We left Thursday for Basel, Switzerland to visit Natalie's Aunt Heidi and Uncle Jim. We didn't buy tickets until way too late, so the only cheap ones we could get were really slow ones with 
lots of layovers. This meant that it took us a while to get there. Her Aunt and Uncle met us at the station and brought us to their apartment. We spent the first evening drinking tea and catching up. The next morning they took us to see Basel. Since it was May 1st, which is the
European Labour Day, the town all closed. We saw an beautiful, old church which is made out of sandstone so it is constantly being renovated. Then we took an awesome ferry
across the Rhône. It had a rudder that made it so that the river itself pushed the ferry across. On the bridge next to us we could see people protesting for the 1st of May. For lunch we ate at an organic, vegetarian restaurant. It was buffet style with many hot and cold dishes that you paid for by the gram... The food was incredible! I enjoyed every bite! (Natalie's Uncle Jim wasn't a big fan because he doesn't like vegetables! :P) After lunch we took the tram to the train station were Heidi's daughter, Miriam, picked us up. She drove us to the top of a really big hill from which we could see all of Basel and the surrounding villages. It was beautiful! We stayed there for a
while and then went back to Miriam's apartment. We played with her guinea pigs for a little and then she she showed us pictures of some of the hikes she has taken in Switzerland. (She goes hiking almost every weekend) It turns out that Miriam also studied abroad in Angers at Universitaire Catholique, and she had the same French Language teacher as Natalie! It is so coincidental! So she found some pictures from when she was in Angers and showed us those as well! Our next visit was to Mariastein Abbey which is a pilgrimage site and a grotto. The story is that a little girl fell of a cliff there and survived. It was beautiful. After seeing the grotto, we took a hike on the grounds. The lighting was perfect and we could see very far. On our way back, Natalie found and entertained some goats.
Then we went back to Heidi and Jim's for a raclette dinner, which was fantastic! Later in the evening we had brownies and ice cream... I had missed eating real brownies! 
The next day Heidi and Jim took us to the Alps, or rather
Mt. Rigi. They informed us that the view was bad because of the weather, but to us it was breathtaking! Even in bad weather we could see so many peaks! I have decided that I am in love with Switzerland! We ate lunch on top of the mountain and then went down the other side and took a boat to a town called Luzerne. We walked across the famous diagonal, wooden bridge with paintings in the rafters... unfortunately a fire had recently destroyed about 1/3rd of the paintings. They are now trying to decide whether to restore them or replace them with something new. After exploring Luzerne a little, we sat in a cafe near the river and ate ice cream sundaes. :) They were
delicious. After a while though, it looked like it was going to rain so we took the train home. We had stir-fry (with tofu!!) on rice for dinner then sat around the table for a couple of hours digesting and talking.
On Sunday, we took the train home, with a bag full of Swiss food for the day, including a bag of Swiss chocolates. :) We were perfectly content to endure the long ride with the chocolate by our sides... or in our mouths! :)
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