And They Lived Happily Ever After

As Jake's dad is orginally from Switzerland, we wanted to visit some of the places he grew up and where his family lived. We arranged to meet Thomas, one of Jake's dad's cousins.

He took us around Lieli, showing us the old (like 800 years) town meeting building, which is still in use, and a beautiful church, at the top of the hill overlooking the area around the village.

We then went to Jake's grandpa's old farm in Lieli, where his dad lived for a just a few years before they took over his grandma's family farm in Urswil. Most of the farm buildings are gone, but we still got to see the old barn, which was actually the smallest of the farm's buildings. While a new family lives on that plot of land, it turns out Thomas was something like the mayor of Lieli for about 15 years, so he knew everyone and we chatted with the new owner.

Here's the barn.

We then went and visited with Thomas' brother Walter. After chatting for a while we then went and saw Thomas' farm where they raise around 1,200 chickens and 30 dairy cows (with this cool fancy new automatic milking machine) and visited with his wife.

Then, before taking us back to the train station, Thomas took us to see Schloss Heidegg (or Heidegg Castle), an 800-year old feudal castle, which is now a cultural center and serves as a living museum and event space.

There was a wedding reception going on in the rose garden when we got there. It was a wonderful visit, and great to meet some of Jake's extended family.

After that, it was back to Luzern to get our bags and check in at Chateau Gutsch. There was a thunderstorm going on though so no taxis could be found. We decided to go on foot, and it was a rainy adventure.

We got pretty soaked, but it was fun and at last we had made it to our castle.

We enjoyed a very lovely dinner in the restaurant, and there was even a rainbow!

It has been an amazing and magical honeymoon. We hope you have enjoyed our stories and photos along the way. We look forward to seeing everyone soon.