August 1st is our National Day, our Independence Day, the day the first three Cantons (Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden) swore "a bond of brotherhood, and agree to act jointly if their freedoms were threatened by outside aggressors". Believe it or not that was in the year 1291. Yes, my country is over 700 years old, 718, to be exact! It's a time to feel proud of my country, even though I have not lived there for over 12 years. America is where I live, but Switzerland will always be Home.
We did quite a bit of celebrating today. First we went to Sofia's friend Sadie's 2nd Birthday, and after her nap we went to Los Altos, where the Peninsula Swiss Club hosted its August 1st celebration. We were greeted by little Swiss flags all over the place, including one for each of the 26 Cantons. They offered a traditional Swiss dinner of "Fleischkaese", delicious bread, and different salads, followed by an extensive array of desserts, of which most of them were home made, of course! It was simply delicious. They also had a band playing traditional "Laendler" music. I have never really been a fan of it, but I have to say, today it warmed my heart! Of course, Sofia took to the stage as soon as she was able to, and amused many of the guests with some of her dance moves! Unfortunately, I ran out of batteries on my camera, but not before I could at least capture some of it:
We had a good time, and as always it reminded me of home and how proud I am to be a citizen of such a beautiful country!
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