Italy 2013, Day 1. Our first day in Switzerland

Traveling to Italy has been a dream of mine since I was 17 years old.  I am not sure why it felt so important for me to see.  Maybe it was just all those cute young men from Sorrento's Pizza in Winnipeg that I had the chance to get to know all those many years ago :).   But regardless of what drew me, the dream remained.  If you saw my blog with the song 'Welcome to Holland' you'll understand that there is also a connection to that dream as a parent who had a child with a disability.  What matters most is that I did finally get to go, and I promised to share the adventure with my friends through this blog from the journal I kept on that trip.  Travel and photography are two of my greatest passions.  I am clear on my...how about you?

Castle on top of a hill as we make our way through Switzerland.

I can hardly believe it. it's 8am on Sept 14th, and I have finally arrived in Italy. After dreaming about it for almost 36 years, it feels like it is still an impossibility that I am here! Cec and I arrived in Switzerland on the 11th. JP picked us up and gave us 3 of the most amazing days. I know that we'd have never seen the country so fully had we planned it any other way, and it gave me such a broader view of it all that we could ever have imagined.  How lucky we are to have met the people that we have met in this journey of life! 

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Best fondue ever Le Chalet, Chateau-d'Oex Switzerland

I am not even sure what I thought Switzerland might offer, but for some reason I felt surprised by everything we saw and did. Upon our arrival on Tuesday, JP assisted us to get our train tickets for our trip south, then we headed into the heart of switzerland, finally stopping for a lunch of the most amazing fondue at Le Chalet in Chateau-d'Oex. There we enjoyed an amazing lunch, being entertained by a young woman who demonstrated the making of Swiss cheese while we ate, as well as a wonderful old gentleman who played his accordion and demonstrated his talent for yodelling. It was right out of the old story books of the country you read as a child, right down to having the  cowbells ringing in the distance.

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Graves of World War 2 English Soldiers

After our meal, we took a walk up to see the old church on the hill, and the graves of young Englishmen, who most likely died there during the war years. The views from the church grounds were breathtaking in all direction, as we looked down on the quiet little town below.  The grounds were decorated with a selection of bronze statues, most of them bearing memorial plaques to honor the families they were dedicated to.  After our meal and walk, JP took us on a leisurely ride through the mountains on our way to his home in Muraz, but after our long, sleepless night of flying, both of us were sadly too tired to keep our eyes open. My head kept bobbing in the backseat as badly as Cec's was in the front.  We were both pretty poor company I fear! 

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Window Box on a home in Chateau-D'Oex Switzerland

We arrived at JP's house about 3. He lives in a beautiful house on a quiet street surrounded by mountains, and a small dairy farm on one side, neighbors on all the others. His home is lovely!  Upon arrival we immediately laid down for a nap, the long journey from Canada catching up to us.  That nap turned out to be about 3 hours long! Longer than intended, but less than needed. We woke up and had a light cold cut dinner at JP's and watched a John Wayne movie together. Some things you just can't escape!

It was a wonderful start to a long awaited adventure!  So what are the things that you have been putting off doing?  Are there steps that you can take to move you closer to those things? What one action could you do right now?  Maybe clarifying your own passions would be a good first step.  Your thoughts?

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