Luzern and Basel

Thursday we went to Luzern. We had a nice day just strolling around the city. We went over the old wooden bridge in the middle of town. We picked up some bread and cheese and chocolate for lunch. We had a nice picnic on the side of Luzern Lake. It was so beautiful. You could see the mountains in the distance. The water was really cold but somehow we manage to see a few people swimming in it. Not for too long though. We took a bus to the Transportation Museum and looked around that for a while. We didn't end up going in because it was a little pricey for us but we saw a few cool things.
We found a near by park there and just sat in the grass for a while. It was nice to have be at a green park with huge trees and it wasn't super hot. We enjoyed relaxing there for a while. I would love to have a park that I could go to during the summer and not be afraid that I'm going to burn my feet if I take my shoes off or sweat to death if I lay in the grass. It was very pleasant there. We took a boat back to the main part of town. It was pretty funny because there were several large ships that drove past our dock blowing their large horns as they came in. We were excited to get on one of them and go to the top of the boat. When it was close to our boarding time we hear this little chime and saw what seemed to be a little tug boat coming our way. We just laughed because that was our boat. We got on the smallest boat on the lake with a huge elementary school on board. It was comical. We loved it still.

Saturday Markus Gappmeir gave us tickets to an art show in Basel. It was a very big deal here so we thought it would be fun to go since we had tickets. It was a really rainy day as well so we thought our time would be well spent inside. Given that neither of us are too big into art we were a little skeptic but wanted to try something new.  We were hoping it would be some cool art that will change our minds about art forever. Didn't really happen. It was a very interesting thing though. We were sent through a large warehouse maze of art. There was art everywhere. We were there for over an hour and a half and we felt like we had only seen an eighth of the art there. It was overwhelming. Unfortunately the art wasn't our style too much. A  lot of the modern weird funky art that you wonder, "I think I could have drawn that when I was 3 years old." It was a good cultural experience but a lot of weird things. Also a lot of nakedness too, and not the normal Roman Cathedral nakedness. It was funny for us we just tried to enjoy the pieces that actually were art worthy in our minds and stared blankly at the other pieces. It was fun to see Basel though. Brett always has fun memories as we enter the train stations, or Bahnhof, of each city. It's so fun being together here even at crazy art festivals.

Eating Cherries and Watching Waterfalls

This place is so beautiful! I love it here. The green is awesome for me to see. I have never seen so many hills, and green hills at that. We are having a lot of great adventures. Last week we had a chance to hang out with the Kempas, the people we are staying with. It was a pretty sunny day, but all the alps were clouded unfortunately. They took us through the countryside of the Emmental. The pictures we took of the country do not seem to do it justice. You could see hills filled with fields as far as you could see, then after that were mountains as far as you could see. I loved it! There were random waterfalls off the sides of mountains because of snow melt. Something I had never seen. It was beautiful. We were able to climb up to one and stand behind it. It was really cold water. Most of the water seemed to just blow into the air, but the rest just trickled into a small brook at the bottom. It was really cool. We could see alps in the distance there as well. It was fun being with Heinz and Ruth. They love to show us the beauties of their country and all it has to offer. We love it as well. It was funny because they insisted that we wear hats. They said you will be too hot and the sun will burn you. We told them that we were used to being hot but as you can see we lost that battle and just wore the hats. Brett actually liked wearing his hat... maybe a little too much.

We finished that day by going through a beautiful canyon. It had a tunnel along the side that you could walk through the canyon in. There was a bridge along the mountain line above the water of the canyon that people could walk on. We loved it. It was very cold in there though. The water looked as though it had a lot of minerals in it. It was like a light green color. It was very cool. They used the bridge and canyon as a hiding place in one of the World Wars. I couldn't understand everything because it was German, but it was cool. My camera died half way through the canyon so I didn't get as many great shots as I would have liked. It was funny because there was an older couple walking with their dog on through this canyon. You could tell the dog was not enjoying it one bit. His head was down and did not want to stop for anything. We were laughing a while about that. On our way home I got car sick. The roads here are anything but straight and everyone likes to see how close they can get to the other side without getting hit by the on coming cars. I was not feeling so hot. I thought that we might die literally 3 times. I kept looking at Brett like it was my last time to see him. There are crazy drivers here including the driver in our own car! It makes for a thrilling ride though. We made home safe through after a long day. It was great to see some of the natural Swiss beauties.

The Kempas have a cherry tree. A pretty tall one. The first time that I have ever seen a cherry tree actually. We got to pick them! Brett was on the ladder one night just picking cherries. It is really great! The cherries are very yummy. Fresh cherries are wonderful. Heinz loved having Brett there to help. The next day that Brett was there to pick from the top branches because he was at work, Heinz chopped off all the top branches and we all sat outside picking off the remaining cherries. It was pretty fun, not something I get to do all the time. I would love to have a cherry tree. They are just so cute. While we were out there it started raining and I was told to pick faster so they don't get too much water in them and explode. Never heard of that. We picked about 20 to 30 pounds of cherries that day. Now we have cherry jam, cherry pie, frozen cherries, and cherries any time that we go for a walk or need something sweet after dinner. It is great! I took some pictures of them because they were just too cute!
We are loving everything about this beautiful place!

Geneva and Lausanne

Tuesday we were able to get some days off. We took a train to the French side of Switzerland into Geneva. It was a big business city actually. There were people in suits everywhere. We walked along the lakeside and saw one of the highest fountains in the world. It was more like a giant spurt of water into the air. It was not avery nice set up, but was impressive. The fountain is in the background of the first picture. It was hard to catch on camera.

We then went into the Altstadt, or the old town, of the city. It was very nice. The weather was sunny even a little hot. We went and visited the world known church Saint Peters Cathedral. It was very Roman Catholic looking. It was a historic church for the Reformation though. John Calvin gave a famous speech there. It was pretty cool architecture and fun to see an old church. The front had the huge Roman columns. We enjoyed looking at the old city around it as well.

The streets there were very confusing. We were looking for the Museum of Natural History that we could go to for free and got very turned around. None of the streets were straight. We were going in circles it seems. We tried asking for directions once but weirdly no one speaks or likes to speak English or German... only French there. We did finally find the museum though. It wasn't as great as we though it would be. It was full of field trip children. After touring the museum and the winding streets of Geneva, we headed to Lausanne. We didn't spend too much time there because we were so tired, but did walk the streets. We headed home tired from another day full of fun adventures.

Church in Germany

Last Sunday we had an opportunity to go to sacrament meeting at a small branch right across the border of Germany and Switzerland. We crossed over an old wooden bridge over the Rhine River into Germany. First time in Germany for me! Brett was excited to see so many familiar faces there. It was different than the norm chapel. We went into a bank building up to the second floor and there was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ( in German though). It was pretty neat. The members were very welcoming and excited to see Brett again.

Brett introduced me to his good friend Brother Titz aka John Wayne. He looks very much like him and probably as big as him as well. He has a friendly grandpa way about him and cares about Brett very much. It was fun to see such a small part of the church still so full of faith.

It is weird but as soon as we crossed into Germany prices dropped for things such as ice cream. It was a nice summer day so we were tempted to just by one on the way to the train. We are on vacation right? But we kept the Sabbath holy, we'll just have to go back for some ice cream later. We saw a beautiful park with very large trees and the sun was shining through the branches. It was rather dream-like. We enjoyed our Sunday in Germany for sure.

Braided Bread of Bliss

Saturday we went to Zurich! An area where Brett spent about 10 months of his mission (that area and around it). The weather was pretty good that day. It was a little chilly but did not rain. When we got there we went straight to Migros, the local grocery store. There we stocked on the essentials: cream cheese, bread, apple juice, and chocolate. The bread was a that special braided bread we made with Ruth last week: Zopf. We love us some Zopf. We had a lovely picnic on a wet bench in a small park next to a crowded street. We had our very own Swiss lunch. 

Luxemburgerli

Zurich is a very international city. I thought I might have become fluent in German already, but realized that most of the people there were speaking English. After our braided bliss bread we strolled the main street of Zurich. There we found stores like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Rolex, Prada etc. It was a big hoity toity place with guards at the doors of the store. I felt like a simpleton there. It was cool to see all the nice things though. One of the coolest nice things was Sprungli the hoity-toit chocolate store. It was super busy and very fun to experience fancy chocolate, we were able to get a free Luxemburgerli (what they are famous for). It's like a small cute sweet kind of moist hamburger looking thing. with frosting in the middle. Very different than anything I have had before in America. 

We then went to Brett's old mission home where the mission president lived. We had to take a small train/tram up a long steep hill to get to the office.  It was vacant so we were able to take some pictures. Brett told me some old memories about the office and the building. He was excited to go there, I loved hearing about his mission memories. It has been great to see Brett in this element. He is very comfortable here. He is confident in speaking with people and most people think that he is German because he speaks so well. I always feel so proud. He is a great example and I can see the good that he did here on his mission just by the smiles that he puts on others' faces here. 

After the mission home we rented some free bikes and cruised around the Limat, the river of Zurich. We saw some swans and laughed at how big their feet are. I experienced my first Euro port-a-pottie, smelt like an American one. I was stressed for the bike riding because there were so many people but we went on the less crowded roads through the city. It was very peaceful around the lake though, many parks and green grass.  

We returned the bikes and still weren't done with our day in Zurich. Brett took me to a mountain in Ueteliburg  with a very high tower on it. I turned into an old grandma walking up those stairs. It was very windy, I could feel the tower swaying in the wind and we were rather high. Brett asked to take my hand and I declined rather quickly due to not wanting to let go of anything. At the top and slowly walked to the edge took a picture and gladly walked back down. It was very cool to see the whole city from there though. Afterwards, we went to FIFA headquarters! Unfortunately we could not go in but we still took a picture with their sign. It was fun! We then hit up a small Calzone shack from and headed home. We were pooped, but was a very fulfilling day. We decided we need to make the most of everyday that we have, and we definitely made a great day!

Sat and Sun

Saturday, after Brett got off work, we went to a town called Solothurn.We didn't really know what to do there but went anyways. On our way to the train station here, we stopped at a local place and I had my first kepab: a Turkish burrito pretty much. Brett has always talked about them and now I can relate. It was pretty good actually, and probably the closest thing that we will get to Mexican food here. In Solothurn we went looking for ice cream. 

It's a bummer because all the shops close at the same time we get off work. So no authentic Swiss ice cream yet, but we did go to McDonald's for some ice cream. The sweetest looking McDonald's we have ever seen. It had sliding doors, exotic colors, bar stools and booths, nice art on the wall. When you first walked in there was a McCafe stand where they had coffee and all these kinds of sweet pastries. It was weird. Oh and instead of having burgers on the wall and market that, they market their salads! Weird... wasn't the same. So we asked for a McFlury to split and a cup of water.... they charge for a cup of water over here!!! Lame. God bless America right then. We don't really know why because they have those fountains everywhere... not like it's a big deal to give us a little cup of water. It was really good water though. There was a beautiful river through the town that we took some pictures of. It was a pretty town.

On Sunday, we had our first church experience here together. It was just like old times for Brett, but kind of a downer for me. In other countries I have been to I have been so estranged from the language that was spoken there. German is like nothing I have experienced through my life, Spanish is the main language I hear. So I felt out of place with everyone speaking German. Brett understood, so made it a little harder because I was the only one left out. It was a cute little chapel and the people were very friendly. Needing a translator for everything just wasn't the funnest thing. One lady helped me out in relief society though. She had great English but I could tell she was getting a little tired of translating. She asked if I spoke any German at all because it would be very helpful. I said no, and she followed by asking me if I speak any other language. She was very blunt about the whole conversation and I felt a little sensitive at the time... it was awkward and didn't feel good. But we made it through church.

Later that evening we met Ruth and Heinz's son Oliver at dinner. He and Heinz gave us a guitar concert. They are very good. Heinz was trying to give Brett some pointers with some country tunes. It was funny. Later that evening we had the chance to go to the temple for the first time. It was a beautiful drive. Green hills, thick forest trees, cows on the hills, and country roads all the way there. It was like a dream. The temple was great. The locals do not like the Angel Moroni though. It was placed on the temple a few years ago and they are still getting used to it. Angel Moroni faces east but the temple front doesn't so it looks a little funny. How can a temple look bad though, it was great. Surrounded by all green grass, flowers, and big trees. It was a great Saturday and Sunday.

Bern

Finally we have had our first day alone to go explore. Brett still had work today but I went with him and took a book. Yes I actually read, fell asleep a few times though. After work we went home to change and straight to Bern. It was about a 30 minute train ride. Bern is the capital of Switzerland. It has a beautiful old town to enjoy right out of the train station. The train station was the biggest train station I have been to, given I haven't been to very many that's not saying too much, but it was big. There were double decker trains and it was underground! It was cool to experience a train station.

Right out of the station we came into the old town of Bern. It finally felt like we were exploring. It's a more touristy area and there were Asians all over the place taking pictures. We tried to watch where they went so we knew the cool places to go, but people started laughing at us so we stayed clear of the Asians. The street looked like what you imagine Europe to look like: bustle of people, cobble stone, shops lining the street, red trams etc. It was full of weird people as well. We stopped at the local grocery market in Switzerland called Migros (doesn't really sound German). We bought a water bottle and a piece of chocolate. Even though we bought the cheap chocolate, it was still the best I have had. We drank the water right up, it's so clean though that it seems to have no taste at all, just really flat. Brett wanted to show me that you can just fill you bottle up at a fountain and drink it. People were doing it everywhere, so we filled ours up too. Tasted just like the water that was in the bottle originally, pretty cool. It was perfect weather to stroll, not too hot and

not too cold. We visited their capital building which was very beautiful and saw some pretty architecture with cool clocks.We went to the end of the town looking for a bear cave that they have there but never found it. What we did find though was a pretty river flowing through the town. We went on a bridge and could gaze over the town and see all the little chimneys... so cute. Brett said it looked like a scene right out of a Disney movie. Chim chiminey chim chiminey. We headed home that night feeling like we had a pretty great day in the capital of Switzerland.

Adjusting Happily

We are working with Caroline and Markus Gappmaier. They work from their home but have a very strong business. Markus is working with Brett on several projects. Caroline is involving me with some of her special family therapy sessions that she is conducting here in Switzerland. She combines music and family coaching to understand the relationships and interactions that happen in the home. It has been interesting to learn from somebody that is in the field that I am going to school for next semester. Brett and I have our work cut out for us here, but love to stay busy.

We haven't had much time in visiting the areas we want to go. But today is Friday, date night. We are going to hit up Bern and check out the city scene, something Brett never experienced as a missionary. It's funny here because the sun doesn't go down for a long time. The sun finally starts going down around 9:30 at night. Leaves sunlight for us to do things after work at 5. Still getting used to the schedule 9 hours ahead right now. We had our first night sleeping straight through, but I have a hard time staying awake during the day.

Last night we took a hike up to a hill behind the home we are staying and marveled in the beauty of Switzerland. It is beautiful. Something I have never seen... green. Green hills at that. It has not been clear skies since we have arrived but we are getting used to that as well. We look forward to be fully adjusted and nicely settled when we start fresh next week.

Off to Switzerland

Monday May 30th, we sailed off for a new adventure. Getting everything ready was a big whirlwind but somehow we finished everything. We left Copper with Mom, our house with Joe, and only had our suitcases to claim for two months. That day seemed unreal as we packed up our home and prepared for two months in Switzerland, not really knowing what to expect. With several breaks of sitting and looking at each other and saying, "I can't believe we are doing this," we finally were able to finish.

Mom, Kadin, and Porter dropped us off at the airport to embark on our journey, a flight that left AZ at 3:25 pm. From Arizona to Minneapolis, being in the air was cake. After reaching Minneapolis we had to then fly to Amsterdam, Netherlands. As Brett would say, "One of the longest flights he has ever been on." Fortunately I found some sleep, but Brett not so lucky. We were slammed into the  middle three across middle seats with nothing to lean on but each other and the tray in front of us. We made it to the Netherlands and had our first look at Dutch country. My first steps in Europe. It was cloudy but beautiful. We walked around awhile and waited for our flight to Zurich to arrive. The plane ride to Zurich was a little disappointing. We were excited to have a bird's eye view of Switzerland as we flew in but all we saw were thick rain clouds. We didn't see the ground until we were practically landing. It was very cold when we exited down the stairs of our small airplane to a bus which escorted us to luggage and on to meet our home giver of two months, Heinz. Brett's first encounter with German came as we were exciting the luggage claim and were caught by customs. The exchange struggled, but we made it out. Heinz was waiting for us. 

We drove from Zurich to Oberburg, which seemed like a pretty long drive after being in a plane for so long. Heinz was a great character though and welcomed us to Switzerland. We met Ruth, his wife, and had a Thai dinner in Switzerland. Our first day there was cloudy and wet and we barely were awake to enjoy anything yet. But we went to our room and tried to sleep. We were so excited to start our new journey in Switzerland.