It was really happening. The Hansen's were coming to visit us in Switzerland! Last year, very close to this time, we got to have Chris, Kalei, Mele, (in the womb Baby Hugo) and Bernie come to stay with us. And this past July, Mom and Dad came out to stay with us. So I was beyond thrilled that we could get the Hansens to visit during our Fall Break! Woohoo!!!!! That means my Patterson crew has all been to visit, and that makes me so very happy. Chile was a little tough to reach, so we didn't get quite as many visitors to make that 15 hour venture!
Jen's family had never been to Europe before. They had 9 days. Matt wanted to know how much we could cram in, and I said, "Leave it to me!" I'm the queen of cram. Hahaha! So, after a few discussions, I came up with this itinerary. It made me giddy and tired just reading it through, but we COULDN'T WAIT to have them on our turf. They day before we were to meet them in Paris, we were busy cleaning and mowing the lawn and raking and vacuuming and stuffing the fridge and blowing up beds and pulling out sleeping bags... I don't think I heard one complaint. It felt like Christmas and we were making the most glorious preparations!
(I usually write up itineraries for our trips, and I'm trying to include them in these posts, so I don't forget places we visited and things we wanted to see-- easily can refer people to the itineraries for ideas, and also, it's taking me so long to get through all of my pictures from our trips, that these really help me stay organized!)
So, here was the plan:
Sat. Oct. 6 — Berryhill’s arrive at Paris Train Station at 11:35am. We will arrive at the hotel around 12:00.
— HANSEN’S ARRIVE at airport at 10:35AM — taxi takes 40 minutes to get to hotel.
-hotel: Hotel Louvre Bons Enfants
5 Rue Des Bons Enfants, 1st arr., 75001 Paris, France (Phone: +33142614731)
-Drop luggage at hotel and get something to eat.
-Tickets for Louvre at 1:30pm (need to be there within 30 minutes of our ticket)
-Notre Dame (reserve a time on the app that day—7:30am opens up)
-Arch de Triumph
-Tickets for Eiffel Tower at 7:20pm
Sun. Oct. 7 — Versailles in the morning to ride bikes around the grounds. We will need to take a train to Versailles from Paris. We can lock our luggage up at the train station.
- the Paris Temple is very close to Versaille. Like right around the corner.
- Leave Paris for Basel on the bullet train at 18:23—Arrive in Basel at 21:26.
-We will be getting in late, so I don’t think we can pick your rental car up that night. We will just take the tram to our house and we can pick it up on Monday morning. (Sleep at our house)
Mon. Oct. 8 — Lucerne—Golden Round Trip (Sleep at our house)
Tue. Oct. 9 — Drive to Gruyere for the fondue and gaufres and possibly the Cailler Chocolate factory. As many free samples as you want ;) — we would spend a good half day there and then head to Grindewald, arriving in the evening.
-hotel: Hotel Alpenblick
Obere Gletscherstrasse 16, 3818 Grindelwald, Switzerland
Wed. Oct. 10 — Grindelwald ONE (Cliff walking; soaring; toboggan rides, hiking, etc)
(sleep at Hotel Alpenblick)
Thurs. Oct. 11 — Explore the Alps up there! We can go on hikes and Jungfrau possibly if weather is good….whatever we want to explore that day. There is a lot to do. (sleep at Hotel Alpenblick)
Fri. Oct. 12 — Play it by ear—stay for the day or Leave Interlaken/Grindewald area and head back to Basel depending on weather.
Sat. Oct. 13 —Drive to Colmar, Monkey Mountain, Ribeauville, Riquewihr, France.
This is the Alsace region of France. Gorgeous. Castle, Beauty and the Beast towns and feeding monkeys ;) This loop is an hour from our house. Easily can be seen in a day. OR A DOWN DAY. Take a little tour of Basel and where we go around our house and hang out and swim and soak. Whatever anyone feels like! (Sleep at our house)
Sun. Oct. 14 — Say Goodbye :( ZURICH 9:50AM FLIGHT
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