last night/day

I honestly tried to avoid thinking about it and putting off that it would actually come, but it came anyway...my last 24 hours in Switzerland...My AMAZING friends threw me a going away dinner party at Claudia's. We ate, drank and just talked and enjoyed each other's company. They were even so great to get me the sweetest gifts - a photo memory book from my time in Switzerland and a fondue pot with my name on it (how cool is that?!) were a couple of the things that I will treasure forever. After another night in the hotel I was staying at (since I got kicked out of my apartment on December 1st) and packing my two HUGE suitcases, one carryon, backpack with ski helmet hanging off (the movers had already come for most of my stuff and this is what remained), Christine picked me up and drove me to the airport. Adrian, Piotr, Jelena, Claudia, Thomas & Tara met us there for one last coffee (I think the guys drank beer despite it being approximately 7am) and some last laughs before a tearful goodbye. I was truly blessed to find this amazing group of lifelong friends.

blausee

The blausee or "blue lake" was another place in Switzerland I wanted to visit. It is actually part of a nature preserve and fish farm. There is a restaurant there that overlooks the lake which also serves fish fresh from the lake as well. I had won a bet (I don't remember what the bet was...!) and so Adrian owed me lunch and this restaurant is where he took me.

swissminiatur

Continuing my last week in Switzerland...I wasn't working and wanted to spend as much time with friends and also make sure I'd checked off some things from my bucket list. So, one day I took the train and went to Ticino (southern part of Switzerland where they speak Italian) and visited Swissminiatur. It's a little tourist attraction where they've built a miniature Switzerland...literally.


I got to Ticino early and walked around town and had some yummy Italian food for lunch before I headed over to the Swissminiatur.

Pretty views along the lake on a cloudy day

And the highlight of the day...Swissminatur - isn't it adorable, especially with the real mountains in the background? I was the first tourist in when they opened and there were only 1-2 other people there the whole time I was there, so I was able to walk around at my leisure and reminisce on all the places I had seen in real life during my stay. It was a great stop for my last week in Switzlerand.

Matterhorn

Bern

vorab

Last chance to ski in Switzerland!!! I had to take advantage and go skiing one last time while I was in Switzerland. Matt and I went to Vorab. It is somewhere where neither of us had ever been. Verab is a mountain in the Glarus Alps, close to Graubunden. The weather wasn't ideal and it was a weekday, so we were definitely out there with the super serious skiers and snowboarders.

 

friends

As my time in Switzerland started to wind down, I found myself spending time just chilling with friends. Whether it was coffee dates, gym dates, running dates, or lazy dates at the lake, it's always great to spend time with these smiling faces :)

Christine & Tara

Jelena & I at the gym...I was working out and she was taking selfies!

Alayna & I after a longggkggg run along the lake

Daniela & I after meeting up for dinner at the train station

Elvira with Tara

fondue night

Lise insisted that I learn how to make proper fondue before I leave Switzerland. She had me, Tanja & Daniela over for a girls night of fondue. I was responsible for the dessert and they requested cheesecake (because I'd smuggled graham crackers into Switzerland). Cheese on top of cheese on top of cheese....everything was delicious and it was so much fun! I can't say I'm a fondue expert, but I know the basics and I have the expert only a phone call away.

halloween

For my last halloween in Switzerland and to continue our tradition and dress up and go to Jelena's friend's halloween party. This year we dressed up as greek goddesses. However, who knew making togas was so difficult?!? It took several you tube videos before we even got close, but we had so much fun doing it!

real madrid v. fc barcelona

One of my bucket list items while living in Europe was to go to a "football" match. So, if you're going to go to a football match, why not go to THE football match - Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona. We bought very expensive last minute tickets and flights, but we were there. The experience was well worth it. We also got to meet up with Jake Widolff and have some beers in his neighborhood. It's always good to see people from back home. I'd already been to Madrid, but we did walk around and enjoy the city (and the food!) since we had time. 

olma

If you recall, my first fondue was with work colleagues at our out of town client at an annual festival called Olma. The tradition continued every year and for my final year, Matthias even joined! After our fondue/raclette at Olma, we continued drinking in the beer tent with live music and then even made it back for a nightcap at the bar at the top of the tower in Arbon. 

aescher

One of my Swiss bucket list items was to go to Aescher, this amazing cliff-side hotel. The hotel/restaurant is literally built into the side of a cliff. Adrian, Piotr and I went on a Sunday hike. We took the cable car up, hiked to the very tippy top of the mountain and had lunch. Then we hiked back down to the Aescher hotel where we had another beer. Our plan was to take the cable car down, but then it got too windy, so we had to walk the entire way down.

 

 

After hiking for awhile we decided to keep going to the very top to have lunch:

 

From the top - view of Santis in the distance:

 

Amazing