Merry Christmas Y'all...

Home Sweet Home....

Hey y'all!  I am HOME!!!  That's right, this blog is coming to you from St. Louis, MO.  Don't worry there is still more of Switzerland to come but I had to interrupt your regularly scheduled program to let y'all know.....I'M HOME : )

I left Dublin this past Thursday and flew the 9 hours to STL.  The night before I left Chad and I had one last date night and walked around looking at the Christmas lights in the city.  Dublin certainly does Christmas well.  The picture below is the famous Grafton Street studded with chandeliers of lights. 

The next day Chad left work to take me to the airport.  While I was sooo sad to leave Chad in Ireland for Christmas I could not wait to get home, sleep in my own bed and of course head for Mississippi!  Chad will fly home the day after Christmas straight to Jackson.

In the airport before I left

Once I went through Dublin security and then the U.S. Customs pre-clearance the agent welcomed me home to the U.S. (even though I still in Ireland).  The entire U.S. area of the airport had trees decorated in red, white and blue : )

The flight went smoothly and before I knew it I was in Chicago.  Now, Chicago was a bit chaotic...I was blessed to be on one of the few flights that wasn't cancelled or delayed due to winter weather.  There were so many disappointed (and angry) people in the airport trying to get to their destinations.  We took off just as it started to snow in Chicago and made it to St. Louis 5 minutes early!

The next morning I headed in to work to make sure all my ducks were in a row before I go back for real in January!  I also wanted to be there to give Teresa (our certified residency Mother) her Christmas gift!

A few of the residents with Teresa : )

After lunch with a my friend Kimber at St Louis Bread Co and dinner with another group of friends.  I headed home to re-pack for my flight home to Jackson!  I'll be in Jackson by 9pm tonight and can't wait to see my family and Miss Lola Belle!!  Oh how I have missed this sweet face!

 

Did I mention I'm excited to me home????

Cheese, Chocolate and Christmas...#3

The next morning we bundled up and headed up the mountain side to see the Matterhorn.  We climbed (on the train of course) to an incredible 10,134 ft!  My ears were popping and poor Chad actually got a little lightheaded.  We were pretty much the only people on the train NOT in ski gear.  As we got closer to the top we could see the gondolas carrying the skiers to the slopes. 

Miles and miles of perfect snow!

Once we reached our stop, all the ski bunnies got out and headed for the slopes.  Chad and I headed for the little trail that led to the view point.  Neither one of us have ever skied...we considering giving it a try but figured we should probably start with something a little more gentle than the Swiss Alps. 

 Once at the top you were supposed to be able to see all the surrounding mountain ranges.  Well, it was a little foggy that morning so most of what we could see was just white, white, white.  No Matterhorn in site : (

We did stumble across this tiny little chapel.  It was so cute up on top of the world.  How neat would it be to get married in this winter wonderland!

  

Just below the view point was a hotel and restaurant so we decided to go get some hot chocolate and wait for the sun to burn off all the fog.

It was soooo great to sit and watch the snow while we drank our hot chocolate and warmed up.  We probably sat there for about an hour, both agreeing that we really could take a nap since we were so relaxed!

Our plan worked and the sun slowly burned off the fog and clouds.  We bundled back up, went outside and the view was glorious!!  The Matterhorn (which you can see behind us below) sits on the border of Switzerland and Italy.  It is one of the highest peaks in the Alps reaching to 14,690 ft. 

 I just couldn't stop taking pictures of the view!  It felt like we were sitting in a post card!

On a side note...I also got new boots for our Switzerland trip.  They did their job perfectly and kept my feet warm and dry in all that snow!

Once we had taken in all the views on top we headed back down the mountain.  We spotted this little "one horse open sleigh" (feel free to break in to song here) while we walked back to the hotel.  If he hadn't had a passenger I would have insisted we take a ride. 

 

The view from our balcony was even better since all the fog and clouds had cleared.  We hadn't realized we had a view of the Matterhorn from our room until then. 

After a short nap (yes we love to nap on vacation) we headed to the cutest little restaurant in town for dinner.  I of course had another meal of cheesy goodness!  We wandered the snowy streets in the dark taking in all we could of our perfect winter wonderland. 

Cheese, Chocolate and Christmas...Part 2

The Christmas lights in the market at night made it that much more fabulous!  We wandered around taking in all the lights and music and then stopped to have a crepe for dinner.  Chad had a chocolate crepe and I had a apple and salted caramel crepe....healthy dinner right?  Either way it was the perfect evening!  Who needs a fancy restaurant when you have paper plates and the perfect company : )

Dinner of champions!

The next morning we hopped on the train and headed for our next destination, Zermatt.  On the train we met a super sweet couple from Portland, Oregon who we chatted with during the 2 hour trip.  I wish I had snapped a photo of them for y'all!  When we weren't chatting it up we were all in awe of the scenery.  Zermatt is up in the Swiss Alps and you can only get there by train.   As we climbed the mountains the snow became thicker and I felt like we were riding the Polar Express.  

Getting on the train!

All of these pictures are from inside the train so I apologize for the glare.  The train ran just along a mountain stream and the water was glacial blue!!!  This was definitely my favorite train ride of the entire trip. 

Winter Wonderland!

The little villages scattered throughout the mountains were so isolated and quaint.  They reminded me of the little ceramic village that my mother in-law puts out during Christmas.  I couldn't imagine living in a place only accessible by train, could you?   

Once we arrived in Zermatt the views only got better.  The entire town was blanketed in fresh snow.  We walked down the beautiful street to our hotel and found we had another fabulous mountain view from our room!

Town square with the big Christmas tree!

Quaint little streets with the mountains in the background!

Our hotel

After we were all checked in we decided to check out the town.  It started to snow as we headed out the door.  The snowy weather really takes you back to childhood....you know you just want to play in it, through snow balls and if you are Chad...eat it!

Chad in the snow

Little creek in town

All bundled up

Chad eating snow....hope it's not yellow!

 While they don't have cars, they do have these mini truck things that haul snow and shuttle people around like taxis.  We were wondering what they did with all the extra snow....well there is your answer!  They dump it in the creek and it flows back down the mountain.  Let me just say the tap water in Zermatt tasted awesome!

Since they don't have private cars, people walked the streets with little sleds toting their packages and even their children.  It was probably one of the cutest things I've ever seen! 

Look at all the snow that accumulated when we got back from our walk!  This was in front of our hotel.  The restaurant in the hotel was famous for it's fondue so after a quick nap we went there for dinner.  Now, those of you that know me well know I LOVE CHEESE!!  I have ever since I was little and really I would eat some form of cheese at every meal if could.  I hope I never develop lactose intolerance!

 The restaurant was super cute and had a little cottage-like feel.  The cheese fondue was AMAZING and they served it with fresh, homemade bread.  Lets just say this wasn't the last meal of fondue I ate on the trip...I may have had 3 or 4 meals of straight up melted, gooey, cheesy goodness!

After dinner we walked through the town again to look at all the Christmas lights.  It was even more magical with all the snow.  Most of the people had gone inside and it was quiet and peaceful. 

Chad showing me how deep the snow is.

Lights up the mountain side.

Once we had our fill of snow and lights for the night we headed back to the hotel and into bed.  We had a big day planned ahead of us as we headed up to see the Matterhorn!