TRAVELING APOTHECARY

Hello my beloveds!

We went on the fairy tale adventure of a lifetime in Switzerland a few months ago (end of Feb thru early March), and I just wanted to share some of the magick we encountered throughout our trip...

The 28 hour journey passing thru Ireland was nowhere near as magical as I had hoped, but I definitely learned a thing or two about slowing down and listening to my body when in a foreign environment. That motion sickness/jet lag got me good!

Thankfully we were greeted in Switzerland with familiar faces, comforting foods, a warm bed, and lots of love. Everything about this country was so beautiful. One word I kept using to describe everything was "efficient". The laws, technology, roads, community... it was all just so efficient! We were in awe most of the time.

Between the acres of green farmland and snowy mountaintops surrounding you, it truly did feel like a fairy tale. Being born & raised in LA, seeing people coexist with nature like this was mesmerizing. Ways of living I had only ever heard of in movies or from my grandparents. Genuine respect for the land, ancient traditions, and one another.

One of our favorite things to do was pack up a backpack, hike to the nearby forest, and build a fire to grill lunch. It's more popular to do in the Summer, but we bundled up and enjoyed every second. It was such pure simple fun. We all sat on logs, roasting corn & bratwurst on sticks (vegetarian for me), listening to the sounds of nature, and just living. We discovered so many different types of flowers, moss, mushrooms, and rocks! It was amazing to see so much life sprouting just as we enter springtime. We did this a couple times on our trip and could NOT get enough of it!

How do I even explain it all???

We explored the oldest city in Switzerland - 11,000 years old!

We walked through a 14th century castle in the city of Gruyeres (yes, Gruyeres like the cheese -- and yes, I did buy Gruyeres cheese here!)

We glided through a magnificent frozen glacier cave

We played with and fed many deer, goats, rams, and cows.

We drank Absinthe - a European psychoactive "schnapps" that's illegal in the US.

We ate traditional Swiss meals, like Fondue and Raclette -- two famous cheese dishes, AMAZING.

We had a few snow days, and some REAL cold days.

Oh, AND...

We went to a famous mountain in the Alps, rode the lift all the way to the TOP (above the clouds), we're walking across this long suspension bridge hanging between two snowy mountaintops, and my boyfriend asks me to marry him in that moment!!!! It was absolutely epic, magical, breathtaking... I was on top of the world! I couldn't have dreamed up a better scenario. We are so blessed to have each other on this journey called life. Ahh, I'm blushing.

This whole experience taught us so much. We saw ourselves, and each other, in such different light than we could've ever seen stuck in our "home" bubble. We both reached far beyond our comfort zones, dove deep into unknown waters, and came back with so much inspiration. So much gratitude. We are STILL integrating all the lessons, over a month later. Thank you Switzerland for the magic. We will be back soon!

We are incredibly thankful to have made it back home safe, with just 2 days to spare before the European travel ban was put into effect! Talk about DIVINE TIMING!

I can't wait to travel again...

Where will the Apothecary go next ????

Thank you for reading

~As Above, So Below~

Jade