Langwiess, Switzerland

One of the many highlights of our trip, was staying with a Swiss Farm Family. Curlie and Sarah Zippert-Elkerkin were our hosts. This was a beautiful setting in the Alps. When we arrived, it was still overcast and drizzling.

This was truly a working farm. Curli was a farmer during the summer and a ski instructor in the winter months. Sarah was the keeper of the B&B. They have 3 children.





The house has been in Curli's family several generations. A carving above a door had carved the date 1648. We slept in the old part of the house.







This is a newer barn on the farm.








The first day we were there, the Zipperts were bringing the cows from the Alps meadows across the valley. Cows would then be moved to the higher Alps meadows.





Zipperts are bringing the cows to their barn.









Breakfast was a real treat! It was a typical Swiss breakfast - yogurt and fruit, bread, meat, cheese, muesli, granola, juice, and coffee.

As we looked out our bedroom windows, these are some of the scenes that we saw.











































Alpine wild flowers were plentiful and beautiful.

The Zipperts youngest son, age 7, was already an accomplished skier. He began skiing at age 2.

Lucern, Switzerland

On the way to Lucern, we were driving over a mountainous area when we saw this great view of several small towns. It was still overcast and drizzling, but the view was spectacular.

After arriving at our Hotel, we walked downtown to see the famous wooden bridge. This bridge was burned in 1993 by an arsonist. There were rare paintings on the bridge and only a few survived the fire.






With the rebuilding of the bridge, paintings were replaced.

Grindlewald, Switzerland

In Grindlewald, we saw our first view of the high mountains. We saw many Mennonite names. The temperature was 44 degrees in the morning. The snow covered peaks were impressive.











The town is basically a tourist attraction. We hoped to see the Jung Frau mountain, however, it was too cloudy and overcast.

Bern and Thun, Switerland

We continued on the Bern. The weather continued to be overcast and drizzling. After checking into our Hotel, we took the tram to central Bern to see the Bears. Bears are the symbol of Bern. They have a new home and were moved from the "Bear Pits"





Bern is a beautiful old city. The river which runs through the center of town has Mennonite history. Many of the Anabaptists were drowned in this river.







The clock tower in the center of town rings on every hour including movable figurines. We arrived at 7 PM for the show.

We made a short stop at Thun. This is the region that the Peacheys originated from. The original family name was Bitsche.

We passed many vineyards in this area.






Notice the machine used to climb the very steep vineyard hill sides. It runs along a track to the top of the vineyard.

Ribeauville and Kaysersberg, France

Ribeauville is one of our favorite towns in France. It is a quaint walled city. This is the first day that we had rain. It was light, but overcast most of the time. It's a town of half timber houses and we were impressed with the bright colors of houses.






In an attempt to wait out the rain, we had coffee and a kugglehof cake. This cake is a tradition of the village. The kugglehof is on the top shelf of this Bakery.





This town is also know for its storkes. We were fortunate to see some on top of one of the town buildings.














Kaysersberg is close to Ribeauville. Kaysersberg was first mentioned in1227. Lunch consisted of quiche Lorraine, a tradition of this area.




Albert Schweitzer was born in this town. Unfortunately, his museum was closed on the day that we visited.

Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Another brief stop was in Luxembourg. It is a beautiful old city.

Brugge and Aalst, Belgium

We continued to Belgium and the city of Brugge. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is most noted for its lace making and chocolate. We didn't see any women making lace, but the chocolate is wonderful!





We found this sculpture in the center of town intriguing. However, no spokes in the wheels!









We spent the night in Aalst (Alost).




This was the best spaghetti that we've ever had. It was baked with cheese.