Our house is a very, very fine house

WELCOME to our amazingly beautiful house in the countryside outside of the village of St. Prex. We had looked at google maps street view over and over and couldn't believe we'd actually live in this place. And the real thing is even better than we could have imagined... Absolutely awe inspiring views of Lake Geneva and the steep, jagged Alps can be seen from nearly every window. We are high above the village and lake so the views are panoramic and unobstructed. 

There is a large grassy garden just outside the windows you see above, a big patio on the west side of the house, and we are surrounded by vineyards, orchards, and open space on all sides. Sam is absolutely in heaven here. Now to find him some friends...

Since we live in the country, it is a 20 minute walk to town and to the train station. We won't have a car while we are here so we'll be walking - a lot! The walk to the train station is very steep and so beautiful. and The roads are narrow, almost like paths.The roads are narrow enough that if two cars try to pass, one has to pull over so the other can get by. I expected because the roads were so small that people would drive slowly. Not the case. People cruise on the tiny roads and pass me and Sam in the stroller without hardly slowing down at all.  Also, something that surprised me; when you cross a cross walk, the cars will stop but as soon as you are out the way, the driver will gun it and rush by. The first time it happened, I thought the driver was just rude but everyone does it! Even old ladies! I guess because there are so many people that cross the road, drivers are used to stopping and starting on a dime.

We are surrounded by vineyards and it is grape harvesting time. Sam is fascinated with the huge harvesting machines and all the tractors that drive by are his absolute favorite part of living in "Switzohwend". He also can see all the trains come and go from our house since we are high above the village. Riding on trains is pretty exciting, too. We also have a lot of planes that fly over since we're close to Geneva and the airport.

On either side of the house, we have an orchard. In the front is a plum orchard. In the back, is an apple orchard. It is also apple harvesting time so our neighbors are out picking and boxing apples. It's so wonderful to be out in the country!

Views of the south side of the house:

I love this big maple tree in our yard. Only one part of the tree has decided it's time to turn red. I'm excited to see the rest slowly turn.

We have a high grassy area alongside the house and then another grassy area below before the plum orchard.

Here are some views of the plum orchard, our one large rock we assume was left here during glacial times, the vineyards, and the views of the impressive Alps across Lake Geneva. Just across Lake Geneva is the city of Evian, France - where Evian bottled water comes from.

See the grape harvester? It is the light of Sam's life.

Running through the vineyard across the street is so much fun! There are several different varieties of grapes grown in the same vineyard. I've tasted a couple of the grapes and they are really sour. 

We have rosebushes and two huge lavender bushes.

Here are some pictures of the west side of the house next to the field.

You can see the grassy area the runs along the house by the big maple in these two pictures.

Yes! We have a hammock in the maple tree!

The field on the right is a pasture full of grass for cows. The orchard is the plum orchard that runs below the house. And yes, the cows and sheep here really do wear big bells just like I imagined they would! We can hear them mooing and jingle, jangling.

Can you tell how much Sam likes it here? Check out those awesome monster rainboots. They are his favorite because he can put them on himself.

Lavender!

Here are some pictures of the west side of the house where the huge patio is.

We've already been out for several meals enjoying the fall sunshine. It's been pretty warm which has been really nice, particularly since we have to walk so much.

Here are some views of the north side of the house where the main entrance is. All the houses have names on them in scrolled metal. Our house is "La Portaz".

Sam and the old dishwasher. I guess a new dishwasher was installed just before we arrived; it's so nice!

There is a little sheltered patio outside the front door by the apple orchard.

A view from the front door - looking at the little gazebo/sheltered patio with the apple orchard behind.

And here are our neighbors harvesting the apples

And a neat little tree on the west side of the house.

And here is the inside of the house. The parque floors are beautiful and there is so much light because of the huge pictures windows and glass doors. Also, Val's ex-husband is a painter and she has a lot of his original artwork in the house. We are so thrilled with what a beautiful place it is.

The living room and dining area

A very jet-lagged Sam.

And the kitchen!

I hear Val is a wonderful baker and cook and makes her own artisan bread. I can't wait to learn from her.

Here is Sam's room.

And here is our room. I still haven't figured out the purpose of having two separate blankets on a large bed. I usually end up trying to get under Don's blanket so we can snuggle and then wake up half covered because my blanket has ended up on the edge of the bed and far away... I know having two separate blankets is the norm in Europe so there has to be a good reason and I will figure it out.

Here is the entrance and hall between the kitchen and bedrooms. Val has a huge library of books and movies. We were worried we'd have nothing to watch in English but we are set up with more movies than we could ever watch in a year, let alone 3 months.

And continuing with the CSNY song reference (Don said it was so long ago he forgot - "Our house is a very, very, very fine house"), yes, we do have two cats in the yard! Valerie has two cats - Chouchou and Satine and Sam is so excited. Excluding the first incident with him being woken up our first night here by Satine jumping on him, he has been totally in love with the cats. Satine is very friendly and loves attention and Choucou hides outside all day to avoid our company. I think Sam is a little too loud for his liking.

We had an unexpected house guest the second day we were here. I was just sitting at the table having a snack with Sam when suddenly, a man walked right in the front door! No knocking or anything - he just opened the door. I was completely freaked out - here I am in a country where I can't really communicate with anyone since I don't speak French, I'm out in the country far from anyone or anything, and then some stranger walks in the front door! He said, "Oh! I guess Val did get some renters after all." It turns out he is the man who used to live in the flat upstairs and he thought Val had told me he might be coming to stay at the house. He had texted Val to ask if he could stay and hadn't been able to reach her (since she is in the U.S. right now). 

Ben turned out to be a very nice man. I invited him to stay for dinner so he talked to me while Sam and I cooked some dismal grocery store tortellini (oh, it was bad) and veggies and then Don got home and we ate. 

Don and I had walked to the grocery store the night before (it's about a mile away) and hauled the groceries and Sam back up the steep mile to our house. Since we were all still very jet-lagged, I decided to go for easy, mostly prepared meals. Also, shopping at a grocery store in a different country always takes some getting used to, particularly when you don't understand any of the languages on the food packaging (usually French, German and sometimes, Italian - the 3 primary languages here in Switzerland). Did you know the Swiss don't have brown sugar, chocolate chips, and baking soda is a rarity? I'm a huge fan of brown sugar and use it exclusively when I bake - I just replace all white sugar in recipes with brown because I like the flavor from the molasses. I guess I'll have to figure out where to buy good molasses so I can make my own brown sugar substitute. 

We bought some decent prepared pizza and some tortellini to get us through to the next grocery store trip; I'm going to have to go every other day because I can only carry so much up the hill home. The tortellini was deplorable and that is what we ate for dinner. Ben politely suffered through the meal and then he gave us lots of helpful info about the area, about where to buy or find things we need, and gave me lots of names of delicious cheeses and chocolates to try. 

My mission while we're here is to eat as much delicious cheese and chocolate as I possibly can. We plan on a cheese and bread-a-tarian diet since meat is ridiculously expensive here and we rarely eat it anyway. So far, we have eaten some amazing Gruyere, some mountain cheese called Gomser and some beautiful goat cheese and several loafs of crusty artisan bread. I can't wait to get the store tomorrow and buy some new deliciousness. After our nice conversation Don and I headed to bed and Ben slept on the couch. 

In the morning, Ben took Don to town and translated for him while he got a bank account and introduced himself at the town commune. The Swiss are very serious about knowing who is living where and for how long. So, my unexpected visitor ended up really helping us and we've made a wonderful friend. I guess Val texted Ben back in the morning and said, "You can't stay in the house, it's full!" Ha!

As a result of Ben's good advice, I made a fantastic salad for dinner that evening. He told me to cook bacon, melt in a round of goat cheese and eat it over a salad with a splash of balsamic vinegar. I caramelized some onions with the bacon and that was a fantastic addition. It was such a wonderful salad. Thanks, Ben! 

A quick note: Swiss bacon is very different than American bacon. Not nearly as much fat melts off when you cook it and it comes with the skin in a big hunk so you have to buy it pre-cut into cubes or cut it yourself - which I did. It was hard work. It is delicious and super fatty. I'll definitely buy it pre-cut next time. 

Here is a bad picture of a very, very good salad. YUM!

Sam is snuggling with me on the couch and just said to me, "I love you, I, I like you. I like your hands and your hair and your socks. And your thumbs. I like your thumbs and your fingers. I love your hair, and your face, and your nose. I love you, mom." I think this may be his very first love poem. What a sweet boy.