We Made It!

Well hello again! I haven't had a chance to blog for a LONG time. I can't post any pictures right now, but I can write a bit about our road trip.
So one week ago today, we left Zurich. We arrived in Salzburg, Austria and stayed the night there. The next day we went to Vienna in the morning, and then we drove to Prague. So on the 23rd, we spent the day in Prague, then drove to Karlovy Vary for the remaining hours of the evening. After a delicious supper, we got back in the car. During the night, we drove through the ENORMOUS country of Poland. By 2 or 3 PM the next day, we were in Kaunas, Lithuania where we spent the night. We were able to do some sightseeing in the morning, and then we drove to Palanga where we stayed overnight. On the evening of the 26th, we were in Riga, Latvia. It was pouring with rain....
The next day was spent in the car, but we managed to get to Tallinn, Estonia by 2:30 PM. Then we did some sightseeing, walking around and shopping before a good nights sleep at the hotel. This morning we woke up early to catch the ferry to Helsinki, Finland where we are now. Phew. Finally done!!!!!! Not in Russia yet though. Our friend is coming to pick us up. Signing off for now, I will post pictures as soon as I can.

More pictures of Switzerland!

This one was taken at a playground near the lake.

Here, Kristina poses for me on a very old teeter totter.

Our second-cousin, pretending to make marzipan.

Special Raclette cheese for dinner! It is melted on a special Raclette grill and poured over potatoes. Mmm!

Papa made a delicious supper for us. This first part is a celeriac sauce.

Next, a pastry filled with sausage and a special pasta.

Add a little basil oil....

..and some parsnip chips! Voila! 

Little gold man in the clock tower in Bern, the capital city of Switzerland.

The famous Bern bears!

DELICIOUS WAFFLES!!!

We made a small trip this morning to the monastery at Einseideln. That was the town where we first found out I needed glasses!

Lucy lost her front tooth today. "Mommy, is there a Swiss tooth fairy?" SO CUTE!!

First Full Day

A few pictures from our first full day here. 

The toy shop- puppets, wooden toys, music boxes.  The Swiss sure know how to make toys!

Lucy thought that this sign meant that she wasn't allowed to hold mom's hand!

The fountain at the park: we filled up our water bottle from the little spout on the right. Yes, you can do that here! :)

The view of the river from a nice little park. It was lovely!

Gigantic chess board in the park.

Lunch: Bratwurst, buns and Rivella.

Lucy had a hard time because of her two loose teeth.

The Grossmunster Cathedral

  

Writing postcards!

The Journey Begins

The view from our balcony in Zurich.

Swans were swimming in the lake. We are going to swim too! The water was 20 degrees, and it was only 15 degrees outside!

The shore of the Zürich See, or the Lake of  Zurich.

At 4:00 PM yesterday morning, we took a taxi to the Vancouver airport. We had to take separate taxis- there was too much luggage to fit all of it and us into one- and so Mom, Kristina and I went in one and Papa and Lucy went in the other.
Our plane departed for Chicago at 6:10. It wasn't a very long flight, and it was nice and relaxing. We landed in O'Hare airport, where we had to wait about 2.5 hours. Kristina and I bought some postcards, and we had a nice snack of fresh fruit and pretzels before boarding our next plane.
The next plane was bound for Frankfurt, Germany. It was a really, really long flight and I didn't sleep a wink. I mostly watched movies, ate, and read my book. When we arrived in Frankfurt, we missed our connection to Zurich so we got bumped down to a later flight. Thankfully, that one left early.
We flew SwissAir to Zurich. It was beautiful. Once we got above the clouds, the sun shone beautifully and the clouds looked like snow below us.
After claiming our baggage, we took a taxi to our Great-Aunt's house where we had some delicious soup for breakfast. It was SO good. After that, we came here to Mom's cousin's apartment. It's really beautiful. Her apartment is right downtown, pretty much within walking distance of most shops and markets.
We went for a walk by the lake once we got settled in. I felt pretty tired and cranky before going outside, but once I got out, all nasty feelings vanished. It was glorious.
That's pretty much all my news for now, but I'll post some pictures to go along with my story. The journey has finally begun!!!

Flying over Switzerland. The sun was SO bright I could hardly see out the window!

Flying over Chicago: BIG CITY!

A hole in the clouds. 

Sunrise over Amsterdam

Landing in Frankfurt

FLIGHT COUNTDOWN: 12 hours and 40 mins to go!

So, if you can believe it, we are FINALLY going to leave!

Our flight leaves at 6:10 from the Vancouver airport. We fly to Chicago from there. Have I gone through all this before? Anyway, since we have to leave at about 4 in the morning to get there on time, we are going from our temporary residence here in Langley to our aunt's house in Vancouver in about.... 1.5 hours. We're planning on staying up all night... I wonder how that is going to go over?

3 days left!!!

Ok, so I haven't blogged for a while. :) Well since my last post, we've left White Rock, we've been in Langley for 5 days, and we've figured out some travel plans that hadn't been totally clear.
And those travel plans are: We arrive in Zurich on the 11th, and we stay with my mom's cousin until the 22nd. Then we begin our long road trip, first through Munich (toy town!!!) then through Salzburg and Vienna, Austria, then through Czech Republic, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, then from Talin we take the ferry to Helsinki, Finland where a good friend from Russia will pick us up. Then there's a bit of a drive to get to St. Petersburg!!!!
So there's our latest travel update. Also, WE'RE LEAVING THE COUNTRY IN THREE DAYS!!!!!!!

To White Rock

We have spent a lovely, relaxing three nights in Vancouver, and now we are going to stay with friends in White Rock for one night. Here's some pics of our stay in Vancouver!

Making lunch in Aunty Sylvia's kitchen

We went to my Uncle Thomas' house for dinner. We took a walk down the street and watched the sunset from a small park there.