I cannot fail to write a blog about the Czech Republic, not just because we loved Prague and the quaint towns of Cesky Krumlov and Kutna Hora but mainly because my family came to meet us! 

Gordon and Pat (dad and stepmom) braved the travel itinerary from hell, consisting of 3 or 4 connections to meet us in Vienna.  While Vienna is beautiful and has some of the most impressive architecture in Europe, the weather really affected our ability to explore it properly. It gave us the chance to check out some classic Vienna cafes in our attempts  to avoid the rain. We were lucky that our last day was beautiful and we enjoyed walking to the outdoor market, Naschmarkt, where we had lunch and to some of Vienna's beautiful parks.  

The real adventure began as many an adventure has in my lifetime: with my dad behind the wheel of a car--in this case our rental car. The plan seemed easy enough, we would drive from Vienna to Prague and possibly stop at a small town along the way.  However, driving in a new country is more challenging than you might guess.  Road symbols, exit and entry ramps, and availability of gas stations are no longer familiarly predictable. Not to mention the road signs are in a foreign language! Coupled with a GPS and a father who had differing opinions on the best route to take, our first few hours were stressful.  I was taken back to meandering road trips from childhood,and I think Jed was taken back to various moments in our trip when I was similarly stubborn about navigating. At one point, the GPS was seriously confused and took us down what appeared to be a farmers driveway in the middle of nowhere. The Czech farmer and his sheep were as confused as us. We continued this way and that and concluded the must be no major roads in rural Czech Republic.

Lastly, Jed and I took a day trip to Kutna Hora, a small town where the main attraction is a church decorated with human bones.  It all started in the middle ages when a Czech noble man brought back some fertile earth from the holy land and promised that those buried under it would decompose quickly and have a straight shot to heaven.  Well, there was little holy land real estate and heavy demand, so after a short time, the dead would be dug back up and their bones stored in the nearby church to make room for the newly dead.  The bones really started to pile up during the Bubonic Plague and a blind monk started making weird pyramid structures with the heaps of bones hanging around.  The nobility liked the idea of doing something with these bones and commissioned an artist to make something with the rest of the bones in the 1700s.  So he decorated the church with the bones, creating interesting structures, including a chandelier.  Apparently it is not exactly what the nobility had in mind, but it stuck and now is one of the oddest churches around.  

Thanks to G&P for visiting and for their generosity! It was so awesome to see them and made us a little homesick in their wake. (Luckily we saw them a week later for an encore in Switzerland, as they headed back to Vienna to fly home.) 

Our original October plan was supposed to include two weeks in Israel with my parents, but as so often happens to us, we happen to hit some bad timing. The planning for my parental visit in October was occurring right smack in the middle of the Gaza conflict. Thus, it was time for plan B. Switzerland is one of my favorite countries, but had been off our itinerary due to its insane cost (especially for budget travelers). Fortunately, having parents tag along lightens the financial burden quite a bit, so it was off to Switzerland for 9 days!

Lucern: Our Swiss trip started in the quaint town of Lucern. A picturesque, small city in Switzerland (though actually big by Swiss standards), the main feature of the town is the Chapel Bridge, a medieval wood bridge in the middle of the town. Unfortunately, like so many sites we have seen in Europe, it burnt down. The odd thing is, it was not some medieval gunpowder storage accident, as per usual, it burnt down in 1993! The likely cause was a careless smoker. It was rebuilt as it originally looked and, needless to say, it now has smoke detectors. Lucern also has a wonderful little art museum that is made up entirely of a private collection of one family and includes 180 works of Picasso, as well as works from the go-to impressionists. The then-young, female collector was quite friendly with Picasso (possibly in the way you think) and we got a treat when we got to meet and chat with the 82 year old dealer/philanthropist.

Berne/Murten/Gruyere: From the mountains we headed to the capital city of Berne, a surprisingly quaint capital town. We also spent a day in Murten, a tiny town with a cool medieval wall still standing around the town. From there was our most filling day of the trip; visits to cheese and chocolate factories. It started with a trip to Gruyere, home of the well-known cheese. We took a visit to one of the town's cheese factories to see the cheese-making process. Best part was definitely the free samples which actually was some of the best cheese I've ever had. Although we were already pretty full, we had to head to the nearby Collier chocolate factory (a division of Nestle). The tour starts with a disney-esque animatronic presentation about the history of chocolate and then goes into a glimpse of the manufacturing process. It ends with the absolute best part: all you can eat chocolate! Yes, you heard that right. There is several dozen different types of chocolate laid out for you to try and you can eat as much as you want. I've never had so much chocolate in my life (OK, maybe Halloween night when I was 10). I wanted to sit and wait in the corner for an hour to regain my hunger, but alas, after all of us felt sufficiently nauseated we left and set out to Lake Geneva.

Lausanne D'Ouchy (Lake Geneva): Our last stop was to Laussane in the Lake Geneva region. My dad surprised us all with an amazing room in a castle that surely beat the $13 night hostels we have been staying in. No trip to Lake Geneva would be complete without a boat trip, so we took an old-fashioned steam engine boat across the lake to the Chillon castle. Having been in Europe for some time, you would think we would be pretty sick of castles by now, but this one was surprisingly enjoyable. The city of Lausanne itself is nice but be prepared for lots of extreme uphill walking. 

Switzerland continued to impress me with its gorgeous landscapes, small towns, laidback atmosphere and focus on the important food groups: chocolate and cheese. The trip was all the more enjoyable since I get to spend some quality time with my parents. It had been a long time since I saw any family, and it was great to have some quality time with my folks before beginning the long second half of our trip. Thanks Mom and Dad!