It's been a month since we moved in to our new home in Switzerland. It's so great and so many new experiences have occurred. For example, the grocery shopping. In order to get your grocery cart, you have to pay 2 Fr. Then when you are finished with your shopping you put your cart back and get your 2 Fr back. The purpose of this is so grocery carts aren't stolen. Another different thing is that you have to bring your own grocery bag. There are people in America that do this to, “go green”, and that is the same purpose here. You find very different things here in the stores. You have to be careful or else you go home and you find that you bought something totally different that you wanted.
Then of course there is the cheese and chocolate. There is usually a whole isle just full of cheese. As for the chocolate you go sometimes about 2 isles and find just racks full of all different kinds of chocolate. I think the purpose of this is to just tempt us into buying every kind of chocolate.
Other than the grocery shopping here, there are many other different things. For example, transportation, which is WONDERFULL! It is so convenient to just hop on the train down to my dad's work, and then take the bus that stops right in front of his office. The great thing about it is that we just got our transportation passes that last for 1 year, so now we can go anywhere in our zone. It's great.
There are many sites to see in Switzerland. We have already gone to Gruyere, which was awesome. We went to the old chateaux (castle). On our way up to the chateaux we saw cows with bells on their necks just right next to us. It's really weird, the cows actually do wear the bells here in Switzerland. You can hear their bells ringing all throughout the alps . Then, we were very excited to go to the famous chocolate factory. We did a tour of the place and then, we entered into a room at the end that had a bunch of chocolate just for us to eat. It was scrumptious!
Then, just this past Saturday was Le Tour De France. I went with my parents and some family friends to go watch. We cheered all the riders on from all different countries. We were so close to the riders that if I wanted to I could've just reached out and touched them.We had a chart for every rider for where there are from, their number, and the order that they would come in. Usually when a rider went by, everyone would yell, “ALLEZ ALLEZ ALLEZ!” Which is just, "GO GO GO" in english. Then, when Holland would go by us our friend and I would make a windmill. Then when, America would come our whole group would yell U.S.A, U.S.A, U.S.A! We would love to see the reactions from the bikers because of the things we did. Especially the U.S.A cheer. The rider would feel confident and would give a grin and maybe it was just me, but I believe that they would go faster because we would cheer for their country.The awesome thing about Switzerland is the old architecture that is all around you. Everywhere you go is old towns. In Geneva, where my dad's office is, there is Old Geneva just up the hill where you find very old, cute, buildings and business. Even in our town, there are quaint places to go. My mom and I, last Thursday, discovered the cutest epicure, it was closed, but we will go there sometime and check it out. We just peered in and saw some of the things that were in there and it looked very nice. So we must try to go sometime soon. :)So far my experience in Switzerland is very interesting and I can't wait for more fun and exciting experiences. I love living in a foreign country, it's a great experience for me and my family.
Oops, I almost forgot! There is the greatest ice cream parlor all around Suisse called Movenpick! When my mom and I were visiting my father at his work we discovered one right across the street from his office. So, when we visit him I love getting one of those on a hot summer’s day. It’s quite nice to have. I love it, but what I can’t wait for more Gelato! YUMMMM!
Au Revoir! ( pictures are soon to come! )
