Where to start? Sarah came to visit us for 10 days and it was wicked fun, of course! We did so much stuff. Nate suggested that I just write this in bullet point form to keep this post under control. I fear that bullet points may not fully capture the awesomeness of our adventures, but it will at least give you a taste. Which is probably all you want :) (And, these bullet points are in no particular order. I like to keep you on your toes).
* Most importantly, Sarah cooked homemade popcorn on the stove every day. She's a pro and it was amazing. I want some right now.
* We went to Italy, Germany, & Austria!
* We hiked all over Switzerland. In fact, the first day she arrived we went on a 5+ mile hike around Uetliberg just to break her in :)
* We hiked 10-12 miles after a trip up Mt. Santis. We both agreed it was the most scenic hike we had ever been on. And one of the longest. The sun was shining, we had incredible mountain views the entire time, the Swiss farmers were out in full force haying and it smelled so deliciously fragrant, and we seemed to be the only hikers on the trail which made it seems as though the glorious weather and breathtaking vistas were just for us.
* We explored Bavaria (southern Germany) and toured the Nieuwenstein Castle. Our tour guide was very strange and Nate's impression of him kept us laughing all day.
* Sarah's one wish for her trip to Germany came true - we were able to relax and lay out by a lake while having a picnic. It seemed blissful, but that may just be the nutella talking.
* We went to Como, Italy, took a ferry across the lake to Bellagio. George Clooney has a home here. He invited us in for lunch, but we had a lot to do so we politely declined. The town was so cute and so different from the Swiss towns we had visited. Sarah felt it was truly an "Italian" experience. Eating some scrumptious pizza followed by gelato was icing on the cake.
* We were both astounded by the lack of quality public bathrooms in Como. They had actually squatty toilets in the train station. Sarah was worried that we had made a wrong turn and arrived in Calcutta. Switzerland has definitely spoiled us with its clean bathrooms and never ending fresh water supply around town and on remote hiking trails.
* I learned that Sarah seems to be a good luck charm in terms of weather. Everywhere we went the sun came out. Seriously, squalls and storms were predicted for our day trip to Italy. We only experienced a light drizzle with sun breaking through the clouds.
* We realized we do not have strong skills in estimating distance or time. Sarah stopped asking me how far of a walk we were in for because I would always answer "about twenty minutes" no matter what the distance. I don't know. It always seems like twenty minutes to me. Turns out it is usually much, much longer than that.
* We had evening picnics on Zurich lake to watch the sunset and relax. One night we were serenaded (indirectly) by a jazz trombonist accompanied by a guitarist. Sounds lame, right? That was our first thought when we saw them parking themselves along the water. We were so wrong. They were surprisingly talented and the music was beautiful.
* She got the full Zurich tour and we had coffee at a cute little cafe.
* Naturally, she got the google tour and snagged a few tasty mini quiche things that were available in every room.
* We had a great day around the Rhine Falls. We went expecting rain and were treated to great weather. We also got hit on by a few weird & awkward English speaking guys. Don't worry, we turned them down.
* We had a Callnan/Bodenstab party with almost all the kids from both sides of the family (Jake & Whit & Dylan were unable to join us). We got to see all the pictures from Jake, Nikki, Laura & Zach's trip and eat some tasty food together.
Phew, see, we were very busy. I think we had two full days when we just crashed by sleeping in late, watching bones episodes, and staying very close to home.
I really loved having Sarah here. The ten days flew by!
Here's more evidence of our good times:
Best trip ever!! We had so much fun and went so many places.
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