the quiet section

One of the things I was most excited about for our trip last summer was the train ride I had booked from Vienna to Zurich.  It was by far the cheapest way to get to Switzerland and the website showed a little video of the scenery you pass by as you travel through the alps.  I was sold. And I was sure that 8 hours on a train at that point would be so welcomed.  Nothing to do but be together.  Play games, enjoy each other, talk about all we’d seen as we cut through green valleys and snowy peaks. 

Well, it was pretty amazing, but it wasn’t everything I had hoped.  Mostly because, in trying to be super mom and make sure everything went just right I ended up accidentally booking us in the quiet car!  I got a little hot flash of furry when we got all settled in and Jeff pointed to the little no noise symbol.  What?  out of the entire train, how did I pick the one car designed for people to work and sleep.  How was I supposed to keep this crew quiet for 8 hours!  I panicked. 

But we had no other choice.  So we hunkered down, listened to our music, played some quiet games, spent lots of time in the dining car and enjoyed the most amazing scenery, that just kept on wowing us for nearly the entire 8 hours.  About half way through our day we noticed that the whole car was getting a little less muted and by the end we were talking normally and having a good (though quieter than normal) time.  Looking back, the quiet car was just what we needed.  An outside reminder for the kids to be a little calmer than normal.  That’s never a bad thing.  Sorry about all the pictures, but this is only about an eighth of the ones I took.  I thought maybe I’d get some serious reading done on this part of our journey, but I couldn’t peel my eyes away from the grandeur around us.  God is great.  When we got close to Zurich we started passing by some amazingly blue lakes which I came to realize is sort of just how all water is in Switzerland.  Such a beautiful land.  We were so excited to find uncle Tal here waiting for us at the Zurich train station.  And to eat a delicious (way too expensive) hot dog in a baguette.  Tal took us in search of more expensive Swiss food (but boy was it good) while we waited of Jeff to pick up the rental car and then we headed out to see his new place and find Anita and little a. We took a brief stop in the center of the little town where they live.  Such a beautiful spot. 

Then, watched the sun go down on a pretty amazing (and quiet) day.