Europe Part 4: Liechtenstein

Thursday, July 16: After breakfast, we loaded up and left Switzerland and headed to Austria. We stopped for lunch in Liechtenstein, a small, German-speaking country with a constitutional monarchy. We saw the palace:

 and headed to go get lunch, quoting A Knight's Tale as we walked along.

 I convinced Lara to participate in our silly statue posing tradition. We saw this one down an alley way and decided to go take a picture. Since she was inappropriately lounging their, I had Lara look shocked and sensor her.

 We ordered pizza for lunch. We decided that each couple would order a pizza, and that we would all share. The menu was in German. I don't speak German. I got frustrated trying to order because I didn't understand any of it, and Greg was busy helping Kirt and Julie. They were ready to order so they called for the waiter (we were on a time crunch). I wanted to cry when everyone (seemingly) demanded that we order (those Savilles need to be fed regularly and it was past due). Menus at new restaurants intimidate me even when their menus are in English (too many choices) and my intimidation was compounded by the German words staring back at me and the fact that I was tired, (which is my kryptonite). I tried really hard to keep it all together and not scream. Why don't I know another language! I took a breath, my in-laws sensed my frustration and had compassion, and then Greg helped us figure out what to order. Thanks to this experience, I have a new-found appreciation for my ability to read because I now know what it is like to look at letters and have them not make an ounce of sense.

With lunch, we treated ourselves to two bottles of their most expensive and luxurious bottles of...

 water.

 Fun fact: Europe doesn't believe in water as a suitable beverage for dinner. It's uncommon. They don't just give you a free glass of water like they do in the states. No, they make you pay for it. Someone in our group accidentally spent almost 100 pounds on dinner in London--not because their entrees were pricey, but because they didn't realize they were paying for those bottles of water. Well, Liechtenstein takes the cake on the water thing. But hey, the bottle was cool.

We found another statue to pose with on our way to the bus:

 And posed next to the almost life-size model of the country:

 Here's Brian, below the Royal Palace:

On the last night of the trip, each bus put on a skit for the other 5. One of the buses reenacted our whole trip in 5 minutes. For Liechtenstein, they walked across the stage saying, "Hi, Liechtenstein (1 second pause). Bye Liechtenstein." They weren't too far off, but it was an awesome two-hour stop!

Europe Part 3: Switzerland

Monday, July 13: We checked out of our rooms, we ate breakfast, and we hit the road, heading to Switzerland! We slept, ate, slept, ate, saw castles,

slept, snacked, and arrived in Crans Montana just in time for dinner. As we pulled into town, we were greeted by these sweet ladies:

They performed for us two nights later. 

After dinner, we had free time--we could actually wander around town without being in big groups. Crans-Montana is a beautiful, quiet skiing village nestled in the Alps, and it was beautiful and calm--a much needed reprieve from the constant vigilance in London and Paris. 

Tuesday, July 14: The next morning, we had free time again, so the six of us took the lifts to the top of the mountain:

 Cows have free range of the mountains in Switzerland, just like they do back home in Idaho. However, Swiss cows wear huge cow bells, and you can hear the bells ringing as you ride the lifts and walk the hills. It's pretty cool. The view from the top was breathtaking:

 After exploring the mountain peak, we took the lift back down, grabbed lunch, and hopped on the bus to head to the Chateau de Chillon:

 Lord Byron toured the Castle in 1816 and after walking through the dungeon, where he carved his name onto a pillar among other tourists' names, he was inspired to write his famous "The Prisoner of Chillon."

 We decided we're not big fans of middle age torture instruments:

 The castle is right next to Lake Geneva, and I couldn't get over just how gorgeous that lake is.

 We learned that beds back then were shorter than ours today not because the people were shorter but because the people slept sitting up back then. They were apparently worried about choking on their tongues or something.

 After exploring every inch of the Castle, and singing "Together as One" in the chapel (the joint choir/band song), we walked toward Montreaux, taking a path along Lake Geneva. Here's Brian near the lake with the Chateau de Chillon in the background:

 The lake was SO SO beautiful. And it was so, so hot. We passed many in our group taking dips in the lake. Some carefully undressed in bushes and discreetly got in; others jumped in with all their clothes on. I talked Brian out of jumping in. The waters looked so refreshing. Looking back on it, I wish we had just gone for it. The bus ride back wouldn't have been that miserable in wet clothes. Next time we visit Lake Geneva in July, we are bringing clothes to swim in!

 You ever heard of that song "Smoke on the Water?" We walked past the site where the famous fire that inspired the song occurred. Apparently Montreaux hosts an annual jazz festival. That's probably why they have a statue of Freddie Mercury:

 After Montreaux, we headed back to Crans-Montana for dinner and the combined choir and band concert. We had quite the turn-out, and the enthusiasm of our crowd was touching. They got numerous encores. It was pretty awesome.

Wednesday, July 15: After breakfast, we loaded buses and drove to the train station. From the train station, we went to Zermatt, a town that prohibits combustion engine vehicles (with the exception of some emergency and city vehicles) to keep the air clean and the views unobstructed. Zermatt is at the base of the famous Matterhorn. We explored Zermatt for a couple of hours,

 and then grabbed stuff for a picnic lunch and took a funicular railway, the Zermatt-Sunnegga Express, up to a ski area that is directly across from the Matterhorn:

 We took our picture with one of the famous St. Bernard. I didn't know that St. Bernards were first bred in the Swiss Alps as alpine rescue dogs. I think our city host said that after this year, animal rights activists won't let the dogs pose for pictures anymore--or something. Glad we came when we did!

After pictures, we found a place to have lunch:  

 We found this random couch up there, and took advantage:

 There was also a little pond, a playground area, and a swing.

 And this random sheep statue. I saw someone dressed up as this sheep before we took a lift up here:

 I made Lara pose for this picture on the funicular railroad car:

 And then we explored Zermatt some more:

 After spending nearly the rest of our Swiss Franks, we got back on the train:

 Then back on the bus and back to Crans-Montana for the most amazing Fondue party I've ever attended. The Swiss have a tradition that if you accidentally drop your bread into the fondue pot, you have to kiss everyone of the opposite gender at your table. The students loved it! We were all cracking up at the red faces and squeals of laughter. No one at our staff table wanted to do the tradition.

 Do you Fondue?

 After dinner, we got to watch an awesome show. Three men came and played the Alpen Horn for us"

 They brought tears to my eyes when they played "The Star-Spangled Banner" for us. It was so touching, such a kind gesture.

 This guy did some serious flag twirling/tossing:

 And then these folk dancers came and performed for us.

 Soon they had all of us dancing around and laughing. It was such a blast!

 We also were treated by a performance by two of the Three Sisters. (Apparently one of the sisters is sick). These are the ladies that greeted us when we arrived, and they treated us to music and laughter. They are such hams!

Switzerland felt like a huge hug after a long day. We felt so loved, so special. And if everything wasn't so expensive there, I would be tempted to buy a summer home there. Somehow, it felt like coming home. The people were so warm, so welcoming, so generous with their love and friendship. I wonder if I would have loved Paris a little more if we'd been able to have our concerts and had more interaction with the French people. I guess I'll never know. But what I do know is that Switzerland will always have a special place in my heart. It is a remarkable place that has little to do with the majestic Alps.