My first day in Switzerland on this trip was a bit of a blur to be honest.  But a beautiful blur at least. 

I was up at 4:00 am to travel an hour to Gatwick Airport to catch my EasyJet flight to Zurich.  I had never flown out of Gatwick before, so I wasn't sure how close to security the train stop was nor how busy it would be at 5am.  I arrived a significant amount earlier than I had to, but I'm the type of person who would much rather that than missing a flight.

I landed in Zurich to find my parents who had arrived from Toronto 2 hours earlier.  They had already met up with Daniel, my mom's second cousin (her mom and his mom were cousins).  We drove out to their home in the town of Hittnau where we had a quick nap to overcome the jet-leg/4am morning and then caught up with our relatives over lunch.  I had met Daniel and his family when I visited back in 2011 but my mom had only met his daughter when she came to study in Toronto in 2012.  

After lunch Daniel took us for a drive into the mountains South East of Zurich and then through some towns near Lake Zurich.  The drive up into the mountains was magnificent, but the winding roads left no place to pull over for pictures.  I attempted to shoot out the window, but back seats and looking anywhere other than on the road in front of me do not mix well in my stomach.  We stopped for photos once we crossed onto the other side of the mountains (seen above) but I must admit I enjoyed the first side more.  The spot we stopped did come with cows, however, and we all know that Swiss cows make some of the best cheese and chocolate around.  

The towns we visited were adorable, as to be expected from every town in Switzerland.  One of them had a grand monastery complete with a stable and another had a beautiful castle overlooking rose gardens and rooftops and Lake Zurich (above).  I wish I could tell you the names of the places we stopped, but unfortunately the lack of sleep got the best of my memory that day.  Here are some of the beautiful views, though.