Chocolate in our muesli - Switzerland, the story so far...

When Cam and I told people that we were planning a houseswap in Switzerland for a month, with our toddler, Dash and our (then unborn) daughter Jett, the general consensus was that we were crazy. We blithely carried on our planning, but in hindsight - they may have been right!

Take one (nearly) three year old and one six-week week old baby, put them on a train, a bus, a plane (for sixteen hours), stop in Dubai for three hours and then load them onto a plane for another six hours. On arrival, take another train, get picked up by a man none of us has ever met, who takes us to a strange house that will be our home for the next four weeks and is it any wonder that after 2 a.m. Jett is helping herself to the boob buffet every hour, on the hour and Dash seems to think that 3 a.m. is an appropriate time to have breakfast? (well, there IS chocolate in our muesli!)

Markus, Peggy and their daughter Olivia and son Moritz have a lovely, three-storey home in Aargau Canton, quirkily decorated (much like ours!) Before they left for Carnegie(!) they were unfailingly gracious hosts, taking us on lengthy orientation trips, where they supplied invaluable tips on where to eat, shop and sightsee; information which our sleep-deprived brains promptly scrambled. They even bequeathed us their Canadian neighbour Sherri, and actually, as Peggy and Markus are originally German, we have yet to meet any Swiss people at length! The little of the countryside that we have seen so far is stunning, though. The variety of Autumn colours in the forest behind the house is gorgeous - we hope to post photos soon.

The Macks XX