Basel, Adelboden, Interlaken, Grindelwald
We stayed in my town for a few days so that they could acclimate to the time change (as much as possible) and then left for Switzerland. As far as natural beauty goes, Switzerland will always be my favorite. This was something I was adamant about when we were planning our trip-I wanted my family to see the Alps. Pictures just cannot do them justice, and my family heartily agreed. Come visit anytime to see them for yourself!
Highlights:
-Sitting by the Rhine in Basel and sticking our feet in the water
-Watching the expressions on my family's faces when they saw the Alps for the first time
-Going on a long hike with my sister to the Choleren gorge (you can Google it!)
-Riding my first gondola in Grindelwald
-Zip lining in the Alps!
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| Part of the hike to the gorge |
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| View of the lake at Interlaken |
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| Excuse the scratches-they were on the gondola's windows |
Paris
Our next stop was Paris! My sister was dying to go, and I had to admit that I felt just the same. This was by far the busiest part of our trip, as we had SO much to see in less than four days. We suffered from aching feet and sunburn, but hey, it's Paris. :)
Highlights (this is difficult, because just about everything was divine):
-Seeing some of my favorite impressionist paintings at the Musee d'Orsay
-Eating fantastic french food (boeuf bourguingnon, croissants, and SNAILS)
-Our B&B that we stayed at. The owners were so nice and wonderful, and provided a delicious breakfast every morning, in addition to helping us plan out our days. If you are ever planning on going to Paris, I will send you their website!
-Walking along the Seine and perusing all of the little stalls with old french books, paintings, etc. for sale
-Notre Dame. Enough said.
-Walking the 1336 steps of the Eiffel Tower with my sister
-Sitting with my feet in the fountain at the Louve
-Putting locks on the lock bridge. Two people in a loving relationship write their names on the lock, fasten it to the bridge, and throw the keys into the Seine. It symbolizes the lasting commitment between the two of you. My sister and I did one, and so did my parents.
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| The Notre Dame |
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| Inside the Sainte Chapelle |
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| My snails (they were delicious, by the way) |
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| It's bigger than it looks... |
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| The lock bridge! |
Innsbruck, Salzburg, Hallstatt, Meersburg
We spent a few days back in my town to do laundry and rest, and had the opportunity to have dinner with the family that has become my family here. Viane started helping out in my classroom in the fall, and we quickly became friends. I have a standing dinner date at their house every Thursday, but see them often. Their son, Jonathan, will be in my class this upcoming year. It was so nice for my family to meet them, and we had a lovely dinner at a spot outside that overlooks my little town. The next day we drove to Salzburg. It's about 6-7 hours away, so we stopped in Innsbruck on the way there, and Meersburg on the way back. While we were in Salzburg, we did a day trip to Hallstatt, which is known for salt mines that date back to prehistoric times. Hallstatt is where Salzburg got a lot of their salt from (Salz is German for "salt") which was their main source of income for a long time.
Highlights:
-Watching my sister go paragliding in Innsbruck. I wish I wasn't so afraid of heights, or I would definitely do it myself
-The Sound of Music bicycle tour through Salzburg. I was skeptical, because Europeans love their biking and I was nervous that it would be too intense (lots of hills) for my family, as we're not bikers. But it turned out to be a wonderful four hours of seeing sights from the film and learning about Salzburg
-The view from the fortress at the top of the city
-Visiting Hallstatt and going on the salt mines tour. We wore special outfits and got to go down two of the longest wooden slides in Austria (these took us deeper into the mines-the fun way)
-Getting to see a bike race that passed through Hallstatt. It complicated our driving plans, but we learned about the race, and I was blown away by the ability of the bikers to bike 200km (125 miles) up the steep mountains.
-Eating ice cream by Lake Constance in the sunshine
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| Getting the grill ready for our wurst (sausage) |
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| My families together. :) |
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| Paragliding! |
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| View from the fortress |
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| The Von Trapp house! |
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| The lake in the film |
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| My parents ready to go into the mines! |
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| Beautiful, picturesque view of Hallstatt |
Of course it was wonderful just to be with my family. We hadn't spent that much concentrated time together in years, and while we did at times find each other irritating like all other families do, I am so glad that we did this. I loved going to new places that I had not been to, and experiencing their first time in Europe together. I was also so thankful that they paid for me to travel with them. It was a huge blessing, and something I did not expect.
Remainder of the Summer
My three weeks with my family used up most of my allotted vacation for this summer, and it's back to work on Monday. All BFA staff has to spend two weeks helping somehow on campus, and I will be putting our new guided reading curriculum together! Basically, our school got permission to order a library of guided reading books to use with our English speaking students during our mother tongue time to help help them with their reading skills. My principal put me in charge of organizing it, and I'm looking forward to it! 1500 books are calling my name! I will also be organizing my classroom (it's still a bit of a mess since the move) and planning out the new school year, which starts on September 2nd.
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| The contents of one box- it's like book Christmas! |
I will also be attending a week of missionary orientation training during the second week of August. It's like part two of the training that I received last summer at the end of June when I went to Minnesota. Overall, quite a busy summer! It's been refreshing to be doing different things, but I have to admit that I miss being at school with the students and my partner teacher, Hanna. I cannot forget the reason why I am here, and I look forward to beginning the new school year in about 6 weeks with an entirely new bunch of third graders. I've been watching them learn and grow all year as second graders, and God has already given me a love for them.
