Chateau D'oex

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Hello family and friends! This is my last entry from Switzerland, for Christopher and I leave tomorrow morning for Salzburg! I'm not sure how available internet will be for us after today, so we will update when we can!

These pictures are from my most recent trip with students to a little village in the French speaking part of Switzerland called Chateau D'oex. We were there for three days and had an awesome time eating and playing. Some of the highlights include visiting a chocolate factory where we could eat all the chocolate we wanted (it was like real-life Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!), visiting a castle in the village of Gruyere (yes, this is where they make gruyere cheese), racing down an Alpine luge, eating AMAZING food, and hiking barefoot down a mountain. I was barefoot because I brought the wrong shoes, and just ended up taking them off and enjoying the dirt and pine needles under my toes.

The castle was one of the most amazing things, and I included a lot of pictures. There was 16th century graffiti carved into the walls, which was funny because even though at one time it would have been tacky, now it is covered with plexiglass in order to maintain it. Maybe one day we will cover our graffiti in plexiglass. Within this castle there was also a piano that had been made for Franz Liszt, which was pretty neat to see! The garden was stunning and the view looked like a hollywood backdrop it was so perfect.

The hike we took was incredible too simply because of the sounds! We took a chairlift to the top and it was about fifteen minutes of listening to the babbling brooks running underneath us, the crickets chirping from all around us, the wind moving through the trees, and the distant tinkling of the bells around the necks of the cows grazing. It made me wish it could have been recreated with instruments so that I could try to be part of it.

And now the students are all gone, and Christopher and I are packing our bags. This summer school has been an invaluable experience, and I've learned so much about people and travel. I'm so lucky to be with someone who unfolds everything life has to offer and makes my world a bigger place by introducing me to experiences like this.

Love to everyone at home,
Andrea


P.S. the pictures weren't working, so I will try to get them on here another time

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