Story of My Life in Geneva: A month of memories...

One month, five countries, and many memorable moments. That pretty much summarizes our last month with my mom visiting. We were so fortunate to have her come and stay with us. When thinking of how to write this blog update, I decided there is absolutely no way that I can write about everything we did, so I will share highlights from the five countries we spent time in during her stay.

Italy
Italy is a short one hour drive from Geneva, so we decided we must take my mom there. It was a day trip, but we definitely took advantage of our day! Last time my parents were here, we had visited Chamonix, and tried to persuade them all to take the cable car to the top of Mount Blanc, the tallest mountain in Europe. Unfortunately, only my uncle was brave enough to do it. Well, we were able to give my mom a second chance to visit the top, from the Italian side. We did not give her much time to think about it, basically drove to the cable car and said good-bye as Adalyn held her hand! She made it all the way to the top! After the mountain visit, we walked through the village of Courmayeur.

On top of the World!

Hike in Courmayeur

France
Since France is so close to our house, we tend to be in France as often as we are in Switzerland. With my mom we visited Yvoire, Mt. Saleve, Santa's house, Megeve, and Annecy.

So much fun at the top of Mt. Saleve

Santa's Sleigh

Enjoying a carriage ride around the village of Megeve-

Beautiful day in Annecy

Austria
When we knew my mom was coming to visit and Adalyn had a week off from school, we knew we had to go somewhere. We have been wanting to visit Austria and Germany, so we planned a road trip. Our first stop was in Austria, which is about a four hour drive from Geneva. We visited Lake Constance, which is a large lake that borders Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. We ate dinner at a fantastic Austrian restaurant right along the lake and enjoyed spatzle and schnitzel. We were only in Austria for one night, but what we saw of it reminded us a lot of Switzerland.

Outside of the restaurant-

Eliza's baby is learning to walk... makes for longer walks!

Germany
Our next stop on our road trip was Fussen, Germany. The main attraction in Germany closest to Switzerland is the Neuschwanstein Castle. The girls are both into princesses, so we decided it would be a good time to visit the famous castle. We arrived in Schwangau, Germany around noon. We enjoyed another traditional German meal and shopped in the village. We had made a reservation earlier in the week for our tour time, which if you ever plan to visit I would highly recommend. We took a horse carriage up to the castle, which was so exciting for the girls! The castle is a stunning site. Such a large castle built for one man, who ended up only living in it for 6 months before he died.

Eliza trying to jump over the gate looking for Cinderella!

Carriage ride selfie!

Our little German Girl

The owner of the horses told us their names were Kim Kardashain and J-Lo!!

(Kim Kardashian is on the left!)

Beautiful Castle

We stayed in Fussen, which is very close to the castle, and has a very cute old town area. We enjoyed walking the cobblestone streets filled with different shops and restaurants.

We discovered a unique treat called, Schneeballen,

basically deep fried cookie dough in a ball- delicious!

Switzerland
Our last stop on our road trip was Zurich, Switzerland, which is the largest city in Switzerland. We stayed near their old town and really enjoyed walking along the lake, shopping, people watching, and eating. We were so lucky to find a German beer hall right in Old Town that was playing live German music. It was definitely a memorable dinner for all of us.

And of course, time spent at our house. The girls loved having grandma around at all times. Eliza always wanted to know where "Jamma" was. They were able to spend so much quality one on one time together. They baked numerous times, did many crafts, tea parties, and Adalyn even learned how to sew!

First hand-sewing project!

We celebrated Adalyn's Birthday early with my mom- Adalyn got a kid sewing machine!

Birthday Fondue

The girls loved bedtime stories with Grandma-

So many smiles!

We also were able to celebrate Halloween this past weekend. We are so fortunate to have made great friends to share American holidays with. We went to a Halloween party followed by trick or treating. Trick or treating here is definitely different since it's not widely celebrated, but the girls were able to go to about ten homes, which was just perfect. We all had a great night!