My trip is quickly coming to its conclusion.  It’s hard to believe that on Saturday, we will be flying back home.  The first week, while Stephen had his exams, went by really slowly.  I thought at that point that the three weeks was going to last a lifetime.  But weeks two and three have gone by at warp speed.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about the whole thing – I’ve never really felt this way before.  Here’s a recap of what has happened in our last few days here.

After the marathon, we drove back home, took a really fast shower and packed for the next three days at warp speed.  Then we got back in the car and drove about an hour and a half to Luzern where S’s uncle’s lives with his girlfriend.  We had raclette again (melted cheese similar to fondue, except you eat it with most often with potatoes) and then spent the night there.  They have a really nice apartment.  It is a small, modern two-bedroom on the fourth floor of an apartment building – it has high ceilings and large windows.  I really loved it, until I found out that they paid $2,800 per month in rent!!!  This place is absolutely insane, the cost of living is so high.  Salaries are also higher – minimum wage is $15 per hour!  And other jobs wages are really high too, to cover the cost of living.  So then the cost of living has to be high to cover the salaries.  It’s a never-ending cycle that causes everything to be really inflated.

The next morning we woke up early and had breakfast and coffee with S’s uncle and his girlfriend at a local coffee shop/bakery.  There are  a lot of croissants and bakeries everywhere, those are really popular here (especially in the French parts of Switzerland.)  Then we met up with S’s grandmother (on his dad’s side) who took us out for lunch and showed us around Zurich a bit.  She speaks English very well, so that was nice.  She also bought us a bus/train pass to get around Zurich, so I got my first taste of public transportation here.  It’s a lot better than the US, but I still really prefer my car!

Here is a picture of S trying to get something out of the car the day after the marathon.  This is his every-single-part-of-my-body-hurts look.

He was walking like a 90-year old man for three days.  Stairs?  Not even an option…

Zurich is a really beautiful city.

We walked down Bahnhof Stross, a ritzy store of shops and restaurants.

And for lunch we went to a really nice restaurant that S’s grandmother selected.   Unfortunately, I can’t remember the name, but it was really good.  I got beef tartare, which I have never had before.

After that we had to drive 2 hours to Davos.  One of S’s other uncles lives here.  We picked up his girlfriend and drove her there to surprise him, too.  We finally got to Davos at 9pm and went out to dinner at Restaurant Parma.  It was incredible.  I didn’t really want to go because I was so tired, a bit sore, and rather grumpy.  I don’t really like driving all day and eating dinner at 9:30pm.  But I didn’t have a choice, of course.  I got grilled prawns and they were huge, fresh and delicious – that made the late night and exhausting day much better.   One incredible thing about this trip is the fact that we have  barely had to pay for any food or anything here – people have been taking us out and cooking for us left and right.  That is the good thing.  The bad thing is that I have been eating very unhealthily, but I am just trying to relax and enjoy it now – especially as the marathon is over.

After dinner, we spent the night in a little bed and breakfast-ish place next door to S’s uncle’s apartment.

It was cute, but everything here tends to have the faint smell of cow poo….

We got up in the morning and went to his uncle’s place for breakfast, and then we headed out to look around Davos.

It is a beautiful mountain town which is the host of the World Economic Forum (WEF), an annual meeting of global political and business elites and it is also the home of the largest ski resort in Switzerland.  We rode a little tram up to Shatzalp, one of the alps in Davos.  This is S and I in the tram.

S says that I look like a little mouse shoved in the corner of the tram in this picture.  Lovely.

On the alp, they have a helicopter landing area.  One came in really close while we were up there.  It was awesome!  It was only on the ground for a few minutes and then took off again.  I tried to catch a picture as it took off, but it was too fast!  I barely got this one off.

The view from the top was gorgeous.

There was a beautiful hotel,

And some cute little roads (only for bikes… no cars are allowed up there.)

I even saw a cute kitty trying to navigate a fence around one of the few little cabins up there.

We stopped at the Hotel Shatzalp and enjoyed a coffee outside on the balcony.  Although it was cold out, it felt warm and beautiful because the sun was shining down on us when we drank our coffee.  This was our beautiful view.

When we left Davos, we drove 2 1/2 hours to have dinner with S’s godmother and her husband.  It has been a long three days since the marathon, and I’m really happy to be back in Courteman to sleep tonight.

G’night, ya’ll.

Here is a gallery of the rest of my marathon pictures.  This will be a picture post, just to get them all out there and share.  I’m so glad that we did this – it really was one of the major highlights of my trip and a memory that I will always have.

Also, you can catch a video clip of me here.  Warning:  It is kind of anti-climactic

Thank you again for all your support!!!

The marathon is over.  I am running a little late on my report, but I finally have internet access on my laptop!  Praise the Lord.  It’s amazing how crazy I go not having Internet for just two days – especially the day after a marathon that I told everybody about and that I really wanted to report in on!  Right after the marathon we literally came home, took a 30 minute shower and packed and then headed to Zurich where we spent the night last night and there was no internet connection until now.

Race day we woke up bright and early at 7am.  We actually got an extra hour of sleep because the clocks turned back the night before.  That was a nice surprise – we didn’t know about it until that night   I had a protein bar and a banana, along with a cup of coffee and a lot of water.  I wasn’t quite awake:

Then we all piled into the car to head to Lausanne.  S’s mother, father and sister took us – so we were all crammed into the Citroen.  As we drove to Lausanne, it was rainy and miserable.  Here’s what it looked like out the window:

The car ride wasn’t much fun.  I was nervous, squished, cold, and still hadn’t woken up.  Can’t you see the excitement in my face??

We finally got there, parked the car, hit the porta potties, and made it to the starting line.  When we got ready in the morning, S realized that he had forgotten his running socks back in the US.  So he had to wear cotton ones, poor thing.

By the time the start sounded, I was ready to go.  I was freezing in my shorts and short sleeves and wanted to get started.  I think S’s dad has some pictures of before, during, and after the race that I still have to get off his camera, so I will post more later.

I completed the the marathon in 4 hours, 15 minutes.  I ran it all, although some of it much slower than other parts   It was tough, S and I stayed together until 6.5 miles and then he wanted to slow down and I went ahead.  So I pretty much did almost 20 miles on my own, that was really hard.  I’m also used to talking to people in races.  I have found that usually in the US, people want to talk (especially in longer races like marathons) but in this one everybody spoke French.  There was this one woman who I passed who was wearing an Escape to Alcatraz triathlon t-shirt, so I thought “Oooh, maybe she is American!” and I tried to talk to her.  I asked her if she had done that triathlon and tried to explain that was where I was from.  But she didn’t speak a word of English and didn’t understand what I was talking about.  She finally figured it out when I kept pointing to my shirt and saying “Alcatraz” and it turned out it wasn’t even her shirt, she had never even been to the US.  Haha, oh well!  Even the people who were cheering on the side of the road were cheering in french.  It was nice to have people cheering, but I couldn’t understand a single word that they said!

Miles 18-23 were really tough.  It was a more isolated part of the course so there weren’t many people on the sides cheering, and my legs were starting to feel like lead.  It was a very hilly course overall.  S walked most of the second half of the race so he finished in 5 hours 30 minutes.  That’s why we got home so late and had to take a shower and leave again so fast.  The race actually started later than any race I have ever done, too – 10:10am – so that contributed to the mad rush afterwards.

And everything was in kilometers – all the signs and markers.  A marathon is 42 kilometers (vs. 26.2 miles) so it made the distance seem a lot longer to me as I was running it.  I was really glad I was wearing my Garmin so I knew my mileage.  My average time was 9:39 minute miles.  You can see the Garmin output here at this link.  Check out the elevation changes, those were beasts.

Garmin for 2009 Lausanne Marathon

I finished 21st in my age group.  Overall, this race was really fast.  Almost every race I have been in have had people who have walked the whole thing and who are really slow.  But this was a pretty small marathon (There were lots of people there but most of them were for the 1/2 marathon and 10k and 5k) and most people were pretty fast and I think ran the whole thing.  It was impressive.

I am a bit sore – going down stairs isn’t the most fun experience right now – but overall feel good.  S isn’t faring as well, he is limping along like a 90 year old man

Well, that’s all for now.  I will be back later with more pictures and updates.  Thanks for the well wishes, I can’t wait to start running again and working to reduce my time for my next marathon!

G’night, ya’ll.

Less than 24 hours until the big race. Driving around the country, we have seen signs everywhere. Just the other day, we were waiting to get the car on the train to come back from the Lötschental Valley and we saw this:

See that blue sign?  Can you tell what it says?  Look closer…..

Yep, a marathon sign!  All the way out in the valley.  Love it!

Today we drove to Lausanne (a little over an hour away) to pick up our bibs and attend the race expo.  On the way there, we stopped at a rest stop for a drink.  S couldn’t resist doing the Swiss Beaver face:

Lausanne is a beautiful place.  The Swiss are more organized than the US – they already had signs for parking and the race set up ahead of time.

The expo was situated on a fountain, it was cute.

It was all right by the lake.

We headed inside the expo where we picked up our bibs and marathon bags.  There were a lot of people there.  I was suprised to find out that there were 10,000 people signed up for race day.  However, only about 1,000 of them were for the full marathon – most were for the 1/2 marathon, 10k and 5k.

In our bags, we got the obligatory t-shirt, a pretty cool little 2010 calendar, a cereal bar, some shoe laces, and a few other extraneous things.  But the coolest thing that we got was a bottle of wine from the Lausanne vineyards that we would be running through during the marathon.  I thought that was an awesome idea!  I can’t wait to drink some after the race

We looked around in Lausanne a little bit more.  We saw some swans, which I couldn’t help taking pictures of because I think that they are just so beautiful.  This one especially – he was doing yoga.  Episode six -  The Swiss Swan performing a downward dog:

Then there was one beautiful one

Who was shortly joined by his love.  Swans mate for life

And then we saw the finish line of the marathon, which was already set up.  Can’t wait to pass through there tomorrow!!!

I also didn’t know that the Olympic Committee meets and resides in Lausanne.  So we saw the Olympic buildings, old and new:

And headed home to rest up and eat some pasta.  I got to drive home, a whole hour and a half.  My first driving in Switzerland!  I must say I handled the roundabouts and zippers exceptionally

G’night, ya’ll.  Wish me luck tomorrow!

I was feeling a little down when I wrote my last post.  Since then, things have been getting better.  First of all, I had a talk with S and explained to him some stuff that we had never spoken of before – things like the concept of “fear foods” and how it’s not that I don’t like some things, but I am scared of them and it is very mental.  Since that time he has really helped me, and I am trying everything and feeling good about it.

But I would like to think (and I actually do think) that the real reason things are getting better is because I am making them get better by improving my attitude and changing the way I am looking at things here.  Rather than being scared of certain foods or thinking about how unhealthy they may be, I am enjoying the uniqueness and taste of each item – these incredible foods that I don’t get to eat regularly in the US and that are cooked for me and served to me.  Also, I’m not really exercising much.  But rather than thinking about how lazy I am being and worrying that I will gain weight, I am concentrating on the fact that I am conserving my energy and resting up for the marathon which is just couple short days away.  And when I go out with S’s friends or family, rather than focusing on the fact that people don’t speak much english and that everybody is speaking German, French or Swiss German around me, I am following some advice from a great friend who has done much traveling – she told me “While they are talking, try to enjoy your surroundings.  How many people get an opportunity to hang out with the REAL natives of Switzerland for three weeks?”  She is absolutely right and that is absolutely what I am trying to do now.  And it’s working!

The past few days have been a blur.  Monday and Tuesday I got to go to the gym!  When S was living in Switzerland, he worked at a gym called Fit Plus.  It is a nice club, and the owners are friends and his previous employers so they were really kind and allowed us to come use it for free.  I did a little running, a little step machine, and a little elliptical.  S did some weights.  He is still sore!

When we get home, since he’s now almost done with his degree and only has to take one final course this semester, he wants to start going to the gym regularly with me!  So I am going to set us up on a schedule and some healthier eating habits when we get home to help him and I both get into better shape.  I can’t wait!

After the gym, we went to a new mall outside of Bern called Westside.  At lunch, we ate at a Migros restaurant where I made myself a delicious salad:

This baby was delicious.  All kinds of vegetables, shrimp, feta cheese, olives, radishes, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, olive oil and vinegar… etc!

I also got one of my favorite candies that I used to get in England when I was younger – a Kinder Surprise!  The toy inside myegg was a cute little top:

On Thursday, during the day I went to Murten again.  I had gone there with his mom last week, but this time I got to hear go with S and hear his stories from growing up and visiting in Murten and get his perspective of the town.  First we warmed up with a cup of coffee.

Then it was on a walk through town and by the lake.

Some beautiful autumn leaves…

That is one thing I really miss in California – the leaves changing colors in the fall.  I don’t miss raking them, though!

A few scenic overlooks were required:

And some duckies in the lake.

And some duckie butts while the duckies were fishing for food.

Thursday night we went over to S’s friend’s home for dinner.  It was S and I, and two of S’s friends and their girlfriends.  I was nervous about going because I had hung out with this group before and they barely spoke any english so I felt really left out.  Anything that S wanted to include me on he had to translate, and then everybody was watching me and my reaction and I was really embarrassed.  But I went, and it was much better than the previous experience.  This time, one of S’s friends really made an effort to speak in English a lot and that made the whole situation more enjoyable for me.  They still spoke in French a lot, but I felt better when I did understand, and still felt more included even when I didn’t.  The fact that he tried so hard really made me feel like a friend and like I belonged there.  I also felt much more like S and I were a “team” – which we are   Here is a picture of the boys:

How sweet.

After dinner, we headed straight to the Lötschental Valley to spend the night.  Once again, it was freezing when we got there.  For some reason, the heaters weren’t warming up properly – even when we put them on the highest setting – so we did the sleeping-with-hot-water-bottles thing again.  Ghetto action.

‘Tis true, my friends.  No matter where you go, yourself follows.

My trip is now officially more than half over.  Hard to believe.  Since my last post I have seen many more places.  The past two days we have gone to Bern.  It is where S’s brother lives.  He lives in a place called Reitschule – an “an autonomous cultural and meeting centre”.  It is a very interesting place unlike anything I have ever seen before – it is this funny communal living place with graffiti all over all the walls and really liberal people.  They pay very low rent to live there and share everything… bathrooms, etc.  Each person cooks dinner for everyone once every two weeks or so.  So we ate dinner there.  “Reitschule” actually means “horse school”, because it was initially a horse-riding school.  The description of the place on their website says:

The development – since 100, respectively 10 years (100 years of history)

The building “Reitschule” Bern was built in 1897 and used originally as a riding school. Later, as the cars replaced the four-legged, the buildings were used as stockroom, until the 80s brought finally “movement”: a first use as cultural centre which lasted “only” from 1981 to 1982, as the city responsibles couldn’t enjoy the chaotical management of it. Successful was the occupation of the building in autumn 1987. The clearing out of the illegal hutsettlement “Zaffaraya” (which took place in November of the same year) brought the autonomous, the young ones, the unsatisfied or simply the future users of the “Reitschule” in fury – they couldn’t be stopped anymore. The “Reitschule” – or “Reithalle”, how many call it – was occupied in October 1987 and never left since then. Not until today. No other cultural and politically active centres in Bern, or generally in Switzerland, were able to last so long. And in the last 10 years no other centre in Bern was able to divide the spirits in such a way as the “Reitschule” did. Moreover, the history of the “Reitschule”, especially the period between 1987-1998, is described in “Reithalle Bern” the book published by the “Rotpunkt” (~reddot) editing house in the end of 1998.

More than you can think

The “Reitschule” is more than an ex-horse yard with which nobody really knows what to do and where some weird birds and culturalists have settled down. The “Reithalle” is the embodiment, of the troublesome people, the anarchists, the parasites, the ones who dream to improve the world and the eternal solidarians – shortly: the agitated of the 80s and 90s, but also of the brave and high-spirited ones, who didn’t and will not accept anything too easy. Step by step the “Reithalle” made its place in the city of Bern, the Swiss capital, and made itself heard. You can’t think about the city without the “Reithalle”, sorry, the “Reitschule” Bern, anymore.

Very interesting.  Here are a few snapshots from Reitschule Bern:

We also walked around Bern a bit.  And check out what we got:

A hedgehog cake!  Aren’t those the cutest things?  It is called “Igeli” here.

I loooove him   And he tastes delicious.

I’m having a bit of a tough time, and am worried about it.  I also am having a bit of a wake up call because of the way I have been eating here.  Although things have gotten a lot better with my eating, I still have some “fear foods” – a lot of which are staples here (i.e. pasta, a lot of bread, fatty meats, cream and creamy sauces, etc.)  It has been really mentally challenging for me because people are cooking for me, so I can’t exactly make my own foods or choose what I eat very often.  And I have no idea what they put in it, and I also don’t want to be rude and refuse things that people make especially for me, you know?  So I end up sort of panicking in my head, then eating it all, then panicking more and taking it out on Stephen.  It has been a real stressor on me and on us since we got here, and I really want to change it so that it doesn’t ruin the rest of our trip.  It’s really hard.  It’s all totally out of my element, and out of my control.

I know I haven’t been taking or posting very many pictures of my food.  That’s because almost all of it has been prepared and given to us by friends and/or family – most of whom I am meeting for the first time and I really care about making a good impression and having these people approve of me being a good match for S.  I don’t want them to think I am being weird for taking pictures of all my food (my friends and family are used to it, but most of these people are from another generation and also Switzerland has a much different mentality than in the US) and, as I mentioned previously, I don’t want them to think I am being disrespectful either by taking pictures or by not eating everything they put in front of me.  I am really surprised how much people push food on you here – I am used to that in some ways with my own family, but at the same time I have no problem saying “no” or letting them know when I have had enough.  I expected to eat a lot less here, because of the huge portion sizes and free refills that everybody is always going on about in the US that they say do not exist in other countries.  However, here there is a lot less freedom and customization as far as my food goes.  I am given a plate full of food, already prepared, and that’s the way it is.  I can’t order my salad without dressing without getting weird looks or just a plain old “no, not possible”.  Most of the time I can’t even read the flipping menu when we go out to eat anyways, because it is written in French or German with no translation.  When we go to people’s house for dinner, the food is already prepared with the sauces included.  They put a LOT of my plate and then keep pushing when I don’t eat it all.  Asking me if I don’t like it, asking me if I want something else, asking me why I don’t drink my wine, etc.  I really hate it, and it’s totally awkward.

Also the language barrier has been a lot bigger of a problem for me than I expected.  Barely anyone (besides Stephen’s family) speaks English, so every time we go out with a friend or relative Stephen talks to them in either French, German or Swiss German pretty much the whole time and I sit there with no idea what they are talking about.  I feel stupid and left out.  And then if he stops to translate something to me, everybody else kind of sits and watches while he does it and then waits for my reaction.  So it feels totally uncomfortable and embarrassing to me and again, I’m sort of taking it out on Stephen even though he’s trying hard and there’s nothing more he can really do.

Anyhow, I’m also a little worried about the marathon.  I feel very tired here and it’s cold, I wish that I hadn’t signed up for the marathon at all because it is making me nervous and it’s not worth getting worked up during the trip.  I have even really considered not doing it at all, but then I will feel like a big failure because I have already told so many people that I am going to do it and I have been telling myself I am going to do it.

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After making it through the night curled up around hot water bottles, we headed downstairs to the cabin kitchen.  I enjoyed coffee and my computer in my pjs, we had brunch with the family, and then we headed out into the valley for a walk.  Rather than a lot of writing and explanations, I give to you this photo gallery to enjoy.

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A quick recap of the past few days:

Last weekend we went to the Lötschental Valley where S’s family has a little cabin house in the mountains.  It was so beautiful.  It was about a 2 hour drive to get there, and you have to take the car on a train through the mountain.

I have never seen any place quite like this valley.  The roads are tiny and unbelievably windy, and the houses are all cabins situated on the mountainside.

S’s family cabin was just as cute as the others.  It is one of the newer ones in the valley – they built it in 2003.

As the sun set, we went to the Hotel Fafleralp – the restaurant of which is owned and operated by one of S’s mom’s cousins.  There we met a whole bunch of his family for a get-together dinner.  The food was incredible.  First course was a salad which was beautifully arranged on the plate.

The main course was venison meat, red cabbage with cranberry sauce, brussel sprouts with pork bacon, baked apricots and apples, spätzle, and fresh grapes.

spätzle, also called Knöpfli, are small egg noodle dumplings.  I’m not a huge pasta eater, but they are absolutely delicious. There was also plenty of red wine to go around, and I definitely drank my fair share

By the time dinner was done and we left the restaurant, it was freezing cold and there was a layer of snow and ice covering the ground.  We had to basically ice skate back to the car.  The house was still cold, so we heated up water and put it into big plastic bottles – and put them into bed with us.  Of course, I had a little bit of liquid blanket from the wine, so that didn’t hurt

More later.

Ok, I’m going to try to make this my last catch-up post, which might be difficult.  Friday was the last day of S’s exams, which we were all happy about.  So he headed to Geneva again in the morning (we dropped him off at the Fribourg train station) and we headed out for a little more sightseeing and then some shopping to prepare for the party in the evening.  As I mentioned before, we had a raclette get-together party with some friends and family who hadn’t seen S since he moved to the US.

First stop was a monastery.  It was so beautiful, quiet and peaceful.  And freezing.  It was still quite early in the morning and was completely silent with the exception of the cowbells on the monastery cows.

After the monastery, we went up to Mount Vully.  From the mountain, you could look out and see in all directions.  It is in between the three lakes of Murten, Neuchâtel and Bie, and the entire side of the mountain is made up of vineyards.  It was really gorgeous.

And this was my favorite picture from the top of Mount Vully.  Actually, S’s dad took this picture, I just thought it was so serene.

I feel like I just want to grow old sitting on that bench under that big tree, looking out at the beautiful view under the sun.  Ahhhh….

Then we got home to set up and… it was party time.  S was very relieved, because his exams were finally done.  And I was excited to officially start our vacation – of course I had already pretty much been on vacation for a week, but he hadn’t been.  There were about 25 people at the party, mostly older friends and family.  There were four surprise guests, though, that I knew about in advance (S’s dad spilled the beans to me) but I didn’t tell.  It was S’s two best friends, who he didn’t think he was going to see for another week or so, and their girlfriends.  They were the first four to show up, and he was really surprised and happy.

One thing that I am having a hard time getting used to here is how long everything takes… it is like everything is in slow motion.  Each evening, starting from the time somebody initiates the dinner process by stating that they are hungry to the time that we actually takes to sit down and eat… it is at least 3 hours.  And at a party/get together with lots of other people… forget it!  Everybody started arriving at 6, and I didn’t put a morsel into my mouth until at least 9.  But when I did… oh man, it was worth the wait.  Here is some of the spread:

And those were just the appetizers.  Even later, we broke out the raclette for the real dinner.  Then for dessert there was tiramisu, meringues with creme, and black forest cake.  Cookies, cake.  A feast fit for the gods.  Or at least a bunch of Swiss relatives.  Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I was trying to actually meet people and socialize.  Which was much more difficult and exhausting than I expected.  And by the end, I was pretty upset.  When I came here, I thought that most people were going to be able to speak at least passable English.  S said that I would have no problem, that most people spoke English.  But since I have arrived, we have both realized that this is not the case.  Very few people here speak any English at all, let alone enough to actually be able to have any sort of conversation with them.  There were a few people at the party (including two friends who I had just met when they were visiting in the US a couple of weeks ago and we had them over for dinner) who spoke English, and I was very grateful they were there and that they made an effort to speak to me.  But the bottom line was that overall, I could barely talk to anybody and I spent a good part of the evening following S around and looking off into space while everybody talked and laughed and had a good time.  I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Every once in a while S would try to include me by translating something to me, but that was embarrassing too because 1.  He would have to stop everybody else talking to turn and explain to me, and then 2.  Everybody would be watching him tell me and then watching my reaction to whatever it was that he said, so I felt like I had to have the “right” reaction… you know?  By the end of the evening I was really tired, frustrated, and upset.  I actually went to bed crying because it was so frustrating.

It’s a shame that the night ended on that note, but I guess it is what it is.  I talked to S about it and I feel bad for him because he is in a tough position too.  He has to explain everything to me and wants to include me, but at the same time there is really nothing he can do except for act as translator.  He can’t teach everybody English, or teach me French, German, and Swiss German in the three short weeks that we are here.  I’m working on it, but it will take a while longer   There will be much more of this on the trip, so I just have to be patient and understanding and enjoy being in this wonderful country even if I can’t understand what anybody is saying.  I’m really thankful that S’s family speaks such good English.  And I’m thankful every day to have him, and to be here!

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G’night, Ya’ll.

Ok, here we go again.  Only now, I am writing to you from Wiler – a tiny municiplity in the Lötschental Valley.  S’s family has a little house there.  We came up last night for a dinner get-together with a bunch of S’s extended family.  There is no internet connection here (if you saw this place, you would understand…) so I am using one of those “anywhere connect” sort of things that you plug into your USB port.  First time I have used one of those, they are pretty cool!  But first things first.

On Thursday, I spent the whole day out with S’s dad.  We left really early in the morning, dropping S off at the Fribourg train station at 7:30am so that he could catch the train to Geneva for his exam, and dropping his sister off at school.  Then we began our sightseeing.

We started driving south on the highway.  Here is a map of the points that we visited, pretty cool.  First we stopped at a little lookover point on the way to Bulle and Gruyere.  There I had some fun getting my picture taken as a typical Swiss maiden.  I’m afraid I was missing my man, though.

It was still very early and absolutely freezing cold.  It was quite foggy as well, but I could tell just from the view at the rest stop that it was going to be a good day.

We got back into the car and drove on to Bulle.  We got to the town a little after 8, and everything was still closed and people just waking up.

It was very quiet and peaceful.  Oh, and did I mention COLD?!?!?!

To warm up after a tour of the castle, we went into a little coffee shop that had finally opened.  It was an adorable place that used to be a cow barn.

It even had the old cow milking stools and other antiques hanging from the ceiling.

I was so cold, I looked like Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.  I couldn’t wait for my coffee!

Being used to my huge Starbucks coffees, these Swiss coffees are teeny weeny.  I polish them off in practically one gulp.  But it’s so cold that it always feels like the best gulp of my life

Next we headed to Gruyeres, where they make the famous Gruyere cheese!  We went into the factory where they make the cheese.  I was in heaven……

They gave us these cool little phone thingies that we could take through with us on our tour through the factory.  It told us the story of the cheese, how it was made, and the whole process it went through from beginning to end.  I got mine specially programmed in English, so I actually knew what was going on!

After eating cheese and leaving Gruyere, we continued south and east.  We drove through some beautiful small villages and scenic views:

By now the sun was out and shining brightly.  The fog had cleared up and the sky was blue and beautiful.

Our next stop was in a ritzy ski town called Gstaad.  S’s dad described it as the “Park Avenue” of Switzerland towns.  We parked and I did a quick photo op with the car.

Then I showed my love for Switzerland public transportation.

Then we headed into the town for lunch and a walk.  The town was very cute.

That big castle up on the hill is actually a really expensive restaurant.

By this time I was getting pretty exhausted from all the walking and sightseeing.  But we continued south because we had one more place to go, and I’m really glad I hung in there because it was the most beautiful.  We went to Chateau Chillon – a castle on Lake Geneva.  The lake was beautiful, and the sun was shining off the water.

It made me excited for the marathon, because it is along Lake Geneva.  It should be a beautiful course!

The castle was gorgeous too.

It was the perfect ending to the day.

And now, I  am off to eat some Swiss chocolate as my perfect ending to this day.  More catch-up tomorrow.

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G’night, ya’ll.