Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the best Father, I love and admire you so much!

St.Bernards

The St.Bernards pilgrimage has been one of my favorite experiences we've had in Switzerland. 

We began our hike to St.Bernards early in the morning, high up in the Swiss Alps. It was 3.5 miles, done in snowshoes, all uphill, and in a complete blizzard ... and it was great. The reason behind the hike was that we were doing the original "pilgrimage" through the Alps that medieval people did back in the 1800s to get to St.Bernards Monastery. Now a days, the only way you are allowed to sleep at The St.Bernard Monastery is by completing the pilgrimage on foot (or snowshoe) to the Monastery. If you drive you have to stay at a near by hotel or lodging. So we strapped on our snowshoes and began the journey (and we did it in the summer and there was a complete blizzard, I don't even want to think what winter is like). 

But we did it.

We stayed at the Monastery for 3 days, and it was an incredible experience. We wore slippers all day, lived on only soup and chocolate, went to catholic mass in french, sang hymns with the priest, had tea time at 4 everyday, had15 minute daily meditation time, slept in bunk beds, and it was only a five minute walk away from The Italian border. It was so relaxing and rejuvenating there. The history, stories, and architecture of the Monastery were unbelievable.

 On our last day, we had a really cool experience. We all gathered in the great hall to say our thankyous and goodbyes to the priest who had spent all three days with us at the Monastery, and as we were going to leave, together, we all started to sing some of the French Catholic Hymns that we learned in Mass. And then, to the priest, all the Utah State students sang "God Be With You Until We Meet Again". I can't tell you how amazing that moment was. The room was filled with such strong spirit and feeling. The priest was crying, I was crying, everyone was crying. It was incredible. We may have been in a foreign country, didn't share the same language, nonetheless speak the same language ... but some things are the same no matter where you are. It was a great three days, definitely will never forget my stay at St.Bernards.

Leysin

Today was Sunday, our favorite day over here, because Sunday is our one free day of the week. We decided to take it easy today and stay in Leysin. We slept in until 8:30, walked up to the top of Leysin, held a little church lesson, picnic-ed, and played around in the wildflower fields ... it was a much needed, relaxing day--Especially for the busy week ahead of us. We have a lot planned, including a chocolate factory and the famous Zermmatt! It's going to be great. 

I can't say it enough ... I am in love with Switzerland.

Murren

I can not get over the beauty of Switzerland. This week we went to the Laterbrunnen Valley, and it's hard to overstate just how stunning it is. Even the hardened Alpinists call it the most beautiful valley in Europe, bar none. It is the world's deepest U-shaped valley, with mountains rising over 1000 meters on each side, with hundreds of waterfalls. We took a gondola up to the village of Murren, with full view of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau mountains. from Murren we hiked up to the hidden village of Gimmelwald ... the most spectacular sight I have ever seen. Photos don't do it justice (especially with my little camera). The entire Laterbrunnen Valley is completely covered, inch to inch, with miles of wildflowers. I can't even put into words how incredible it is. 

Switzerland

Bonjour!

Sorry for being MIA these last few weeks, it's been so busy ... But, I am in Switzerland. It has truly been amazing. We've already been here for almost two weeks--I can't believe it. I was hoping to do a blog post every night with pictures of all we do, but the internet at our hotel is not the best and it will not allow any uploading of photos. But it has been the most amazing two weeks of my life, I can't believe how much we've done, seen, and learned. We've been all over Switzerland and to Italy and Germany as well. Switzerland is the most beautiful place ever, I am loving every minute of it here ... I'll be trying to post more & hopefully get some photos up soon!