Friday December 25th

Our Christmas Dinner

The Train we put our car on!

The road we thought we were going drive on!

On Christmas Day we headed back towards Zurich to return the car and to catch a plane home the 26th.  We drove towards Furkapass hoping to drive over it.  We have heard it is beautiful.  Needless to say it was closed.  It was not just closed but snowed over until probably May.  So we put the car on a train that goes through the mountain.  It was interesting and fun.  After we got off the train we headed to find The Engel Cafe.  Brad found it online.  Engel in German means angel.  We go to the town and park, you cannot drive on the street where the cafe is.  Well we cannot find it.  A little disappointed but ready to get the car returned we head to Zurich.  After we return the car we have a couple of beers and realize that there is a mall at the airport and it is open till 10.  So we take our stuff to the hotel, on the free shuttle bus, and then head back to the mall.  It was fun to shop around.  We bought some last minute souvenirs and had Macdonalds for Christmas Dinner.  It was the only restaurant in the food court that looked edible.  We had a great Christmas just being together!

Thursday December 24th

Zermatt

On Christmas Eve we got on a train and headed to Zermatt, where the famous Matterhorn is.  It was a pretty train ride up into the mountains.  Zermatt is another place you cannot take cars.  It is a ski village.  It was like the ski village in Dumb and Dumber.  The bummer was that the Matterhorn was fogged in so we didn't get to see it.  We had some lunch, walked around the incredibly over priced stores and then headed back down to our little apartment.  We stopped and got some food at the store and made ourselves a gourmet Christmas Eve meal of Frozen Pizza and watched Elf.

Wednesday December 23rd

Riding the Gondola

Altesch Glacier is behind us!

Playing in the snow!

We head out from Montreaux and head towards Altesch.  We arrive with no problems, thanks TomTom.  After we check in and empty the car we head to the Gondola to go up into the Swiss Alps to see the Altesch Glacier.  When we got on and were heading up we were so excited.  It was absolutely breath taking.  We get off the Gondola and walk to a chair lift.  It was strange to be on a chair lift with no skis on.  When we get to the top we are not sure if we are up for the walk down.  We take some pictures and then decided that walking would be fun.  It was an absolute blast.  We played in the snow like children!  It was definately the highlight of our trip!  We wish we could have gone back again, but too much to see and too little time.

Tuesday December 22nd

Fondue

Montreaux out our hotel window!

Our rental car!

We took an early train back to Zurich.  When we arrived in Zurich we got our rental car and headed out.  Thank goodness for TomTom.  We headed to Gruyeres, yes like the cheese.  We stopped at an information place and she told us that you cannot take cars into Gruyeres.  You have to park and walk in.  When we got there it was beautiful.  It sits up on a hill.  We went to the HR Giger museum.  It was really neat.  He is the artist that did all the work for the alien movies.  It was a little disturbing but we enjoyed it.  We then had some fondue for dinner.  It's really famous there.  I guess since it is called gruyeres that would make sense.  The fondue was incredible.  They gave us pickles, onions, potatos and bread to dip on the cheese.  Gruyeres was really neat but small so we then headed out to Montreaux.  It is amazing how when you get to southern Switzerland it is very French.  Everyone was speaking French.  Didn't matter much to us though we don't speak German or French.  Montreaux was a nice place.  There was a Christmas Market there so we hit that up.

Monday December 21st

Glockenspiel!

Today was the day we were going go see a Concentration Camp and some castles but it was all closed.  Good thing though because we both needed some sleep.  When we got up we ate some breakfast and then went out to see the Glockenspiel.  It played at 12.  It was a little anti-climactic.  Oh well we saw it.  We then went to Hard Rock for a big meal.  After we ate, we walked around the Christmas Market all afternoon.  It was bigger than I ever imagined.  It went on forever and was all over the city.  We got some fun things and then headed back to the room.  We had an early train back to Zurich in the morning.  Oh and we went back to the Hofbrauhaus to take some more pictures.

Sunday December 20th

Mulled Wine, MMM!

Our new friends!

FREEZING at the train station!

The Christmas Market!

We take the train to Munich.  It is a 4.5 hour train ride and it leaves late.  We get on and sit down.  We both fall asleep for about an hour, then they come to check our tickets.  We paid for 2nd class and we are sitting in 1st class.  So we have to move.  We grab all of our stuff and head towards the back of the train.  The train is moving so it is not the easiest thing to carry a large suitcase.  We then find our seats and then about 10 minutes later are told we cannot sit there.  So we move again.  Finally in some seats, we go back to sleep for the rest of the train ride.  We arrive in Munich, find our hotel, and drop off our stuff.  We then head into town.  It took us no longer than 5 minutes to walk.  Good job Brad on finding a hotel so close.   We walk around the Christmas Market and I instantly see lots of fun stuff to buy.  Brad went straight to the mulled wine stand.  We then hit up the information center to find about tomorrow.  Come to find out the things we wanted to do are closed on Mondays,  that sucks.  Oh well we will just have to come back another time.  We then head to the Hofbrauhaus for beers and dinner.  We sat at a table and ordered beers and food.   There was a band playing and the food was delicious.  After we ate we decided to have another beer.  We were having such a great time we just kept ordering.  About 3 beers deep some men come up to us and start talking to us in German.  Come to find out we were sitting at a reserved table.  These men come EVERY night and sit here.  So we say we can move and they say no no just scoot over.  So we are across the table from each other and on either side of each of us is a German.  It was really awkward.  So what do we do?  Drink more to feel more at ease.  Eventually we were not in the middle and we became friends with the old men.  They were really nice and wanted to talk but it was hard.  We speak no German and only on of them spoke English.  It was a great time.  After about 5 beers each, remember they are HUGE beers, we say goodbye to our friends and head to the gift shop.  After the gift shop we head home to sleep. 

Saturday December 19th Zurich

The vending machine!

He is so excited!

On Saturday December 19th we flew from London to Zurich Switzerland.  We arrived in Zurich found our hotel, after a train ride and numerous looks at a map.  We dumped our stuff and decided to go looking for a place to have a drink.  We went into some bars, but you can smoke in them so it was hard to pick.  The first one looked fun, there was a person playing bagpipes.  When I got up to the door there was a sign in German.  We decided not to go in, we think it was a private party.  One we went in had only wine, we think it said that on the door but we were not sure.  We then went into a cool one, it was like an Irish pub, but I think every person in there was smoking and we couldn't stand it.  It seems hard to believe that we used to hang out in places that smokey.  We then found a nice one with only one person smoking.  Brad gets a beer and we sit down.  After about 10 minutes Brad realizes that it is a gay bar.  I turn around and look and yes it most definately is.  Everyone was looking at us wondering.  So we decide to pound the beer and leave.  We walked out of there laughing.  We then headed back to our room.  Outside of our room was a vending machine with sodas and beer.  Of course we had to buy one.  It was pretty cool.  Then it was time to sleep were catching the 7 am train to Munich.

Snow Day!

Christmas at the Engel house came early this year because we will be traveling.  We leave tomorrow hopefully, England is covered in snow and they are not the most efficient in dealing with it.  Friday was a snow day for us, NO WORK!!!  It was a great start to a vacation.  Maloaee and Moose, our friends dog got to play in the snow.  Brad also got creative on the car!  If we get out of here, we are heading to Munich for a couple of days and then will be in the Swiss Alps for 5 days.  We are REALLY excited.  We miss everyone and hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Maloaee's Christmas

Maloaee got presents from Grandma and Grandpa and her Great Grandma.  The Christmas collar came from her Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Gerald and the treats came from her Great Grandma Pearl.  She loved them both and says ruff ruff (that means thank you).

London Sunday December 6th

We woke up early and headed out. As we walked out the door it was raining REALLY hard. We decided to wait a minute and see it it would let up. It did a little so we walked quickly in the down pour. We got to a Starbucks on our way to the Tube stop and went in to have some breakfast and coffee. We had a Eggnog Latte. It was delicious. We then went 2 Tube stops away to Camden Town. We were told to hit the Camden Town Market, it is world famous. When we got there we started to walk and things were just starting to open. As we walked it went on FOREVER. As we walked back to the Tube stop there were LOTS of people headed towards the market. It was really cool. We want to go back and do more shopping someday. It was the best market we have ever been to. We then got back on the Tube and headed to our car. It was a great trip to London.

London Saturday December 5th

Confused Santa and Brad!

The German Market

Thriller Live

Global Warming Protest



Our Studio Apartment

Brad and I headed to London on Saturday to see a show and to hit some German Christmas Markets. We got to London, found where we were staying and checked in. It was strange to say the least. We were asked if we were from Israel. Do we look like we are? I was so confused I just looked at the guy. We then got our keys, went to our apartment and found keys in the door. It was a bit strange but in the end it was just fine. We then headed to Hard Rock Cafe for some "American" cuisine. For us over here it is as close as it gets. Leaving there satisfied, we headed to the Lyric Theatre near Picadilly Circus for Thriller Live. As we were walking we ran into a protest. We had been warned by the government that it would be going on. We did not seek it out, I promise, we seriously walked right into it. We then made it through the protest to the theatre. The show was a phenomenal Michael Jackson tribute show that included a wonderful variety of music. We listened and watched as performers sang and danced to Beat It, Man in the Mirror, Billy Jean, Want to Be Starting Something, Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, ABC and other classic Jackson Five, of course Thriller and many more. When we got out of the Theatre it was raining. We walked all the way from Picadilly Circus down Regent Street to Oxford Circus and eventually made it to our destination, Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. We walked the long way because we wanted to see all the holiday decorations and the hustle and bustle of the city. Ok it was Me who wanted to see it, Brad not so much, but we got him a beer on the way and he was HAPPY. Winter Wonderland was incredible. It was much larger than we remember last year. We enjoyed a German sausage, pretzel, beer, mulled wine and crapes. After a couple of hours we were tired and soaked. We headed back to our studio apartment for a long night of restless sleep.