Welcoming the FAM...visitors number one!

This past weekend, I went up to Zurich to hang out with Stephan and meet up with my cousins Caitie and Eric who flew into Zurich from LAX. It was the perfect weekend, partly because of the weather and mostly because we had a great tour guide. On Saturday, I explored the parts of Zurich I knew..the old town, the river, and the Bahnhofstrasse. I had been told about a few restaurants and shops that I wanted to check out. After successfully finding Caitie and Eric at the train station we let them rest up, shower and then were off to have Fondue. I shared the cheese fondue with Jean Marie, Caitie and Eric had Fondue Chinois and then Stephan had raclette. Luckily, we were able to try an array of Swiss specialties and the best part was that we were with people who actually knew how to order it. After dinner we stopped by one of the well known pubs in the Old Town of Zurich. My stomach was turning in circles, but I still managed to suck down my favorite..."a snakebite." On Sunday, we had the best tour guide, Stephan, show us all around the city. His challenge was to find an area I hadn't on Saturday when I walked all around the city. He did manage to point up a specific viewpoint up near St.Peter's church, that I hadn't found on my own. We also climbed to the top of Grossmunster and the view from the top was remarkable. After working up an appetite, we headed over a place near the lake, famous for their grilled bratwurst...and you even have a choice of light or dark meat. Of course we had to have a few Calanda beers (one of my new favorites) to go with the bratwurst and a fresh made roll (amazing). To walk along the lake, we grabbed some Movenpick ice cream while we strolled. We sat on a bench to people watch for awhile and Caitie worked hard to get the best shot possible of a baby in a bundle. We love the little sleeping bags they are wrapped up in to stay warm. That night we took the train back to Lugano, early enough for them to see the spectacular view crossing the Alps. We went to dinner at one of the few choices on Sundays near my apartment. Balmelli's, which I usually describe as eating in your Grandpa's living room. The food is good and it's about a 5 minute walk, so it works! Monday and Tuesday I spend at work, while Caitie and Eric gallivanted around. Monday they received their TASIS tour and tour of Montagnola and then they spent some time downtown Lugano. Tuesday they ventured to Milan and took the red bus tour that gave them a great view of the whole city. Then Wednesday they were off to Florence and Venice. On Monday, we went downtown to grab dinner and I discovered a pretty good salad for Lugano at Tango. Then Tuesday we went to my new favorite Grotto (actually pronounced, crotto, with emphasis on the "r"). It was called Grotto del Ortiga and Sally and Jeremy heard about it from people at Pioneer. We were all very adventurous and tried some items on the menu when we weren't sure what they actually were. Eric and I had lamb, Caitie had some kind of meat, and Sally and Jeremy had pork wrapped in some prosciutto. It was all delicious and we are excited to get back soon. It was sad to have Eric and Caitie leave, but luckily I have many more visitors coming over the next few months!