Back to Bäch. (December 5)

After Geneva, we went back to France (Ferney-Voltaire) in the morning to actually look around.

 We (Sofi, Lucy and I) found this machine very interesting… it's an automatic pizza machine!!! You but your money in, choose your pizza and in 4 minutes your pizza comes out the slot!

 We stopped in a cheese shoppe…. aaaaahhhhhh….. the sights and smells… it was amazing… it was incredible!!!

 The French street….

Then we drove off, back to Switzerland, back to the other side of Switzerland to Bäch. 

When we arrived it was time to make Grittibanz!!!

Grittibanz are a special bread, cut into people shapes and decorated with dried fruit and nuts. :D They are so fun to make!!!

 Papa's interesting…. angel? That's what it became known as...

 The sideways ones are mom's and Greti's. The tall one is another one of Greti's.

 Lucy's Russian Prince (Left) and my lederhosen boy (right)

 The alp girl that Sofi and I made to be companion to the Lederhosen boy but unfortunately, she gave up her life for her studies (aka taken to school by Greti) and so the Lederhosen boy gave up his life to be eaten at breakfast… when the alp girl heard this, she gave up her life to be eaten by the schoolchildren.. such a sad story...

 The Russian Princess (Lucy's)

 Lucy disappeared for a while and we wondered where she went… she had taken her books upstairs and written note (In Switzerland, St. Nicholas comes and fills boots, not stockings)

 Translation:

Dear St. Nicholas,

You're loving, You're Kind,

Love Lucy.

That's all for now, we're off into Zurich to dip candles!!!

Geneva (December 3 and 4)

Well, we made our way out to Geneva to stay with my godmother Marie-Ursula. It was really wonderful to be in another part of Switzerland. On the way there we drove through the little roads, avoiding the highways. It was absolutely stunning…

Then we stopped in Gruyere for lunch… and saw the cheese factory!!!!

I won't go into detail explaining the process of making the cheese because it would take me a long time… but I'll show a few pictures :D

 Where the cheese ages…

 Big copper pots used for mixing the milk...

The metal dishes are the moulds for the cheese after the cream and whey have been separated. 

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We arrived in Geneva at exactly 5PM, we went out into the middle of the lake for a fondue dinner.

The Next Day was a very interesting day. Marie-Ursula, Papa, Sofi and I went on a tour of the United Nations building. We even got to sit in on a conference!!! We also visited the Red Cross Museum. It was really interesting.

 Later we walked around downtown Geneva...

 I must say that I'm very proud of this picture. It's the church in Geneva from a cool angle...

 The whole city is lit up with interesting lights hanging from the trees.

 A poster for the Hobbit!!! This wasn't really that major but I know some of you would be very interested to see this :D

 Then we made our way to France for Dinner. We ate in the town Ferney-Voltaire. It was really dark and misty.

The street in Ferney-Voltaire at night…

Solothurn (Dec. 2)

On Monday, we went out on our journey to see some more family/friends. We stopped in Solothurn for  a picnic lunch.

 The centre of the town…

 Chocolate shop...

 We also went for a walk in the hills...

First Day in Switzerland (Dec. 1)

I apologize AGAIN for not blogging in a while. We've been so busy… I know… not very good excuse…

But anyway. Our first day in Switzerland was wonderful. It was so nice to be back in the city and see Brigitt (mom's cousin) again! We walked around in the city, it was supposed to be foggy but it turned out to be wonderful and sunny. 

We had Maroni - roasted chestnuts… :D They are as wonderful as ever.

All the shops are decorated for the season.

Beautiful narrow streets

The cuckoo clock shop

The Grossmunster.

A small christmas market in Zurich. 

 Later we went to Meilen, where mom's other cousin and his family live. We went for a walk by the vineyards...

 The sheep graze in the vineyards!

 And then we went to the Christmas market...

Traditional Swiss Christmas baking is always for sale..

As are supplies for making advent wreaths…

Complete Dance Video!

We have arrived safely in Switzerland, we didn't have any compilations coming out of Russia. It all went smoothly.
As promised, here is my finished dance. Taken Friday night, during my last class in Russia.

Link to Video