Switzerland Day One - Arrival

I think I may be too old to fly red eye. It is nice having the day to pack but I can't sleep on the plane and lack of sleep makes me much to irritable to be introduced to a new culture. ($1 per person to use the bathroom?!? I know it isn't actually a dollar but I'm too lazy to look up the symbol for a Swiss Frank and it is fairly equivalent.)

At the airport

Anyway, let me put aside my grumpiness and exhaustion and start over. Our flight over was actually rather nice. Swiss air has excellent customer service and lots of entertainment so we were mostly quite comfortable. They have a good amount of legroom too unless the person in front of you decides he wants to put his head in your lap (the seats recline quite a bit) for the whole flight. But I'm not bitter.

Flying into morning

Christian was the only one who got any decent amount of sleep on the flight. Jon had maybe two hours and I probably got one hour all together but the rest of us just dozed. Will was quite proud of staying up all night. We were served dinner and breakfast on the plane and while it wasn't great, it wasn't too bad either. Before we boarded Christian asked if they'd give us food and then said, "I hope it's steak!" Actually, in Boston airport Will and I split a 16oz steak at Durgin Park which was quite delicious. Although it is a mistake to split any steak with Will because he could have eaten the entire thing on his own.

Christian isn't sure about his movie...

We arrived in Zurich a little before 11am and began our long wait to get through customs (not too long), buy a card for our phone, and pick up our car. Our car turned out to be a giant Mercedes van. Christian was really hoping for a Jaguar but we told him to "get used to disappointment" The van is big enough for us all to fit quite comfortably, even with our luggage and the wheelchair, but aside from the tour buses it is the biggest thing on the road. It was 1:15 before we got on the road but we wanted to make it past Zurich before we stopped for lunch. We stopped at a roadside plaza where we enjoyed a delicious (but insanely priced) burger and were forced to pay to use the restrooms. This drives me nuts because I really wanted to wash my hands but was not about to pay another $1 to do it.

Sonic running alongside the car

Will's picture of the view from our car

Will's picture of Jon in the car

But all my grumpiness was washed away once we reached the lakes. This is the most stunningly beautiful area even though none of our pictures today come close to capturing it. We drove past many lakes, some with water that was green, and many small towns. As we wound our way up into the mountain the scenery grew ever more beautiful. At one point we stopped again at a gas station which overlooked a valley with a bluish green lake at the bottom. The station had a long slide which went a little ways down the hill and the boys loved it!

Jon loves the giant slide

Christian goes down the slide

Will's video of the long slide

Lovely view

Will takes a selfie

 As we drove towards Lauterbrunnen we began to enter the Alps and the mountains around us grew taller. We could see Jungfrau in front of us, a snowy peak that would occasionally come out from behind a cloud. We lost count of all the waterfalls we saw on our drive but there are a great many in the valley where we are staying. Three huge waterfalls are visable from the boys' bedroom window!

Our car in front of our house

View from the boys' besdroom

Our chalet in Lauterbrunnen is quite nice and has a fantastic view of the mountains and waterfalls. Behind the house is a small stream and field which the boys will be able to play in. When we first arrived the boys were a little wild so we took them to the local playground as soon as we could. The view from the playground is amazing! (I am going to need some new adjectives before this trip is over!)

Valley view. Jungfrau is hidden in the distance

Playing on the playground

Jon on merry go round

Enjoying the playground

Playing at the playground

A video of the view from the playground

After the playground we headed into the village to find dinner. This is definitely a tourist town so there are a ton of hotels and restaurants. At this point we'd been up for almost 30 hours and Christian was so tired he fell into a deep sleep at the table. It was hard to wake him up but once we did he just devoured his food. After supper we all went home and went right to bed. Everyone else fell asleep right away but Christian had passed his sleepy phase and was now very manic. He gets that way when he is tired and it took me an hour before he would lay down long enough to fall asleep.

Christian is sound asleep

Will and I are tired too

Everyone is sleeping now and it is time for me to join them. I can't wait for tomorrow and a chance to really explore this beautiful valley!