In the winter Swiss schools have a break called Sportferien, or “sports holiday.” Sportferien is different than Christmas holiday break, and takes place in February (in Zurich at least). This two week break is generally used to go skiing, or do other winter sports, or go on holiday with your family. Often, schools will even do a trip together where they kids go to the ski camp with their teachers for a week!
It was during this time that we had our first visitors come to stay with us from the US! Our best friends Kim and Jon came to stay for a week, and boy did we pack a lot into that week! As soon as they dropped their bags off at our apartment, we hit the road to go sightseeing!
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| the first of many jumping pictures |
We headed up to the cute city of Stein am Rhein and then went to visit Rheinfall. My friend Jon is the photographer of our group and set up this shot, which took several attempts and we never got it just right. Carter tried really hard to participate but couldn’t quite get the jumping at the same time as everyone else!
Rheinfall is just so beautiful, definitely worth a side visit if you are planning a trip to Zuirch! We did the stairs down from the top, which was really cool with several stops along the way for picturesque views (and plenty of actual pictures, too). When it’s warmer, they also have boat rides that take you right up to the bottom of the falls!
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| Jon showed Carter how to make snow angels and then they did this arm waving thing… |
Another day we took the mountain train up to the top of Mount Rigi and boy was it snowy. We knew there would be snow, but we really weren’t prepared for the ridiculous amount or the fact it was blizzarding at the top. Needless to say, the guys decided against going sledding after all, and we ended up just playing in the snow for a few minutes and then heading inside for lunch!
Kim and me braving the snow for a selfie!
Group photo at the train station in Vitznau, where we took the train up the mountain. The drive along here was also beautiful and right along the lake. After, we headed to Lucerne to walk around and have some coffee, which is also a beautiful city!
Another part of their visit, we headed down to Montreaux, which I’ve written about before, and visited the castle there as well as the one in Gruyeres. Gruyeres is a very cute little city up on a steep hill, definitely worth checking out if you have the time! We also did some wine tasting near Montreux which was fun and we tried some of the regional wines, which were pretty good!
Last but not least, we headed to Laax for a day. The guys did some skiing, Carter went in the childcare center and Kim and I hit up the spa! We had relaxing massages and braved the European style spa likes champs. After, we picked up Carter from the daycare and waited for the guys at the bottom of the slopes by the fire with glasses of wine, which was, needless to say, ah-mazing!
We had a great visit with our friends and did even more things than I just mentioned! We really packed a lot into that week and I will be writing more specifically about some of the places we visited in posts to come!
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