Baby Shower

Last Friday my wonderful neighbors had a baby shower for me. The gifts were very generous and thoughtful, and the food was delicious. Just being around them calmed my mom-to-be nerves. I am so lucky to have all of these lovely women in my apartment building, and I am sure to be knocking on their doors very soon asking for more advice once the baby arrives.

Pet Peeve

Sometimes the Swiss just amaze me…and not in a good way. Yesterday I was buying flowers at Hornbach (like a Home Depot). As usual there was only one cashier open. Customer service isn’t a big priority here. Not like back home anyway. There could be a line six people deep with several employees standing around but they still wouldn’t open another register. It’s another pet peeve of mine but not the one I’m focusing on right now.

So I went to get in line and found myself behind a full shopping cart without a person attached to it. I knew right away what was going on. The owner of that cart was holding a place in the long line while still running around the store shopping. What?! Lines are meant to stand in when you are done shopping. I can understand an occasional time or two when you forget something, so you leave your cart in line and run back to get it. That is acceptable, but it is not okay to hold a place in line as you continue to shop. I’ve seen it done several times where people have made multiple trips back and forth to get more items while holding a place in line. I wasn’t in the mood for it yesterday, so I butted in front of the personless cart and didn’t even look in that direction when the woman returned to the line. She proved me right though…she was holding several more items which she put in her cart.

Mission Accomplished

Matt had a few ‘to-do’ things on his list for Bruce and Cindy’s visit. The first was to introduce Bruce to a variety of Swiss and German beers. This mission was accomplished early on in their visit – I think the photo was taken on day 3.


The second ‘to-do’ item was to grill out as much as possible. Matt and Bruce are grilling buddies back in Minnesota. Bruce makes one delicious steak on the grill. The steaks aren’t the same here, so we settled for a variety of local sausages. Based on how much meat they grilled for just this one meal, I think it’s safe to say this mission was also accomplished.

Rochers de Naye Hike

We kept very busy during Bruce and Cindy’s visit. My favorite day was when we hiked around Rochers de Naye. We started it off with lunch at a restaurant in Col de Jaman. The restaurant had just opened that day for the season. Prior to that there had been too much snow to drive there. We had a traditional Swiss lunch with Matt and Bruce trying the rösti (hashbrowns served with an egg on top). I can’t remember the name of Cindy’s dish, but it was super cheesy whatever it was, and I had Alpine macaroni, which consisted of lots of milk, butter and cheese. My mouth still waters when I think about it. It was that good.

Since it was a 2 – 3 hour hike uphill to the peak (Rochers de Naye) we decided instead to hike from Col de Jaman to a nearby train station to ride the cogwheel train up to the top. The weather cooperated – the sun was shining with only a few clouds in a very blue sky. The views from the peak were beautiful.


We took the train back down to another little stop. I think it was selected by the guys because it had a bar selling cold beer right next to it. After quenching our thirst we began the hike back to Col de Jaman. You’ll notice on the picture of this sign that it should take 45 minutes to get to where we were going.


However, if you look like this, it takes you one hour and 30 minutes. Not bad for being 29 weeks pregnant though.


We were moving pretty slow on the way back because of my belly but we all made it safely to our destination. Overall, it was a fun day and a perfect example of what it’s like to hike in Switzerland.

Tulip Time Again

The tulips are out. There are 100,000 flowers in the park to celebrate the Fête de la Tulipe in Morges. It makes for a very enjoyable walk every day.