Thursday, July 30, 2009

Paige's Journey Through Switzerland

A couple of days after we returned from our trip around Egypt, my friend Paige arrived! Paige had been wanting to come to Switzerland for quite some time... not only to see the Swiss alps, but to visit L'Abri. L'Abri is a Christian community where you have the opportunity to seek answers to questions about God and the significance of life. They have communities all over the world, but the one in Switzerland is the original L'Abri that Francis Schaeffer started in 1955. If you want more information, their website is www.labri.org. Paige came to Basel for a few days before heading to the place that she would call home for 5 weeks. While she was here, I showed around the city... by bike!
Basel is the one of the most bike-friendly cities. Being able to bike everywhere is actually one of the things that Nate and I love most about living here.
After adjusting to the time change, Paige was off to start her journey at L'Abri. It is located up in the mountains in the French part of Switzerland, so we had to take a tram, two trains and a bus to get there, but we had amazing views just about the whole way! Once Paige got settled, we said our goodbyes, but I knew we'd be seeing each other again soon...
After 5 weeks of being at L'Abri, Paige returned to Basel and had so much to tell me... if you'd like to read about her journey there, you can check out her blog: www.wherelifeishidden.wordpress.com

Paige was with Nate and I for about a week, but Nate had to work during the week, so Paige and I ventured out on our own to see some of the cities in Switzerland. One day, we visited Luzern and Zurich. Here are some pictures of our day trip...
Another day, we went to Bern to visit one of Paige's friends, Jesse, from L'Abri. Paige loved riding the trams :)
I loved seeing Bern because it was my first time.
The Capital building.
We walked around the city, had lunch, then we decided to apparently work off our lunch by climbing the tower of Bern's cathedral... but it was worth it to get to the top.
Looking down from the top... the color of the river was incredible.
There is a huge drop off under Jesse's feet and he was making me nervous sitting there, but in his defense, there were nets below. They were put up to prevent suicides (sad).
Paige & Jesse
The next day we went to the Berner Oberland region to do some hiking. Since it was a Saturday, Nate could join us and you know that he never passes up a hike!
The views were absolutely incredible from start to finish. Jesse was able to join us for the hike too. He always made it interesting because he liked to climb or go to the edge of anything dangerous! That is him and Paige in the distance...
Nate & Jesse were skipping rocks on the lake and Jake wanted to chase them down. He soon realized that the water was freezing and started doing a whiny bark because he was torn whether to go in or not!
We saw quite a bit of wildlife... goats, sheep, cows, and pigs. It was really neat getting up close to them!
Enjoying the view... and the break. :)
Me & Paige
Nate stayed back to get a picture of us hiking. Can you find us?We passed a herd of cows and Jake was terrified!
This is my favorite picture... I just wish Nate could have been in it too!
On Paige's last travel day, we went to the town of Colmar, France. You probably remember it from one of our first blogs. It is an adorable French town that we love to take people to...
After all that traveling, I know you were exhausted, but we hope you enjoyed your time in Switzerland Paige!

3 comments:

leah said...

Wow Maria I'm so envious of all your hikes and beautiful views. Looks like you guys had a great time with your friend!

joydenney said...

Can't wait to go to a few of those places when we come...6 weeks and counting!

prague hotel said...

Wow I'm so impressed as I viewed your blog very interesting..All your photos are nice, the views are wonderful..Glad you shared it..