Switzerland

View from the mountain top in Isenfluh

Luca loves slides...the faster the better!

Lago Blu

Family pic in Thun
Our Alpine View from the Lodge

We just returned from our first real family vacation since our arrival here in Italy over two years ago. We had an incredible week in Isenfluh, which is located in the heart of the Swiss Alps. If you ever saw the movie "Heidi" this is the area where it was filmed. Also, J.R.R. Tolkien used this area as inspiration for his valley of Rivendell in The Lord of the Rings. The views of God's amazing creation were breathtaking! We enjoyed our time getting to know more Italians from our church as well as others throughout the country. We even got a proposal to switch countries and move to the Italian speaking part of Switzerland to help with a church plant there. So I guess if we ever get kicked out of the country we have a place to go. Something you may not realize is that Switzerland has 4 national languages: Italian, French, German and a Swiss Dialect. Oh, and of course most can speak English. And we think we are something in America if we are bi-lingual!

The kids had an incredible time being outdoors (when it wasn't raining). We visited the capital city of Bern, Thun, Lago Blu- where there was a trout farm, awesome playground equipment, boat rides etc., we took a gondola ride up the mountain in Isenfluh and more. We kept busy on top of having Bible study sessions in the mornings and evenings. Jonathan helped lead the worship time as well as leading a discussion group. So it wasn't so relaxing for us on top of having to speak Italian. The food was amazing and I thouroughly enjoyed not cooking for a week. I really wanted to park myself in the kitchen and pick up tips, but maybe another time. I was a great time but now we need a vacation from your vacation!