We spent a glorious week in Switzerland last week, with my parents, my little sister and her boyfriend. Our amazing chalet apartment looked out over the beautiful turquoise lake and the towering green snow-capped mountains above. It was the perfect place to rest for a week.
Rest this week was a 9km kayak across the choppy lake, paddling past small villages full of quaint wooden chalets, rowing boats tied up at the water, forgotten boat houses and waterfalls tumbling their ice-cold water into the lake from the distant snow above.
Rest this week was hiking above our chalet into the steep-sided mountains, discovering tall waterfalls to walk behind, hiking up to high meadows and dancing to the tune of Sound of Music in my head, and half-jogging down the steep tracks to the bottom of the valley again.
Rest this week was family dinners each evening around the big table, taking it in turns to cook for the others, introducing my cheese-loving family to the joy that is raclette.
Rest this week was a 36km bike ride around the lake, which turned out to not be as flat a ride as I assumed it was. Rest was stopping to share an ice cream with Rasmus and sigh with relief as I dipped my tired feet in the ice cold river.
Rest this week was getting half way through a new book set in the Canadian mountains and being able to glance up from descriptions of steep valleys and see them all around me.
Rest this week was drives in our car with the top down, and head right back to catch glimpses of the mountain tops as we drove through the valleys. Rest was feeling the sun darkening my shoulders and the wind making my hair look like a messy birds nest and felling so happy for both.
Rest this week was finding time to write some of the things on my heart out and allow the process of writing to help me see those things a little clearer.
Rest this week was the near constant sound of the Olympics in the background, my dad’s regular updates on Team GB’s progress, the time to sit and watch and be inspired by the amazing feats of athleticism we saw.
Rest this week was watching the birds from our balcony with my parents, seeing them gather in long lines atop the cranes behind our building, watching them begin to fly together in beautiful coordinated swarms, and finally drop into the trees for the night, their goodnight dance to the day completed.
