Switzerland -- Lucerne part 1

Switzerland!!

At the beginning of June, Travis had the opportunity to present a paper at the Society of Experimental Test Pilots European Symposium. And since he was going for free, we decided it would be silly for me not to join him for a week in Switzerland-Wonderland.

Getting there was the only not-fun part. Grandma Lisa came to stay with the kids (thank you!) and we left CA at 8:30 am on Tuesday and got to Zurich at 8:30 am on Wednesday. In order to beat the jetlag, we hit the ground running. For our first jaunt, we rented a car and drove from Zurich to St. Gallen to see a 14th century library, which was gorgeous!! They had texts from the 1000 AD! It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and being a LIBRARY, you know I wasn't going to miss out. Sadly, no cameras were allowed inside - but click here for a sample of the loveliness.

St. Gallen also had this beautiful cathedral next to the library and this was just a glimpse of the loveliness inside.

We did get a bit lost trying to find the actual library and then once again when we were trying to get back to where we parked the car. We've learned it's a bit hard to ask for directions when you have no idea where you left your vehicle. Luckily, we found it and then drove from St. Gallen to Lucerne, where we would stay for the next four days for the conference.  

Our first night in Lucerne we met with the other SETP conference attendees at a reception and then headed out to explore. 

 This is the Kapllbrucke -- a 14th Century wooden bridge that is oh so gorgeous.

 For our first dinner, we found a little cafe on the waterfront and tried out some authentic Swiss fondue. Delish!

The next morning, Travis headed off to the conference while I went with the other wives to visit The Schonenberger Chocolate Factory!! We had such a blast there. Upon arrival, they had this GIANT tasting table with dozens (dozens I tell you!!) of different types of chocolate to try.

I am proud to say, excepting the liqueur chocolates, I tried every single one of those bad boys. It was a tough job, but I took it seriously. 

 We then were able to go and decorate a chocolate airplane of our own. This is so much fun -- I felt so professional! It was pretty funny - I sat at a table with 6 other wives from the conference and when we got to talking it turned out every single one of them were from the Antelope Valley (my home!). We had traveled all that way, and wound up meeting friends who live just down the street from us.

 My finished plane - which my boys told me looked like a 'giant fish.'

After the chocolate tour, I headed back to the city with a few of the other ladies to get some yummy lunch and go sightseeing.

I know people post tons of pictures of cathedrals while in Europe but I was so blown away by the Jesuit Church when we went inside -- not only was a soaringly huge building with gorgeous rose colored marble decorations, but there was someone playing on the organ. At first, I thought it was a recording, but then I caught a glimpse of the musicians up in the organ loft and knew it was live. I don't know how else to describe the sound other than a swelling of sound, the acoustics in the building created this richness of sound that was simply indescribable. So incredibly cool. 

Later that evening, we met back up with Travis and the other spouses for a scenic boat ride. It was beautiful ferry boat ride throughout the lake around Lucerne and we had a wonderful evening getting to know so many pilots and their spouses. Everyone had a story to tell in that group!

We were totally beat after that first night and were sooo grateful to head back to the hotel for some much needed sleep that night!