The Countdown Begins

My predictions were true, I am useless at being a committed blogger.
However my time so far in Switzy-land is fantastic. The great thing about Europe other than the generally better bone structure in locals, is how close everything is. We popped over to Germany to visit Europa theme park, unfortunately when your companion is five you get one shot at the big ride before your day is blessed with a variety of all things ...safe. Not to fear though, when your food is bought down on one of these bad boys -

 - you find yourself in heaven, as fond memories of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's breakfast scene tickle your toes with excitement.

The adventures didn't stop there for Jay and I. We then set south for the very beautiful region of Switzerland; the Valais, where we stayed with Swiss German speaking relatives that had many clocks and wore special slippers inside. I was given some, as I didn't bring my own. How foolish of me. 

The Valais is so picturesque, the villages run through the valley and vineyards stretch up the steep hills while the mountains offer a stunning backdrop. We were close to the town of Sion.

 An hour and a bit away by train you can travel up the mountains to the Zermatt which the famous Matterhorn or "Toblerone mountain" is.

And yes I did buy a Toblerone bar afterwards, sharing a somewhat new intimacy. Jay however was unfazed and opted for Maccas. We didn't stay too long due to the cold, so after failing to explain that I was not Jay's "vewy young mother" to some friendly Asain tourists, we dodged their attempts of photography and journeyed on home. Back at last, to the security, and stability, of special indoor slippers. 

Joining us the next day was Jay's mother who is a vet and grew up in this region, so we caught up with an old colleague who at a jolly 10 o'clock was already through a bottle of wine and eating food on the operating table. This was misjudged poorly by Fluffy the cat out back, who was now feeling less positive about what the outcome may really be for his open heart surgery tomorrow. Hoorah! We were greeted with a fridge full of more wine, awkwardly large amounts of cheese, then soon joined by his brother equally gone, carrying a chicken. It was uncomfortably hot as we climbed up the hill to lunch, stopping to cover Jay's eyes as the brother pulled down his pants to show him his tattoo, but with views at lunch like these I wasn't complaining.

I managed to persuade my Mum to come over, and while she was here we visited Venice which I had been wanting to do for ages. Arriving by night in the water taxi the city looked spectacular. However we were too exhausted to go out as soon as we got to the hotel, which sported a beautiful painting that looked like it had been drawn by the receptionist in her spare time. Bless her. 

Exploring Venice in a day wasn't hard due to my memory of a Hawk and eyesight of an Elephant. We couldn't go without doing the cliche an eating an Italian pizza, and my god, I thought the call of obesity was strong for me already, but I would stand NO chance in Italy, the food was heavenly. Italians also have a knack at making the act of being seedy almost acceptable, perhaps it's in their culture, perhaps it's in the pizza, but it sure beats having "digits" shouted at you like in New Zealand, we have a long way to go. 

We then spent a weekend in Paris before Mum went home. It was sad to see her go, but I was greeted with open arms from Jay. And it snowed! The moment we've all been waiting for! And what better way to celebrate than making a snowman. Along with the other 5 year olds.

Three weeks until I am home and the excitement to return is kicking in :)

Still Alive, Still Eating Cheese

I have graced Switzerland with my presence for six weeks now and I am still alive, the child is also, more importantly, and I can now feel assured that if I ever were to breed I may be an acceptable parent. Nether-the-less Irish comedian Dylan Moran's skit on children merely being midget drunks cannot be closer to the truth. For your amusement -

Quite simply, best comedian ever. But it has been great looking after his Lordship, you forget how much simpler everything is as a child and how logical children can be. Thank goodness for the language barrier or the poor large-bellied man might have heard Jay questioning the existence of a baby in his tummy. This evening however he had a small breakdown that the compass needle always pointed one way, he couldn't possibly comprehend why west wasn't an available setting. 

- L

Bonjour!

This is my attempt at starting a blog, an idea that always seems good at the time but whether it continues is a different story. I also thought it would be a grand way of writing about my current overseas voyaging experience to the wonderful land of Switzerland. My trip so far has been great and conquering my initial fear of tackling overseas airports was surprisingly easy to my disappointment. I left the wonderful city of Wellington, New Zealand on the 14th August with my first and only dramatic run for my flight as we had been held up by a lovely Chinese lady trying very hard and in painfully slow precision to explain the benefits of call cards. But I was off, and many uncomfortable hours later I arrived in Paris, thankful that my neighboring passenger on the flight had good personal hygiene, and a lack of conversation topics. 

Ahh la belle Paris. I had visited France the year before on a school trip and had been eager ever since to come back. The beautiful architecture, the pleasantly higher standard of dress sense and the blissful unawareness of lung cancer. Twas good to be back. And in the three days I spent there I took the time to wander around the city happily but determined not to look like a tourist, which resulted in a lack of photos. 

Then I took the TGV to Belfort in the south of France where I met the lovely family with which I would be staying with for four months in Switzerland in a little town called Porrentruy.