Tuesday

Well, it's Tuesday again.  That means it's laundry day.  My least favorite day of the week.  Yes, it is possible to have a least favorite day of the week after only living somewhere for 2 weeks!  Last laundry day, I worked on the laundry for every minute of my 6 allotted hours.  And after 6 hours, not one single item that I had washed and dried was completely dry.  Not one.  Since then, we have learned that dryers just aren't the same here in Switzerland as they are in the states.  In fact, most people who live in houses here don't even have dryers.  They hang dry everything.  Everything!  Last week when nothing was dry, I had every bit of our laundry hanging on every single hangable surface in the apartment.  Our apartment looked like a Hoarders episode.  At the time, I was too mad to see the humor in it.  Now, however, I can look back on it and laugh.  And buy a bunch of drying racks and clothes pins.

After the dreadful laundry day last week, the week to a turn for the better.  Much, much better.  On Wednesday, I went to a meeting of the American International Women's Club of Lausanne.  This is a club not just for Americans, but for English speaking women of any nationality.  These women were so kind and welcoming.  All of them are "trailing spouses" like me.  We have all moved from our home country with our husbands for our husbands' jobs.  Some of them had just begun their adventure, just like me.  And some of them have been at it for 20 years or more!  Claire and I spent 2 hours chatting with all of these women and we left the meeting with a renewed feeling of excitement for the life that is ahead of us.  Just what we needed after Tuesday!  I will continue to go to these meetings and will probably become a member of the club.  

On Friday, Claire and I took the train to another town to meet up with a mom and her 2 kids at a park.  I had found this mom on an English-speaking forum for expatriates in Switzerland.  She is from Canada and speaks both French and English.  We connected immediately and had a fun time and will get together again this Wednesday with some more moms and kids.  

Then came the weekend.  On Saturday morning, we picked up the car we had rented for the long weekend.  We immediately headed to France.  We did some shopping in France, where things are much less expensive, and then we headed to Annecy.  Annecy is considered the Venice of France.  It was gorgeous.  Beautiful old buildings, canals, mountains in the background.  Just beautiful.

  

On the way back from France, we stopped to do some grocery shopping as the grocery stores would be closed on Sunday (because they always are closed on Sunday) and on Monday, for Pentecost.

Sunday morning, we packed a picnic lunch, got our hiking gear on, and headed out to do our first hike in Switzerland.  We went to Moleson, which was a short drive from Vevey.  We ate our picnic lunch and then got on the funicular, which took us to the top of the mountain.  From there, we snapped some photos, had a look around at the gorgeous view, and took the funicular back halfway down to begin our hike.

It was a gorgeous hike the whole way.  Claire enjoyed riding in her carrier on Gordon's back.  I enjoyed not having to carry her on my back!  

It always amazes me in Europe to see the ease with which Europeans hike down/up these mountains.  They look as though they're walking down a sidewalk while we struggle to maintain our footing!  It is my goal to be like them by the end of our time here.  

On our hike down, we could hear cowbells.  And lots of them.  We found the cows about halfway down.  Claire and Gordon went over to get a closer look.  And then the cows started to walk over to Claire and Gordon to get a closer look.  And then we left because that was kind of freaky!

Monday morning, we had a relaxing morning and then headed to Montreux for the afternoon.  This is the town next to Vevey.  It's considered a resort town and it was beautiful.  There is a boardwalk all along the water.  There were many people out and about, enjoying their day off work.  We had lunch, took in the sights, and played with Claire at a park.

After returning home and having dinner, we headed back out to check out Lutry, a town in which I hope we might find a permanent apartment.  We headed down to the lake and walked along the water, coming to a park and a beach.  Claire enjoyed playing here with some other little ones.  We explored the little town along the water and I loved it!  I really hope we're able to find a place here when we begin our search.

 There was a little picnic table in a little house at the top of the slide.  Claire had a seat here and did not want to leave!

Looking out from the beach in Lutry.

Someday, I will jump off of that diving board on that platform in the lake!

So, today, Gordon is back at work.  Claire is napping.  I am blogging.  And preparing for 12:00 when my laundry time will begin.  I pray that it goes better than last week!