A year ago today, I was with some of my family returning to Texas from the trip of a lifetime. Long story short, I was blessed to be invited by my parents and sister (who had just graduated from Texas A&M University, whoop!) to travel with them to Switzerland, my dream destination! My parents had a company-sponsored trip to St. Moritz, Switzerland, but we decided to extend the vacation and also visit Austria and Germany. It truly was amazing and I decided I might as well post some never before seen aka hilarious pictures and a short account of what I remember from the trip. I definitely never want to forget it!
The first day of the trip, or Day 1 was a Wednesday but we spent the whole day flying from Houston, Texas to Chicago to Zurich, Switzerland. The flight from Chicago to Switzerland was especially long of course. I think it was about 11 hours but it went by faster than I thought since they had some awesome free TV shows and movies we could watch. They also fed us about every 3 hours so I definitely got plenty to eat, and the food didn’t taste that bad either!
Day 2: we arrived in Switzerland, boarded a bus with other people who were a part of the same company as my Dad, and drove 3+ hours through beautiful Switzerland to St. Moritz, where we would be staying for a week!
On Day 3, we took a guided walking tour of St. Moritz and then took a cable car/train up to Mount Piz Nair which has an elevation of 10k feet. The air was a little thin and yes, it got a little chilly that high up. The views were breathtaking.
Day 4 consisted of taking the train to Pontresina and then taking the ski lift to the top of Alp Languard. There was a lot of walking involved so we stopped for some delicious gelato as well. The views were amazing! I don’t have as many pictures from here since Carmen took most of them.
On Day 5, after hiking through Heidi’s Trail, we again took the train to nearby Pontresina and then a horse carriage ride to Roseg Glacier. Very few vehicles are allowed on the road to the glacier so you have to walk, ride a bike, or take a ride in a horse carriage. We ended the night at another cool restaurant with amazing fondue!
Day 6 was taking the famous Bernina Train Ride to Torano, Italy. There, we visited the Basilica of the Madonna dedicated to Our Lady since she saved the city from the Black Plague. I also lost my rosary there, aka forgot it, so we had to run back to the Basilica in the rain. Thankfully, I found it! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time in Italy but the Basilica was beautiful and we did get a chance to try authentic Italian pizza. It was amazing! Of course, we had to have gelato twice that day as well. It was delicious.
On Day 7, we again took the train, but this time we went a little further and went to what Carmen called an ice mountain, also known as the Diavolezza Glacier. We took a cable car to the top of the glacier and once we arrived there, it started snowing! I wasn’t expecting to get to see snow, but we even made some snow angels. We had lunch here at the restaurant at the top of the glacier. After lunch, we went back down to the train station and while waiting for the next train back, Carmen and I played some card games and did some Texas Line dancing. There were a ton of tourists from Japan at the train station watching us and Carmen tried to speak to them in Japanese. Yes, that was interesting, but then when we were dancing to Footloose, they started recording us on their phones so no telling if we are a commercial or something somewhere in Japan. Haha.
We did so much walking in Switzerland and Germany that I think we broke records every single day. That’s probably part of the reason why people are so in shape and healthy there. I have a Galaxy S6 Active and it automatically keeps track of steps. So I can’t remember exactly how far we walked, but I do know we broke records every single day and it kept going off with special awards for being so active. I think we were up to 13 miles or 22,000 steps one day. It was pretty hilarious and awesome to see that.
One thing I did underestimate was how cold it was there. It got into the 40’s at night and sometimes during the day so it was pretty cold compared to Texas. We brought a few jackets but not really enough warm ones. I think that’s the only downside of Switzerland as I don’t think I could live in such cold weather. But then again, I’m used to Texas weather and only two days of winter.
This was our last full day in Switzerland and that night there was a formal event in the hotel for the families of my Dad’s company. There were a ton of different types of foods and desserts with singing and dancing. The things we got to experience in Switzerland was amazing. I would post videos of the cows with the bells if I could because it sounded so peaceful. I could definitely live there if it wasn’t so expensive!
I remember one of our tour guides saying the average life expectancy in Switzerland was 82 for women. I actually just googled it and found that as of 2018, it is 85 for women and 81 for men! That’s truly amazing! It’s probably because all the food is so healthy and fresh, and people stay in shape by walking everywhere and hiking the mountains. The scenery was truly breathtaking too and I’m sure people stay happier since they get to see the beauty of God’s creation every single day. I will definitely will be going back some day. It may be many many years but I want my husband to experience the perfect scenery like I was able to.
Day 8 started with breakfast at the hotel and then we boarded a bus and headed for the airport in Zurich. Once there, we rented our diesel Mercedes and started driving toward our next destination for the night, Austria. It rained during most of our drive but the scenery was still beautiful and I do remember seeing a billboard with Arnold Schwarzenegger. We stopped in Imst, Austria for an alpine coaster ride but it ended up being cold and wet so only my sister and Dad did it. I wish I could have gotten some pictures of that!
Day 9 we named Castle Day since we traveled to Bavaria, Germany and visited the large and famous castles, most notably Schloss Hohenschangau and Neuschwanstein. Many people will probably recognize Neuschwanstein since it has been in many movies. Strangely enough, even my Dad had a poster of it in his house that was probably like 20 years old. It was totally awesome to see the Catholic influences in the castles as they were built by a Catholic king. We were also lucky we got there early because advance tickets were already sold out the week before and walk-up tickets go pretty quickly. The line was super long within a few hours after the ticket office opened so we are so glad we were able to get tickets and see the castle.
At the end of castle day, we arrived in Oberau, Germany and found our Airbnb, which was a set of two little cute apartments. We actually had no idea we were getting two separate apartments but they were just a few steps away from each other so it worked for us.
Day 10 was our last full day in Germany. The day started out with a homemade breakfast made by the owners of the place we stayed. Then, we decided to visit Linderhof Palace. After that, we drove the rest of the way to Munich, where we would be staying the night and flying out of the next day.
We really wanted to see some of the beautiful cathedrals in Munich so that was our next destination after stopping at our hotel and dropping off our bags. We also got to experience using public transportation getting to and from our hotel near the airport to downtown Munich where all the churches were. It was interesting seeing all the different kinds of people on the public buses and trains as well as all the different people that were in the city of Munich itself. The churches were gorgeous though and as we were walking along the streets, we would find random chapels that we could stop in. It was so awesome! We also asked someone who worked in a bakery where the best gelato was and he walked us down the road a little ways to show us. It was so nice of him to do that!
After gelato and seeing all the cathedrals we could with the little time we had, we found a souvenir shop or two and bought a few things from Munich. Then we managed to navigate the public transportation system and made it back to our hotel for the last night in Europe. We finished off the evening at the hotel restaurant which had some delicious tomato soup and homemade bread. I don’t know if I will ever have food as delicious as what we had in Switzerland and Germany!
The next morning, we left early for our final flight(s) home. It was an amazing trip! I really hope I will get to go back someday as the land over there was so beautiful and breathtaking. There is nothing like it in the United States, especially Texas. Texas has it’s only beauty, but Europe was just something different. It sure is amazing to see how different and beautiful God’s creation is.
I would highly recommend you visit Switzerland and Germany if you ever get the chance. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I would definitely do it again! I’m hoping to be able to go back for our 10th wedding anniversary so I’m desperately hoping our business is going to be thriving by then. It was definitely good to be back in Texas and to see my husband and kids again.
Have you ever visited Europe and is there any place you would highly recommend visiting if given the chance?
I loved loved loved traveling to Switzerland, Austria, and Germany and am so grateful I was able to have that chance. I’m so thankful my parents invited me and gave me such an awesome gift!
