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Well, our incredible journey is over. I was unable to blog for quite a while, so I will catch up on what has happened. 

After completing our wonderful time in Switzerland, we flew back to Canada and made a stop in Montreal overnight before coming back to Vancouver. We stayed with friends in White Rock for 6 days, and then came over to the island! These last few weeks have been really good. :) Now that we are back, though, it raises a very important question.

Should I continue blogging? I don't really feel that I have much to say right now. I have no idea whether or not you (my readers) will want to read anymore, now that we are back. So please drop me a comment or email to let me know whether or not you think I should keep going. 

Nevertheless, whether I blog or not, our story continues...

Guarda-- a little village in the mountains

Yesterday, just as we were leaving, the lady we were staying with in Bäch offered to let me use her old camera for the duration of our stay! It was totally an answered prayer. :) I was therefore able to take pictures of one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. A small village called Guarda up in the Engadine region of the mountains. It was incredible. About a foot of snow, maybe more in some places, covered the ground. Surrounded by white-capped mountains, the view totally took my breath away. We even got a new family picture up there! :)

Some sheep that came to greet us

Family pic

Lucy found a snow shovel and was flinging snow everywhere!

A car train that takes cars through a really long tunnel. 

The first few days...

I have some pictures that I took before my camera died! Our first few days in Switzerland were awesome. There is a christmassy feeling in the air, with a light dusting of snow, decorations and lights on every store or café, and little stands selling roasted chestnuts. Christmas time is probably one of the nicest times to be here.

The city from afar

Maroni -- roasted chestnuts. Mmm…. 

Cuckoo clocks

The Grossmunster

The little church in Meilen

Eating lunch in Solothurn. Lack of teeth tends to work against eating with ease...

Switzerland

We are in Switzerland. After sad goodbyes to our friends in Russia, a classic family airport dilemma, and lunch in a very American restaurant, we arrived in Zurich. 

Our first full day we spent mostly relaxing, though we went out later in the day to visit family and go to a Christmas market. Swiss Christmas markets are the best. :) Day 2, we headed out to the home of the parents of some good friends of ours. We stopped in Solothurn for lunch. 

After a mug of hot chocolate, I had a most terrible shock. The worst possible thing that could've happened during our trip. Well, maybe not the worst but pretty bad. My camera has stopped working. :'( Exactly 2 years, 2 months and 1 week since I purchased it, it is now dead. :(

Therefore, I will not be able to post any more of my own pictures. Kristina has kindly agreed to let me use any of her pictures I choose, so that's where I'm going to get them until I get a new camera. :'(

We drove over the mountains, into Gruyeres for lunch, and out again to Geneva. Geneva is a lovely little city. We took a tour of the UN building and the Red Cross museum yesterday. We even got to sit in on a conference!! I'm sad to be leaving today. But this evening we will make some traditional buns and leave our shoes out the door for St. NIcholas to fill with lots of chocolate, peanuts and goodies!! :P 

Lebyazhe

A couple days before we left Russia, we took the train to my grandmother's summer cottage. It was really nice to be out in the country, though the village is very run down and shabby. Papa spent most of his childhood there.

The train station

The path through the forest to the village.

A small beach at the edge of the village.

It was all snowy and beautiful! We built a snowman together.