Switzerland FLIMS

After we left the Post's we took a train from Lucerne to Chur which we were told is the oldest city in eastern Switzerland. A very industrial city, fairly small and not much to look at, we hopped on the first bus we could find to Flims. There are three towns situated around one large ski resort, called LAAX. We arrived in Flims and with only an address to giuide us, we found our way to Moni and Willy Wakelin's house. Moni and Willy run SFC Switzerland, and Moni has been a very good friend of ours since we met her in Canada last year, drove her and Raffi down to the States with us and put them up in our house for three weeks. Anyway, she and Willy were very happy to have company and as they were preparing to leave on an adventure of their own this week (China - NewZealand), there was a "traveller's BUZZ" in the air around the house.

The first night we were in Flims, we had real authentic Swiss pizza from a local pizza shop. The next morning we took Moni to work about 45 min down the road, then took her car and went exploring. It's both very exciting and slightly dangerous as you learn the rules of the road in a new country on the fly...and try to remember where the heck you are on the map (we didn't have a map). We looked at a few castles that day, saw an old church up in Falera (one of the other towns at the base of Laax) and took lots of pictures. We also discovered this incredible lagoon swimming area that we decided to come back to. That night, Moni and Willy had a sort of 'going away' party for themselves as they wanted to say their goodbyes to some of their friends before they left for China. That was great for us, because we got to meet some of their friends. We had Mexican food...ha, which took us back to Colorado for a minute, and then hit our beds tired from a day of running around.

The next day, we slept in, did a little bit of much needed laundry, and made our way to that lagoon we talked about earlier. That experience was my best yet...I think. Travelling is sort of a work out in and of itself, but being fairly athletic, I had been itching for a good aerobic challenge since playing soccer that one day in Germany. As some of you may know, one of my weakest sports is swimming. Thanks to my family and their 'short and stalky' genes, I sink in water. Anyway, this lagoon had an island in the middle and some rocks to jump off, and we swam sooooo much that day. We also saw two of our friends that we had met at the party the night before. We felt like locals knowing people wherever we went. It was such a great time. We liked it so much, that after an amzing traditional Swiss dinner of what sounded like "rocklette" we talked about returning the next day after Willy was done with work for another round of swimming.

The next day, however was rainy and thundering and lightning all day, so as for Val and I, while Moni and Willy went in for their last day of work before summer break, we finished our laundry and spent a lazy rainy day inside on the computer making arrangements for Italy. When Willy returned from work, the storm was still storming, and we felt a little bit of relief to say, "Yeah, it's still pouring...looks like swimming is out of the question." Willy, being his New Zealnd 'I love adventure' self replied, " Oh, well, I'd still like to go if you guys want to." We didn't know what to say, as we don't swim much in the first place let alone in the thundering downpour. So we packed our dinner up in a picnic bag and left in our soon soaking clothes for the long rainy 2 mile walk to the lagoon. I will be the first to admit that I've never been a huge fan of lightning and I was saying my prayers as we walked, exchanging uneasy glances with Val every now and again, as Willy walked along, no doubt enjoying his adventure all the while. We finally arrived at the lagoon and went for a swim. It was so much warmer in the water and we had a great time. Val watched from under an umbrella we found. We had dinner and returned home. We laughed most of the way home and were all very excited to come into their warm house. That night, we all packed up and Val and I prepared to leave for Italy and Moni and Willy for China. We also had a chance to go and watch another soccer game in a local hall where roudy fans gather for the celebration of every game during the Euro Cup. We had beers and bratwurst and watched Spain kick Russia's bums. Val and I had been there the night before for another game, but this time, with our friends, we had a much better time.

The next day, Moni and Willy, being some of the nicest people we know, drove us down to a train station through the mountains close to the border of Italy (so we could have a 3 hour train ride as opposed to a 7 hour one). The land was very beautiful and we gave some good long hugs as we wished them well on their China adventure and they wished us well on ours. We will see Moni and Willy again in New Zealand, and so it was a very happy goodbye. Our next stop: Venice and what surprises await us!

Check out all our pictures at http://www.stockworldtour.shutterfly.com/!

Switzerland: Cheese, chocolate, REAL football and dear friends...

     GREUTZI von der Schwiess. That spelling is probably WAY off, but I think that's how the Swiss say, ¨Greetings from the Swiss¨or something like that. Anyway, Val and I are here in Switzerland. After we left Bad Berneck, Germany and our good friends Shane and Lauren (the young Australian newlyweds) we hopped a train and headed down South into Switzerland. 

     We were trying to stop on the way to see this gnarly big castle on the Germany/Austria border built by the alleged slightly loony King Ludwig (which is the castle that Walt Disney designed their logo from), but it just didn't work out for us. Instead, we stopped in the city of ZURICH and stuffed our bags into a locker and strolled around Switzerland's most populated city for the afternoon. Right now, Switzerland and Austria are co-hosting The European Soccer Cup, the world's second largest sporting event, and the buzz is in the air. Being that I love soccer so much, it's been very exciting for me, especially that afternoon in Zurich, which is one of the host cities where some of the games have been played. There were crowds of people who had caught, what Shane and I were calling, ¨football fever¨.  Crowds had amassed on every corner in tents and halls, dancing and singing their home country's songs, sporting jerseys of their favorite players, drinking beer at noon... an atmosphere that I wish I could have grown up with.  Allow me to reiterate that so no one gets the wrong idea: being a lover of soccer from a young age, I grew up in small town Pennsylvania where people knew nothing more of soccer than ¨it's a kid's game and it's NOT football.¨ Now, looking back, I wish I could have felt a little more of ¨the fever¨back then. Nonetheless, hind sight being 20/20, I'll just enjoy it now, while I can get it. So, Zurich was a ton of fun, and as much as I desperately wanted to go to a game, the price of almost a thousand dollars a ticket deterred us both.

   

  We left Zurich on a train for Lucerne, a smaller city of about 100,000 that has a large international population. On arriving in Lucerne, we took out our VERY detailed instructions from the POST family and started adventuring up into the back hills outside of Lucerne to the POST house. As some of you know, Brian Post, the old pastor of our church back home, Dillon Community Church, left Colorado almost two years ago and moved his family to Lucerne to take over pastoring the INTERNATIONAL CHURCH OF LUCERNE. For the year or two we knew their family, we grew pretty attached, and when they first planned to leave Colorado, we'd promised we'd come to visit them. Less than two year's later, that promise turned out to be one of the sparks that caused Val and I to make the decision to travel around the world.

    

 Their house is in a little tiny mountain farming village about 20 - 30 minutes outside Lucerne, called Lifelen, and it sits amongst the rolling hills that are typical of this area of Switzerland with a powerful backdrop of rocky, craggily, snow-capped mountains. We ate dinner each night on their deck as we watched the sun set. It was so beautiful, I didn't even want to take pictures, because I knew they just wouldn't do it justice, and I thought my memory (although this doesn't happen often) would preserve the image more accurately. My only regret was that we only had the opportunity to stay with the Posts for a long weekend; we came in Friday evening, which they knew ahead of time that we were coming but weren't sure what time to expect us, and we didn't call ahead because we couldn't figure out the phone codes, so we just navigated our way and stumbled up their driveway, much to their surprise. They also happened to be hosting (at the same time we were there) a few of their daughter's friends who are from Colorado as well, so there was a really fun atmosphere in the house all weekend.

     Saturday, we spent the day walking around Lucerne, eating pretzels and learning about the history of the place, seeing some of the old walls and towers and such, which I know I'll

 probably say this again at some point, but my most favoritest, favoritest, favoritest thing about Europe is the history. American history is so shallow in comparison; a few hundred years ago nothing existed, but here the buildings are all hundreds of years old and they think nothing of it. You get a very cool feeling standing somewhere that has so much history behind it...to say the least, it's very cool and very educational. After we walked Lucerne, we went home for dinner, had a nice time of worship and as the sun went down yet again on their little village, Brian spoke about the Sabbath, and then we watched a

 soccer (football) game and went to bed. 

     Sunday, we went to church and got to meet some of their congregation, and I realized how much I missed Brian's amazing gift of teaching. He is an amazing speaker, and doing great things in his position as pastor at the ICL. 

     After church, we walked the city a bit more and I bought a new pair of shoes because the only shoes I had brought were killing my feet (and it was my birthday that day). Then Bonnie let me drive back to their country house from the city, which was very exciting to learn the Swiss road rules on the fly. Brandon and I played some pick-up soccer with a few local kids and then we had another wonderful dinner on the deck and ended the evening with a birthday celebration for me with delicious cake and another late football game on TV (I think we may have woken up the neighbors with our cheering). 

     Monday, we got our stuff ready and said a long last goodbye to the Posts, but not before we had a chance to introduce Brandon to some of the latest American culture, namingly Flight of the Conchords, and in return he had some Swiss goodies of his own to share. Brian and Brandon took us to the train station in Malters, and we said our goodbyes and sped off on our way again. And by the way, I would love to add that it has been absolutely fabulous visiting our friends around the world, but it is nearly heart-breaking everytime you have to say good-bye. I've realized how much I love my friends, first Jonnny and the British crew, then the Hortons: Shane and Lauren, and then the Posts...each time it feels like we've only just reconnected and before you know it, we're pulling out already. And each time we hop on the train and have a moment to grasp everything that has just happened, I tell Val, ¨Man, I miss them already.¨ So, to any of you whom we've visited and left in a rush, we're sorry. And please know that it hurts us to pop in and pop out, but the time we had to spend with you was so amazing and your hospitality has been incredibly heart-warming and refreshing. You all mean so much to us.

     And speaking of popping in and popping out, our next stop: Flims, Switzerland. More to come...Josh signing off.