There is no doubt this is one segment of our travels I’ve really been looking forward to – that’s primarily because I’ve been anticipating connecting with my close friend Debs (known her since pre-school), her husband Ethan, and meeting her little 5 month old son, Liam for the first time. Spending the past 3 days in the small town of Rolle with them (where Ethan’s parent’s live) has been wonderful.

Rolle is a little town about 20 minutes by train outside of Geneva. It is literally nestled among wine vineyards that crawl up the side of the mountain until they hit the alpines. The area is truly spectacular, looking out onto Lake Geneva. In fact, we’ve spent a good part of the past 3 days both walking along the lakeshore as well cruising on it by ferry. This has been the most perfect time of year to be here weather wise, as we’ve had non-stop sunshine upon arriving (apparently just missing several days of downpours).

The big joke has been that the area has literally emptied out, many towns appearing to be ghost towns. Summer time is the period most people vacation, and that means shutting town their small businesses, and traveling out of the country. We have found ourselves saying way too often “where is everyone?” as we drive through yet another deserted town. We did however manage to catch some action in Morges, a small lakeside town where I think just about everyone in the country ascended for the Saturday morning market. We even had some excitement with a run in with the law when Ethan turned down a wrong way lane, than decided to turn around in a handicap parking spot -- the police didn’t seem to thrilled about that one!

Yesterday was an action filled day cruising over on the ferry to France! That’s right, in just a mere 30 minutes you can be in France. The highlight by far was hitting up the town of Evian, which we all of course know is famous for their incredibly over-priced water. We even found “the fountain” where pure Evian water flows through. No joke, there was a line of people waiting to fill their bottles with the goodness, which of course we had to indulge in as well.

Of all the things we’ve experienced, no doubt it’s been the most fun just hanging with Debs, Ethan and Liam. Jason is an absolute pro with making the little guy laugh (Liam, not Ethan), and he even sported the Baby Bjorn for an afternoon walk with him. We just arrived to Interlaken with the gang, and get to enjoy the next 2 days with each other’s company in this paradise.