Switzerland!

We'd been talking about taking a family vacation since we got over here and Dan was finally able to take a couple extra days off of work! So we headed down to Switzerland for the week. We all had such a great time and it was nice to get away from here for a little while.

We rented a little apartment on Lake Thun in Einigen which is only 20-25 minutes from Interlaken. The apartment had a small kitchen, dining table, couch and TV downstairs with a loft and bathroom/shower upstairs. It was perfect for what we needed for the week. We stopped at Spangdahlem AB on the way to Switzerland for the night to buy groceries and stock up on any other goodies we needed before heading further south.

This is the place where we stayed. The one on the far right and set back. It had a small balcony and steps that led down to the water.

The first couple of days were rainy so we spent some time going to the tourist center and booking our train ride trips, ate pizza at a Italian restaurant in Interlaken, did a little bit of shopping and just relaxed!

Entering Switzerland - you had to pay a road tax and get a sticker to put on your car in order to drive in the country.

One of the many tunnels we went through. There are tunnels all over this country and Tanner made sure to point out every time we entered a tunnel by saying "unnel" and when we exited a tunnel by saying "outside" :)

Getting closer to the house...one of the many signs on the road.

Tanner practicing his fishing skills. He would try to cast and reel in his lure all day long.

View on the way to Interlaken. The clouds were so low it was amazing to see and so pretty.

Enjoying some yummy strawberry ice cream on our walk in Interlaken!


One of Tanner's favorite things to do is feed any animal around. So every day/night we would go out on the pier and feed the ducks, swans and coots and do a little fishing.

 These moments are priceless! It was such a joy to see Tanner and Dan spending time together on the pier fishing and "chatting".

 The view was amazing even when the clouds were rolling in.

The 3rd and 4th days we were there were spent taking the train up the mountain side. The first day we took the train to Grinwald, walked a short distance up to an outfitter and then road a gondola up the mountain to First. We all loved the train and gondola ride.  Tanner would say "choo choo" when the train started moving, pointed out everything he saw...tractors, waterfalls, rivers, trees, cows, etc. Once we got up to First, Dan had a beer and I was finally able to have my first non-alcoholic beer (I've been looking for one over here since I got pregnant and they don't sell them in the Netherlands), we had some Swiss fondue and then headed back down the mountainside. We also did a little window shopping and then headed back down on the train to Interlaken.

Tanner's first time on a train

We had to change trains several times to get up the mountain side.

Stopping for coffee and a quick breakfast snack :)

Getting on the gondola for the first time

 The view after we got to First. Tanner was pointing out some play ground equipment that was still under snow.

Nothings better than playing with toothpicks and French fries

The second day on a train we took the "Top of Europe" tour to Jungfrau. It's the highest rail station in Europe and it took us 1.5 hours to get there. Once we were up there it was so crowded with tour groups that it was not quite as enjoyable as we thought it would be. The views were amazing and we are happy we took the train up to the top. It's definitely worth experiencing if your ever in Switzerland. Here is the link and some pictures some this day: http://www.jungfrau.ch/en/tourism/places-to-visit/

 These are from our way back down...we stopped at one of the train stops to let Tanner out to walk around for a little while and enjoy the weather.

The last day we were there we relaxed at the house, packed up stuff, fed the animals and did a little more fishing. It was a perfect ending to our vacation :)

 This might be one of my favorite pictures of little man...being silly on the dock!

This was an awesome house next to where we stayed. It was on the water with it's boat dock underneath the house.

We forgot to get any family pictures of all 3 of us together so we took one on the morning we were leaving to head home. It was a great trip and I'm so happy we are able to experience life over here.