Fall Break...Paris

Maddie and Will had a two week break in October so we drove to Paris for six days. The drive was about seven hours...not bad. I wanted to take the back roads and drive through all the villages, but Bob wanted to take the highway. Lame. We stayed about a 40 minute train ride outside of Paris in a Marriott time share. And as a bonus, we were right next to a mall. No malls where we live - the malls here are a grocery store, pharmacy, office supply store, Claires (yuck), bank, coffee stop, shoe store, a couple of weird clothing stores. And all so unbelievably expensive. Seriously, very, very expensive!

So needless to say, we loved going to a mall. It even had a food court...WHAT???!!!

a little prelude to us leaving...I had known my dear friend Rochelle was going to be traveling in Europe in October with her husband. I didn't know where she would be, but I knew that Paris was one of their stops. The night before we left, I emailed her to let her know we were going to be arriving in Paris the next day and was wondering where they were. They were in Paris and leaving the day after we got there!  Providence!

So, we took the train into the city after we arrived and met them for dinner at a cafe where Rochelle and I had eaten many times on our trip to Paris over the summer. It was the best night ever. I cried happy tears when we saw them. I regret not taking a picture before we said good bye. I will remember that night forever. It was truly a miracle to be able to spend time with them. I miss my friend!

HIGHLIGHTS

• On/Off Bus Tour - higly recommend in Paris. It was cold, but we were bundled up
• Eiffel Tower - highlight of our trip. We went all. the. way. to. the. top! Best decision ever.
• Rue Montorgueil - can't wait to go back and spend the entire day
• BHV - Bazaar Hotel de Ville - great store- could have spent all day in here. Not a craft store but they have an amazing craft section. Bought some craft supplies for our dreary, boring days. No craft stores here in Switzerland...well there are some, but they are stuck in the 1970's - WEIRD!
• MonoPrix - French Target. enough said.
• Riding the Metro - Bob is a PRO!
• Crepes - I like sucre, Bob and Maddie like Nutella and Banana
• Pain au Chocolat - ate more than my fair share
• Pylones - great store for fun souveniers
• Strawberry Tarts for Maddie
• Cheap McDonalds for Will - for the four of us to eat at McDonalds here in Switzerland it costs about $65.00. I am not lying! We obviously don't eat there very often.
• Paris Disneyland - Space Mountain 8 times! Freezing Cold!!
• walking, walking, walking!
• shopping, shopping, shopping!
• New Parisian discoveries. I will be back!

Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures and they were all with my iPhone.

Riding the train into Paris

On the train

Louvre

Notre Dame

Before heading to the top

At the tippy top!

Champs Elysses and Arc de Triomphe

Lunch on the Champs Elysses

Centre Pompidou

PARIS DISNEYLAND!

It was the coldest day ever! I don't think I got warm at all that day. The kids had a wonderful time. But Paris Disneyland is nothing like Disneyland at home. Everyone is smoking, so gross! It is not clean like at home. No Disneyland food. Much smaller! But it was great to be able to spend time together and to see the kids so happy!

Au Revoir,

My Rescue!

The first six weeks here were rough to say the least. Nearly every day included tears! And I am not a wimpy woman...I think I'm pretty tough and resilient! I was so homesick, my children were so unhappy, Bob was gone a lot, we lived in three different places out of suitcases, I couldn't understand anyone or anything, the list goes on an on! I was so lonely for my family and my friends...someone to talk to. I wanted to go next door and talk to my neighbor. I wanted to go to a movie with friends (a ticket to a movie cost 23 CHF...that's about $26.00 for one ticket!), or go out to lunch with friends, watch American TV, go out to dinner with Bob (dinner for two is about $100), have Sunday dinner with my family...I know it seems glamorous to live in Europe, but let me just say, it's not!

Contrary to popular opinion, you do not pack your bags every day or every weekend for that matter and travel to some exotic location. At least we don't...we have school, work, church (I'm in the YW presidency), etc.  I have the same things to do here as I do in the States...cook, drive, laundry, errands, clean, make lunches, do homework, grocery shop, help in classrooms at school, wash the car, and again, the list goes on and on! But imagine all this in a foreign place where none is the same as at home. You can go from Utah to New York and it will all be relatively similar...not here. Everything is different.

So when Bob had to go home for a week in the middle of September for work, he saw my mom and told her she needed to come sooner rather than later. My mom and Jana came at the end of September and in a way, rescued me. It was so good to have them see what I was talking about and understand how I was living.

So, I planned a few things for us to do while they were here...it was a chance to do a little traveling...our first stop was Lake Como, Italy. It's just a two hour drive from my house (I know, now that sounds glamorous and I agree...pretty cool). And after we came home from Lake Como, we drove to Colmar, France for the day (another two hour drive...I'm not making my point about a non-glamorous life very well, am I?)

We left on Thursday for Lake Como and Cannero/Cannobio, Italy. We brought Maddie along. She missed a couple of days of school, but it was worth it. Our hotel was in Moltrasio. Bob and I had previously planned on staying there at the recommendation of Bianca Lisonbee last summer but because of his work we had to cancel. So I knew exactly where to stay and thanks Bianca...it was perfect!

The drive out of Switzerland was nothing short of incredible. It was breathtaking. We arrived in Moltrasio, unloaded and took the ferry over to Como (trying to buy our tickets was painful. There is absolutely NO ENGLISH spoken in Moltrasio). We spent the evening in Como eating and shopping and walking around. So much fun!

On the second day, we spent the day in Bellagio. It was about a 1 1/2 hour ferry ride from Moltrasio...saw George Clooney's villa, Star Wars villa and some absolutely amazing villas and hotels. Again, spent the day eating and shopping. I purchased a beautiful hand carved wooden nativity that I will treasure forever. Bellagio was wonderful. Can't wait to go back with Bob.

On our way - my driveway and backyard

The view driving from Switzerland into Italy

Narrow roads in Italy - glad to be behind the bus!

Our hotel. Recommendation from Bianca. perfect.

A walk in Moltrasio - need to find a bank - we need Euros!

First stop pizza and....

Gelato!

I need to write an entire post on food in Europe, specifically Switzerland. It was
good to get some delicious and cheap food!

More images from Lake Como...

After leaving Lake Como, we headed North to this hotel in  Cannero, Italy for one night. The hotel was from a recommendation from a friend here in Switzerland. It did not disappoint. One of the most charming hotels ever. Bob and I will be going back there. We were headed for the market in Cannobio (one of the largest in Europe) the following morning in search of an awesome leather bag. We found it and some other treasures as well.

A trip I will not soon forget!

Auf Wiedersehen,

Cheese and Chocolate

In September we took our first excursion...Gruyere (the delicious cheese of the same name comes from this region of Switzerland). Bob was out of town so we adventured with Rocky and Sarah and Eliot. We started our day at the castle. I was curious how William would do touring a castle...truly not convinced he would find it interesting, but that I would be hearing him complain about it being boring. I was completely wrong. He loved all of it.  And the surrounding area was so amazingly beautiful.

At the castle

After the castle we headed to the Gruyere cheese factory where we indulged in some delicious cheese and learned all about how the cheese is made. Did you know that the type of grass and herbs the cows eat is how the cheese is flavored. I did not know this.  And I cannot believe how many types of cheese there are. (I have learned that man can live by bread (and cheese) alone.)

Gruyere Cheese Factory

Chocolate was our next stop. Saving the best for last in my opinion. We toured the Cailler Chocolate Factory, the oldest chocolate factory in Switzerland. I learned that a "Kohler" was a pioneer in Swiss chocolate making. He introduced hazlenut chocolate which around these parts is probably the most common swiss chocolate. My grandfather is Swiss German, so I'm related to a famous chocolatier...of course I am!

The Cailler Chocolate Factory

The tour ends with a sampling of nearly 20 different chocolates. Honestly, I could not eat them all. I was SICK by the end (Will was not).  From the pictures you can see there was a play ground for the kids to work off the sugar rush! Will had a lot of "working" to do. He must have climbed that pole no less than 30 times.

Ok...do you want to come and visit us yet? Please come. We have room for you and will take you to this chocolate factory!

coming up...house tour!

Auf Wiedersehen,