Me+Ryan+Switzerland=JOY!

Ryan had to travel to Europe for work the week before Thanksgiving and guess who got to meet up with him at his last stop! ME, in SWITZERLAND!! I arrived in Zurich early Thursday morning after an all night flight and had the next two days all to myself to go sightseeing while Ryan was in work meetings and dinners.

Zurich is absolutely beautiful, especially the old town area where the roads are tiny and paved in cobblestones, and so clean. The shop windows were decorated for Christmas and city workers were stringing lights across the alleyways and setting up Christmas trees in all the town squares. It was magical! I visited museums (the Watch Museum was my favorite), beautiful churches, cute shops, water fountains, and ate the most amazing food... but mostly I loved just walking around. I found some great spots for beautiful views of the city, too.

Ryan joined me on my third day in Zurich and I showed him all my favorite spots, then we took the train to Lucerne to spend a few more days together. Lucerne was just as amazing as Zurich, but smaller and more quaint. We visited every spot on our to-see list in the area and also took the ferry over to Burgenstock mountain. There was snow already on the mountain and three beautiful brand new hotel resorts. We ate lunch inside one of them where we paid the equivalent of $35 EACH for a club sandwich. We shared a bottle of water for $9. We went ice skating while we were there and did some Christmas shopping for the kids - we got each of the girls Swatch Watches and Hudson a Swiss Army Knife (probably not the best idea to buy a four-year-old a pocket knife, but hey, when in Rome... or in this case Switzerland!).

And the reason Ryan and I were able to have so much fun in Switzerland for a week was because my mom and Jim flew out to watch the kids for us. We are so grateful!!

 From the Zurich airport, I took the train to downtown Zurich and got off here, at the main train station...

I wanted to take a picture of every cute, cobblestone street I walked down...

The restaurant courtyards were amazing, too. Can't you just imagine this during the summer months full of flowers and greenery...

The two towers in the background belong to one of the famous churches in Zurich. I went to the top of one of them to get amazing views of the city...

Our timing wasn't the greatest. We missed all the Fall color and we left Switzerland about three days before Zurich's official Christmas festivities kick-off, but I did see them prepping all the town squares with trees and stringing lights and decor across the streets as I wandered around...

Another beautiful church with historical significance (which I could tell you all about but would probably bore you to death)...

Loved all the Christmas windows...

Panoramic view from the top of one of the two towers...

In our hotel lobby lounge was this huge table display. You can't really tell, but the gingerbread houses and chocolate Santa are really really big...

From Zurich we took the train to Lucerne. This is one of their most famous and adorable covered bridges connecting the old town to the newer areas...

On the ferry to Burgenstock...

We took this little tram from the boat dock to the top of Burgenstock mountain. Here's the view looking down as we were going up up up...

One of the hotel resorts on top of Burgenstock...

A selfie while we were waiting for our $35 club sandwiches. You can see the tears welling up in Ryan's eyes as he comes to grips with the amount of $$$$$ this trip is costing him...

We both sucked at ice skating... even with these kiddie helpers...

The town of Lucerne...

A cloudy view of the Alps...

My favorite view of old town and the famous bridge...

I can't wait for Ryan to bring me back here during the Summer when this place will be popping with the color of flowers, vines and greenery...

We snuck into this church one night while there was a beautiful choir performing...

One of my favorite parts about wandering around both cities were the doors. I mean, they were incredible. I loved, loved, loved them all!!...

You can't tell from the picture, but this Lion, carved out of the mountain, is really really big. You can see a doorway on the right side to give you some perspective. Again, I could bore you with all the details of the Lion, but I won't except that it's dying from an arrow wound and you can see another arrow carved into the mountain just above it's head...

A picture of the Alps with less clouds...

Ryan and I were having fun in Switzerland and so were the kiddos here in Yardley with Sugar and Jim...