On August 2nd, marking exactly 4 months of living in Switzerland, my eternally youthful Grandma Lil and her faithful silver-haired companion, Bob arrived for a visit. We were in the midst of our summer heat-wave and living on the 4th floor, our apartment becomes incredibly hot and stuffy. But Bob and Grandma were troopers and we had a wonderful visit. The boys loved having them here and as most visitors do, Grandma spent countless hours playing and reading about animals with Sam, while Baby Dean was enamored with Bob. He was happy to just hang out at Bob's feet while he sat in the chair and read. It really was quite cute! Hardy was gone most of the time they were here on a 2-week business trip around the world, so it was especially nice for us to have the company. One of the highlights was definitely our pilgrimage to Gruyères. (Note: The famous cheese which is imported only from this region is spelled Gruyère, however the town itself is spelled with an "s.") The beautiful pedestrian town is set atop a hill feeling far removed from the world below. It's also the home of Gruyères castle, which of course was a huge hit with Sam (knights in general being a new interest of his), a museum, lots of shops where the many local artists sell their wares and of course many restaurants to choose from. We had a fantastic lunch consisting of the best fondue I've had yet, which I'm determined to master, followed by light-as-air meringues topped with what is called double cream, a Gruyères speciality, I've never experienced anything like it before. It was as gluttonous as it sounds but worth every calorie, I was already excited to go back!
Beautiful day in Bern!
Grandma Loca and Sam.
Bob & his Little Buddy.
Gruyères.
View from Gruyères.
Sam & his Animals - yes his shirt is on backwards but some days you have to pick your battles.
On August 14th, Grammy Donna arrived to see 2 very happy boys and 1 very happy mama! She was here for a 2-week vacation and extended celebration in honor of her 60th birthday. Look how great she looks! I'm so thankful to have these genes on my side. :-) A few days later Grandma Lil and Bob headed home. We had a wonderful time and we'll all miss them but I think Baby Dean will especially miss Bob! The same day Hardy finally arrived home from his trip. Beyond exhausted but happy to see us, and to have Grammy here to help while he recuperated! The following Wednesday, G-Ma Ruthi arrived to the party. We all had a fantastic time catching up and exploring our new home. Grammy, Ruthi and I were even able to sneak away to spend 1 night in Montreux, although unfortunately we were not there for the world-renowned Jazz Festival. It's a charming town set on Lake Geneva at the base of the French Alps and is often referred to as the "Swiss Riviera" due to its palm trees and magnolias. It must be inspirational as it has a long history of attracting many artists, writers and musicians and is also very close to Switzerland's most famous castle Chataeu de Chillon. Fun Music Fact: This is where the 70's band Deep Purple wrote their classic song, "Smoke on the Water" after the Montreux Casino caught on fire while Frank Zappa was performing in 1971. The 3 of us had a fantastic time celebrating my mom's birthday with a very special Lobster dinner at the renowned Palace Hotel. The hotel has a storied past and has been home to many artists such as Freddie Mercury, who lived there for 20 years, as well as Vladimir Nabokov (author of Lolita) and Leo Tolstoy. They were all there in memory as we celebrated my mom's birthday!
Infamous Palace Hotel - Montreux.
Birthday Dinner - Amazing View.
Dinner!
Birthday Girl!
Longtime Friends.
Montreux Art.
Grammy & Dean.
Happy Sam Drinking the Yummiest Hot Chocolate Ever.
Grammy and Deanzie.
G-Ma in all her Glory!
1st class service to the hotel on a rainy day.
The following Wednesday which was the 29th of August, my brother, Stacey and Albert arrived! We were able to continue the birthday celebration before my mom and Ruth sadly had to leave a few days later. After they left we had the pleasure of welcoming Stacey's sister Kristen and her boyfriend Brandon for a few short days before they headed off to Italy. We decided to take the crew on a train ride to one of our favorite spots - Bern, to visit the bears as well as a few of our favorite museums.
Family Dinner.
Train Station En Route to Bern.
Boys on the Train.
Kristen & Brandon (AKA Auntie Marie & Uncle B-Dawg).
Auntie Marie & Deanzie.
After Kristen and Brandon left, we decided to explore a new area of the Alps, called Murren. It's a pedestrian-only area so we took cable cars up to the picturesque town - population 430. Murren is a mecca for skiing in the winter and hiking and base jumping in the warmer months. The monstrous Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau mountains seem so close that they almost look like they could touch the top of the wooden chalets spread throughout the little town. We had a fantastic time exploring all that the area had to offer and Monti and Hardy even took the boys up to the Schilthorn Mountain, which is the tallest in the region at 9745 feet. After taking a series of cable cars to the top there is an incredible panoramic view of all the different mountain ranges in the area. Another draw is that this is where many scenes from the 1969 James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service were shot. Besides our breathtaking venture in the Alps, Monti and Hardy took a tour of a local Absinthe distillery. Absinthe was originally brewed in a town southwest of Neuchatel called Val de Travers but was banned in 1910 due to it's high alcohol content, up to 75%, contributing to the nickname, "devil in a bottle." It is now being produced again, only (legally) since 2005. Not sure if either of them returned as believers though, they mostly just came home with headaches. :-)
Murren!
View from our Chalet.
Auntie Stacey.
Majestic Mountains.
Going for a Walk in Murren.
Big Al.
Auntie, Uncle & Dean.
Lunchtime!
Beautiful Views.
007's in Training.
On September 13th it was time for Monti, Stacey and Albert to go home after an amazing trip had by all. We didn't have too long to feel lonely though, as Hardy's parents or "Mimi and Bah" arrived a few days later on the 19th. The big event planned for their visit was a trip up to the Alps for a Desalpe Festival. The Desalpe Festival commemorates the cows return back to the flatlands after living for about 4 months with their herdsmen in the mountain pastures. There are festivals such as these all over the country and they are a very honored tradition. The cows all wear elaborately decorated flower headdresses as well as their heavily clanging bells and are marched down the mountains and paraded through the towns by their herdsmen and sometimes the entire family that owns them. Hundreds, sometimes thousands of people gather to watch the parade and show respect to both the cows and the herdsmen. At the festival we attended in Plaffeien, over 700 animals were paraded through the area. We stayed in the nearby German-speaking town of Schwarzsee which is absolutely stunning and located on the Lac Noir or Black Lake. The concierge at the hotel warned us to leave early in the morning for the festival as the traffic gets worse as the day goes on. We left around 8:30 for what should have been about a 10-minute drive to Plaffeien. A few minutes into the drive we noticed our first herd of cows up ahead, dressed in their parade finery. We were very excited and proceeded to take lots of pictures before we tried to pass them to continue on. The herdsman gave Hardy a very stern look and we quickly moved back into our rightful place -- behind the cows. Our 10-minute ride turned into an 1 1/2 and we slowly realized that this was the traffic that the concierge had mentioned, not the usual bumper-to-bumper traffic we were used to from the Silicon Valley! We continued on to the festival which was thoroughly enjoyed by all even though a torrential downpour started about halfway through the cow procession. There was also a big party during and after including traditional Swiss dancing, alpenhorn playing, lots of amazing cheese-heavy food and sausages and of course loads of beer and wine. It was a treat to be a part of the entire experience. The real highlight of the trip though, was being able to celebrate Mimi and Bah's 45th wedding anniversary with them. What a special event! We were so happy to all be together on that day.
Playing with Bah.
Cows on Parade.
Video of the Parade.
3 Generations of Schmidbauer Boys.
Traditional Alpenhorn Players.
Mimi & Deanzie.
The End of the Parade.
Local Toboggan Ride.
Moves Like Jagger - Video.
Lac Noir.
Practicing!
Back to Gruyères for the Fondue Experience.
On October 2nd, marking six months of living in Switzerland, Mimi and Bah departed, the last of our summer visitors! It's been such an honor and a pleasure to share our new home with so many friends and family members and we feel incredibly lucky to have had so many people visit and share this experience with us. It is a long and expensive trip (especially with kids!) and the jet lag (9 hour time difference) is brutal, which makes us especially grateful that so many of you have chosen to make this trip. A heartfelt thank you from all of us!
Much Love,
Lilli & Boys
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