Swiss National Day

The dictionary describes patriotism as devotion and support of one's country. When we were home in the States on the Fourth of July, I felt that patriotism for my country. I appreciate being from the USA now more than I ever did before living abroad. But when we returned back here in August, we attended our first Swiss National Day festivities and I experienced similar feelings that day for Switzerland. Can you be patriotic for a country that isn't your home country? Definitely. I'm not Swiss, but I can appreciate the love the Swiss have for their independence, for their land, for their customs. Even as outsiders, expats feel a love for Switzerland that you only feel after living day in and day out within its borders.

Swiss Family Laczkowski

View from the farm - Alps in the distance.

We ate in the barn. Note the donkey & accordion players.

The breakfast buffet was set up in the cow barn.

Cow-shaped cheese!

Swiss Miss with the cows.

The calves were too cute.

We started the day by attending a farm breakfast in Herrliberg. We met up with several other expat families from our school - friends we hadn't seen much this summer. It was a nice reunion with friends, with a traditional Swiss breakfast (and not-so-traditional brownies!). The breakfast buffet was situated in the cow barn. The kids played on the haystacks and got to see the most adorable baby cows. It was definitely a morning to remember.

Dinner at the beach - Ruschlikon, Swiss, and Zurich canton flags hang proudly.

One of the first lanterns

Beautiful lanterns light up the sky.

Fireworks and full moon over Lake Zurich.

In the evening, our families met again at the Ruschlikon beach for dinner and fireworks. There was a band taking requests (first song? Sweet Home Chicago - how appropriate) and there were paper lanterns for each family to set up into the sky. The fireworks were beautiful over Lake Zurich. It was a perfect night with good friends. One we will remember always.

Cheers!

Tiffany