Switzerland !

Greetings from the land of cheese and chocolate!
We have been in Switzerland almost a week and we have loved every minute of it.
Our Swiss adventure began in Switzerland's largest city, Zurich. We camped on lake Zurich, just outside of the city centre. We never ventured into the city because it is very, very expensive. Our friend Damien told us that minimum wage is $3500 dollars a month. We found that the average meal at a restaurant is around $30 dollars. That is why we bought most of our breakfast, lunch and dinner items at a grocery store and them at our campsite.

Our first day brought us to the Rhine Falls, Europes largest waterfall. Apparently in July the rapids are the strongest, however they were roaring the day we saw them. Then we made our way to the famous Lindt Chocolate Factory; we loaded up on all kinds of chocolate for the remainder of the trip. They have an extensive selectrion, much more than Canada.

After Zurich we travelled to Luzern, "the stereotypical Switzerland." It was filled with stands for fresh fruit, pasteries and other Swiss specialties. We only needed about an hour there and then we drove to Montreux.
Montreux is spectacualar, it reminded us of the Okanagan. The town surrounds this beautiful lake, in which many people were still swimming in. The water was looked very enticing. We found an impressive campground away from the main strip that landed us a lakefront site. For dinner we met up with our friend Damien. Damien attended UBC on exchange a few years ago and now he is the trainer for a professional Swiss soccer team. It was really good to catch up with him and if all goes as planned he may meet us in Paris at the end of our trip for a few days.

Next stop, Interlaken. Interlaken was recommnded to us by a friend and we are so glad we made our way there. It is an outdoorsy town filled with hiking, biking and skiing. The scenary is breathtaking and the town is filled with character and culture. We hiked a mountain called Harderkulm, that is where we realized how out of shape we were. From the top of the moutain we saw snow caps on other mountains and raident teal coloured lakes. That day we made the best decision yet; we bought an electric kettle! Say goodbye to sandwiches 24-7, we boiled water to make pasta, oatmeal and coffee.

We had one more stop in Switzerland before we departed into Italy. Zermatt is a a small ski village, only accessible by train. It is situated at the foot of Switzerlands highest peaks, including the Matterhorn. Here we had our first Swiss fondue. There was close to two rounds of cheese melted in the pot. They gave us boiled potatoes and crusty bread to dip. The owner, an older veterine of Zermatt, demonstrated how to properly dip the cheese.......basically dunk and smother your piece of bread.
We have a bunch of pictures to show you from the past week. We hope you enjoy them. We will update you with more of Zermatt as today we are hiking up the Matterhown before we start our departure into Italiano.

Cheers and well wishes.

Carmen and Carlo

Tomato and Boccocini in our tent with our new favorite beer.

Preparing Dinner

Waterfall in Interlaken

Herding sheep down the street

Interlaken

Our friend Damien

This was for Megan

Beautiful Drive

Montreux

Montreux Sunset

Luzern

Zurich

Feeding the ducks in Zurich

Lindt Chocolate

Rhine Falls



Fondue in Zermatt



Zermatt pre dinner walk

Happy Hour Coffee in Zermatt

Pasta made with our kettle

Harderkulm hike in Interlaken

Harderkulm Hike in Interlaken

Interlaken

I love my Oma and Opa



Interlaken