Many Winding Roads

On Friday, we drove went to the Grand Chartreuse monastery in the chartreuse mountains behind our house. It was not very far, but took a while winding through the crazy switch-back roads. I should have driven even slower since Wendy got sick on the way there. Never the less, we enjoying looking around the monastery and Wendy and Dave went through the museum.

I didn't want to work to keep the boys quiet and interested in the museum, so while Wendy and Dave took in the history, the boys raced up and down this tree lined path.

Piper never won, but he was still happy to run!

Wendy and Dave coming down from the museum.

We found a sweet stone wall with climbing ivy and so we seized the photo op.

Wendy and her adoring fans.

CJ

Piper

Wendy and Dave

Since we hadn't made Wendy quite puke, we decided to go up even more windy roads and up to the Fort St. Eynard, where there is a fantastic view of the Grenoble valley. Here are the boys, literally sitting inches from a sheer drop to the valley floor. Notice Piper's body twisting? Yeah, I'm holding onto his leg while I snap the picture!

Looking over the edge - gorgeous view with the sun streaking through the clouds.

Friday evening, we drove to Switzerland to spend a day in the Interlaken area and Luzern before taking Dave and Wendy to the Zurich train station to catch a train to the next leg of their journey.

On the way, it was sunny and raining... and so we saw many rainbows.

Particularly amazing was this huge double rainbow.

The roads into the small village of Oberwil im Simmental were really windy and it was raining and foggy. I was quite sick and we had to stop several times to let me get out and get some fresh air! Thankfully we made it safely and had a wonderful rest under huge feather duvets.

The next morning we awoke to a very cold and wet Swiss morning. We stayed at the Pension Hirschen, a really cute Swiss chalet in Oberwil im Simmental, which was virtually in the middle of nowhere.

Love the milk wagon!

After a very traditional Swiss breakfast of breads and cheeses - yum! - we headed down the road to see a race that started from the town center that morning. I think it was a 1/2 marathon race, and there were many people there from all over Europe.

Lining up at the start.

And they're off!

The fog started to lift and and mountains were beautiful.

The boys had a little race of their own back to the pension.

Another great photo op. By the way, isn't Wendy's sweater great? She made it herself, a woman of many talents! I think she probably wished it was a parka this particular morning, it was really cold for July.

We drove through Interlaken, but it was really too wet and cloudy to do any cable cars to the top of the mountains. We stopped and enjoyed the beauty of the lake on the way in.

And then headed to Luzern.

Family picture!

It was still quite cold and rainy, but we enjoyed walking around Luzern and seeing the ancient wooden bridges. Then we took Wendy and Dave up to Zurich to catch their train to Germany and more adventures.

Thanks so much for visiting us, Wendy and Dave, we loved having you here. You were wonderful guests and we enjoyed all the history lessons, the reminiscing and yes, even the political discussions! Thanks also for the Froggy Boogey game, the boys love it and play it all the time!