Au Revior Switzerland

Friday had us all ready to go.  While we immensely enjoyed our time, Dorothy said it best, "There is no place like home."  
We left the house to meet up with John by his work so we could say one last goodbye.  We arrived at airport early.  Natalie came inside, ever so thankful for this.  Upon trying to check in we discovered they had overbooked the original flight we were one so we had to be switched to another.   Thankfully we were early enough to leave on the 2:30 flight to Zurich to make our international flight at 5:30 to Newark.  The only concerning matter was that Stephen did not have a seat confirmed.  They had said he was on standby and that he could only be confirmed once we made it to Zurich.  I was picturing us hanging out in Zurich for a night as I knew the flight was booked.  But God is good.  He actually even had a seat right next to Josh for whatever reason they did not give him a boarding card in Geneva.  Crazy but it worked.
It was strange to be in Zurich as I had gotten used to hearing French everywhere.  Here they were speaking German.
While on board the flight the people sitting next to me had a slight crisis.  The young man had become pale and was unresponsive to his mom.  Bill got out to get the flight attendant.  A doctor traveling with his family who was sitting diagonal to Bill went around to their side of the plane.  He needed someone to translate.  Thankfully Swissair had some type of medical person on board and he was able to help the doctor assess the young man.  We had to stand in the aisle as the doctor wanted him to lie down.  Lots of stares came our way.  All this occurred while the meal was being served.  Certainly will not forget this trip home.  It seems he was sick with a virus before leaving and he had diarrhea but no vomiting.  The rest of the flight was normal.
Maxx was ever so happy to greet us when we arrived home.  Felt bad because within an hour we were shutting him back up for night night.
Natalie said we need to go back so we can venture to Italy with them.  I will consider this.

Abby is 12!!!

My beautiful daughter turned twelve while we were in Switzerland.   She has done something none of us have, celebrated her birthday abroad.  We stayed close by as we had to pack for Friday's departure.  But we enjoyed some time by the Lake and Natalie made her oreo cupcakes!  A good way to close out our vacation.

They were less than a foot away.  Brazen

These sunflowers were not to far from our walking trail.

There were lots of fuse ball games.

The two did not want to stay standing.  hehehe

Bill made nutella and banana crepes, and blueberry and apple compote.

We played a lot of ping pong.  Made Bill think about buying one for  us.  Not quite sure where to put it.

Chamonix Mont Blanc

Wednesday brought us into the French Alps.  Bill had done some research and found there were some cable cars that we could take to the top of Aiguille du Midi.  So we had to rent a car in order to get all 9 of us over to France.  It worked out surprisingly well.  Bill and John were in the rental with Josh and Julia.  Me and Natalie were in her car with Stephen, John, and Abby.  Off we went to the Alps.  About an hour plus from where they live.  The mountains were just breathtaking as we were driving.  A note - the border patrol never once asked for passports or any identification.  Kinda sad as we would have loved to get stamped.  Kinda scary because of no protection.

We made our way there and then bought the tickets to go to the top only to find out that the very highest cable car was not in service due to very high winds.  C'est la vivre.  (Such is life.  Oh well!)  We still enjoyed the views.  Yup it was cold and I wouldn't recommend wearing shorts but it is summer and we didn't think about the elevation.  It is interesting to see people all donned in their hiking paraphernalia while we were in shorts and light-weight jackets.  They had on hats, boots with ice spikes attached, gloves hanging from their winter coats.  

After the ride up and down we were hungry so we ate at a place that served omelets.  Over 70 different choices.  They were yummy.  Kids ate pasta and pizza.  Everyone was happy!!!  We walked around the quaint town.  All-in-all a great day.  And Stephen got to be in the Alps.  We were hoping to get into Italy but we were a little too far west.  

Montreux

Montreux, also known as the Swiss Riviera.  It was a pleasant surprise to happen upon a Jazz Festival.  While we did not hear any of the music - happened at night - we did get to enjoy all the boutiques and people walking around.  We walked the lake to the Chateau du Chillon.  A castle from the 1200s.  It had many uses over the course of the centuries but very cool to be inside such history.