When America Invades....

Our Mission : Visit Europe

The Combatants : Rob, Karen, Julie, Dave, Kelly, Brandon, Matthew, Simon, Mike, Mary

The Checkpoints : Fribourg, Bern, Gimmelwald, Gruyères, Paris, Lyon

Our Commander in Chief : Mr. Rick Steves

When America Invades...things get wild. Especially when America is represented by the rude, crude, slightly prude and socially unacceptable Thomas family. Unfortunately I was still celebrating my French Country Christmas so I didn't get to see their undoubtedly hilarious arrival in Zurich, but was happy to reunite with them in the train station in Fribourg Switzerland. I was greeted with hugs and sandwiches on "the best bread I've ever tasted" ...welcome to Europe! We were lucky to stay chez les Reddys at their beautiful home in Fribourg while they were vacationing in India and had a wonderful time!

Our first stop was the Swiss alps,

and a cable car that takes you from village to village, until you reach the top which is a ski station, and the sight of a rotating restaurant that was once blown up in a James Bond movie. Now I'm sure you see the beautiful union of Rob Thomas and Rick Steves. This is the view of one of the villages from a cable car.. looks just like a postcard! At each stop of the car there was a small town, and an even more beautiful view of the alps! We were able to get out and walk around, and explore the small sleeping snowy towns. At the top we had a delicious meal in this famous dining room that actually rotates while you eat --and you surprisingly don't get sick, although you do get to take in some of the most breath taking views of what looks like endless snow capped peaks. It was incredible --and the food was delicious. After lunch we went into the "viewing room" to see the scene in 007 where the very restaurant we had eaten in was "blown up" for the movie. It was pretty cool.

The next day, all that snow had sparked a major "lets going skiing and snowboarding" interest in the boys ... Matt Simon and Dad, so they hit the slopes while the rest of us were dropped off in the quaint small town of Gruyères, to see a museum that was inside of a cheese making factory. The museum was great --we got to see the entire process of the cheese making, and then were able to sample 3 different kinds of gruyère cheese (think cheddar's older, more tasty European cousin) --gruyère is actually what most Europeans think of when they refer to "swiss cheese" the holy stuff we think of is swiss but is less common than the hole-less gruyère we tasted. After the museum we took a quick walk up to the actual town of Gruyères which is the picture perfect example of a small mountain town in Switzerland. It was beautiful! There was an old castle, cobblestone streets, restaurants filled with fondue and other swiss specialties.

This is the six of us posing next to the fortress wall that surrounded the half of Gruyères that held the castle. After walking through the town we had built up an appetite and so we headed for the first restaurant we could find. Thats where we made a big mistake... we ordered fondue for 5 thinking about how wonderful the cheese was that we tasted, and NOT thinking that too much cheese, especially the fondue type is never a good thing. We finished only about one third of it before we all wanted to hurl, but did excellent work on the delicious regional white wine that accompanied it.

Later that day we saw another castle on the lake of Geneva, close to Lucerne, and celebrated Dave's birthday after very successfully finding birthday pastries! The next day we spent in Fribourg, and then in Bern the capital of Switzerland, and then got some rest preparing for our morning train to Paris the next day.

Traveling from Fribourg to Paris took the better half of a day, and managing to get the family from point A to point B involved 2 trains, 2 metros, 9 people and 15 bags. Finally in Paris we settled into our BEAUTIFUL apartment in the 18th neighborhood, just footsteps away from Sacre Coeur and with a view of the Eiffel Tower that was absolutely incredible. Once we were able to catch our breath, we set off on foot to grab dinner at an amazing fondue restaurant that came highly recommended from my friend Kelly Mahoney who studied in Paris last semester, and is now one of our favorites as well, "le Refuge des Fondues." Unlike our experience in Gruyères, the fondue in Paris was très très bien! This picture above shows the two types that we ordered, meat and cheese fondues. Both were delicious. In addition to the great fondue, the atmosphere was awesome. The walls were covered in graffiti and we were served our drinks in baby bottles -still not quite sure why.

After dinner we were in search of dessert, and stumbled upon one of Paris's many crêpe stands.. The family was instantly in love. Here you can see Kelly, Mom and Dad enjoying their nutella, and strawberry crêpes. We had a great time walking through the streets and checking out the neighborhoods.

The next day was New Years Eve, and also the day that Mike finally arrived and joined us! He got into Paris around 5PM that day, before which we had already seen the Orangerie museum --where all of Monet's water lilies are kept and had a very French lunch in a delicious restaurant tucked away into the 3rd arrondissement (neighborhood). Getting back from the airport was great, because Paris had made all of the public transport including the RER (the train that functions in the metro system but also takes you to the suburbs and airports) free for New Years! Shortly after Mike and I arrived back to the apartment the whole gang joined us and we started to cook and prepare for our New years eve party! --We figured we should stay in since we had this great place, and after all.. what's New Years without a party at the Thomas place? Since we were chez nous we decided to make it a Pajama party! --Here is Mike, Julie, Dave and I with our Happy 2010 garb and pajamas to boot!

The next day we hit the sights. We saw everything from Sacre Coeur, to the eiffel tower, Notre Dame, Saint Chappelle, Shakespeare and Company, the Seine, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe and much more! Here is all of us posing at the tower on a beautiful morning! One of the things we enjoyed most was eating dinner and Bel Canto, an "interactive" dining experience on the bank of the Seine river. In addition to a 5 star meal, our servers were... Opera singers! They sang through the classics while we enjoyed a very delicious meal. It was a great time --we stayed until the very end and loved every minute of it.

On Sunday morning Dave, Julie and Mike made their way to the airport to go home. It was extremely depressing to see them go --we all wished they could have stayed to finish out Paris and see Lyon with us!! Above is a picture of the beautiful Saint Chappelle, that they thankfully got to see while they were there!! On Sunday we were able to see the Cluny Museum, and then the girls (my mom and I) and the boys plus Kelly separated. They went to the army museum and Napoléon's tomb, and my mom and I saw the Musée d'Orsay, which was beautiful and had an amazing temporary exhibit on Art Nouveau.

On Monday morning, the seven of us trained from Paris to Lyon --at this point, we were all pros with the train system. Everyone was very happy to check into the hotel, since the previous night in Paris our apartment lost it's heat and it's hot water! So after everyone was showered, and clean we made our way to one of my favorite restaurants in Lyon "L'épicerie" and experienced all of the different ways the French eat their toast! After that we made our way into my neighborhood and up the hill to see the basilica Fourvière and the beautiful view of Lyon from the top! Afterwards we made our way down, took a small break for crêpes...since everyone was obsessed...and then saw Cathédral St Jean which is right next to my house. Next was dinner at my place, and the moment for my two families to finally meet each other!! It was such a great night! We had a delicious meal and talked and hung out together for the whole night. It was wonderful to see my two families meeting and sharing a meal, and I think they really enjoyed seeing each other as well!! I know that Matty, Simon, Kelly, and Brandon loved playing with the girls!

On Tuesday, we went to the Museum of movie artifacts and miniatures --it was so cool! It showed a bunch of props and costumes from movies, including the reconstruction of most of the sets from a movie thats called "The Perfume" with Dustin Hoffman, and a ton of miniature scenes and objects. We also saw a film inside of the museum which showed how movies such as Titanic and Independence day used miniatures for some of the special effects (like the boat sinking and the white house blowing up!) I think that the boys especially enjoyed it. Then we were able to walk around town a bit, and ate a huge box of pastries with my host family later that day. Finally the trip culminated with the best night of the week. Quiz night at the Smoking Dog Pub!! Although we didn't win, they got to participate in my favorite part of the week and I think we all had a great time! On wednesday morning we said saw goodbyes as they headed for the airport, but they were definitely all tired and it was time to get back. It was however, the best vacation ever... mission accomplished!