and actually went swimming at 9pm. The water was a little cold at first, but we all warmed up eventually (minus franki who gave it a go, but didn't make it all the way in) One would think the day ended here, but instead, we rushed back home, changed, threw up our wet lake hair, and went salsa dancing with Dina and Sandy. The salsa club was great! We had so much fun watching (key words: fun and watching) all the couples dance. We made a debut on the dance floor during the one hip hop song that played all night. Everyone in the club was so talented and really friendly. Needless to say, we were wiped out and went straight to bed after the club.

The next morning we had a later than anticipated start to Lezern. The train ride was only an hour and we took a ferry boat ride across the lake to a tram that would take us up one of the mountains. The scenery was breathtaking and we all felt a little bit guilty for experiencing something so amazing!!!!!!! The ride up the mountain, the view from the top, and the ride down were equally amazing! We were surrounded by mountains, green hills, and even got to see Swiss cows (they are cuter than they smell.) Everything ran smoothly all day long until we tried to get home on the train. It took us awhile to figure out that the train wasn't going to Zurich because none of the trains were running... we experienced the first train strike in Switzerland. Gabi called us to tell us it was all over the news and the whole country was on strike. We eventually made it onto a bus that dropped us off in Zug and then we took another bus to Zurich. It wasn't the most fun experience of our trip, but at the very least, it was a story for the blog... hope you enjoyed it.

That night we saw Leah for a bit who was also stuck on a train earlier that day and then called it an early evening.

Today, Franki and Denise went to the zoo and they really enjoyed it. The zoo was very big and had a large monkey exhibit. Denise was impressed with the zoo and we all know her standards are high. Amanda and I walked around the city and bought rings from a market we happened upon. We also took picture of a couple of the hundreds of bear statues that can be found all around the city. Artists decorated hundreds of plaster bears that sit outside of stores and line the streets of Zurich, they're really cute and interesting. Amanda and I also tried to see an art museum, but the main collection was under renovation. Later, we all met up with Deborah and went for a paddle boat ride a.k.a our exercise for the trip. Now we are getting ready to leave for Amsterdam and it's bitter sweet. I wish we could have stayed here longer.

A HUGE thank you to the Taus family who were more than hospitable to us. They are a wonderful family and we are also so happy that we had the pleasure of staying in their home.