Eyrealm: Anita’s Gorgeous Spot on Earth!

Wow, were we ever excited to see Anita’s hometown in Switzerland and to meet the wonderful parents who produced such an outstanding woman!

Here we are…very excited…with her beautiful town behind us just before we found Anita’s home.

Here is Dad pondering how lucky Anita is to have lived here.

Here’s dad…white knuckled…driving to their beautiful home which they built in 1975…just about as Saydi was born.

We could hardly believe our eyes when we saw the breathtaking scene from Anita’s front door:

Here is the scene that is framed by the family’s front entry:

What a thrill it was meet her wonderful parents and feel an immediate bond of friendship and comradery! They were so warm and gracious and her mom said “I’ve prepared your room for the night” so we gratefully accepted their kind invitation and enjoyed three quite incredible meals with them.

Tal and Anita did not exaggerate when they said what a wonderful cook her mom is. We had fabulous risotto with little squares of veal, ham and a little sage leaf fastened together with a toothpick for lunch and our new favorite dish…raclette cheese made on an authentic grill. It was to die for! We enjoyed a lot of terrific conversation for the rest of the afternoon and evening as well as the next morning.

Their English was perfect but we also knew what a workout we were giving their brains to transfer to speaking English for so long and in such a concentrated amount of time. They were truly incredible and we saw immediately where Anita got her gift for languages as we knew that they spoke several languages and dialects. At breakfast we laughed as we found Italian, German, French and English all written on the food packages!

After getting acquainted for a while and looking through Anita’s childhood album as well as an album of the many worldwide trips they have taken with their family, they offered to take us on a hike to “the grand canyon of Switzerland”. It was the most spectacular hike ever! It was about 3 kilometers of fabulous scenery each way with a gorgeous little jewel of a lake on the way

and a scene on a platform hanging out in the sky at the end that is impossible to properly describe OR capture on camera! It did look like the Grand Canyon, with trees in place of rocks. Plus, the Rhine River runs through it!

A tourist train snakes along the valley floor:

I have to admit that I was scared to death but luckily the grandeur took my mind off my fear of heights!

We saw Anita’s elementary school, newly painted this great color:

And met the fourth child in the family…..Diana:

Anita’s mom even gave me Anita’s slippers to keep my feet warm indoors:

On a heavenly morning walk along the field directly behind Anita’s house, the birds were singing like there was no tomorrow and the wildflowers were breathtaking: