Last Day - Last post

Well today went like all our normal rest days.  We slept in, had a lazy start, got some breakfast, and Sarah and I headed out to the market to have one last look before we left Switzerland.  We then came back and packed and my dad and my uncle worked out the expenses for the trip.  They tallied up the total that we spent and owed and I think Sarah best described it by quoting, "It's a little between ouch and boing."  After that, we grabbed a quick bite to hold us over for dinner and spent the afternoon in the park.  Mont Blanc (the highest peak in Europe) decided it would show itself today, so we finally got to see it.  It is always covered in snow because it never gets warm enough up there to melt the snow.  Amazing... We then went back to the apartment for a while, headed out to a small restaurant for dinner, and then some of us went and watched the Germany vs. Spain World Cup game (I am so disappointed in the Germans, by the way) at our new "watch the World Cup" spot.  This time, the little turkish restaurant was filled with people who were watching the game (a lot of Spain fans...mumble mumble) and it was fun yelling and screaming along with the crowd.  After a depressing loss, we walked back to get some rest for our travel day tomorrow... (rise and shine at 4:00am!  Yippadoodle...) :)


So here we are, at the end of the 10 wonderful days.  I personally go between feeling like it has been so long since we left and then feeling like it was just yesterday that we boarded our plane. I miss much at home, but still do not want to leave.  There is so much here that I have grown to love - it is hard to think I might not come back for a while.  But another chapter closes while another one opens and I cannot even begin to say how grateful I am that God provided this trip for me.  It has been an adventure full of memories that I will take with me for the rest of my life... 

A few cravings from the travelers that are coming home:

Sarah - Chinese food
Kelsey - a vanilla milkshake from Chik-fil-a
Andy - an enchilada

On behalf of my dad and Sarah, thank you for reading and praying.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed telling our stories. We cannot wait to see you all face to face and share more!


Au revoir Europe!  Hello America!


For the final time
- Kelsey

The Alps - Day 2 (7/6/10)

We woke up bright and early (what a view to wake up to! Oh my..) to get ready for the second breakfast that was at 7:15am.  The first breakfast was at 4:45am for the dedicated hikers of which our roommates (and our dinner friends) were.  (We..cough..cough...were obviously not..) So we also woke up to an empty room and practically empty hut which was nice.  We got dressed (no showers....well, ok...there was one, but it was outside on the hill and the water was cold...so that was a definite no for us) and headed downstairs for breakfast.  We were slower getting ready, due to the fact that our legs were still recovering and our crispy, sun burnt bodies suddenly refused to function for some reason.  We lathered on sunscreen (much more than yesterday now that we knew the sun was a scorcher), laced our hiking boots, and set out at 8:45am with our packs on our backs.  The first obstacle was getting down from the hill that the hut was on - the side we needed to cross was extremely steep and full of loose rock.  But we made it down safely and headed across a glacier (oh yes, a glacier) called the Glacier de Cheilon towards the final upward hike that we would take that day.  After resting (and preparing our hearts) for the clime, we started.  It took a while, many points we were on our hands and knees, and a few slippery steps, but we made it to the top and the view that awaited us made the hard climb worth it.   We sat at the top of the mountain in this little alcove (called the Cole de Riedmatten) and behind us (where we came from) the landscape was all rocky and colorless due to the fact of the glacier was moving the rock all around as it made its way down the mountain.  Then, in front of us, the landscape was the complete opposite - green grassy meadows, flowers, streams, blue mountains against the white clouds.  It took away what breath we had left after the climb.  We sat for a while just staring.  After we were all recovered (well mostly), we headed down the small winding path to start the easier, but longer rest of the day.  (We had been 2,928 meters - 9,606 ft - up in the air at the hut.) From that point on, it was just a slow downward walk to the town called Arolla where we would take our bus back to the train station.  And my, what a walk it was!  Sarah and I kept saying, "This reminds me of Lord of the Rings when they....This reminds me of Narnia when they.... This reminds me of Sound of Music when they..."  The list went on and on - just think of any movie with gorgeous mountains and we had mentioned it that day.. :D  The path snaked in between streams and meadows, past cows and glaciers.  I don't think I have walked in any place as beautiful as I did that day... the scenery made you forget that you were actually walking miles and miles.  (Unless of course we stopped to rest a bit and our bodies said, "Hey I like this resting bit...let's stop walking forever, ok?" Then we had a problem...)  We ended up having to run the last 10 minutes to catch our bus in Arolla, but when we made it on the bus, we were grateful for that last run.  It was such a weird feeling to be on the bus watching the Alps grow farther away and think, "Hey, I just hiked over those for miles and now I am here... who would have thought!"  We made it to the trains station and boarded our train for Morges - home = a hot shower, a clean bed, nice smelling pillows ("I forgot that pillow didn't have to smell like feet!" - Gilmore Girls), and food.  Oh glorious food!  My uncle cooked up some Swiss type hamburgers (beef is so expensive here, so this was the first time we had it... Sarah and I were almost about to kill one of the cows on the trail..) and we happily ate our fill after that long day.  Then, crispy, but clean, we all slumped/crawled/fell into bed and slept... Thus ended the last day in the Alps.

Some pictures from the last day (these are from my camera, but there were many good ones on everyone's camera...we just didn't have much time...):

^ See the little box thing... that was the shower... yeah... not happening

^ Good morning Alps! (one of the views from the hut)

^ Walking down the steep hill from the hut...

^ The start of the glacier... see that wide V...that is where we were headed..

^ Hello steep climb... (the picture doesn't do it justice...it really was steeper than that...) 

^ After making our way to the top, this was the view that awaited us... 

^ The path downward..

^ At the top where there is a little U, that is where we were...and if you look really closely, you can see Sarah and Andy walking across the snow..

^ Our fearless leader :) 

^ At this point, he was ready for some walking..just plain easy walking.. :) 

^ The adventurers

^ Our path... it was like a painting

^ One of the many streams we passed...

^ These cows have it too good really...

^ "The hills are alive!!"  <- the characters in Sound of Music make climbing look so easy...yeah right.. bah!  :) 

^ I loved all the gorgeous flowers of all different shapes and colors

The Alps - Day 1 (7/5/10)

So we started off the early morning with a croissant on our way to the train.  (I am really going to miss the croissants here...)  We headed to the train that would take us to Sion where we would catch a bus up to Des Dixence.  We looked like tourists as we squeezed onto the train with out backpacks, hiking boots, and walking poles.  But we were about to go spend two days in the Alps, so who really cares right?  :)  On the bus ride up, we were the only passengers so we sat in the front and watched as we climbed higher and higher.  Try to imagine riding in a bus on teeny tiny roads that had no guard rail and that had insanely sharp curves.  Our bus driver looked like he didn't even know he was about to hit that car or drop over the edge.  He just drove very calmly as Sarah and I held each other tightly and dug our nails into each other at each turn.  I could have sworn I saw the back wheel leave the edge at a couple points.  Let's just say Sarah and I kissed the ground when we finally got to our destination.  We wished we knew what "very good driving" was in French, but all we knew was thank you and we really meant it.   We were dropped off just below the largest dam in Europe and took a small cable car up to the top of it.  This is where the real adventure begins.  :)  At this point we were 2,365 meters (7,759 ft) up in the air.  The first two hours of the hike were quite pleasant - all flat ground surrounded by meadows of mountain flowers and shaded by the mountains on each side.  Sarah and I sang musicals (Sound of Music, Phantom of the Opera, Oklahoma) and quoted movies and shows (the list is too long to state here..but it did include a lot of the episode of Gilmore Girls where they back packed across Europe). :)  Then we got to the end of the lake that we made by the dam and we started going upwards.  That is when the going got tough(er).  Because of the altitude, it was harder to get oxygen to your lungs so we had to make many stops.  That and the fact that the sun was a lot closer so we had to take many water breaks as well.  Thankfully it was not scorching hot and there was a nice breeze which made the going easier.  I kept looking up and gasping at each change in scene.... it was too spectacular for words.  No scene was the same and at each point I thought it could not get better...but it never failed me.  :)  We kept climbing higher (at some points it seemed impossible to get any higher) and the moved slowly on.  Near the point where we would reach our destination, we had to climb this steep hill which was halfway covered in snow.  (Yes, we climbed in snow...in July... :))  It was easy, but scary all at once.  All through out the day, we passed points where is dropped off on either end, but it was mostly rock so you wouldn't have gone far.  Here it was slippery ice and snow so one wrong step and you would have gone completely down the hill... Happy thought indeed.  :)  So we safely get to the top of that hill and we can see our destination way down below: the hut where we will stay the night.  After a downhill trek, we headed upwards to our resting place.  It was a small hut on a hill surrounded completely by mountains.  It was the only hut in that area, so there were many hikers also staying there.  We set down our stuff, took off our boots (they had free crocs for everyone... Sarah and I think it will be the only time we will ever wear them), and rested while we waited for dinner.  They showed us to our room (a smallish room with two bunk beds that fit four per floor, so 8 total) and then we freshened up for dinner.  We truly felt like hikers as we rinsed our faces off in the freezing cold sink water where the was no soap and no towels.  (Side note - thank you Mrs. Benson for the small cleaning supplies for traveling... we were so grateful to use them in this hut! :))  Dinner was served at 6:30 and everyone ate everything that was put in front of them (the set up reminded us of Youth Camp).  We sat with this sweet british couple and they shared their hiking stories as we ate hot soup, bread, and ham and rice.  Then, fully refreshed with food, we all headed up to bed around 8:30pm.  (Once again, we felt very hikerish going to bed that early...but we were really tired.)  Since we shared a room with many people, we all crammed into the bottom floor of one of the bunks and immediately fell asleep.  :)  And so ends the first day in the Alps...

A few pics from the first day (our of hundreds):

^ Our bus and the dam

^ Andy on top of the dam (can you see that curvy road below...those were the roads we were on with the big blue bus...chah..eek!)

^ Kelsey and Sarah at a rest stop...

^ Kelsey and Sarah as we made our way up the lake from the dam

^ The Alps :) 

^ At the other side of the lake..we walked from the tip in the way back where the dam is to here...and that was actually the easy part.. :)

^ Starting to make our way up the steep mountain sides...

^ If you can see way behind in the back is the lake...and we weren't even half way done.. :) 

^ The white slope is where we had to hike up the snow to get to the top...as you can see, quite a slide down if you made one wrong step...

^ The teeny little speck on the hill is the hut (Cabane de Dix) we were spending the night in...at this point we had just climbed up the snowy slope...

^ One of the mountains that surrounded the hut... beautiful!

^ Andy and Kelsey in front of the hut

^ John and Andy in front of the hut...

^ Sarah and her mountain (Mont Blanc de Cheilon) :) 

^ The room - we slept on the bottom of that bunk... o_O

Chill day - 7/4/10 (caught up! :))

Happy 4th of July America!!  We are celebrating over here in Europe with you!  :)

Today was another restful day...we needed to prepare for the two hiking packed days ahead of us.  (This also means no more posts until Wednesday.)  We woke up late, ate breakfast in, and then headed out for some European hot chocolate.  My goodness... entering that restaurant was like entering chocolate heaven - I swear I heard the little chocolate angels saying "ahhh ah ahh ah ahhhh" as we entered.  It was an adorable small restaurant (all the restaurants are small) and they had this patio that overlooked some of the lake (we sat there).  Since everything was in french, Uncle John just ordered 4 different kinds and we shared.  (They come out in little pitchers and the waitresses pour them into your cup and everything..)  If you think you have tasted good hot chocolate in your time, I'm sorry, you ain't tasted nothing until you have tasted European hot chocolate.  It makes American hot chocolate taste like water.  Of course, you pay for the amazingness, but it is more like chocolate soup, so it fills you up.  After filling up on our hot chocolate lunch, we chilled for the rest of the day.  (Hence the title of the blog...)  We went to the park a few blocks away from the apartment and sat in the shade while looking out at the lake and the Alps across the way.  There was a storm across the lake and it produced this beautiful rainbow.  I only wish a camera could have captured the lake, the sail boats on the water, the Alps, the clouds, and the rainbow as we saw them this afternoon.  I guess it will just be an image we will have to try to remember as we look back.  After that peaceful afternoon, we came home, ate more pasta :D, planned out our next two days in the Alps, and packed.  We will be going to bed early tonight to get rest for our two hiking days.... Cannot believe we get to go hiking in the Alps!  God is too good...  Please pray for our trip and we will post about it on Wednesday!

Thanks for faithfully reading...

- Sarah and Kelsey

Some pictures from today:

^ The hot chocolate place we went too...

^ Sarah...dreaming of waterfalls of hot chocolate and the little ninjas that make it for us.. >_< 

^ Waiting for our hot chocolate

^ It came!

^ Uncle John and his hot chocolate

^ When in doubt....just eat chocolate :)  (the little mushroomy thing is the cream :D)

^ Oh, hello cute little car... I think I'll just wrap you up and take you home with me o_o

^ Bonjour Mr. Camero  (I really like all the cars in Europe if you didn't guess already.. :D)

^ Storm on the lake

^ Sailing on the water

^ Kelsey and Sarah in front of the bandstand in the park

^ Closer up....

^ Kelsey and Andy

^ My dad found a sequoia tree in the park...he predicted that in a couple years, it will be the main attraction because of how big it will get... :)

^ Uncle John's apartment

Boats, Germany fans, Lausanne (7/3/10)

Well today was a bit more productive than yesterday.  :)  We woke up to the sounds and smells of the bustling market outside.  As I had mentioned before, every Saturday and Wednesday the street outside Uncle John's apartment comes alive and packed with booths upon booths of food, junk, and clothes and people purchasing here and there.  And since today is Saturday ("But she usually writes on Tuesdays and as you can see today is Thursday"....sorry, I had to quote Emma for a second), the market was in full swing. We headed out for breakfast (croissants again...gotta love Europe :)) and then Sarah and I walked around the market.  It was fun to look at all the different displays and listen to all the sounds of the market.  I did not buy anything, but Sarah got some sweet old keys from this garage sale type booth.  After browsing for a while, we headed back to the apartment to get ready for our afternoon in Lausanne.  We took a train up to Villeneuve to catch a boat (a "paddled steamer," corrects my uncle :)) that took us to Lausanne.  It was beautiful weather to be on the water and we got to see many shots of the Alps and different parts of Switzerland.  When we reached Lausanne, we headed over to the Lausanne Cathedral which was completely different from the churches in Italy, but had its own unique beauty. (Why don't we have churches like these in America? :))  Unlike the other two churches we saw in Italy, this church was still being used and had modern speakers and microphones stationed all throughout the main room.  It was weird to go from an old, elaborately detailed sculpture and turn around to this bland, grey modern speaker. From the cathedral, we wondered around Lausanne and got a feel for the culture.  In Florence, you felt like you had been placed in a small town still living in the olden days, but with a few modern things here and there.  In Lausanne, you had the history of all the buildings around you, but the culture was very modern.  Some areas even reminded me of Philly... For example, in the middle of one square there were these hip-hop dancers performing.  In Florence you had artists and mimers.. :D  Because of Lausanne being built on hill, all the buildings were crammed together and stacked on top of each other.  I'm sure if you had spread it out on a flat surface, it would have been three times the size.  One of the places we visited in Lausanne was the Olympic Museum.  We did not get to go inside due to time, but we did get to walk around the outside and see all the different world records for each Olympic sport.  They even had the place where the Olympic torch is lit before each Olympics and the flame never goes out.  Pretty cool, I'll say... While we were in Lausanne, the Germany vs. Argentina World Cup game was going on.  (The World Cup is a huge thing over here in Europe, if you had not already guessed.  ;D)  We stopped to watch the last few minutes of the game with a crowd of about 1,000 people and when Germany won, it got a little crazy.   There were so many Germany fans and they all started celebrating as soon as the game was over.  Honking car horns, blowing whistles, screaming and yelling all sorts of things... it was a blast.  :)  After we pushed through the crowds, we reached our boat that would take us to Morges.  After a peaceful boat ride home (we passed a wedding on the shore), a pasta dinner made by Uncle John, and an evening walk on the Lake, we headed to bed.

Pictures from today -

^ The market place on my Uncle's street

^ Waiting for our boat....

^ "Two good friends....two best friends.."  :) 

^ brothers

^ Our paddle boat!

^ Chateau de Chillon

^ View from the boat

^ Jazz festival

^ Vineyards

^ Lausanne

^ Lausanne Cathedral

^ The tower of Lausanne Cathedral

^ Andy and John in front of the monument for Pierre Viret

^ Lausanne from the hill where the cathedral is

^ Inside the cathedral

^ The Olympic Museum

^ Sarah and Kelsey trying to high jump...not really working

^ Andy in front of the place where they light the torch for the Olympics

^ Uncle John trying to pole vault....do you think he can make it?  If not, Andy is there catch him..

^ Kelsey and Andy in front of the museum fountain... a routine picture for each visitor from the Farmer family... 

^ View from the boat home

^ Evening walk by the lake

^ Boats in the harbor

^ the model.. :)