Trips around Switzerland (Part II)!

This year, we expanded our Swiss travel to Gruyere, Basel, and Bern.

We went to Gruyere on Chase's 1st birthday! We had a great time -- touring both the cheese factory and the Caillier chocolate factory! We ended up having fondue in the middle of the little walking town itself, which was a fun way to end an intensely Swiss day. We ended up renting a car that weekend because my mom, dad, and brother were all here visiting to celebrate with Chase. With the rental car, getting to, around, and from Gruyere was fairly easy. You can also take the train there but it's a bit of a windy route so it takes much longer on the train. We will probably visit Gruyere again as we host visitors in the future. 

The second place we went to was Basel. We went during Ascension weekend but only stayed one night. It's pretty easy to get to -- only 2 hours on the train with one change. This was our first time venturing into German-speaking Switzerland and it was kind of a shock. We walked around the old city and then met up with Sarah and Jeroen and had a fun time having dinner and walking around the Rhine. The next day, we met up with them again and went to the Basel zoo. It was a great zoo and Chase had a wonderful time, especially with the fish, kangaroos, and flamingos! Even though this trip was only 5 weeks after the Paris trip, it was as if Chase was a new baby. He slept through the night in the hotel and he napped when he was tired in the afternoons. He even tolerated his stroller for significant chunks of time. Being 13 months really helped! Since he was already walking, he also could walk around the zoo and old town and that seemed to have helped him feeling more independent and being less frustrated with himself. All in all, we had a great time in Basel!

The last Swiss trip we went on in the last few months was to Bern. When Sonia was here visiting, she wanted to go to the Swiss capitol (full disclaimer: neither Nate nor I knew this was the Swiss capitol! Oops!). Sonia, Chase, and I decided to take a day trip there the Monday of Pentecost. The Swiss rail system has amazing deals for young people, specifically all day traveling for those under 16 for only 16 CHF as long as they're with an adult ticket holder.

Another place that we went twice in the last few months was Chillon Castle. It's right outside of Montreaux and a great castle to visit.