365 days

Today, Gabriel is 365 days old, tomorrow, he will celebrate his first birthday. What a great moment to look back on his vacation in Switzerland.

It turned out to have been a good idea to purchase a seat for Gabriel. He slept for a third of the flight, thanks to which he recovered from jet lag quite fast.

It was another good idea to equip Gabriel with a dough scraper - a toy that had everything Gabriel needed: It was used by grown-ups, it had a handle, and chewing on it comforted his toothing pain.

Fun fact: After the two lower central incisors, Gabriel continued with the top left lateral incisor, progressing steadily from left to right. Now, he has four upper and two lower teeth. It still looks strange to me to have a baby with so many teeth. Of course, these have to be brushed, though Gabriel still needs a bit of help.

Gabriel and Michelle stayed in Switzerland for five weeks, I returned to Canada two weeks ahead of them. We spent time both with my and Michelle's parents, and there was much to discover, both for Gabriel...

... and for us...

... since Switzerland was co-host of the Soccer Euro Cup. There were lots of people in Zürich, which is always a pleasure to see...

... but we were even more interested in visiting friends and family, such as Gabriel's great-grandfather...

... or my former roommate Sascha, who tried to teach Gabriel how to clink glasses.

Gabriel also met many friends from his last stay in Switzerland, such as Louise,

his godmother Laurence,

his aunt Elia,

and Voyou, Michelle's parents' dog.

It was wonderful that Gabriel wasn't scared to visit new places. While he usually spent the first few minutes staring at the new surroundings, he felt at home quite fast, especially if he recognized some of the toys, like when we visited his great-aunt and great-uncle.

Of course, he also made new friends. For example, he immediately took to this cute and fluffy sheep:

We really enjoyed meeting all these (and many more) people, though we made sure to spend also some time sight-seeing. One sight we always enjoy is the Lac Leman, as seen here from the train.

Of course, we also went to the mountains, where there are picturesque villages,

deep gorges,

strange entrances into the mountainside,

and of course, the mountains themselves.

One day, we took the train up to the Gornergrat, from where we admired a wonderful panorama, well, almost all of us.

As we were climbing down, Gabriel calmed down...

... and soon, he was so full of energy again, that it was easier to take artistic pictures of the Matterhorn than to capture a good shot of Gabriel.

Gabriel not only explored the touristic parts of the Valais, he enjoyed at least as much exploring kitchen cupboards (Chuchichäschtli).

Water was something else he discovered - be it water to splash in, or water to sit in.

Yes, he really liked that.

I'm so glad that he and Michelle came back to Canada after such a wonderful trip!