I recently returned from an event (business) in Lucerne, Switzerland. Kristen and Sterling were able to go with me on this trip, which was great.
Switzerland is a beautiful country. Very clean, though a bit expensive. We arrived on Friday, rented a car and drove to the hotel, which overlooks Lake Lucerne. Kris was falling asleep on the way to the hotel, but she kept saying, "I don't want to miss anything." It's pure Heidi. Lush green hillsides rolling into green mountains (unlike the brown mountains of Utah), chalets (now I know why they call them "Swiss chalets"), a million lakes. And Lucerne is a beautiful (small) city. We didn't know it, but it happened to be the Swiss "independance day" so we watched fireworks over lake for hours that night.
The next day 180 people (from 17 countries!) arrived, so that was a busy and long day. On Monday night, we went to the top of one of the nearby mountains to a place called Stanserhorn. There is a revolving restaurant at the top - actually, the very center of it revolves, but not the outer part. After dinner, we had fireworks all around the 360 degree view. It was pretty spectacular.
On Tuesday, we went to a monastary/town called Einseindeln. Here's the group from the Ukraine.
The group had free time on Wednesday and Thursday, but I was busy getting things ready for the Gala night on Thursday. Kris and Sterling went to Munich on Wednesday. On Friday, the group went to Berne
And to Interlaken. Everyone felt that there wasn't enough time in either location, so I guess I should have picked one or the other.
We ended the event with a dinner cruise around Lake Lucerne. The next morning, I was up at 4:00 a.m. to see people off, so that was another long day. Kris and Sterling managed to make it into Milan, Italy for a day trip, although they did caught in a pretty big traffic jam. They said everyone just got out of their vehicles and started visiting and smoking.
I have to say that I enjoyed the event this time more than usual. This is a group where I know many of them from prior years, and it's always (or mostly) good to see them again. And I loved Switzerland! The only thing was ... I came home to an empty house. While I was gone, Steph & Mickel found a cute place in Sugarhouse and moved out. It's without a doubt good for them - to have their own place and for Mickel to be so much closer to work. But while it's good to get peace and order back, it doesn't quite make up for mornings with Kaiya. Or to be on hand for Teague's "firsts."
I'm in the awesome and completely crazy city that could only be New York. Today a guy was walking along in front of us as normal as could be, and all of the sudden he laid down on the sidewalk, smiling into the sky. He stayed like that for maybe a minute, and then hopped up and walked away.
