My parents, Janice and Bill, had planned for several months to visit Tuscany for a vacation with a large group of their friends from Hudson. When Aline and I finally came through with our plans to move to Switzerland, it was evident that it would be a great opportunity for my parents to extend their vacation and come join Aline and I in the Alps for a few days. The desire was there but the logistics were another story. It proved difficult to coordinate the trip from Florence to Geneva, a long story short, we came to a compromise which worked out for the best and left us all with memories of one of the best weekends ever.

Aline and I left early saturday morning and walked to a shopping mall where split up, I was to rent the car and Aline was to get food for a picnic. We then hit the road and were on our way from Geneva to Brig, aprox 2.5 hrs drive. It was a fun experience driving in Switzerland, the round-abouts took some getting used to and I am not going to lie, they are great when you have no clue where to go....you just keep going around! the drive took along the lake Leman, through the many vinyards and into the Valais between the Alps. We arrived early and I wanted to check into the hotel and get the keys sorted out so that we could go hiking that afternoon and not have to worry about check in. I had booked the hotel on the internet and didnt really know what to expect.....what a suprise when we realized it was ON the mountian. We had to drive up a narrow road that winds up the mountain. I am not kidding, I was sweating driving up this road the first time. There are blind corners that drop off straight down the mountain...of course the view was incredible as you make your way up...but in my eyes, beautiful view means long way down and we were litterally driving along the edge of the mountian. Add to all this the fact that the locals rip up and down the mountian at over 65 km an hour...did I mention it is no wider than the car but it is a two way street! (Alot of holy words were thrown around as we went up the mountain!). So, a good 20 minutes of driving up this road, with Aline beside me yelling.."Michael, Michael, look out!" every time we face a car coming head on the opposite direction, and we finlly arrived to the village we were looking for, Zeneggan. It was a tiny mountain village overlooking the valley which leads to Zermatt. IT took us a little while and some directions from a local but we managed to locate the hotel and arrived safely despite our little adventure drive. It was amazing....beautiful views, old wooden swiss chalet mixed with some stone walls, a patio out front to eat at, clean rooms with balconys lookin down the mountain and extremly nice owners. Perfect spot to bring my parents for their visit to Switzerland. With not much time to spare, we got checked in and then back to the car and back to the exhilarating drive back down the mountian. We made our way to the Brig train station where we awaited the arrival of my parents who were to take a train from tuscany leaving at 6 am and travel through Milan to Brig, arrival time 1:15 pm. The train arrived on schedule and people started pouring out, no sign of Janice and Bill........Thoughts of them being stranded in Milan after missing their connection to Brig crossed my mind, but sure enough, they appeared at the opposite end of the platform. hugs and kisses and all that mushy stuff and then we were off for our weekend in Switzerland together. so much to see, so little time!

We hopped in the car and 4 or 5 wrong turns, a couple round-about 360's, a stop for directions, and then we were headed to Bettmeralp to see some mountian views, picnic and hike. We took a gondola to the half way point of the Bettmeralp, this was an interestingride for my mother who is afraid of heights, where we found a bench overlooking the mountains and set up shop to have a picnic with imported Tuscany wine and swiss cheeses. then it was time to explore and stretch the legs on a little mountian hike. The weather was perfect, with few clouds and lots of sun which made for great views of the surrounding alps, great first afternoon activity.

After much discussion of the eminent drive back up the mountian to the hotel, a group decision was taken to make our way off Bettmeralp before dark and to head to the hotel to wash up and have dinner.

Some more holy language, this time by my parents and we were back at the hotel and checked into our rooms getting ready for dinner in the hotel restaurant. as we were getting ready, a church just below the hotel and out front of our balconies began ringing its bells and didnt stop for at least 15 minutes. An incredible welcoming!

Inside the hotel restaurant we decided upon home made soup, Fondue for all and white wine to accompany it. My father was busy throughout the dinner practicing his german with the wife of the owner of the hotel...I dont think she understood, but she appreciated the effort.

Time for bed, another big day tomorrow.