Switzerland Day 1

When we made our plans for Switzerland, we hatched a plan to meet up somewhere so we could make our l.o.n.g. flight all together.  My sisters and Dad met up in San Fran, and I flew from Omaha, and we all met up in Philly for the 9 hr. flight to Zurich.  We managed to get our seats together by sharing our sweet snacks!  Yes!  There is a reason I pack like a Mom even when I’m by myself.  Peanut butter M&M’s will get you a long way.

A few weeks earlier I made “travel packs” for my sisters and I. . .just like kids!  I got each of them a little bag and put in their favorite game book (variety, crosswords, sudoku), mechanical pencils (why has it taken me so long to realize the awesomeness of mechanical pencils?), pens, a sleep mask, lip balm, gum, tic-tacs, kleenex, hand sanitizer, lotion.  Honestly, I made them these bags as much for me as I did for them. . .after a long 9 hour flight, I need everyone to have tic tacs. . .and if you ask to borrow my lip stuff one more time. . .

Lisa and Heidi modeling their masks. . .Julie had a spongebob one.

(Me and my bloodshot eye sleep mask , and that neck rest thing I bought was worth every penny!  Thanks for snapping this photo Dad!)

One of the best parts of the travel packs were these

Please tell me you had a cherished childhood in which your parents bought you these for road trips, complete with the magic pen?  We seriously had the best time with these, and in true Schwendiman gamer fashion, everything was a race and contest.  We finished half the book pretty quickly, and decided we had to save the rest for the ride home.  If you need to know Lisa kicked our butt, just like she always does. . .

After a good sleeping pill and about 5 hours of sleep the flight attendants woke us up by cheerfully saying “good morning!” and handing us a danish.  Really, all I could think was why are you giving me a danish at 2am?  Ok, I’ll play along.  We landed in Munich and had to catch a little flight to Zurich.  I had an adventure in the airport trying to figure out why my baggage only got checked to Munich and not to Zurich, but I learned a few things. . .the Munich airport is impecably clean, that the old lady that tried to inch her cart past me in line was NOT nice, and if you find the right customer service person, you will learn that you can go in or out of security and down and back up from baggage claim as much as you like if you have a boarding pass.  I also learned that the baggage ticket for your suitcase will only hold 3 destinations, so in my case, I needed a second one. (Chicago, Philly, Munich, Zurich). 

Quick flight to Zurich and we were there!!  We picked up our rental van, a huge VW bus!  Sweet!  Heidi was our appointed driver and she rocked it.  We arrived to our hotel (in the red-light district. . .hey, it’s an adventure right?) just in time to have my good friend Julie walk into the lobby!  Yeah!  I was so glad to have Julie living in and around Switzerland for about 12 years (her hubby is Swiss) to bounce questions off for months about our plans.  She graciously agreed to meet us at our hotel and immediately walk us around town to keep us awake and get us to our reservations for fondue for dinner!!

Here’s a bit of what we saw

The Bahnhof (Train house/station!)

Loved all the flower boxes everywhere. . .little did I know this is a country-wide thing in Switzerland and in the smaller towns they’re even more spectacular!

 

This is Frau Munster (if you ever need to find the church in Switzerland, just find the clock!)

Lake Zurich

This is a delightful treat Julie got for us. . .they are called Luxemburgerlis.  Little meringue cookies in all kinds of flavors with a little filling. . .we devoured the box pretty quickly!

Fun little streets (“gasse”) in Zurich  

Sweets anyone??

The crew (ignore our clothes and faces and hair. . .it had been a long day)

Gross Munster (“Big” church)

Thanks for a fun little tour Julie!!!  So fun to see you!

We had a great yummy fondue dinner, then we got to find out all about the Swiss medical system. . .don’t ask.  But just so you know, 4 hours in the ER, a CAT scan and several x-rays will only cost 640 CHF (about $650. . .not bad huh?)  p.s. It wasn’t me.