Well, I figured either I hurry up and post about our Switzerland trip (which is the final stop on our 'Journey Thru Europe with Kelly & Chad' train, I promise) or it'll never get done...so here it goes...
We decided to, once again, navigate through the streets of Europe & take our own vehicle to Switzerland from Germany...but this time, we rode with friends who had already made the trip before. We're getting smarter, people! :) We went with our friends Adam & Erin & had such a good time. On Thursday, we packed up and headed into Swiss country (which was just how you probably imagine it to be...b-e-a-utiful!) & arrived at our hotel around 7:30 that evening in Lucerne. We stayed in the Hotel Seeburg which was right on the lakeside of Lake Lucerne. The sun was setting behind the mountains so we quickly made our way into the busy part of town to get some dinner and to enjoy the outdoors. We ate in a little indoor/outdoor bistro on the lakeside & it was pretty yummy. I wasn't completely impressed with the food (especially for how much it cost), but it settled our hunger so I guess it at least accomplished that. We then left there and walked around for a bit before arriving at a casino down the road from our hotel. Erin had been itching to play some Blackjack & Chad & I have always enjoyed casinos (though we aren't very big gamblers) so we thought we'd have a good time. What we didn't expect was for yours truly (that'd be ME) to tear up some Swiss Roulette. I started with the equivalent of $120 in chips and walked away with a fat $545. Not too shabby for an honest hour and a half's play. :) I have had good luck playing Roulette before on our cruises and in Vegas, but that is definitely the biggest pot that I have walked away from the table with. Now, I know that there are probably some gamblers out there thinking that's just pocket change to their gambling styles, but that's WINNINGS to me. :) We were so happy. Chad is such a good hubby when I play too. He just sits right beside me at the end of the table and watches me do my thing. I do, believe it or not, have a strategy (kind of) that seems to work out for me, so he's used to the drill. He'll occasionally throw me a good luck kiss, he stays quiet, pulls the big piles of chips to the side to babysit them, and will continue to happily order drinks while I do my thing. It's a fail-proof system. Ha. We have a blast doing it and more than anything, we don't care if we win or lose...but it's always WAY more fun to WIN! :) Duh! Needless to say, our random casino trip was good enough to cover our hotel bill for 2 nights and our train tickets to Interlauken the next day. SCORE! We went to sleep feeling accomplished. Ha.
The next day we woke up to a fancy version of a continental breakfast. All kinds of meats and cheeses, croissants, cereals, muffins, fruit trays, cappuccinos...you get the point. It was delicious. After we stuffed ourselves we headed to the train station & got on our way to a little village called Interlauken. It's at the foothills of the Alps & so stinkin' cute! Initially our idea was to trek to the top of some of the mountains to see the breath-taking views we had all heard so much about, but a $360 cost for 2 people kind of put a damper on that dream, haha. Our train ride was a lot of fun and full of 'ooohs' & 'awwes' as we went passed many little villages, ranches, mountainsides and waterfalls. It was a fun and relaxing 2 hours. When we got to Interlauken, we decided we were hungry so we ate at a little outdoor bistro (again...cuz that's what they do in Europe :)) called Des Alpes & had our first taste of Rosti. It's a potato dish, much like hashbrowns, that they cover in all kinds of meats, onions, cheeses, etc. depending on what you order. It was good, but definitely heavy on the belly! Thanks to Erin we also got to delve into a bit of cheese fondue too. It was also de-lish! After the boys finished their jumbo pitcher of brew, our two couples split to venture off and do our own thing for the afternoon.
There were so many outdoor adventure sports offered in this little town, it was awesome. Unfortunately (but not unfortunately really), all of them meant that prego had to sit out and not participate. They had Tandem Paragliding from the mountainsides (looked so fun!), Canyoning (where they put you in a wetsuit and helmet and you ride down natural waterfalls on your back like slides), Bungy Jumping from 450 feet above a river, a big inflated rolling ball that you get inside of and fly down the side of the mountain in (no thanks), and White Water Rafting, which Adam & Erin decided to do. I was so jealous of them, but Chad & I made the most of our day anyways...cuz we got to go SHOPPING!! :) We spent the whole day looking through shops, finding me a new purse (which is from Spain & is super-cute), eating ice cream, watching the paragliders land in the park, and taking pictures. It really was a great day of chilling & loving on my hubby. The weather was perfect & the mountains were beautiful, so life was goooood. That evening, we trained back to Lucerne, ate some dinner, walked around again, and headed home to bed. We were pooped & our feet were killing us.
The next morning we did the breakfast thing again, found even more shops to check out, took some awesome pictures of the oldest wooden bridge in Europe, & eventually headed back to Germany. We got there in time for me to repack my stuff, call some people, sleep for about 5 hours, and load a plane the next morning...so it was quite a jam-packed and eventful 12 days I had there in Germany. The vacation was awesome, the plane ride home was just as good and comfortable as the plane ride there, & I got to hold my favorite person in the world...during a deployment of all things! It was surreal & quick, but we both loved every minute of it.
I feel so blessed to have gotten to see and spend time with him and the beautiful country we know as Europe. We really hope to get some kind of military orders to there, someday down the line. Not yet, but someday :). Here is a link to our Switzerland pictures if you haven't seen them yet: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041198&id=54100340&l=1066198939 Enjoy!
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