We’ve packed a whole lot of sight seeing into these past few days. Carefully watching the forecast in an attempt to maximize our potential of finding sun. There hasn’t been a lot of it but when we have found it, it has been glorious. 

It’s been an intense schedule. Hitting as many highlights as possible. Winterthur Friday market, Rapperswil, Konstanz (Germany) and Lucerne. Konstanz was our only sunny destination and boy did we love it. But despite the rain, all our destinations have been amazing. It is so fun to share with others, the places we’ve come to enjoy so much.    

Turns out that when you’ve been a walking urbanite for 3.5 months you develop a walking pace that is uncomfortable for visitors. Not sure Mom & Kim have appreciated being hustled along as much as I’ve been guilty of enforcing. But they’ve been troopers and have mustered a run when instructed abruptly to do so in order to keep the transit schedule. 

The train rides have provided the perfect space for the kids to conduct German lessons. As Helena pointed out “it’s good to have a little Deutsch, Grandma.”

We’ve arrived home each night, pooped, laden with shopping bags and often with tired, soggy feet. But in order to see as much as we, there’s no time to rest, it’s up & out bright and early each morning for the next sight to see. Plenty of time to sleep on the plane ride home. 

The sights we’ve toured over the last few days have finally lived up to the Swiss expectation. The palm trees & handsome Italian men in Lugano paint a very different picture than what one expects upon visiting Switzerland. But up here in the north, you really get a sense of the true Swiss scene, cows with bells, lederhosen, castles and heimatorts. (Bet you’ve never heard of a heimatort! Either had we. Luckily we have a good one. Manolo and the kids that is, I’m just the cook/house keeper, remember?)

Here’s a collection of the images we captured along the way. 

Rapperswil (Pronounced Rappersville) a beautiful town at the end of Lake Zurich. 

Next stop, Konstanz, Germany. A cross-border shopping mecca for those who hope to avoid Swiss sticker shock. Also happens to be a gorgeous city on a huge lake. 

After Konstanz we headed to Lucerne. Hoping for a dry day but once again got caught in the rain. So we hopped on a boat for a 2 hour of the lake which was the perfect way to stay dry. 

Once off the boat, the rain having subsided quite a bit, we carried on by foot to marvel at this amazing city. 



One final tourist day before we put Kim on a plane. Tomorrow we tour Zurich without the kids as they’ll be back at school. The Johnson girls on the loose…could be trouble!