Pinch me.

Pinch me.  All I have to say about the weekend.  It can't be real!  On Thursday I went to meet up with my grandpa and Heidi in Switzerland for the weekend.  They took a 2 week cruise from Fort Lauderdale to come meet up with me here.  They are now on their way back to the States via the Queen Mary II.  Crazy trip.  

On Thursday night I got into Interlaken later (it's about 2 1/2 hrs from me) so we took some time to catch up.  On Friday Heidi and I got up early and headed to Grindelwald and Männlichen for a day of skiing!  Here is a map of the area so you can get an idea. The nicest ski resorts in Switzerland are only about a half hour away from Interlaken, so we of course had to take advantage.  We got on the slopes around 10:30.  First of all, there was NO ONE there.  We literally had the alps to ourselves.  Second of all, the weather was sooo beautiful.  There was nothing but blue skies and alps in our view!  I took a million pictures but honestly it just doesn't turn out the way that it really looks.  We skied for a few hours, and then took a quick break to shed about 5 of our layers off.  I missed the memo that you can pretty much go skiing in the Spring wearing a t-shirt. I think maybe being naked would have even been more comfortable.  I also missed the memo to wear sunscreen.  Since my pale body hasn't seen sunlight for about 6 months, my face got fried as usual.  It's also super cool because I was wearing a headband on half of my forehead, so I have a really cute line going across it now. It's a good thing I have some bangs that I can cover that up with. 

After an amazing day of skiing, we went back to poor Poppy, who we had left at the hotel all day.  We went out to dinner for our "après-ski" and found a cute authentic Swiss restaurant right next to our hotel.  This is where I discovered "rosti" which is shredded potatoes with bacon and cheese.  It tastes like notso fries from Yours Truly, only 100 times better.  

On Saturday we took a train ride back up the Alps, to two towns called Lauterbrunnen and Mürren. Once again, perfect weather and beautiful scenery!  We took a train to Lauterbrunnen, a gondola up the mountain and then a train across to Mürren.  They are just little ski towns with cute little Swiss chalets!  Looking at these towns I seriously feel like I am at Disney World.. it can't be real!  

Saturday night Megan (friend from Zurich) came and met up with us in Interlaken.  We walked around the town, and had yet another Rosti dinner at the same restaurant.  It was so good I had to go back for more.  We also celebrated my "birthday" on this night (thank you Poppy for being a great liar) and got some free dessert.   

On Sunday, we took a scenic train ride called the "Golden Pass" through Switzerland, heading south towards Geneva.  We spent like 3 hours on a train, went to Lucerne, stayed for an hour, and headed back towards France.  Lots of trains! We were all kinda crabby on this day.  Now, we got back to Colmar, all ready to go home/to their hotel, go our separate ways and have some time to ourselves.  Well we get off the train, and who do we see?  Heidi's uncle and aunt from Germany.  They drove all the way to Colmar and somehow found us at the train station!  We still haven't figured out how they knew where to find us, but it worked out perfectly.  So we went to dinner, I went home, and it was back to work yesterday!  I am exhausted.  Yeah yeah I know, all I do is travel.  But seriously it is exhausting!  Also, yesterday, Poppy and Heidi came to school with me for a little bit.  They met one of my classes, and Poppy obviously explained to my students that he was John Wayne's brother.  Haha.  They were a little confused I think.  

Ok that's all for now!  Next weekend onto Aix-en-Provence for Easter....