Agathe took us to Paris Sunday and Monday. We had a magnificent time! Here are some photos from our adventures in Paris.

Snapshots of Switzerland

Photos from Hannah's camera.

Gruyére

Yesterday was cold and rainy, so aside from a trip to the mall for some lunch and a game of dress-up with the girls, we didn't do much. Today, Catherina took the four of us to the town of Gruyére,  famous for its cheese. The drive was beautiful, as is all of Switzerland we've seen so far. The town is nestled in between several mountains in the Alps, the peaks of which are just now beginning to get dusted with snow. Catharina wanted to show us how Gruyére cheese is traditionally made, so we drove past the town and up a little ways into the mountains. Unfortunately the tour of traditional cheese making is closed at this time of year since they have already taken the cows down the mountain. It was already too cold even for the cows! So we ran around a bit, trying to keep warm amidst the snow covered hills that loomed only a short distance above us. Although we didn't get to see cheese being made by hand in little straw covered huts, we were not dismayed. There was an entire medieval castle to be seen! Emily and Isabelle were not particularly excited to see a castle, as they are a dime a dozen in Europe, or so it would seem from their lack of enthusiasm. However Hannah and I don't see castles much in Vermont, so we eagerly climbed up the steep hill on which the castle was perched. Inside the castle walls was a bunch of tourist shops and restaurants that had once been a medieval town. After running all over the ramparts with the girls, we went inside the castle, which is now a museam, and climbed all the staircases and looked in all the rooms. After all that running and climbing around we were starving! It was time for lunch. So, Catharina took us to one of the little restaurants in the village, where we had a proper swiss meal. It consisted of raclette for Isabelle, and fondue for the rest of us, finished off with some ice cream. It was delicious, and even though it is now almost dinner time, we are still all pretty full. Tomorrow is our last full day here in Switzerland (until we come back at the end of our trip in December) and so Hannah and I will be travelling into Geneva by ourselves to do some more looking around. Hopefully we will be able to manage it all with out Emily and Isabelle to be our guides and translators!

Walking in Founex

Here is a picture from our first day in Switzerland. We took a lovely walk around the area where Faraday's family lives, and her Uncle Deane took a picture of all the girls. From Left: Hannah, Catherina, Faraday, Isabelle and Emily.

Genéve

 

Emily and Isabelle took us into Geneva this afternoon, where we visited a natural history museum. The train and bus rides were long, so to keep the girls occupied, we let them play games on our itouches. On the walk back from the bus stop, the air was clear enough to view the Alps. The girls had a lot of fun running around the museum, looking at all the stuffed animals. The only real animal in the museum was a turtle with two heads, but it was too shy to get a picture of. However we brought Emily's camera, so here are a couple pictures from today! We didn't get to explore too much of Geneva, but we did see the famous fountain that shoots up several stories into the air from the lake. We might go into Geneva on our own on friday, but this time it was great to have the girls there to interpret for us and to make sure we didn't get lost! We were lucky to have such a beautiful day for going out, tomorrow is supposed to be much colder and rainier, so it looks like it will be more of an indoor day! We will let you know how it goes.

Switzerland

At the moment, we are writing this blog on a computer where everything is in swiss german. Its a little challenging, but its about time we fill you in on our adventures in Switzerland so far. We arrived here yesterday, three hours behind schedule due to fog in london. Luckily, Deane, Emily and Isabelle (Faraday's Uncle and cousins), got there right when we did. When we arrived in Founex, where they live, we went on a walk with the family. Switzerland is so beautiful! Down the road from where we are staying is Le Leman, a huge lake. Across the lake from us are the Alps, and from the plane we could see the snow-topped peak of Mont Blanc. On the otherside of the lake are the Dura, which look more like the kind of 'mountains' we have in Vermont. In between are a lot of houses, and suprisingly a lot of farm land. The main crops we saw on our walk were apple trees, grapes, and sugar beets. That evening, we were so tired we went to bed early and slept for 13 hours! Today, we got up late and decided to take a trip into the town of Nyon, which is a walk and a short bus ride away. Emily and Isabelle, who are only 10 and 8, bought our bus tickets and made sure we didn't get lost. While in Nyon, we visited a castle, bought some candy, skipped rocks on the lake, fed some very friendly swans, and finally stopped at playground. We also saw some roman ruins, but they were all the way on top of a steep hill, so we decided we didn't have the energy to investigate further. Maybe another day! After getting back, we realized that even though it was a fairly short outing, we were exhausted. However after we get some rest, we can't wait for another exciting day with Emily and Isabelle tomorrow!

Also, Hannah didnt bring the cord to connect her camera to a computer, so we cant post the pictures we've taken YET.

A Little Bit About Our Trip

Three days left until we are off! We thought it would be nice to give you guys a little more information about what we'll be doing, so here goes. On Saturday, October 15th, we will be flying out of Logan Airport in Boston, MA at 10pm. We will arrive in Geneva, Switzerland at around 2pm the next day. In Geneva, we will be staying with Faraday's Uncle and his family. On October 22nd, we will be departing Geneva and taking the train to Dijon, France and staying with Hannah's friend Agathe. We will be visiting some really cool places in just the first two weeks! We can't wait to see our friends and family in Europe, but will be sad to say goodbye to our friends and family here. However when we're seeing so many incredible places, seven weeks is sure to fly by!
Okay, time to get back to packing...

Getting Ready

With only five days left to go, its packing crunch time! Fortunately, today we purchased our backpacks from EMS. Faraday got a Osprey Waypoint 65, and Hannah got the Osprey Fairpoint 70. We are so excited to start putting everything we need for TWO MONTHS in them! Both backpacks are luggage type packs, with detachable daypacks.

Looks like we'll be coming home with strong backs, no?