"Bonjour" from Paris and "Guten Tag" from Germany and Switzerland!

 I want to first apologize for not having the opportunity to update this blog until this evening. We have been going non-stop since we landed on Saturday, and sleep has become a priority for all of us when we have had the chance to do so. 

Paris was a whirlwind, but we were pleased to have had the opportunity to see some of it. We enjoyed the typical café experience and then we hit the basic highlights-- the Louvre Pyramids, Place de la Concorde, Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel tower. 

On Sunday, March 26th, we began the next segment of our trip. The students were really excited to be able to ride a bullet train! Reaching speeds of up to 200 mph, it took a little over three hours to travel from Paris to Basel, Switzerland.

In Basel, we ate at a local Pizzeria. It was difficult to make reservations for 19 people on a Sunday as most places are closed, which is typical in most European cities. However, the pizza was wonderful! It was a cold, windy, and rainy day in Basel, so we were all thankful to have brought our rain gear! 

Our coach picked us up in Basel and brought us to Lorräch, Germany, where our hotel is situated. We ate dinner together at a Lebanese restaurant a few minutes from our hotel before turning in for the night to rest up before our adventures the next day at E+H headquarters.

This morning, Monday, March 27th, we visited Endress+Hausser's headquarters in Reinach, Switzerland. Photos were not permitted within most of the E+H facility, but the kids learned so much about the various aspects of what E+H does. We could not have asked for better hosts!

E+H treated the students to some afternoon tea+lemonade as well as some sweet treats before we departed.

Following our morning and afternoon at E+H Headquarters, we traveled to the Lindt Chocolatèrie in Zurich. We walked through the tour that explained how chocolate was invented and made, and then had a fun time sampling dozens of kinds of chocolate before perusing the shop where most students spent what was probably the majority of their souvenir money! 

That is a real, flowing chocolate fountain...

There were three types of liquid chocolate to try: white, milk, and dark.

There were also 8 kinds of chocolate bars to sample-- some of us sampled each three or even four times. We are not responsible for any stomach aches that may have occurred... but there were no regrets!

The students spent almost an hour loading their baskets with goodies from the chocolate store. Many of these flavors are seasonal or can only be found right here at the Lindt headquarters in Switzerland.

Tomorrow, March 28th, students will tour another E+H facility in Cernay, France, and then take a hike in the Black Forest (weather permitting). We still have a lot planned out and we are excited for the coming days!