Switzerland Day 7 - Last day in Montreux

Today we went to church with another couple from Utah. We had to take the train and then the subway to get there. Sacrament was in French, but there was a cute missionary from St. George that tried his best to translate for us. He only had a few weeks left in the mission field and even he had a hard time understanding what they were saying, so the translation was hilarious! 

"He said something about Jesus, and Joseph Smith." 

That was a safe bet. The ward was tiny, but so welcoming!

More beautiful landscape from the window of the train!

However, we were so happy to just be alive that day and were having a great time on the train with our new friends. We were laughing and talking - I guess loudly? 

A Swiss woman got in my face and said through gritted teeth "you are very loud and obnoxious and it is disturbing the other passengers."

Even though she and maybe two other people were the only other passengers. Haha! I'm learning that Europeans really don't love Americans. I guess being happy is not appreciated!

On our last night in Montreux, we were taken by boat to Chillon Castle, an island medieval castle located on Lake Geneva. We toured the castle and had a huge feast there. The castle was fascinating - the torture chamber was a little unnerving, but the artifacts were so cool! There was SO much alcohol. 

Oddly enough, the people from Utah got the drunkest. It was quite the party!

We had to get up so early to head to the airport. Normally I don't document this part, but they gave us a bag with breakfast when we got on the bus - and it was so weird that I actually took pictures . . .

A red hardboiled egg, jam and cheese. Yum. 

I love having the opportunity to see different parts of the world! God's creations are amazing and there is so much to see, but for now, Switzerland is my favorite, and it's definitely a country I hope to return to more than a few times in my life!

Switzerland Day 6 - Zermatt!

Rod and I were both SO excited for this day! We have both always wanted to see the Matterhorn!

We booked a helicopter ride to make sure we had the best views of it, and couldn't wait to spend the day in Zermatt afterwards.  

The dang weather had different plans for us. We had to cancel the helicopter ride due to rain, snow and too much wind. Such a bummer, but we decided to make the most of it anyway!

The ride to Zermatt was beautiful. 

I have grown to love the little houses, barns, and the space between everything! I love that the homes are on hillsides with endless pastures and surrounded by mountains and trees!

I'm telling you. This country is Heaven.

I had to take a picture of the wood piles to show my dad - he'd be so proud! 

He loves his wood burning stove, and from the looks of things, so do the people here!

Zermatt looked so much like Zermatt in Utah, 

but felt way cooler since it was the original and authentic Zermatt! :) 

The two men named on the plaques above summited the Matterhorn in 1865.

Like I mentioned in a previous post, Switzerland doesn't allow people to stay buried in a cemetery for more than 20-25 years unless they are famous.  The headstones above are famous alpinists who were killed climbing the Matterhorn. 

We desperately tried to get a good picture of the Matterhorn, but the dang fog and clouds kept creeping in front of it. We waited patiently and attempted it over and over. No luck. 

You can slightly see it peeking through in the background of this picture. 

Switzerland was pretty tight about Covid policies. This restaurant had a defiant owner. They were going to let people come in regardless of having an id card or mask. They got in big trouble, so Zermatt put up concrete barriers in front of the restaurant so people couldn't get in.  The owners were genius and started doing takeout orders through the barriers. The police got involved. It was slightly dramatic.

Zermatt was beautiful and so much fun, but SO cold! We had to stop in a restaurant and literally just hold a cup of hot chocolate to warm up! 

There were some awesome stored in Montreux. We sent a picture of these shoes to our girls, but missed the store hours to go in - there were so many cute pairs!

These are all views from our hotel room!

I loved hearing this clock tower chime!