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.