Tay Vaughan

We -- my mom, my dad, and my older brother, Francois, and I -- are Americans, but we live in Switzerland. When mom told me that my Aunt Rachael, Uncle Josh, and my cousin, Austin, were coming to visit, I wasn’t as excited as I think I should have been. I was sure that when they came, we would have to do all the tourist stuff that we do every time anybody comes to visit us, and people come and stay with us constantly. They arrive from all over the world to see Switzerland’s beautiful scenery, interesting historic places, and the wonderful people that live in our cozy old towns and cities.

As usual, the first thing mom said when their car pulled up was “I can’t wait to show them what Switzerland has to offer!” She always gets really excited about being a “tour guide,” and she always makes a list that says exactly what we are going to do with our guests and at what time. Every list she makes says the same thing, so I don’t know why she bothers to write new ones. As soon as Aunt Rachael walked in the door of our small warm house that looks like all the other ones surrounding it, mom ran up and gave her a hug and a cheesy speech about how much she missed her only sister. After all the suitcases were put away, mom made everyone gather in the kitchen so we could “talk about our plans and catch up on how things were going in the United States.” I’ve been to the United States once, when I was little, but I don’t remember it very much. Michelle says it’s a lot different than Switzerland, although the climates are about the same. So when mom was in the middle of going through the long itinerary and listing everything in major detail, Uncle Josh interrupted and asked me, “ I hope you are going to be coming along for this wonderful tour, I know Austin has wanted to spend time with his favorite cousin.” Too bad I couldn’t understand him. When mom translated it into French so I could answer, I was very disappointed. I think I’ve been on about five of these tours and they’re all the same. I especially didn’t want to spend time with Austin. He’s seven and very annoying. Aunt Rachael was born in Switzerland and attempts to teach him French and German, which are major the languages spoken here. She doesn’t do a very good job, though, because she teaches both at the same time and then Austin mixes them all together, which makes it hard to understand him. When mom saw that I was disappointed she glared at me and I was basically forced to smile. I was really tired from all the stories everyone was sharing so I skipped the apfelkuchlein cookies. I love those apple cookies but was tired and had to be prepared for tomorrow’s tour.

The next morning, dad made sausage and eggs for breakfast and mom explained what the plans were for the day. She had decided we were going to spend the day in Bern, the capital. Then she started to get really excited and was talking about Bern being founded in the 12th century, how it’s a small and busy modern city but sill shows a lot of history. She was saying how much the they would love the cities lovely water fountains, statues, and the Gothic cathedral that stands right in the middle of the city. They would also get to go to the Art museum full of works by Swiss and other foreign artists. That’s mom’s favorite place.

After hours of walking around Bern, taking pictures near the 16th century clock tower, and watching Austin look at all the mechanical clowns, puppets, and animals on the streets. He loved to feed the bears soda, their favorite treat. The bears live in a big stone circle house, like a zoo, where they can run around and play while people watch. Then we went to a small café and ate lunch on the narrow sidewalk. We ordered different kinds of bread and cheese, coffee, and vegetable salad. Aunt Rachael commented on how much she missed the Swiss cheese. She complained that the cheese doesn’t taste the same in the U.S. when bought at the supermarket. You could tell mom couldn’t wait until the next holiday to ship her some.

After lunch we went home and I had to entertain Austin until dinner. He kept asking about yodeling and how he wanted to climb the highest mountain and “yoldle” as loud as he could. He didn’t believe me when I tried to convince him that it was a myth. Dinner was delicious. We had fish, pasta, and of course the grownups had wine made at the vineyards of the Agile castle. The adults started talking about how much they wanted to go to the wine museum, which is located inside the castle, but mom said that would interfere with the schedule that she had already planned. I could tell that everyone was disappointed, so to change the subject, I offered to get the desert. Mom and I made delicious fondue that everyone loved. After dessert, once again I got tired of listening to all the stories, so I went to bed. I was actually looking forward to tomorrows trip! The visit wasn’t turning out as terrible as I thought it would.

We woke up early in the morning so we could spend all day in the Alps. We tried to explain to Austin that even though there is no snow at our house and its warm and humid outside, its still snowy and very cold on top of the mountains. It took an extra thirty minutes for us to leave because Austin wanted to wear his shorts and tee-shirt. Finally, with a lot of yelling, Aunt Rachael was able to force pants and a jacket on him. He’s so stubborn! Anyway, when we got to the mountains I was glad to start skiing.

We got back late that night and went straight to bed. We still had a lot more places to go, but they were only staying three more days. We are still going to talk mom into going to the Agile castle. Besides that, we are going to take the long drive to Zurich, Switzerland’s largest city. Its filled with industrial factories where they weave silk and make clothes, but it also has small cafés and beautiful parks filled with ducks and swans. Too bad they’re not here in April. During April Zurich has a big festival called Sechselauten (“Six O’clock Bells”). The cathedral bells signal the end of winter and the beginning of spring. My favorite part of that festival is the snowman stuffed with firecrackers!