SWITZERLAND

After spending just over 2 weeks in Germany we headed south to Switzerland - first stop Zürich. We stayed in Niederdorf. Trendy shops, pubs and bars line the narrow winding streets of this, the most popular part of the Old Town. Zürich is famous for being set on the beautiful Lake Zürich, for the Grossmünster Church with its twin spires and the impressive Fraumunster Church with the world famous stained glass windows and St. Peter's Church with The biggest church clock face in Europe.

We walked along the lake shore on a sunny day and it was busy with skaters, bathers, jewelry vendors and street artists. We ate dinner in an authentic Swiss restaurant dinning on Rossti - fried shredded potatoes covered with cheese, eggs and tomatoes.

Next stop was Interlaken, the holiday resort in the heart of the Swiss alps, situated between the Lakes of Thun and Brienz and at the foot the famous trio of peaks, the Eiger, the Mönch and the Jungfrau. We decided to spice up our holiday by going Canyon Jumping. We were picked up in a beat up Combie by a dred locked gnarly dude called Ziggi who drove us up the winding mountain roads at incredible speeds. When we reached the top we had to walk up an icy path to reach our jump point. 85 meters high we had to just step off the platform - Elise and I were scared to death but Warren jumped off head first with no fear!! It was a major adrenalin rush!!

The next day we returned to the mountain, Warren hired a snowboard while Elise and I set off with skis - 2 trains and a funicular later we reached the slopes. There were no blue runs for beginners so we hit the Green. As it was Elise's first time on skis she had a bumpy start and on one slope collected me and almost set us both of the cliff!!! Warren and I loved the fast slopes and the difficult runs while Elise discovered the fine wine list of the mountain top cafe!!

Geneva was the final stop before returning to London. Geneva is the home of the united nations and lies just on the Swiss side of the Swiss/French border and French is the main language The main highlight was the Jet d'eau -Originally a simple security valve at the Coulouvrenière hydraulic factory, this water fountain has, over the years, grown to be the symbol of Geneva propelling 500 liters of water per second to a height of 140 meters at a speed of 200 km per hour.

We spent our time playing a giant chess set in a park surrounded by many locals and sipping delicious hot Swiss chocolate amongst chic ladies in posh cafes!