Europe Trip: Day 13 & 14

Wednesday was the 4th of July, which I found out really means little to the Swiss.  So instead of celebrating it, we decided that we would celebrate Jachen's birthday (July 5th) by driving to Lake Walensee and having a little picnic.  As a rest stop on the way there we stopped by a monastery on Mt. Sion to take a look around.

Here's the view:

Here's the monastery (these pictures look awesome by the way -- they were taken by Stephanie using the Cross Process iPhone app):

On the side of the monestary they had a nice collection of gnomes.  Henry didn't care how many other people or things had touched this gnome -- he needed to kiss it.  He has a thing for kissing gnomes.

We pause for a family portrait:

Lake Walensee is one of the smaller lakes in Switzerland -- but it was clear and as blue as any that we had seen...and pretty cold.  We found a nice spot to picnic and quickly commenced with eating our 4th of July haul.

Henry saw rocks, so he basically just wanted to throw them.

Engagement photo.  Notice we are both wearing shirts that Monica designed.  You can get your own here.

Our picnic at the Lake was cut a little short by a giant rain storm.   So we packed it up and hit the road.  I was a little bummed, because I was determined to jump into that lake.

While driving home we passed through Liechtenstein once more.  From the highway we could see a big castle sitting on top of the hill in Balzers.  After looking for a way up we eventually found one and found the castle to be The Gutenburg Castle.  It was very cool and is currently being used as an event.  If anyone would like me to come shoot their wedding in Liechtenstein, I am there.

The view from the castle:

The hill near the castle seemed like a great place to take some family pictures.

Von Trapps:

 Just as we were leaving the castle it began to rain again... a lot.  We felt bad for the group that was assembling under umbrellas to take a tour of the castle.

When we got home, we finally decided to let Jachen open his birthday presents.  We had brought them with us to the lake but because of the rain-out we didn't have time to open them there.  He was eying them the whole time so we figured that we'd better let him open them.

Here are some of the things he got:  American cheesecake and a new pair of Pumas.

 

The next morning we packed our things up early and left for the airport.  We were amazed that our 2 weeks in Europe had gone by so quickly.  We are so happy that we went, and so happy that we took Henry with us.  It was definitely a different experience with a 1 year old, but we were so happy that Monica and Jachen were able to meet him face to face.  He was definitely in love with them and we were probably most sad about the fact that they wouldn't be able to see him face-to-face for so long.

Thanks Duschletta's for hosting us and making our trip so great!