Train ride back to Munich

Saturday afternoon we headed to the train station to catch our train and go back to Munich where we would fly back to Chicago.

I bought several chocolate bars while in Zurich, because really how could I not? And I ate a whole chocolate bar on the 4 hour train ride back. Mmmmm. I also got some to bring back to some people too.

Studying what's going on outside his window.

Our stop in Austria. We went through that country for a little bit of the ride.

More Random Pics

I thought it was really neat how they all have shutters on the windows. A few of them shut them at night too.

Downtown was cool in so many different ways.

Rowing Competition

Picking out my swiss watch! Honestly I had fully intended to buy one when we were there, but our tour guide and the internet confirmed that I can get it cheaper in the U.S.

A rowing competition was going on our last day in Zurich. It was actually really cool to see.

Notice the alps in the distance:

Last day in Zurich

We spent our last day back in Zurich. We walked around parts of town we hadn't gone the day two days prior.

Everything looks old and gray, but in a really cool way.

And then we deposited some money in our Swiss bank account. Just kidding.

A Real Italian Dinner

Veal marsala and of course Coke Light....in a wine glass none the less.

I had ordered fish, but somewhere it got lost in the translation. That's fine though.

I don't remember what the dessert above was called, but it was yummy. But not quite as good as the tiramisu was. Mmmmmmm..... But I could kick myself for going to Italy and NOT ordering gelato!!! What was I thinking??!!

More Italy

Isn't this just what you envision when you think of Italy? A village on the hillside of water?

Italy

We stopped just over the border into Italy and went to a restaurant that the guide recommended. It was not to eat, but just to sit and enjoy a beverage. Apparently in Italy they have siesta every afternoon from like 1-3pm (or is it 2-4? I don't remember) and everything totally shuts down! Then they start back up again. He said the stores stay open later though to make up for it.

Here's our tour guide, Marcello:

This was our view from the restaurant:

Southern Switzerland

Just a few more pics of the alps:

Swiss Alps

Driving through the alps was beautiful. All of the villages on the hillside were so quaint.

See the sheep on the hillside? They and the cows have bells around their neck. The Christmas ornament we chose to take back was one with a cow bell.....mainly because Mark loved it so much.

The alps:

Lucerne, Switzerland

Lucerne is a gorgeous place to visit as well. Of course it was an extremely short visit there and most of our pictures are out of the van window. But, oh well.

This is one of the most photographed places in the world (per our tour guide).

Lucerne is famous for this photo.

Zug, Switzerland

We chose to take a private tour to Zug, Switzerland, then through the alps and on to northern Italy, right outside of Milan.

According to our tour guide, Zug is one of the nicest places in Switzerland to live. It is quite beautiful.

The photos really just don't do it any justice. The leaves had just reached their peak about a week earlier, so we missed the height of their color. But it was still very lovely.