More Visitors

It’s been a whirlwind week as we’ve had more visitors here in Zurich.  My parents arrived last Tuesday and just two days later my cousin Catherine arrived.  That meant Christmas vacation for me as I finished up work on Wednesday not to return for a little over 3 weeks.  We of course had to tour around Zurich and see all of the main sights.  Then we were off to Paris for a weekend.  We kept quite busy in Paris doing a wine tasting class, the Louvre, shopping on the Champs-Élysées and Eiffel Tower at night.  I loved the Eiffel Tower at night….it was something I hadn’t done before.  And it was fun learning more about French wines.  Apparently 2005 and 2009 were great years for French wines.  All in all a quick but very fun weekend in Paris exploring. 

Then Monday we were off to Flumserberg for a day of skiing in the Swiss Alps.  It was only about an hour and a half away by train from Zurich so quite perfect for a day trip (much better than that 4 hour drive to Tahoe, that’s for sure).  It was also the same day that we had snow falling in Zurich.  Our first snow here!!!!  (A girl from California gets very excited about these things)  

We got up to the mountain and it was snowing quite a bit up there.  Lots of snow and gray skies which made for a challenging day skiing but it was our first trip out and overall a good one.  And we left the mountain with no injuries which is better than our last attempt at skiing in Europe. 

In the interest of trying to do as much as we could, Tuesday we were off to Konstanz for a taste of a true German Christmas market.  It was recommended by some co-workers of mine and was exactly what I was hoping for.  It was a little town with snow on the ground and in the air and just really cute.  The Christmas market itself was quite large and took up a good portion of the main part of town.  The items sold there seemed to be more unique and handmade compared to what we have seen in the Zurich and Paris markets.  Overall a great day….but cold!!!! 

Now Catherine has left and my parents are staying to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s with us.  We’re looking forward to our Christmas celebration here in Zurich (hopefully with some snow) and then we are off to Spain for a week!