Parents visit to Switzerland and Mallorca, Spain

It's been a month since I blogged last-August was a busy month! For 2 weeks my parents visited and we showed them around where we live. 

 

 We enjoyed a visit to Gruyere, home of the cheese as well as the Caillier (Nestle) chocolate factory. Naturally there was fondue and chocolate enjoyed by all! Gruyere is a medieval walled city on a hill with a chateau at the top, and the hike helped us work off all that cheese!

 We took the "wine train" through the vineyards of Lavaux, which is a UNESCO protected region. The land is very steep and built on terraces that go all the way from Lake Geneva up to almost the top of the mountain. Switzerland produces a lot of wine, particularly white wines, but only exports 1% of it. The rest is drunk here-the Swiss are very loyal to their own products!

 We all went to Zermatt for the weekend, home of the Matterhorn. It was such a beautiful typical Swiss village. The Matterhorn really was spectacular particularly because it was one of the few mountains still covered in snow. We took a train ride up to a vantage point and got some really spectacular shots. The Alps are definitely the most beautiful mountains we have ever seen.

We had to do the tourist shot with the St. Bernards :) Huge and gentle dogs!

 

 Mom and Dad..

 In the old town of Zermatt. There are at least a 100 hotels/condos here as well as a wealth of great restaurants. Looking forward to returning for skiing sometime.

 After returning we took the boat across Lake Geneva to Evian, France. I enjoyed some good cheaper shopping(never thought I'd say that about a European country, but Switzerland shopping is $$$ and limited!), and we also saw the original Evian pump room.

There were odd driftwood scultpures all over town as well-I think this one is supposed to be a cat..

 

We all really enjoyed Mom and Dad's visit and were very sorry to see them go!

 

 

 We went to Mallorca, Spain the last week of August for a beach vacation. It was our first time to try an all-inclusive type of place. We have determined it's not really for us-too much temptation to eat/drink too much, but it still was a very relaxing trip. Our hotel catered mostly to Brits and Scandinavians, the latter which are particularly casual about their beachwear! I haven't included any photos  :)

 

 Very important in a beach vacation-the kids club!! Fortunately kids really enjoyed it and it was nice to get a couple hours break every day.

 Travis is a fish and loved playing in the waves and the waterslides! 

 

 My favorite part of a beach vacation, relaxing on a lounger with my beloved Kindle..

Ryan and I enjoying some tapas..

Brother and sister...enjoying some bonding time..

 

Hope everyone is off to a terrific beginning of the school year!