Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany Finale

We quickly found out why Switzerland is so green since the next day it rained pretty much the whole day!  It was a little harder to be a tourist after the gorgeous weather we had had the day before!  However, we tried our best and our kids were troopers too.  Saturday, we drove to the small country of Liechtenstein for a little exploring and lunch.  It was fun to add one more country to our list and see this quaint corner of Europe.  Despite the rain, the kids loved wandering the streets with us and we had a nice visit.

The castle where the king of Liechtenstein lives.

Liechtenstein lunch...

Now THAT'S a pepper shaker!

After Liechtenstein, we drove to a little town called Rapperswil in Switzerland.  It was a cute town with gorgeous window boxes, pretty churches, and then there was running in the rain!  haha!

Our last night in Zurich was serendipitously the festival of Zurich Days!  All of downtown was out- despite the rain- the streets were festive and fun.  We enjoyed seeing cultural dances, yummy pretzel stands, and a giant slip n slide.  If it hadn't been so wet and cold already, we would have definitely tried that! It was a fun evening!

The next morning we attended a great ward in Zurich.  The wonderful woman behind us let Harrison play with some of her son's cars.  I swear it was the most peaceful Sacrament meeting we have had in awhile.  

We love Sundays!

From church, we made our way back toward Germany where we would be heading back to Romania the next day.  We made a stop at Rhinefalls and the Black Forest on our way to Frankfurt.  They were super incredible stops.  

In the Black Forest, we did a short hike to Triberg Waterfalls.  We just could not get over how green and dense everything was.  So magical.  We also loved trying to find as many red squirrels that we could so we could feed them some peanuts.  Some were eaten by the squirrels, some were left on the trail for the squirrels to find later, and some were eaten by the little girl holding the peanut bag. ;)

Despite a rocky start, some rainy middle days, and a very frustrating hotel room situation for our last night, this trip was LEGENDARY!  We flew back to Bucharest on the 4th of July.  Even though we were in Germany flying to Romania, we still felt proud to represent our Stars and Stripes!

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Sweet Switzerland- Part I

After Germany, Michael had some meetings in Bern, Switzerland.  I cannot even believe how brilliant all the colors are in Switzerland! The water! The mountains! The green! The clouds! It was amazing! (I had to split this post into two because of all the pictures that we took- even though we were only there for a few days!) We walked into town for dinner after Michael's meetings and absolutely could not believe our eyes.  What a sky line!

It was such a great walk through the gardens.  Laila wanted her picture taken a lot. ;)

The next day, we drove out to Zurich and we stopped in a sweet little town to explore the Swiss Alps a bit.  I cannot get over the water of the lake at the bottom.  So gorgeous.  Also fun to know, the Swiss flag is only one of two sovereign states to have a square flag instead of rectangle.  (The other square is Vatican City.) 

Laila loves swans! I do too- especially when their graceful white juxtaposes with that water!

We were taken up the train by this awesome train pushing us up.  What a climb! I could not stop taking pictures because everything was just breathtaking!

Harrison LOVED the "choo choo" and all the cows ("moos!")

Once we got to the top,  we hiked up to the very top and just marveled at the view. The clouds would come in and cover us and then quickly blow out showing off Switzerland again.  It was an amazing afternoon on top of that mountain!

We even made friends with this mountain goat! Michael was setting up our tripod for a family picture and this guy came pretty darn close to the set up.  I was nervous he was going to knock over the camera.  Instead, Michael took this picture of him before the goat somehow just walked his way down what to me was a pretty steep cliff.  It was awesome!

Clearing our heads.

Heads in the clouds.

Absolutely incredible day! Easily one of my favorite moments of all of our adventures!

That night we stayed at the most darling hotel in Zurich.  Laila LOVED it because they had cute Winnie the Pooh dishes for her and....

...they had these awesome toy horses in the lobby that somehow self trot/roll around. Laila felt like she was a master horse rider!

While we were in Switzerland, we also stopped on our way out of Bern at the beautiful temple!  I love being on temple grounds and I love having my children there even more so!  This one looks very similar to the New Zealand temple which means I really love it. ;)

President Monson has said that as we touch the temple, the temple will touch us.  I want my kids to feel the joyful significance of temples on the Earth today.  I'm grateful they could be there with us.

Our eternal family loved being able to see the Bern, Switzerland temple!