Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Quick Trip to Switzerland

We took a quick visit to Switzerland for Easter weekend and absolutely LOVED it! I had never been there before...wow!, is all I can say! We left Thursday afternoon and got to Bern later that evening. We wanted to get there as quickly as possible because our youth, from our Church, had gone to Bern for the entire week for what we call a "temple trip". We knew they were leaving Friday afternoon so, we did our best to get there in time to at least visit with them. 
Our fist visit was The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Temple, Bern. This Temple is so beautiful! I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with people who spoke German, French and English...in addition to a multitude of other languages.


After the Temple we headed to old-town Bern


The Zytglogge clock tower






After Bern, we headed toward Interlaken. Matt really wanted to see the beautiful mountains. I wanted to see the mountains, meadows and cows!
We decided to take the route towards Interlaken on the North side. I am so glad we did because we ran into Thun and a bunch of other little towns that totally blew Interlaken out of the water...

Seneca so happy she can drive (pretend).







After this we took the Juanpass toward Broc; which is through the mountains and absolutely breath-taking. I felt like I was Maria from The Sound of Music...I wanted to run around in a circle and sing..."The hills are alive..."

We made it to Broc! The Cailler-Nestle Chocolate and Gruyere Cheese Factory. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to do both...so we chose the Cailler/Nestle Choc. Factory Tour. This was THE best factory tour! This is why....
After the tour, we got to sample their lines of chocolate! YUMMY! 

After Broc, we visited Lutry and had dinner then headed to our hotel in Lausanne.


 Then we headed toward Geneve.

We did an Easter egg hunt for Seneca. She loved it!

Us in front of the Jet d'Eau
Our last and final stop was Annecy.
Well, I had more pictures but the server rejected uploading them....does anyone have any idea why?

Anyway, our trip was nice but too short. We want to return and hit Thun, Juanpass, Broc, Geneve, Chateaux Chillon and Annecy.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

medieval festival

In another village not too far from us was having a Medieval festival. It was very interesting...




not exactly sure what this is....




seneca thought the lady behind her was real and wanted to also peek through the window.


Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Weekend with Mamie et Papie

This past weekend we decided to head down toward the water to visit with my grandparents. We had not seen them since Christmas, so it was a well needed visit.

I have to say we really messed up. On Friday, I picked up Matt after he got off work. It was about 6:30pm and we were all hungry. Unfortunately, fast food is not so common around here; however, pizza trucks are. So, we decided to hit the next town up for take out pizza. Since we were getting in relatively late, I thought my grandparents would probably not have dinner waiting for us. Traditionally, they eat a larger meal during lunch (siesta) than they do at dinner time. So, we pretty much eat our yummy pizza in the car and try to eat as much as we can so we don't waste it AND have any evidence of food in our car for when we arrive at their home.

Well, we arrived and of course, they waited for us to eat dinner....yikes! It was not a huge dinner by any means, but it was large enough to set our tummies out of whack for the entire weekend! I was so bummed I made the decision to buy this crazy pizza...ugh! I felt bad for my grandparents...I bet they were wondering what was wrong...but all we confessed to say was we had upset stomachs. Again, dumb mistake...Gilbert (papie) loves to cook! So, there was not enough lag time in between meals to help our tummies re-set themselves....anyway, we are at home now and still recovering from heartburn. At least I will remember for next time....
before heading to my grandparents we hit the local nursery to buy something for them. we saw these little grocery carts and seneca just lit up in excitement. so, she pushed this cart all throughout the store directing me where to go as she put stuff in her cart. so cute!

there is a beautiful hilltop village called bormes les mimosa near my grandmother. i really wanted to visit this place because most of my relatives were born here. plus, when the mimosa's bloom it is absolutely gorgeous!

dad pretending to get on seneca's shoulders.

mamie at saint claire beach





mamie and papie with delicious paella.

they were so sweet! they got me a "le poisson d'avril cake" (april fool's cake) for my birthday. 

walking along the boardwalk at le lavandou beach