Day Five

 

Friday and warm...very warm, very very warm  like  90 °

On with our plan to visit Sion.   A little over a 2 hour trip 

To market to market to buy a...roasted brat, a dress, umbrella, wooden crafts,  savory crepe, raclette,

Yes..the real Tupperware !

Spent a few Swiss dollars here ..so did Nita 

                                       Some lunched here  ↑                                    Some lunched here ↓

A   little bit of everything.  We could have spent more time and more $$, but not this visit.      All part of the big city 

Quite a walk up the hill to a castle and church.... nice stop part way for cool drinks.. We walked through the museum ...some made it through the church too.   

On the way back we stopped for fresh pasta.  It is the Ottopals night to delight us.  

                          

I live an exciting life  

Day four

 

It is now Thursday, and a very warm day.  

Seb feels fine this morning, worked with me a little on my puzzle

memo: It is a hard one .. the little picture was not complete, but all the pieces were in the little Zip Lok bag.  

The bus takes us to Swiss Open Air Ballenberg museum. An outdoor 160 acre museum.  Traditional buildings and architecture , gardens, demonstrations, hands on projects and much more.

And four of us took a "ride'   The horses do not go up and down, but the music is delightful.

Hard to believe that the rain started again and most of the group headed back home.

A few went to Grindelwald.   It was pouring, but Nita and CC found the perfect back pack and camelback for Tanner ,,check it out, pretty amazing.

The weather had cleared up and we were all able to gather at the Steinbock Hotel for dinner.  Tiffany had made the reservations and our waiter ( Elvis look-a-like) was smitten  with her.  He was very full of energy deliverying our meal and a bit of theatrics.  Quite entertaining.  

I live an exciting life  

Day three

 

We are still in the Valle de Joux... the hotel breakfast was very nice

Coffee in our room first   

   And then on to the breakfast room   

Cindy brought the  boys back and we all had a great last meal together. 

Then Cindy sat down and played the piano in the adjoining area... can't load the video, but trust me, it was very good.  

Memo:  Fabienne told the girls that Cindy had been looking forward to this celebration for days.  Counting each day.  Hope she is just as gratified/delighted as we have been. 

Well it rains sometimes  in Switzerland

Our dear and favorite driver took  us to the station...and our four hour train ride brought us back to  Brienz...except for Damon and Christian...they took a detour to Gruyere.  They had a great time over raclette ! 

Later in the day Sebastian was feeling sick, so he and Dale stayed home and the rest of us walked into town for pizza.

 I live an exciting life 

Day two

 

Though we had spent the day with Valle de Joux cousins 5 years ago,  this year we are gathering at the family chalet.  We had no idea how special this day would be.

A four hour train ride, so an early start

 Cindy and her mom met the 9 of us at the station and up, up, up the mountain we go.

This is where the cows live during the summer months. 

  The view...hard to capture the color

Family..... 

Mr and Mrs Rochat...  Darrell's 2nd cousin ..maybe 3rd 

And Cindy, Fabien and Lilah and Selya (Cara another daughter was upstairs feeling sickish)     Oh, Fabien broke his leg in several places so a wheel chair is his ride for several weeks.

A walk through the house

 to a table set with a huge array of delights  

daisies from the garden decorate  the table 

and Fabien grills lots of brats 

Then a very unusual and fun dessert

     

First you spread a few tablespoons of double cream on your plate

Then you crumble a meringue over the top and stir together 

then a tour through the chalet.....  

No electricity ... this stove holds very good coffee  

The upstairs bedroom where Sebastian and Tanner spent the night  

At the kitchen sink perfect spot for a heart to heart with Cindy

She teaches music and is an artist

Her hubby grew up in a watch making family and now helps run the Rolex office in Genève 

Did I mention there is no runny water

so

You dip water from the bucket and "flush" 

and look out the window 

Sebastian and Tanner spend the night 

They made good use of the pocket knives that the family had their names engraved on  and then they had raclette over the fire .... and check out the view again ...right from their back yard 

and game time by candlelight 

We say goodnight to the boys

Cindy drives us to town where we stay at

The Bellevue Hotel

Dinner and a good nights rest 

I live an exciting life