This morning was a positively beautiful day as I awoke to this stunning vista from my bedroom window. I'm so thankful that your students were able to see another spectacular beginning of the day in tiny Murren. First thing this morning we took our 18 bags to the Murren Station and shipped them ahead to Zurich Main Station so that at the end of our train journey today they would be waiting for us.
Another wonderful breakfast with Denise at the Chalet Fontana is met with both excitement and a bit of sadness for me. I'll miss this place immensely, and I hope your sons and daughters remember it fondly for many years to come.
As is our custom we gather our remaining belongings and head out to the front of the chalet for our farewell picture with Denise who is so absolutely nice and accommodating to your children. She is purposely taking fewer and fewer bookings to slow her business down a bit - but that's not true for your children. She's already welcoming next year's group with open arms even though it means some extra work for her. I'm eternally thankful for her, for Edy at the knife shop next door, for Lydia across the street at the Stager Stubli - they've all contributed to the experience your students have had in this beautiful creation of God.
But as every year we must move on to the next step and today we had a peaceful train ride all the way to Rhine Falls just about 50 minutes from Zurich.
Jackson's new ambition - move to Murren and be a train conductor!
Off we go to Rhine Falls. The largest waterfall in Europe (not by elevation) but by the amount of water flowing per minute down to create this thunderous waterfall. Of course when in Switzerland every mountain top needs a train station and a restaurant and every thundering waterfall must have a staircase to climb to the top and a Swiss Flag flying! So off we go straight to the base of the churning water right in the middle of the falls. There's no other way to climb the staircase to the flag and we must climb because we haven't done NEARLY enough climbing, you know ;-)
Of course the students are starving so we stop at the official Schloss Laufen Rhine Falls cafeteria of sorts to fill up on chicken fingers, bratwurst, pommes frites, salads, drinks and desserts. Thanks to careful planning and preparation we've included ALL of today's meals in the trip budget (yeahhhh for parents!)
Popcorn freshly popped from the vending machine...good idea - BAD popcorn :-( But at least the birds got to enjoy it :-)
After our time at Rhine Falls we jump on the train again to Zurich Main Station to pick up that luggage that we shipped ahead this morning. Drew informs me that he doesn't think the luggage is gonna make it because he's looked on every single train we've been on today and our luggage was NO where to be seen. But nevertheless our luggage DOES make it and is waiting for us at the precise time it's supposed to be there. After all we're not in Italy anymore :-) This is Switzerland where you can depend on the train being on time, your luggage being delivered precisely on schedule and even when you leave a 900 Swiss Franc watch on the gondola the train workers know it before YOU know it, and it's already being delivered to us before we even make an inquiry. Yep - that's Switzerland for you!
We arrive safe and sound WITH luggage to our sweet little Hotel St Josef on a cloudy and damp evening in downtown Zurich - the world's most expensive city. When we check into hotels we all know precisely what to do by this point in the trip. We all stand outside and wait for Mrs. Mynatt and Mr. Margene to go inside, check us in and retrieve our keys. After all - we can seem like and overwhelming group if we enter these sweet little Mom & Pop hotels ALL at once :-)
This is the last night of our big adventure where we usually visit the Zeughauskellar Restaurant for the Steak on a Sword dish and other delectable delights. However the Zeughauskellar is currently under renovation and is closed during our time in Zurich so the students have opted for a newly opened restaurant Holy Cow! which specializes in all kinds of burgers (beef, chicken, vegetable) and french fries. Seems the troop is a little tired of Bavarian Food so Holy Cow! is our destination tonight. Like I said, careful planning and preparation have allowed us to cover ALL meals for your students today. 18 cheeseburgers french fries and drink comes to a mere 400 Swiss Francs - not a bad price for super expensive Zurich!
It's raining tonight and we're safely in our rooms after devotions playing games and preparing for our last night "together". I truly hope this trip has been (and will continue to be) a lasting book mark in your students' lives. The experiences, the fun, the laughter, the times of a little "too much together time" all works together to shape us into who we are. Your students have had a tremendous time and we've all laughed and played and worked well together for 2+ weeks. What an accomplishment.
Tomorrow we'll have breakfast at the hotel (at least we hope they will) and head to the airport (First Class no less) on our super efficient Swiss Train. I can't believe it's almost over; it's gone so quickly I hardly even remember Munich :-) But I'll always remember these great times we've had together
Good night from Zurich. See you tomorrow in Knoxville!
Best Regards,
Jere, Angie, Tim & Haley
Another wonderful breakfast with Denise at the Chalet Fontana is met with both excitement and a bit of sadness for me. I'll miss this place immensely, and I hope your sons and daughters remember it fondly for many years to come.
As is our custom we gather our remaining belongings and head out to the front of the chalet for our farewell picture with Denise who is so absolutely nice and accommodating to your children. She is purposely taking fewer and fewer bookings to slow her business down a bit - but that's not true for your children. She's already welcoming next year's group with open arms even though it means some extra work for her. I'm eternally thankful for her, for Edy at the knife shop next door, for Lydia across the street at the Stager Stubli - they've all contributed to the experience your students have had in this beautiful creation of God.
But as every year we must move on to the next step and today we had a peaceful train ride all the way to Rhine Falls just about 50 minutes from Zurich.
Jackson's new ambition - move to Murren and be a train conductor!
Off we go to Rhine Falls. The largest waterfall in Europe (not by elevation) but by the amount of water flowing per minute down to create this thunderous waterfall. Of course when in Switzerland every mountain top needs a train station and a restaurant and every thundering waterfall must have a staircase to climb to the top and a Swiss Flag flying! So off we go straight to the base of the churning water right in the middle of the falls. There's no other way to climb the staircase to the flag and we must climb because we haven't done NEARLY enough climbing, you know ;-)
Of course the students are starving so we stop at the official Schloss Laufen Rhine Falls cafeteria of sorts to fill up on chicken fingers, bratwurst, pommes frites, salads, drinks and desserts. Thanks to careful planning and preparation we've included ALL of today's meals in the trip budget (yeahhhh for parents!)
Popcorn freshly popped from the vending machine...good idea - BAD popcorn :-( But at least the birds got to enjoy it :-)
After our time at Rhine Falls we jump on the train again to Zurich Main Station to pick up that luggage that we shipped ahead this morning. Drew informs me that he doesn't think the luggage is gonna make it because he's looked on every single train we've been on today and our luggage was NO where to be seen. But nevertheless our luggage DOES make it and is waiting for us at the precise time it's supposed to be there. After all we're not in Italy anymore :-) This is Switzerland where you can depend on the train being on time, your luggage being delivered precisely on schedule and even when you leave a 900 Swiss Franc watch on the gondola the train workers know it before YOU know it, and it's already being delivered to us before we even make an inquiry. Yep - that's Switzerland for you!
We arrive safe and sound WITH luggage to our sweet little Hotel St Josef on a cloudy and damp evening in downtown Zurich - the world's most expensive city. When we check into hotels we all know precisely what to do by this point in the trip. We all stand outside and wait for Mrs. Mynatt and Mr. Margene to go inside, check us in and retrieve our keys. After all - we can seem like and overwhelming group if we enter these sweet little Mom & Pop hotels ALL at once :-)
This is the last night of our big adventure where we usually visit the Zeughauskellar Restaurant for the Steak on a Sword dish and other delectable delights. However the Zeughauskellar is currently under renovation and is closed during our time in Zurich so the students have opted for a newly opened restaurant Holy Cow! which specializes in all kinds of burgers (beef, chicken, vegetable) and french fries. Seems the troop is a little tired of Bavarian Food so Holy Cow! is our destination tonight. Like I said, careful planning and preparation have allowed us to cover ALL meals for your students today. 18 cheeseburgers french fries and drink comes to a mere 400 Swiss Francs - not a bad price for super expensive Zurich!
It's raining tonight and we're safely in our rooms after devotions playing games and preparing for our last night "together". I truly hope this trip has been (and will continue to be) a lasting book mark in your students' lives. The experiences, the fun, the laughter, the times of a little "too much together time" all works together to shape us into who we are. Your students have had a tremendous time and we've all laughed and played and worked well together for 2+ weeks. What an accomplishment.
Tomorrow we'll have breakfast at the hotel (at least we hope they will) and head to the airport (First Class no less) on our super efficient Swiss Train. I can't believe it's almost over; it's gone so quickly I hardly even remember Munich :-) But I'll always remember these great times we've had together
Good night from Zurich. See you tomorrow in Knoxville!
Best Regards,
Jere, Angie, Tim & Haley
God's Blessings for a safe journey back to Knoxville. Thank you Mynatts and Margenes for taking such good care of the students, and for the glorious experience and education they received. What wonderful planning went into this! Nothing but praise! I have had such a wonderful time looking forward to each day's blog! I hope my 2 grandsons have made friends for a lifetime, as well as memories and experiences!
ReplyDeleteWHAT A TRIP!!
Just had to pop in one more time to say thank you for all these awesome updates, photos, and the years and years of experience you have poured into making this trip the journey of a lifetime for our kids. I can't thank you enough. AND I'm anxious to see all YOUR photos. Just went through Christian's and he is actually in 2 whole photos. Boys! Enjoy your recuperation time!
ReplyDelete