Aigle, Switzerland

***Just a warning:  This is a really long posting because we were here for almost a week but I put in a lot of photos so I hope you don't get bored.  :)

When we were looking for connections in Europe, before we left the US, our friend Christy suggested staying with her family in Switzerland. They have duel citizenship and are missionaries there.  We wanted to stay with some missionaries along our trip so this was awesome. She talked to her parents and they were so kind and graciously offered us a place to stay.  Her dad, Jeff, was doing a walking pilgrimage through Italy with Christy's other sister but her mom Donna, her brother Nate were home and showed the best parts of their area.  The day we arrived we had a long journey and Donna had a delicious home cooked meal waiting for us.  She was so amazing.  She treated us as if we were her kids and it was so nice to have a feeling of home in the middle of our tour of Europe. They live in a beautiful area, I will post a picture of the view below.  They have two dogs and three cats so we had plenty of company to visit with. Their house is set in a valley with the most amazing view!  It is so peaceful there.  After chatting a bit and eating dinner we watched a cute American movie based in Ireland called Leap Year.  I cannot tell you how excited we were about watching a movie!  She had a whole library of good films.  Steve and I don't watch a lot of TV (we follow maybe 3-4 shows, which is a lot less than most) but we do like our movies.  Even still, we can't usually afford to go out to the movies a lot and we don't have Netflix, but it is shocking how much Hollywood is part of our everyday life and culture.  I don't think Hollywood is horrible but if you think about it, it is a HUGE part of American culture.  We come home from work, watch our TV shows, read our trashy magazines about all the latest gossip in Hollywood, and even go on-line to find out more info about the stars we love before we go to bed.  Then on the weekends or on date nights, what do we do?  Go to the movies!  LOL  I know there is more to life but either way, it was definitely a treat to be able to sit on a couch and watch a movie in English. It gave us a sense of normalcy in the midst of all our constant travels.

This is where Donna lives and this is the view we got to wake up to every morning.  It was impossible to not wake up with a smile on your face when this is the first thing you see. 

The next day Donna made us an American breakfast.  You wouldn't think breakfast would be that different, but it is.  In Europe they have a coffee, eat fresh bread (yummy) and Nutella or maybe some cheese for breakfast.  But this morning, it was so nice to have eggs!  We had the yummy bread and croissants too but, to me, there is nothing better than having eggs in the morning.  

After breakfast she gave us a tour of the town and we went to the church she and her husband pastor so she could water the indoor plants (It is STILL raining so we didn't have to worry about watering the outdoor plants). It was a nice church with a big window in the front overlooking the beautiful lake Geneva.  It would be amazing to worship there on a Sunday morning.  I got to ask Donna a lot of questions about the Christian church in Switzerland. It was really neat to learn about the differences and the similarities to the church in America.  The coolest thing was to see that the foundation of the faith is the same but the expression is what is different.  I liked learning the differences; it is easy to think our way is the only way or the right way to show Jesus we love Him.
After we left the church she treated is to pizza :) and finished showing us around town.  Both Steve and I were excited to see a year round, in door water park. lol. Donna said we could probably go to the pool the while we were there if we wanted, the weather was supposed to be getting better.  That sounded so nice to us and said maybe we would.  When we got back to the house we relaxed a bit and chatted with people on Skype before dinner. Oh boy, dinner was definitely a treat!  We had Raclette.  I don't know why we had never had this before, it was amazing!!!  This is basically melted cheese poured on top of potatoes and other yummy goodies like dried ham or beef, onion, pickles, olives, or practically anything you felt like adding.  It was similar to fondue in that there was a big heating mechanism in the center of the table but each person has their own skillet to cook the cheese in before pouring it onto their potatoes. It is a good thing we don't live there because I don't know if we would be able to practice restraint and not eat it every day.  lol  After Nate got back from work and ate dinner we all played Carcassonne.  This is the game I told you about in my blog on Aachen where you build castles and such.  They had the basic game and 2 or 3 expansion sets so it was slightly more complicated.  Thankfully they played the basic way so we knew all the rules.  lol  We played for a few hours and ended around 11p which gave us all plenty of time to sleep before the next day's adventures.  As we were discussing our plans for the next day Steve realized how close we were to the Matterhorn so we stayed up another 2-3 hours making plans, checking trains, lifts, weather, trying on and borrowing warm clothes, ect. Steven and I can sleep on trains so it wasn't a problem for us but poor Nate had to get up at 5a to go to work, so he only got a couple hours of sleep.  We felt so bad :(  The next day after struggling to stay awake at work, he fell asleep on the train ride back home and missed the stop. So he had to wrap back around to take another train before he made it home.  Needless to say the next night we didn't stay up as late.

Donna and I eating Swiss pizza.  In case you didn't know what it looks like. ;)

Raclette!!!!!

Happy, happy, happy Jenn

We woke up the next morning excited to go to the Matterhorn!  We couldn't believe we were actually going there!  To get there we needed to take a 2.5 hour train ride to Zermont.  Unfortunately our Eurail didn't cover the train we needed to take and of course we didn't find out until we were half way there, so we had to pay $52 each to get there. But it was well worth the money. :)  Steve was almost giddy the whole way there because he equates the Matterhorn to Disneyland.  He knew Disney's imagineers had been there and created the best replica of the Matterhorn as possible, but he was about to see the real thing standing there in all it's glory.  The town of Zermont was really charming and was a lot warmer than we expected it to be.  We had prepared for very cold weather conditions and had brought many layers with us.  We ended up taking layers off because it was so warm and sunny.  It was a perfect day!  We walked through the city and were in awe of it's beauty the whole way through.  We wanted to go up in a tram to the top of one of the peeks to get a better view but there was a cloud that would just not go away.  We decided we had the best view of the mountain we could get from Zermont.  We ate a picnic lunch on a bench with a perfect view of the Matterhorn.  Steve described it as "breath taking".  The imagineers did a great job but God's handy work was so much better.  After lunch we went for a light hike, chatted with some local goats and enjoyed every bit of sunshine we could get before heading back through town to catch the train home.
When we arrived back in Aigle we celebrated the 4th of July together and had a BBQ :)  It was awesome because we probably would be doing the same thing back home.  It was nice to be able to celebrate the 4th with other Americans in Switzerland.  The only thing we missed was fireworks.  We will have to make up for that next year :)  Maybe we will be able to go to Disneyland sometime in the next year and get a firework fix.  lol  Anyway, back to the BBQ.  They had prepared salad, pasta, steak and sausages for us all to eat.  After dinner we went inside and watched a few episodes of Castle.  We didn't have the necessary ingredients for s'mores, the proper way to end a 4th of July BBQ, so instead we sampled some yummy Lyntt chocolate.  Nate said he had access to buying marshmallows from his work but there is no such thing as gram-crackers in Europe.  He was going to try to find a  substitute cookie and maybe we could have some the next day. 
***Warning for the horse lovers, don't read the next couple of sentences.  It is common to eat horse in Switzerland so we had horse steaks for dinner.  It was really good!!!!  It was sweeter and leaner than beef and super tender.  I would have never imagined eating horse or that there were people in this world who actually eat horse but after having it, I don't think it is as weird.  We both said we would eat it again.

This is only one of the beautiful landscapes we saw on the train ride to Zermont.

The City of Zermont

local church

This painting was on the ceiling.  Steve did not like this photo or the church. It made him feel uncomfortable because too "creepy, dark and judgmental". If you look closely to this picture you can see what he is talking about in the scene below the arch. This wasn't the only thing that made him feel this way about the church but it is one example. 

Billy goat statue

Fun do-dad I found in one of the chocolate stores. 

I just thought this house was so cute!  It is like a dream house with the garden and the mountain in the background.  If I was a writer I would probably write a whole story based around someone living here in Zermont. It was really inspiring.

The Matterhorn!!!!  This is the view through the trees we had while we had our picnic lunch :)

This river ran right through the city with a nice view of the mountain.

The entrance to our hike.  I like this carving of the hiker.

On our hike, Steve picked me a bouquet of wild flowers.  They were so pretty and smelled very nice.  I have such a romantic husband. 

The goats we chatted with for a while :)

Isn't God's creation stunning?!?!?!

Happy 4th of July!!!!!

Nate grilling up the meat. What a man!

The sausages and carrot salad

The mane course (pun intended lol)

The next day we woke up and the weather was perfect!  At breakfast Donna suggested we go to the pool since it was so nice out.  We were really excited because we hadn't had the chance to use our swim suits at all since we had been in Europe and we missed our sunshine and being in or at least near the water. We all got ready and headed out.  Steve and I were expecting Donna to take us to the indoor water park, that also had an outdoor pool, since we had talked about it a few days before, but instead she surprised us by taking us to a gorgeous hot springs park. Seriously, words cannot describe how amazing this pool was.  I will post pictures of the catalog, since I did not take our camera in the water, and those pictures do not do the place justice.  We swam in really nice, warm and refreshing water for about 3.5 hours. They had one pool where you could lay down and float with your ears under the water and they played classical music and dolphin calls.  It was a quite room so it was very relaxing and one could easily fall asleep in there.  There were many water falls in the main pool area where it felt like you were in the middle of a monsoon.  At one point I told Steve to come over to me he had to see what I was looking at.  He walked through the water fall and asked what I saw and I told him it was "the 8th wonder of the world, the fabulous, the amazing. . . .back side of water!!!"  I know you Disney nerds got that reference.  They also had a world pool.  The jets were so forceful you couldn't do anything but ride the current around and around and around. This was Steve's favorite part! He didn't want to leave and go to another pool.  Surrounding the world pool was a bunch of, for lack of better description, beds in the water that you could lay in and get some sun while still enjoying the water.  They also had sauna rooms and in one room it looked like you were in a jungle and they played music and pumped fresh air into the room that smelt like nature so you really felt like you were outside and we just laid in that room for about 15 minutes and dosed off for a little bit. It was lovely. We all walked out of there feeling like limp wet noodles.  It was the most amazing spa experience I have ever had.  I would go back to Switzerland if only to go back there.  Donna really knows how to live and enjoy life.   

The waterfall on the left is the one that felt like being in a monsoon and where I told Steve about the 8th world wonder :)

This is a nice areal of the outdoor pools.  See the world pool on the bottom right?  That was Steve's favorite part.  And see the beds I was talking about that surround the world pool.  This was such a neat place.

Here is the sauna building and one of the rooms with a fire place for during the winter :)

When we left the spa we were all a little hungry so we stopped at McDonalds to get lunch before heading out to see a castle.  I know what you are all thinking: Why on earth would we go to McDonalds while we were in Europe and I am sure some of you are wondering why we would go there at all whether in Europe or not. Well, Donna had said it tasted much better in Switzerland because they used local beef and cheese in there burgers and you could taste the difference.  We were very curious so we went.  Steve and I didn't taste much difference, but then again we don't ever really eat at McDonalds so we might not be the best judges.  I did notice the fries were not as salty as they are in the States.  I also got an Ovaltine McFlurry with Toblerone pieces.  That was pretty good.  :)  The thing I was shocked by was the price.  It cost about 11 Francs which is pretty equivalent to our dollar for a meal.  It was crazy expensive!  We were told they had to charge that much as to not undercut local restaurants' business.  Their prices had to be around the same as the restaurants' so people have a fair choice and McDonalds wouldn't take away business from everyone else. If I lived there I don't think I would eat there.  People go to McDonalds for a fast and cheap meal.  You take out the cheap and what is really the point?  If you could get quality food for around the same price, why would you go there?  It baffles me.
We made it just in time to catch our boat to visit our first castle, the Chillon Castle. It was wonderful being out on the lake.  It was the perfect weather for it.  Thank God the rainy weather had started to clear! We traveled on a boat called  La Suisse (very original). There were beautiful views of the country side from the water and the water was as blue as could be.  Donna has a knack for showing us the most beautiful nature scenes in Switzerland.  We stayed at the castle for about 3 hours exploring all the rooms and reading about the history.  Donna also offered information that wasn't posted on the plaques or in the pamphlet.  It was pretty cool.  I will post more pictures with stories or history below. We caught the last boat back and got a tour of the rest of their side of Lake Geneva.  I really enjoyed seeing all surrounding villages.  It was peaceful out on the boat with the wind in our hair and the water sparkling because the sun was starting to set. 

The three of us enjoying life and waiting for our boat to arrive and take us to the castle :)

Our ship :)  La Suisse

 Our views from the boat

The Chillon Castle

This is the Wine Cellar dating back to the 11th century

Steve finally felt tall :)  If he lived during this time he would have been considered a giant! Look how small this doorway is.

This is the Prison.  A lot different than our prisons today!

They caught me!

This was part of the basement of the castle where the prison was and is called the Crotton.  This drawing was dated back to the mid-15th century and is a picture of the Crucifixion of Christ, the virgin Mary, and St. John, St. Catherine (the duide and friend to the dying), St. Christopher (the protector against death without confession), and St. Anthony (the one who pleads against the the fires of hell). Catherine, Christopher and Anthony were not commonly seen in pictures with Jesus, Mary and John, but you can understand why they would be present here in the prison walls. 

I love these bay windows :)

I would be a giant here too!

If you don't believe the doorways you can see in this picture how small the beds are.  Also, how cool is this bed?!?!?!

A pretty rad dresser!  Why don't we do workmanship like this anymore?

This is a depiction of how they bathed.

 ***Caution:  potty hummer ahead :)

Steve and Donna using the castle toilets that empty out into the ocean two stories below.. 

Ewwwwww :-/

Awesome backside bathroom artwork.

Front side artwork :)

Words of wisdom posted with these photos: "What is the most joyful thing in all the world? 'Tis a fart! For it sings from its birth until it fades away."  :)

 We went to the top of the castle to look out at the view and came across the artillery and military supply rooms.

Steve really liked this clock.  It is a little more modern but it functions to ring the bells every hour.

The view from halfway up the tower

Looking out from the top of the castle.  Amazing!

Another view from the top of the castle towards the sun setting.

One of the old cooking stoves.  There was one in almost every room and helped keep everything warm.

I think they were having a wedding at the castle in the evening so they set up this lovely reception hall for the festivities.  What a cool venue!

A pretty flower we saw planted all around the castle.  :)

Did our boat shrink?

Ah l'amour <3

 Scenes from the ride home

The view on our boat ride home. There is nothing better than basking in the glory of God's artistry at the end of such a beautiful day.

As if this day couldn't get any better, Donna prepared a classic Swiss Fondue for dinner!  I was a little hesitant to try my first bite because I am not typically a fan of the white "Swiss" fondue we can get in the States but this was amazing! We gobbled it right up and poor Nate had to make another pot when he got home from work.  lol  Donna taught us a little trick.  She said it is important to drink hot liquid or some wine with a cheese dinner such as Raclette or Fondue.  This helps the cheese digest better and not become a hard lump at the bottom of your stomach and make you sick. I never would have thought of that.  Good thing we have plenty of wine on New Years Eve when we eat fondue. :)  Also, the cooked or burnt cheese on the bottom of the pot is most desired part.  It is called La Religieus and it is eaten for dessert.  After Nate came home and had his fondue we had our real dessert :)  He brought home marshmallows, chocolate and biscuits for s'mores.  The bummer part was we were all so full and it was so late we didn't even eat s'mores.  :(  We just ate the chocolate, but boy was it still good!  This really was a perfect day.  I know I have probably said that a lot in my blog, but it keeps getting better and better and God keeps blessing us with such great experiences on this trip.  
Thank you Donna for taking in two strangers, loving us, making us feel like family, giving us a sense of home and spoiling us with all the best experiences. I cannot express what a great time we had with you and Nate!  You are both such beautiful people.  After meeting you, I understand, even more, why Christy is so special and has the heart to serve and love people and God the way she does. Can't wait to see you again!