Journey to Saas Fee, Switzerland!

They go from this (getting along, opting to share a chair):

To this...

...in a matter of seconds. 

I like this one where Ethan is looking through his pockets (stuffed with matchbox cars) while Hailey looks through his other pocket:

They were waiting while we were waiting at the Milan Malpensa AVIS rental car counter. We had been up since 5am and we were all a little tired and hungry. After waiting quite awhile, we got sent to the AVIS counter at terminal 2 so I was a little frustrated at this point as well.

Once we got the car all sorted and were on our way (like 1.5hrs after landing), the kids fell asleep, we made a pit stop for lunch panini and a mocha and then crossed the border an hour or so later into Switzerland. The drive takes 2.5-3hrs. They make you pay 40 Francs for a car sticker to enter into France and drive in the Alps area. All of the sudden you start seeing the mountains and before you know it, they are every direction you look. Chris said about the buildings, "it's kind of like being in Leavenworth, except it's real." 

We drove through a ton of tunnels. One of them had to be the longest tunnel I had ever been in. Some of them were open on one side like this, which was nice:

Cool bridge:

Houses are dispersed on the mountainside and valleys--some look pretty treacherous to get to!

Once we got there, you park at the parking lot and call the hotel to send one of their golf buggies to fetch you. The village is car-less and very quaint. The buildings had very German names like "Edelweiss" and there were a lot of blondes with double braids which reminded me of the movie, "Heidi". My German was a bit rusty but I could still understand a lot even if I wasn't as proficient at speaking the language. Pretty much everyone spoke English as well so it wasn't a problem. The place we stayed was very dated but had everything we needed and was a bargain for a ski town at less than $100 a night for a one bedroom condo.

Nice! Glad our Welsh friend Hedd, recommended this place to us!

Check out this view from our room deck!

Apre ski party time at the bars outside in the village with a DJ outside and all! We didn't know until we got here but it was the opening day for winter skiing on the mountain here today. Could ski but yet we beat the crowds since the holiday busy season starts in a few weeks. Good timing!

Seriously, can cowbells get any bigger than that? 

Ethan was SO excited about the snow that he wanted to take a hunk of snow with him everywhere! We had to make him leave it outside the stores and restaurants when we went in. 

I love how excited the kids get when they spot Christmas trees!

I noticed this place when we walked by it earlier and wanted to go there for dinner--it looked so warm and cozy with the fire going:

We chose wisely, this place was great! Switzerland is pricey though (but that is everywhere)! I'm continuing on my mulled wine kick. It's called Gluhwein here. Really though, a warm drink and festive wine combination in cold weather can't be beat!

And Chris didn't waste any time getting a good German beer: