Dick and Judy's visit to Europe

Family Visit: August 9-16, 2010

"Dick and Jude come to Switzerland"

I worked in the Dublin office Monday after the Widger extravaganza/Dublin horseshow and Preston and I met my parents at the airport to fly together to Switzerland. Dick and Jude were master packers and crammed everything into carry on luggage so our trip through customs and back to the airport was a breeze (excluding the insane taxi driver!).


We settled in and showed off our new apartment to our very first visitors (our sea shipment from Seattle arrived Thursday and Friday we left for Dublin so the apartment was very new to us too). We cooked up dinner and took a tour of our new "village," Carouge. Preston and I were treated to dessert and some after-dinner drinks at a cute spot a few blocks from our new apartment.

Tuesday I went back to the Geneva office and Preston put my parents to work. They hung photos and bought all of the "extras" we needed (clothes drying rack, a bread knife -- oops, forgot that, etc.) and my Mom surprised me with an orchid and flowers when I got home from work.

That night we had another dinner at home and called it a night pretty early.

Wednesday Preston took my mom to the top of Saleve, the mountains ajacent to Geneva, via cable car. I wasn't there but here are a few photos.

We all met up at a tram station that night (coincidence) en route to the Societe de Nautique, the famous yacht club in Geneva where we had Expedia's "welcome to Geneva" employee event (see "Montreux Jazz Festival" post from July) and the old home of the America's Cup trophy. En route Preston said to me, "I have something funny to tell you. I accidentally took your mom to France without telling her to take her passport, it'll be fun to tell her over dinner!"

Sure enough, her eyes bugged out when Preston told her over pre-dinner cocktails. It's okay, he crosses the boarder illegally all the time!

Early Thursday morning Preston left to go home to Seattle to check on the business and be in the wedding of Chapin Brackett, his good friend from Colgate, that Saturday.

My parents came to meet me for lunch and we got some sight seeing in too. We went to La Lucustre, a great spot where Lake Geneva meets the River Rhone in the heart of Geneva (it's becomming my "go to/take visitors" restaurant!) for lunch then took the little yellow lake taxi for a spin.

   

Friday I took a day off work to spend some quality Swiss time with two of my favorite people. We ventured to Montreux on the train from Geneva. 

We walked around, browsed the stands that sprinkled the waterfront and while Mom was shopping, Dad wondered over to the swiss ice cream, Movenpick, stand. He ordered two scoops and was in heaven. Until he found out that with the currency exchange those scoops cost about $8! Ahhh, Switzerland.

 

For Saturday's adventure, we toyed with the idea of going to Milan or even Paris for the day (we've all been to France and to Italy but it's always tempting considering both cities are so close and reachable via train direct); instead we decided to stay in Switzerland and tour my new country.

We decided to venture to Zermatt, the same place Preston and I spent our first weekend after moving from Seattle. We had a great time despite the weather not being too cooperative.

In from the rain for a yummy lunch

The gondola to the top of the Klein Matterhorn
(and a very snowy August day)

Dick and Jude in the Gondola en route up the Klein Matterhorn

Inside the ice caves

Swiss flagsmen putting on a show at the Zermatt train station

A rainy but picturesque day in Zermatt

Can't get enough of the window boxes!

A Swiss Miss in the German part
of Switzerland

For the grande finale, Dad and Mom bought us a fondue set from Zermatt so we can always think of our trip. Yum!

It was an amazing Swiss adventure and the 'rents couldn't have been better traveling companions. Thanks for being our first family visitors, we can't wait for your next visit!