Our first visitor!

Our first visitor was almost two months ago! How time flies - well I figured it was time to recap before our second visitors come this week!

My friend Carolyne from grad school was able to make a quick trip out and we tried to pack in as much as possible into the four days she was here. Lucky for us the timing was perfect to take in some Swiss festivities. Aside from showing off the highlights of Zurich (which really just takes a day), we were able to hit St. Moritz, Luzern, and Interlaken.

St. Moritz is about a 3 hour train ride from Zurich and is in the heart of the Alps. If it sounds familiar to you it's probably because it has been host to the winter Olympics twice and is now more often known for being one of the ritziest ski communities in the Alps. Supposedly if you can afford to go there for a New Year's Eve celebration you're bound to run into a few celebrities. Anyways, we went there to watch White Turf - which is a horse racing competition held for three Sundays in February every year. Yet, it's not just any horse racing track they compete on, it's a track built on a frozen and snowed over lake. And if horse racing on a frozen lake wasn't interesting enough they do different styles of races - some like normal with the jockey riding on the horse, another where the jockeys ride behind the horses in chariots, and even one where the jockeys are being pulled behind the horses on skis!

It was definitely interesting to say the least. Next time we go we will need to figure out how to become a rich Russian horse owner so we can wear our full length fur coats and have a warm fully catered tent to go to in between races!

Second stop during Carolyne's time was Luzern, which is about an hour outside of Zurich. Luzern is a quintessential Swiss town, the true "Heidi Country," sitting on a nice lake with mountains just outside of the city and to top it off Europe's longest covered wooden bridge. Anyways, we went there specifically to take part in Fasnacht - Switzerland's version of Mardi Gras. Well perhaps I should rephrase and say we did not so much "take part" as we just watched the festivities. For the most part Fasnacht involves several large parades (some as early as 5 am) and then music and parties in the street. Perhaps the best part is that not only do the people in the parade get dressed up but the majority of the spectators get dressed up as well, and rumor has it that they work on their costumes for much of the year leading up to the event and it certainly shows!

Finally, we hit Interlaken, about two hours away from Zurich. Interlaken is probably one of the best known places in Switzerland. A starting point for many different ski routes and outdoor activities in some of the highest Alps in Europe. Not to mention many quaint little villages carved into the sides of the mountains. We had an absolutely beautiful day and Carolyne was fortunate enough to be able to venture to the "Top of Europe" the Jungfrau mountain. I'll save that trip for my post-pregnancy days, but even from part of the way to the top I was able to capture some beautiful photos. I was also amazed at how warm it can get when you are 7 or 8 thousand feet high - some people go up there just to sun bathe! Maybe I should have done that instead of having lunch, where I had the luxury of a bird pooping on me, but luckily it missed my lunch and only hit me!

Needless to say we had a great time while Carolyne visited and we hope that down the road we can have just as good of time when all of you come visit!