Sun is out!

The sun finally came out today, and it was truly beautiful here in Switzerland. We had another late morning - due mostly to the rowdy crowd celebrating Italy's win in the soccer game last night. There was horn blowing and shot firing for about an hour late last night. Brian had a late dinner tonight and so I ventured down to the waterfront with the kids to check out the open-air festival/game watching area. It was like a fair in that there were several stalls from different ethnic food vendors selling food and drink for people during the game. Every stall seemed to have a big tv next to it, as well as a few tvs in an open area. The kids ordered "glaces" (ice cream) and I had a samosa. Then Colin and I split a chocolate crepe. We may take Brian there for dinner tomorrow night. The variety of food was astounding. The vendor from Portugal had a huge set up with really yummy looking food, so it may be even more exciting to eat there if Portugal is playing tomorrow. I can't keep track of the schedule. I rely on Brian and Colin for that. The kids and I ventured out in the car today, and managed to find the Funicular (the old fashioned way: map and road signs instead of the GPS) The Funicular took us to the top-ish of the mountains above Lake Neuchatel. Form that mountain range, we are actually very close to The ride up was fun. The parallel parking of the car down the street from the funicular station - not so much fun. Aidan got out and helped me. The car we rented is equipped with one of those beeping in reverse systems. The closer you get to an object while backing your car up, the more spastic the beeping gets. Not exactly conducive to my type of driving these days. It's more of the "BE QUIET, I'M TRYING NOT TO KILL US!!!" type of driving I'm doing. But we made it there and back with some success. As Brian was at work all day, and then had a work dinner to attend, I had promised the kids I would take them to McDonald's. We went and $50 later - and of course the *only* take cash - the kids and I really did enjoy ourselves at . I think we are all suffering from a bit of culture shock. THe familiarity was comforting and the salad really wasn't that bad. Of course, there are things that are different about it: no refills on soda, no free ketchup, smaller drink sizes. But all in all, a pleasant experience. They were very friendly and accomodating with our pitiful french.We headed back to the supermarket after dinner and got food for breakfast. We went through our same friendly checker, only this time he looked at us and said "Hello!" and proceeded to speak english with us. At the end I thanked him in french and then said, "See you tomorrow!" He laughed. We got some cool souvernirs - the Eurocup stuff is all 1/2 priced now that it's coming to the end. We got some of the best deals on shirts I've seen since we arrived in Europe. I am also amazed that people are dressed as well as they are. It must cost a fortune to stay in fashion! OK -- off to bed.We may rent a paddle boat and go out on the lake tomorrow. Wish me luck.