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

zurich zoo

One of my Swiss bucket list items was to go to the zoo in Zurich. I had heard such great things about it and while I am not a huge animal/zoo person, I wanted to see it. We spent a lovely Sunday afternoon there - me, Adrian, Daniela, Christine, Thomas, Tara, and Christine's mother who was visiting from Germany.

The new elephant park was amazing and the baby elephants were adorable.

 

But let's be honest, my favorite part was the bar inside the "rain forest". Some tropical drinks made it feel like we were on vacation!