Flims

After our hike on the mountains behind the Swiss Eyre’s home home, we got in the cars and stopped by to see Anita’s sister and her husband and family who live on the way to Anita’s home town…Flims! What a delight it was to see Anita’s Swiss relatives, their home and their cute kids.

One of the most beautiful spots on earth is found in Southern Switzerland and just happens to be in Anita’s hometown…Flims! Her parents still live there and one of my favorite things was to show the MFME the gorgeous view from Anita’s neighborhood!

After a nice visit with her wonderful parents we retired to a superb restaurant near the hotel where we were staying that night (arranged by Anita). There we continued the ongoing discussion we’d been having at dinnertime of an overview of life for each of us, one at a time. This included the “best and worst” of what has happened in our lives during the past year. It’s always such a fun discussion and took so long that we only got through two or three stories each night. How interesting it was to catch up on each other’s lives.

Besides being a very popular ski resort in the Winter Flims is a Summer Wonderland as well! The next morning we took went on a spectacular hike, which was walking distance (of about 3 or 4 miles) from our hotel. The views were dazzling and the conversations were beautiful too!

 

Julie was the hero of this trip, along with our little Dean! She just fed and changed him wherever there was a stop and even though we took turns carrying him, she took the yeoman’s share of the care and keeping of this sweet little guy!  These are two of my favorite pictures of Julie’s heroism:

 

That afternoon, the fun was just beginning! Tal had arranged for four people to go paragliding and Anita and I to go hot air ballooning over the Flims landscape. Sadly the clouds were too thick for the hot air balloons and the original “jumping off place” for the Para gliders. BUT Tal and Rick had joined us from their home about an hour away to see the hot air balloon ride and though Tal couldn’t do anything about the weather where they were supposed to take off, he did quickly found another group of guys who do paragliding expeditions and even though it seemed really windy where we were, they were taken to a different place and Kristi, Shawni, Charity and Saydi had the time of their lives floating over that gorgeous scenery for about 45 minutes. 

Shawni’s “guy” even provided a terrific outfit for her so she wouldn’t be cold. She loved it!

(I have no idea how that emoticon got there, but it seems appropriate!)  

Anita and I waited to see if the weather would clear for the balloon ride but alas, it didn’t. There was a cloud right around the top of the mountain where we were to take off that just wouldn’t go away. Sadly, they balloons only go one week of the year but I am determined to go back during that week and get in that balloon with her to see that gorgeous view of her hometown! They had launched that morning, but by afternoon, it was too cloudy!

That night we all relaxed at a Kabob place near our hotel for a “discussion gone wild”!  We laughed our heads off as fun topics kept bubbling to the top! We all loved it except maybe Dean. That little guy was tired after that long hike! 

The next morning, we bid Flims a fond farewell and headed for our next Swiss adventure!