V-Day plus two


I don’t know whether to label this entry to the blog as day one or day two. It is day two away from work but really only day one of the vacation. We have all come to know that a trip by plane means a full day of travel. We arrived about two p.m. today after leaving Chico at six a.m. yesterday morning. With the time change that adds up to just about twenty-four hours of travel, under the loving and ever thoughtful guidance of Homeland security, (but you don’t want to get me started on that subject.)

We are sitting around a fire-warmed front room of the chalet in Murren Switzerland with the kids, wine, baguette bread, three cheeses and Olives for Jamie. Even in the fog of marathon travel and sleep deprivation we love being together. Get-away time with family is just the best. They all have their own busy lives so this doesn’t happen often (enough). The last travel challenge of the long day was the cog railway up the cliff from the valley floor to the village of Murren. It is a very small village on a plateau above a narrow valley in the Alps. We had five changes of trains with an average layover of six minutes. For those of you that have not traveled on the Swiss railway system, when the second hand hits the twelve, the train starts moving......no exceptions. When we finally got to Murren on the last leg, the kids were going to meet us at the Murren train station and help carry bags for the quarter mile uphill walk to the chalet. (Murren has no cars and everyone walks and/or pulls sleds). About two minutes later we were standing in front of the station and over the hill, comes four one-man sleds, zooming while hooping and hollering to a skidding stop all smiles and hugs. Reunions don't get much better than that. Wish I had my video going in time to capture them. it was magic.

We are all sharing travel stories of getting here., each by their own route. It seems like travel is never routine anymore. The kids have all been here for three days and have skied for two of the days. We are hoping to ski together Friday, but in the meanwhile, we are in awe of the world class setting and the company to match.

Off to a well deserved nights rest! Here are some pictures:

http://gallery.me.com/jjburghardt#100148