Mike and I were able to visit Kate in Europe for a whole week! We had a great time eating baguettes, pastries, cheese and chocolate. I am pretty sure I gained at least 5 pounds.
Our first stop was a small mountain town in France called Anncey. We landed Monday evening in Geneva and took a 1 hour bus ride to Anncey. We stayed in a cute, old small hotel. The next day was spent hiking up a mountain through forests and then through country pastures. We got back to town in the evening in time for some Raclette. It's a type of cheese that you typically melt yourself at the table and then place small slices of cheese on things like potatoes, meat, and vegetables. Unfortunately, we were each handed a HUGE plate of melted cheese with a basket of potatoes and a meat tray (with no veggies). Mike and Kate had to roll me out of the restaurant like a big wheel of cheese.
The next morning we left bright and early for Zermatt, Switzerland. It was a 5 hour train ride with 3 train changes but an absolutely beautiful ride! The train took us straight through the mountains passing waterfalls, green pastures, small mountain towns and through tunnels. Zermatt is a very touristy town well known for its skiing. This time we stayed in a hostel (a four bed dorm room), which means we had to share our room with a stranger - something that Mike was not so sure about. The first night we shared a room with a man who was about 60 years old and out to climb the highest peak in Zermatt. He only spoke French but Kate (who by the way is AMAZING at speaking french) was able to have fluent conversation with him. The next night we shared a room with a college kid who only spoke Spanish. Kate, once again was able to have fluent conversations with him and I managed to throw in as many Spanish words as I could (cerveza, taco, enchilada, etc)!
Friday, we caught a train up to the ski area, it was the slowest way up but also the most fun!! The problem with skiing in Zermatt, is that the ski area is HUGE and really, really long and the mountain really caters to intermediate and expert skiers. Kate, however, would probably classify herself as a beginner. She made it down 1 run just fine, although she claimed the trail was very narrow and that their was cliffs on each side and she was terrified. We then planned to ski into Italy for lunch so we took the longest cable car ride in the world and then planned to take one more cable car in order to be able to ski down into Italy. The line was 50 minutes long and Kate was a little out of sorts about it so I made the official decision that the group would not be going to Italy and we turned around (making one member of our group not to happy.
We had lunch at the mid-mountain restaurant and then Mike decided to leave us for another attempt at Italy. He made it there just fine but then barely caught the last lift up the mountain before it closed. We thought the Italy lifts closed at 4:00pm, but apparently they closed at 3:30pm and Mike got on the lift at 3:29pm!!!! That evening we decided that one day of skiing was enough for us!
The next morning we caught the train to Interlaken. In this city (as well as Basel) German is the primary language. Somehow, Kate managed to read things in German and talk to people in German. It was almost like she knew the language but she has never even studied it!!! It was unbelievable.
This time we stayed at Backpackers Villa (another hostel) but we had a three bedroom dorm so it was just us!! (Mike was happy) Saturday afternoon we spent a few hours walking along the river and then went to dinner at the best Italian place ever! We all had pizza, which was the best we have ever had. The next day, (which was Easter) we took a train called the Jungfraubahn which leads you to the highest train station in Europe. The station is 11,333 ft up the Jungfrau Mountain. It took 16 years to build (that was just the very top part that goes through a tunnel of solid rock) and was finished in 1912. We can't figure out why they built it in the first place or how they built it but it takes you up to a huge glacier with a lookout tower, ice palace and restaurants.
It was the most beautiful place I had ever seen - make sure you look at the pictures. That night Mike tried to make us go back to the Italian place but Kate and I outnumbered him so we went for Fondue instead. This didn't turn out as expected and we ended up getting a bowl of cheese and a bowl of bread! Something about those cheese dinners was not working out for us!
Monday was our last full day, and also Mikes birthday. We got up early, rented bikes, and took a ride around the lake. We packed a lunch of Baguettes, cheese and wine to have a little picnic and the weather was beautiful! After the bike ride we took the train to our last stop in Basel.
We stayed at the YMCA where we were in a five bedroom dorm but as it turned out we were the only ones in the room - which was good since we had to get up at 4:00am. We spent the evening walking around the old part of Basel. We took a little ferry across the river that runs through town which was just a man in a wooden boat! We ate dinner at an awesome Thai restaurant called Lilly's! It was a sad night as we were leaving the next morning.
Kate was an excellent tour guide and a great traveller! We had the best time ever and are already scheming our next trip! Knowing that we would see Kate in 2 weeks made it much easier to leave her!
The trip was so much fun and we all got a long great! Kate commented that she learned things about Mike that she never knew (
Slow really nice,
stubborn, a great traveller,
really slow). But overall it was a great trip and Kate did a wonderful job planning hotels and train rides and negotiating French and German. It was sad to say goodbye but we will be seeing her in 3 weeks when she comes home for good.
Here's the pictures
We got a kitten yesterday! Her name for the moment is Amelia (Mia for short). She is an Abyssinian and is 3 months old. She looks a little bit like an alien but mostly like an oversized rat! She is so friendly and affectionate and LOVES to play. Last night, which was her first night in our apartment, 
she would cry whenever she couldn't see one of us. So we ended up sleeping on the futon in the living room to keep her company. Throughout the night she kept wanting to play - she would jump on me and lick my ears and and crawl under the covers. When she would fall alseep she would lay on our pillows or curl up on Mike!
Posts
