Switzerland

Hi All,

Sorry for the long delay between post.  It has been crazy busy with intermittent internet connections and we frankly just did not get round to it.  Note to self - must update the blog more regularly !

We had a great time in Switzerland visiting with my brother David and his family in Zurich.   This is comprised of his wife  Mayi  or "Psycho Wife"as he fondly calls her....  Below a picture with the evidence.. ;-)

 and here - showing them very much in love.. ah....

Gee shucks...

...along with their  teenage daughter Eli -  our niece- who is growing into a beautiful young Woman..

Eli

....and their  new born James ,who is such a cool and gorgeous baby.. 

James

Theirs is a very international family - just like the rest of the TK's.  Mayi is Cuban and a  former Olympic athlete. She currently works for FIFA developing Women's football around the world.  As such we had the privilege of  a behind the scenes glimpse of the FIFA offices..

Kizzy & Colin @ FIFA

Me  sitting in the room where all the decisions are made!!

We even got to see the the meditation room...

Dave took us out on a few adventures in our time in Switzerland - this allowed us to get more of a taste of Zurich and also some other nearby places...

Nearer to  home - just in the neighborhood that they live there are the most amazing parks and  areas - places that in some cities would be considered tourist destinations - but in Switzerland just seem to be the norm..   So 2 mins walk from the flat and you have a huge tower for no other purpose than for local residents to see the view and a sort of park which is a huge metal structure  with walkways  and covered in foliage... Really cool.

In Zurich city-center itself we went to  a ceremony which marks the start of summer - called the Boogg festival. The rather odd idea of burning the effigy of a snowman on a large bonfire. If it burns quickly then the summer is said to be good and vice versa.   The city center was packed  out and it really was a festive atmosphere. We all had ice-creams and watched..

The crowd in Zurich

The Snowman before..

The Snowman after.

We spent a lovely day in  Lucerne - a  Swiss city - with  views that appear on chocolate wrappers all over the world.

All in all Switzerland was great. It was wonderful to spend time with Dave and Family and to meet little James for the first time.  The only negative - Switzerland is so expensive !!! We spent more here in a week than on the whole trip so far..

We have been touring Portugal for the last couple of weeks and Kizzy is going to update on that part of our great adventure...

Miss u all.

Colin