Baker European Trip: Last post

Last post of the Baker trip!  I'm only two months behind...

We got back to Zurich Thursday night and everyone was pretty wiped so we spent Friday staying close by.  Darren took his family to the Lindt Chocolate Factory store and then we went souvenir shopping in downtown Zurich.  We ended the day with a delicious meal at Zeughauskeller.  The next morning Darren's siblings left to go back to the US, while his parents stayed a few more days.  After we dropped off his siblings, the four of us went up to see the Rhein Fall.  The weather wasn't great, but we all still enjoyed it.

The Rhein Fall near the German and Swiss border

Can't let a little rain ruin your fun!

Me and Darren's parents

After visiting the fall, we drove back home to have some lunch and then went a little south to visit the town of Solothurn.  Darren's dad had wanted to visit the armory museum there, so we were finally able to.  I think he really enjoyed it.

Darren's dad at the armory museum

Lots of old armor and weapons

A cool-looking cannon

Darren's parents outside of the museum

The inside of a cathedral in Solothurn

A view of the old town of Solothurn

An old gate in Solothurn

The next day, Sunday, we went to church and just spent time at home.  On Monday, we drove south again and made our first stop at the LDS temple near Bern.  We just walked around the grounds and took pictures.

The LDS temple near Bern

After that, we spent some time in the city of Bern.  Darren and I had never been, so we were happy to go and see the sites.  

The Federal Assembly building, the seat of power in Switzerland

Bern famous clock, the Zytglogge

So after this point, I was in charge of taking pictures and I changed the settings on the camera somehow, so all the pictures were taken at a really small size.  We didn't notice it until two trips later, so pictures are going to be smaller and not as sharp for a while. :/  Way to go me...

Downtown Bern

The Aare river

 A bear statue with a fish in its mouth on the river, so cute!

Cute bird on the fountain

Another picture of downtown Bern

The bear park on the river, because the name Bern comes from the German word for bear

A view of Bern on the other side of the bridge

I really liked seeing the bears (no surprise, huh?), but since my bear pictures are really small, I'll just show you a video instead.  Luckily all the video was still shot in high quality.

The other side of the Federal Assembly building, really a pretty building

We couldn't spend the whole day in Bern, so we were only able to see a few highlights.  I really would like to go back down and explore the city in more detail and visit things like the Einstein Museum.  After getting a quick lunch in Bern, we drove down to Lake Geneva so that Darren's parents could see the Chateau de Chillon.  If you recall, we visited this place with my dad and step-mom, so I won't go into much detail about the place since I've already talked about it.

Me and Darren's parents in front of the castle

Darren's dad next to an escape route in the cellar

Exploring the upper floors up the castle

A view of the castle and the mountains

Darren in front of the castle, to prove he was there at all these activities

After all the fun activities, we drove back to Zurich and went out to a fondue restaurant.  The next morning, we took his parents to the airport and the Baker European Tour was over!  Wow, we did a lot things, but I think everyone was really pleased with what we were able to see and how well things went.  For everything that we crammed in, we really never had any major problems and things went pretty smoothly.  Way to go Baker family!