Miyo and Pop Pop were here!

Switzerland schools know what is the most important thing to do. In February, all the schools take a week off for "ski week". That is the official title, and everyone heads out of town. It was the perfect opportunity for a visit from Tom's parents, affectionately known as "Miyo and Pop Pop". We did a serious tour of Swiss tourist attractions, and we were blessed with unseasonably sunny weather. First on the agenda, the Hergiswill Glass Factory.

Hergiswill is a small town off of Lake Lucerne, with the perfect sand and pure water to make hand crafted glass items. We took a small train ride and arrived in a quaint Swiss town.

We took a small tour of the history of the factory, and got straight to work blowing our own glass...

Just kidding! The real glass is heated at over 1000 degrees centigrade. We emerged from the tour to be mesmerized by men working with molten glass. You cut it with scissors!

And here they are making perfect red wine flasks...

We could have watched them for hours, but now it was our turn....

You want me to what? Put that hot air to good use, Tom!

We all made beautiful glass balls for our Christmas tree...

While the ornaments were cooling, we took a tour of the museum. They also make mirrors, Check out Tom's new basketball physique!

They even had a playground outside with a 2 story high marble maze, where the marbles clinked their way down hand-made glass artwork. Some children, however, needed to work off a little bit of energy...

All in all, it was a very successful outing, with some beautiful ornaments and memories as a souvenir.