wandering-europe

Day 32 -- Ballenberg Open Air Museum -- Sunday, July 15th

Our hostel included a free breakfast.  It was pretty basic:  Bread, jam, nutella, butter, corn flakes, milk, yogurt.  For each night of our stay each person got 2 tokens.  One load in the clothes washing machine cost 2 tokens.  One coffee drink from the self-service espresso machine cost 1 token.  The machine ground the beans fresh for each cup brewed, and real milk was used for the lattes and mochas.  It wasn't as good as a coffeehouse, but it was a nice way to start the day.

Aubrietta in the breakfast room.  We were the only caucasians in the hostel that night.  There were a few East Indians, one Muslim couple (the woman wearing a full burqua!), and the rest were Japanese or Korean.  This made it not your typical rowdy youth hostel experience, which I was kind of hoping to introduce the girls to.  The mood was very quiet and relaxed, which was refreshing.  The only sign of the true youth hostel experience was if you went to the communal kitchen late at night, or before the cleaning crew arrived in the morning.  The kitchen was a disaster of dirty dishes and pans, food scraps all over the floor, and stove tops black with burnt food which has overflowed from pots boiling over.

There was a TV broadcasting a live image of the Jungfrau, THE mountain everyone comes to Interlaken to visit.  It was on our itinerary, too, but obviously we weren't going today.  It was not only totally socked in with clouds, but snowing, too!

Instead, we were headed to the Ballenberg Open Air Museum.  I first visited it when I was 17 and staying with my dad and new stepmother in Switzerland for the summer.  I had never seen such a place -- with historic houses to explore, cheesemaking demonstrations (and samples!), and staff in period costumes.  I was instantly in love and knew that someday I would bring my children there.  Twenty-six years later, here we go...

We decided to take a 98 year old steam paddle-wheel boat up the Brienzersee, which took more than twice as long as the train.  It was free with our railpasses, so how could we pass up this opportunity?

Hard to believe these mechanics are nearly 100 years old.  Just the day before yesterday we'd been on a similar boat on Lake Luzern, but we hadn't had enough of boat rides past pretty waterside chalets.

This boat had a surprise in the bow for the kids: a playroom!  Two older women and a small dog were supervising.  

The girls found the playroom was well stocked with German strategy board games, so they begged me to stay below deck and play a round with them, because this game needed more than 2 players.  It was a fun game and I enjoyed it, but the old lady supervisors were not pleased that I was lingering.  They kept giving me the evil eye and asking if they could "help" me, and when I said I was just finishing up this game with my daughters that needed more than 2 players, they'd back off for a few minutes before asking me again, if I needed "help."  I knew that what they were really asking was if I needed help finding the exit.  Apparently this area was for children only, no parents allowed.

More children came so I left the girls to play with their new friends.

There was a table for coloring, blocks for building, a fully-furnished doll house, and much, much more.  The girls spent the entire passage below deck playing.  I didn't even bother trying to extract them to see the views, they were so happy to be in the company of other children.

Meanwhile my husband was also on the bow of the boat, but topside.  He had his binoculars on and was standing right up front.  He stood almost the entire way, breathing all the beauty into his soul.  He grew up sailing and bobbing around on boats, so he loves being on the water.

My eyeballs kept drifting to this unattended sleeping baby.  The mother was off chasing a toddler, and I guess she knew her baby would be just fine in the company of mostly elderly Japanese tourists.  

This was a more modern lake boat, used for parties or when extra capacity was needed for tour groups.

Let the tour de chalets begin!

Boathouses where the boats can be lifted out of the water are a great idea.

Many of the lakefront villages had a walking path with benches along the shoreline, so homeowners shared the view with everyone.  I liked that idea.  It has always bothered me that home in Seattle so much of the shoreline is private property and inaccessible to the public.

The lake was blue because of glacial flour, or pulverized rock.  Look at the color in the rock face in the above photo!  Isn't it beautiful?

There were lots of pretty waterfalls along the lake.  This one had a footbridge crossing it, continuing a public walking path.

When the boat stopped to pick up more passengers I watched as this old gardener went back and forth dipping watering cans in the lake and watering hundreds of potted plants and flowers.  Imagine doing that every day, all summer long.

When one sport is not enough: This man obviously likes canoeing AND cycling.

 

Off the boat in Brienz.

Steps from the boat, connecting trains and buses await.  We needed the bus.  Our ride was a nailbiter -- we wound up and down steep one-lane roads at high speed, and slithered between 300 year old chalets built close together back when the only traffic was horse and cart.  There were a number of times when we came within inches of retaining walls and corners of houses, and yet the driver barely slowed to make the turns.  What would such a ride be like in the dark of winter, on an icy road?  These European bus drivers are fearless.

We passed a lot of pretty chalets on the half hour bus ride to Ballenberg.  This one was a newer construction.

Look at this beautiful carved directional sign!

We arrived (safely!) at Ballenberg and entrance was free with our Swiss Rail pass.  It would have cost about $45.00 USD had we not had our pass.  I just love their logo, above, don't you?

We began touring the old buildings, but hunger got the better of us, so we started looking for one of the many cafes and restaurants on the property.

Ballenberg had great multilingual signage.  I could tell we would be spending a lot of time reading signs.

We stopped at the first restaurant we saw, and strategised how to afford lunch when the cheapest menu item was equivalent to $15.00 USD.  The girls shared a traditionally Swiss macaroni and cheese with ham, which came with a side of applesauce made on site.  For Daddy and me we ordered a $19.50 appetizer sampler of cheese and cured meats, also made on site.  It clearly stated on the menu that it was intended for 2 people, and we said we wanted 1 order, but the waiter brought out a double order and charged us $39.00, which I think was a dirty trick.  Also, he was clearly appalled when we declined to order drinks.  It was another case of us not wanting to spend $20.00 for bottled drinking water which flows freely from fountains found around every corner in Switzerland, and him refusing to serve us tap water because we were expected to buy mineral water or soda, or better yet, wine.  Most of the smoked meats you see above we found to be inedible.  That bacon was RAW, apparently a delicacy of the region, but it was so fatty, stringy and chewy I couldn't get it to break down in my mouth in order to swallow it, so I'm ashamed to say I had to spit it out in my napkin.  Luckily the girls loved their lunch.

 

Kelsey really wanted to ride the horse drawn carriage, but a sign on the side said it was equivalent to $70.00 USD for 2 people, so we had to break her heart and say no.

Lunch out of the way, we continued touring the houses and barns.  Above is a grain storehouse from 1685.  Even utilitarian buildings were dressed with flower boxes bursting with geraniums, and not just here in the museum, but throughout Switzerland!

Freshly made sausages hung to dry in a barn.  The smoky aroma was intoxicating as we walked through.  It's hard to believe that I was once a vegetarian, given how much I was salivating while in that barn.

Each little farm had its own kitchen garden, growing different things representative of the era and the region.  The museum featured 15 different architectural groups from different time periods.  This was the Central Midlands area, with the garden typical of the early 1600's.

This was a medicinal herb garden, with a special exhibit on fragrance and essential oils made from plants.  There were these cylinders on posts throughout the garden that contained cotton balls soaked in essential oils, and you had to guess which plant they were made from.  You lifted the top, as Aubrietta is doing in the photo, took a sniff, and then checked your guess on the little flip sign below.  It was a fun challenge! 

Every plant had a tag so that you could know its name, both common name and latin name.

This field had different rows of heritage grains, such as emmer and barley.  Excellent signage described whether the grains were used for baking or feeding livestock.

As always, the girls were attracted to all the hands-on activities.  Here an exhibit on carpentry features an area for kids to drive nails into logs.

Women weaving hats.

Textile weaving.  

The girls bought some lavender sachets in the shape of kittens.

This basket weaver stops to take a measurement, making sure the diameter is consistent.

A wine-grower's house from 1780, with a young vineyard out front.

This espaliered pear tree was amazing, and just dripping with fruit.

I know that cowbells are historically relevant and supposedly help farmers hear where their herds are off in the mountains, but I've always viewed them as a bovine torture device.  So large and so loud, and constantly clanging as the cow goes along grazing.  It must be so irritating to the poor animals.  As a human, though, I find the cacophony of ringing bells, each with its own unique sound, absolutely beautiful to listen to.  It is like a handbell concert, the notes combining to create lovely melodies.  Still, I wish the cows didn't have to endure them.  Can't we track cows by GPS microchips now?

 

Inside a large dairy barn was a big exhibit on modern-day farming in Switzerland.  None of the signage was in English, but we got the gist of it from the great photos, charts, illustrations, and hands-on activities.

Ballenberg had a lovely play area about halfway between the East and West entrances.  There was also a carousel, but given the choice between a carousel ride and an ice cream, the sweets won out.  It was getting warm and very muggy, so the ice cream was necessary.

Ballenberg features 250 different native farm animals, some being nearly extinct "heirloom" varieties, like these Pfauengeiss goats.

The girls were so excited to hold the baby goats, until the goats started nibbling on their hair.  Here Kelsey is squealing under her breath that I need to hurry up and take this photo before she drops the goat who had just had a chunk of Kelsey's hair in its mouth.  Kelsey was disgusted that her hair now had baby goat slobber all over it.

Aubrietta was a little more comfortable holding the baby goat, although just after I took this shot the goat turned and grabbed the chincord of Aubrietta's hat in its mouth and started tugging, which startled Aubrietta.

I had somehow forgotten just how large Ballenberg was.  I know that I was a lot younger, but I also think that the last time I was here I didn't walk the whole length from one entrance to the other.  The property is 163 acres, long and narrow.  The map we purchased warns that it is impossible to see everything in one visit, and suggested routes covering just half the grounds take a minimum 4 hours.  Our leg muscles were burning from all the hiking, and tromping up and down stairs in all the houses.  I bet we walked at least 5 miles, probably much more.

We were really happy when we finally reached the East Entrance around 17:00.  In the gift shop we bought patches, and bandanas with edelweiss flowers on them.  The girls also got juice pops, which in the photo you can see them rushing to finish before boarding the bus which is pulling up behind them.  Minutes after we pulled away on the bus the sky opened up and a torrential downpour hit.  The whole time we were on the bus it just poured, but miraculously as we neared Brienz the rain stopped.

Instead of taking the bus back to Interlaken, we were taking the train.  These elderly Japanese tourists who had been with us on the bus crowded around the automatic ticket machine trying to figure out how to buy train tickets.   I really felt for them -- after 5 weeks of travel and trying to figure things out in languages I didn't understand, I knew the stress and fear of making a mistake.  Buy the wrong ticket and you could get fined or thrown off the train.  Get on the wrong train and you could end up hours from where you intended to be, sometimes without a way back if it was late in the day.  I don't travel to spend time with tourists, but I admit that other than the chain-smoking the men do, I really enjoy being in the company of Japanese tourists.  They are usually polite (although they can be pushy in crowds), perennially cheerful and enthusiastic, genuinely interested in learning about what they are seeing, and so grateful when you offer to take their photo with their camera for them.

  

While waiting for the train Aubrietta took Kelsey literally when she said she loved Switzerland and never wanted to leave.  "Here, I'll lock you in so you can't go home with us!"

On our train ride back to Interlaken the rain started up again.  Rain beat hard against the window, but a beautiful rainbow could be seen as we approached the town.  Luck was with us again, when we emerged from the train station, because the rain had completely stopped.  It was Sunday, so the big grocery store by the train station was closed.  We'd just missed the bus to the hostel, so Daddy walked the 10 minutes to the hostel, while the girls and I went to the convenience store to buy more microwave dinner fixings.  The store was less crowded than the night before, but it was later in the evening, so there wasn't much left on the shelves.  

Here's Kelsey getting water at dinner in the hostel kitchen.

One of the dining rooms had a ping-pong table.

No one was eating outside tonight.  The sky rumbled and lightning was hitting the hills in the distance.  It wasn't long before the rain came again, even harder than before.   We were so glad we made it back to the hostel when we did.

Daddy went to bed and I wrangled another load of laundry while the girls found a quiet corner to chat and share a bag of paprika chips.  After that they went down to the playroom in the basement, and I went to the lobby area to research transportation to the Jungfrau for tomorrow.  The rain was supposed to blow through tonight and be replaced with glorious clear skies tomorrow.  We'll see....

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Day 30 -- Mt. Pilatus and Luzern -- Friday, July 13th

We're going to the mountains today!

After big breakfast, we walked to the train station.  We rode first North to Zurich HB, then transferred to a high speed train direct to Luzern.  Antje and Navina drove separately and met us at the Luzern train station.

On our train ride it was fun to see the community gardens along the way.

The express train was fancier than the local S4 commuter line we took to Zurich from Antje's.

There was even a children's car with play equipment inside.  The Children's cars have different themes: this one was jungle adventure.

On every train station platform in Switzerland there are vending machines, and the same products are available in the same arrangement in each machine.  The girls now love looking to see if a vending machine exists without this pattern:  party sticks pepperoni sticks - maybe baby pregnancy test - ceylor condoms - bic triple pack cigarette lighters.  We came up with a story to go along with this:  first you go to the party and eat party sticks, then the next morning you check to see if you are pregnant, then you buy condoms so you're prepared next time, and lastly buy lighters so you can offer a light to strangers.

An advertisement in the train station for milk, something you think would not need an advertising budget in Switzerland, which is famed for its delicious milk from free-range grass-fed cows.

We took an electric trolley bus (not bound to tracks below, but following electric lines above), and it had an interesting trailer attached to increase rider capacity.  

From the bus stop we had a good hike up to where the gondolas would take us to Mt. Pilatus.

 

Along the way we passed an alphorn crafter, and peeked in the window at the workshop.

There's where we need to get on the gondola... we're almost there... it was an uphill hike and a good workout just to get to the station.

Here are gondolas on a siding rail, being detailed.  The three girls rode in one gondola, and Antje, Daddy, and I in the other.

The gondola made a stop halfway up at a station where there was a great playground.  Aubrietta and Kelsey were disappointed that we did not stop, but we had something even more fun in mind, coming up at the next station.

Antje shows us on the map where we are, and where we are going.  What a joy it is to have a personal tour guide along with us!

It was a very long ride for a gondola, about 30 minutes.  See that mountain in the distance above?  That is where we are headed.

We got off the 4 person gondola and would have to transfer to a larger gondola to get to the top of the mountain, but first, a little diversion...

Rodelbahn!  

At 1350 meters long, it is Switzerland's longest summer toboggan run.  At first the girls were pretty timid, especially Kelsey, who took it so slowly that she ended up with a crowd of people stacked up behind her.  Antje, Daddy, and I also did a run, just for fun.

Here you can see just the tail end of the rodelbahn run, when it starts to straighten out near the end, and crossing it in a straight line is the route back up, where you are pulled backwards by an overhead cable attached to the sled.

Aubrietta being towed backwards up for another run.

Soon it was time to leave the Rodelbahn behind and head to the big gondola.   Just  as it arrived in the station a mechanic hopped up on top with a power tool and started frantically working.  Let's hope he gets all those nuts tightened down so we don't end up dangling, or worse, falling!

The mechanic hopped down, the doors closed, and we lurched out of the station.  It was a long way down, and getting longer the higher we climbed.  You can see Aubrietta is looking a little nervous, and Kelsey (who is afraid of heights) has a deathgrip on that window frame.  Navina, a Swiss native who has ridden more gondolas in her life that she can remember, enjoys the view.

Looking down towards Lake Luzern and the city of Luzern to the left.

The view straight down from the front of the gondola as we hug the rocky mountainside on the way up.  Look at the abundance of flora!

We passed through some clouds as we got near the top.

At the top there is a visitor's center, a hotel (pictured above), walking trails, and an observatory (top left).

We did the walking trail which was excavated into the mountain in a big loop all the way around.

Of course I had to watch my head.

See Kelsey and Aubrietta peeking out from the left in the photo above?

How about that church?  Kind of a steep drop off if you were to go out the door and turn left.  It would be a nice workout to get to Sunday services, though.

Looking out one of the openings along the trail.

Back in the visitor's center Antje and Navina had gone to the cafe and gotten several orders of pommes frites.  Antje whipped out some cervelas sausages from her purse and sliced those up (with a Swiss Army knife, of course) to complete our quick picnic lunch.

As we sat there eating we watched this paraglider lay out his chute and strap himself in, just feet away from where we sat.  We thought it would be awhile before he took off running, but to our surprise he just took a few steps forward and was off!

Here comes our train! Instead of going down the gondola again, we were going to take the world's steepest cog railway down the other side of the mountain, and then take a paddlewheel boat up Lake Luzern.

We sat at the very bottom, looking over the driver's shoulder, for a great view.

There were lots of tunnels.

Parts of the track had up to 48% grade!  That's steep!

About to pass into a shed tunnel.

It felt a little spooky riding backwards down such a steep slope.  The girls started out where I'm now sitting, but then I switched places with them so they could see better. I spent most of my time twisted around backwards, and after nearly 40 minutes of this, I had quite a backache when I got off at the bottom station.

We passed a lot of happily grazing cows.  This gal was rubbing her head on this hiker's sign.  Yes, there are people who hike the 1610 meter elevation gain, 5 hour one-way hike, but I'm not one of them.

Halfway down we went onto a siding and stopped. 

The driver jumped out to use the telephone, leaving us in a lurch on the track.  Let's hope he engaged the brake properly!

After a few minues another train came up, passed us, and then we continued down.

As we neared the station, we could see the boat waiting for us.

This boat is 110 years old, but looks brand new because like so many things Swiss, it is kept in immaculate condition.

Boarding the Unterwalden.

Built in 1902, this paddle-wheel steamer has most of its mechanics open to view.

Our little family in the bow of the boat.  

Ever hungry, the girls devour big German pretzels that Antje had picked up at the bakery that morning.

Followed by ice cream from the onboard cafe, it is smiles all around.

The trip back to Luzern took a little over an hour and a half since we zig-zagged back and forth across the lake, stopping at little towns along the way.

Hotels, homes, apartment buidings... all were decked out with flowers or elaborately dressed with decorative trim.

 

This beautiful structure is a boat house.

Even a plain-looking hotel looked lovely surrounded by flowering gardens.  

Look at those beautiful chalets and the equally exquisite boat houses along the lake below.  It was just one after another, all the way up the lake.

One of the sights that pleased me most was watching the 3 girls giggling together.  Navina and Aubrietta are just a month apart in age, but Navina is much more sophisticated and mature, whereas Aubrietta and Kelsey are clinging to childhood with a goofy enthusiasm.  I was surprised that it took awhile for the girls to warm up to each other.  They'd been Skyping and IM'ing in the months leading up to our trip, but when they were finally face to face there was shyness and hesitation on both sides.  For Navina, who speaks 4 languages, Aubrietta and Kelsey's rapid chatter was a bit overwhelming, I'm sure.  I had to remind Aubrietta and Kelsey to calm down a bit and include Navina in their conversations.

Arriving in Luzern, the gray skies intensified.  We hoped to do a quick walking tour with Antje before the rain came.

Our first destination was the famous covered bridge, Kapellbrücke.

It was first constructed in 1333 and named "Chapel Bridge" (Kapellbrücke) for nearby St. Peter's Chapel.

Along the bridge are 17th century paintings depicting Luzern's history.  In 1993 the bridge caught fire (likely due to a discarded cigarette) and many of the paintings were destroyed.  Only about 30 have been fully restored since the fire.

On the shores of the River Reuss, which the Chapel Bridge crosses, the cafes were packed with people.

Musicians and entertainers were out in force.  The girls were enchanted by this wooden headed "rabbit" that clapped its jaw at passers-by. You can see the person sitting on a stool under the cloth, operating the wooden puppet.

There were other entertaining sights as well, such as this man retrieving his cell phone from the river.  We wondered if nearby street vendors or businesses had this fishing net handy for just such occasions. 

We went into the Jesuit Church, built in the late 1660's.  There was no restriction on photography, and we were the only ones there, so I snapped a few photos.

Kelsey took a moment over the electric candles to say a prayer.

We continued our walking tour past beautifully painted old buildings.  The rain was closing in on us.

Just as we were getting thirsty, around a corner a fountain awaited us.  

The golden pretzel means there is a bakery!

Daddy was losing his patience and wanting to sit down while the girls kept ducking into shops, so we decided it was time for Daddy to start heading home.  Aubrietta and Kelsey wanted to stay with Antje and Navina and ride home with them in the car, so I accompanied Daddy home on the train.  Antje took the girls to a jewelry shop and bought them each a necklace.  Daddy and I planned to have some good conversation on the rainy train ride back, but we were both so tired that we just gazed out the window, reflecting on all the experiences and sights of the day.  As usual, we missed the connecting train in Zurich thanks to the long slog 2 floors underground from the main terminal, so that added another 20 minutes to our journey.  By the time we neared Adliswil, Antje was home and able to zip down to the station to get us, as it was now raining harder and Daddy's knee was in intensely painful.

Back home for a late dinner of salad and spaghetti, afterwards the girls hovered around the laptop watching a DVD movie together.

It was another full day in beautiful Switzerland.

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Day 29 -- Zurich, Switzerland -- Thursday, July 12th

This is how the girls have been sleeping, although I have been getting up in the night to find Aubrietta sprawled out halfway across the room, and I push her back over towards Kelsey.  Aubrietta did start the night with her head the other direction, but she migrates in her sleep.  

"Time to wake up girls, breakfast is waiting!"

As usual, Antje has laid out a beautiful breakfast, including pastry from the bakery, and tea from fresh picked herbs.  Navina was already at school, preparing to celebrate her last day with a scavenger hunt field trip throughout the city of Zurich.

After breakfast the four of us ventured out on the train and Antje headed over to her papa's apartment to take him to some appointments.  The girls were delighted to find free newspapers, published weekdays by the transit authority, awaiting them on the train.  They love Sudoku puzzles and don't need to know Swiss German to do them.

In central Zurich we transferred to a tram headed to the Zurich Zoo.  I had mixed feelings about going to a zoo, because we have such a good zoo back in Seattle, and I didn't come all the way to Europe to see the same animals I could see at any big city zoo.  Zurich Zoo is one of the best in Europe, though, and both girls had been begging to go to a zoo.  We were going to indulge Kelsey in the zoo in Copenhagen, but that was the day she fell and ended up in the hospital for 8 hours, so I guess I kind of owed her one.

There's Aubrietta enjoying the ride.  Kelsey was sitting beside me, intent on finishing her Sudoku puzzle before we got to the zoo, missing all the interesting architecture and windowboxes overflowing with flowers along the ride.

Here we are at the zoo.  See the storks in the nest above left?

The primate house was our first stop.  There were plenty of babies of all species.

The primate house encouraged loitering by providing cozy wingback chairs and sofas.  The Persain rug is actually painted onto the concrete floor.

We were lucky to see the rare albino Great Grey Owl.  It is panting and trying to sleep in this photo, that's why it has such a strange expression on its face.

Red Panda

Snow Leopard grooming its baby...I could have watched them for hours.

Lions doing what cats do best.

These Storks weren't part of the zoo collection, but the zoo does provide inviting tree tops encouraging them to take up residence.  Storks can be found all around Switzerland, and probably much of Europe.  

The girls were getting hungry so we placated them with ice cream.  Kelsey's is a vanilla ice cream on a stick with a gelatinous banana-flavored covering that can be "peeled."  The "peel" is similar to the exterior on a Japaese mochi ice cream ball, if you've are familiar with those.

Kelsey teases a gorilla (just a poster, of course!)

 

Like all good European parks, there was an amazing play area.

This park allowed you to imagine yourself as just about any kind of animal, from an ant, to a spider, to a monkey, to a bird.

The girls especially loved the hanging "bird's nests."

There was a fantastic water / sand / mud area.  Had I known this was here, and we had more time and an extra set of clothes with us, of course I would have let the girls "dig in." 

Mud between the toes is one of childhood's best experiences.  

Here's Aubrietta hurtling down the slide.  It was REALLY fast, and you can see the fear on her face.  Kelsey is peeking over the top, awaiting her turn.

There was a huge indoor tropical jungle, teeming with colorful birds, that could be wandered through.

There were plenty of creatures to spot if you could stand the heat and humidity long enough to linger, but we only saw birds, butterflies, bats, and chameleons.

Soon we were back on the tram to downtown to meet Antje for a walking tour of Zurich.  She met us as we got off the tram in central Zurich shortly after 2pm.  We went into the train station and got a quick picnic lunch from Migros Take-Away.  

We went through a number of toy stores, rushing through without time to buy anything (thankfully).  This store had a dragon slide which swallowed kids and deposited them down to the next level.

Antje works as a professional tour guide for the Best of Switzerland tour company, based in Zurich, so she was able to give us an expert walking tour of the city.

There were many steps to climb.  Poor Daddy was really going to suffer today.

We went to Lindenhof, a park dedicated to the women of Zurich left behind to defend their city during a war in 1291.  The wives, mothers, and young women dressed in men's armor to scare away approaching enemies and saved the city.  Above, Antje is pointing out all the historical buildings across the Limmat river, while we sat on a bench and ate our picnic lunch.

Anjte brought her tour-guide binder so she could answer any question we might have, from when a building was constructed, to who was in power at any given time in history.  It was great to get so many details and background information on all that we were seeing.

Our family in front of the fountain and statue dedicated to the women who defended the city in 1291.

After lunch we continued our walk and noticed these ornamental boot scrapers outside of most doors in the old buildings.  Kelsey had to try one out.

We went down along the river, visiting more sights of historical significance, dating back to the Roman times.

Just look at those geraniums in bloom at the Hotel Strochen!

One of the most fascinating aspects of our trip to Europe has been trying to grasp the long history Europe has compared to the United States.  This alleyway between buildings was excavated and revealed an archaeological treasure trove.

1800 years ago this was a Roman bath!

After the archaeologists were finished, they installed this elevated grating above the site and interpretive signage.

Onward!

Switzerland has numerous wonderful features, but what tops my list (even above the chocolate!) is the abundance of drinking water fountains.  Continuously running, fresh cold water is available in every neighborhood.

We stopped by the famous Teuscher chocolate shop -- this shop was built in 1647, but it has only held the Teuscher chocolate shop since 1932.

 

Antje insisted on buying some of these insanely expensive chocolates for us to try, and yes, I agree with the critics that this is the finest chocolate in the world.  OK, maybe the free water fountains aren't my most favorite thing about Switzerland after all -- its this chocolate.

Antje took us by the restaurant her parents ran while she was growing up (since sold to an uncle and his family).  She spent her teen years working here.  We went inside and saw a portrait of Antje's great grandfather on the wall.  What history!

Since Aubrietta's severe allergies excluded her from enjoying the chocolate at Teuscher, Antje knew just where to take her for a treat: a candy store with lots of gummy candies.

This is a different Gummy Candy store, featuring gummy bear "cakes" and "pizzas."

Here is the largest clock face in all of Europe, at St. Peter's Church.  I haven't worn a watch for years, relying on my mobile phone to tell me the time.  On this trip I didn't have my mobile phone, so I'd whip out my iPad instead, but most of the time when we were in a town there would be public clocks, and this one topped them all.  But being on vacation is about being oblivious to time, right? 

We also went into the Fraumünster Church to see the beautiful stained glass windows by Marc Chagall.  No photos were allowed inside the church, so I didn't take any, but plenty of other people have, so above is an image from the internet so you can see how beautiful the windows are.

Antje's binder of information came in handy as she explained the architectural details and renovations of certain buildings.  Here she tells about a 650 year old  Zunfthaus zum Zimmerleuten Guild House that was destroyed by fire in 2007, and the painstaking reconstruction to make the new building look as if it had always been there.

Kesley is always on alert to find Edelweiss, her favorite flower.  Here are bunches for sale at a florist shop.

At 17:00 Antje left us to go to Navina's school, where she and Navina would meet with the teaching staff for an "exit conference," summing up Navina's accomplishments during the past school year.  Navina had opted to spend the afternoon at school socializing with friends one last time before summer break began for them.  We decided to take the canal boat on the Limmat river, up to the end, then out into Lake Zurich, and back again.

I was happy to see the girls more interested in the scenery than their books and newspaper puzzles.  I had forbidden them to bring electronic devices on this trip (my iPad was strictly for navigation, my writing, and photo uploads), but I forgot how much they love to read.  I think Anjte's vibrant tour sparked their interest.

Beautiful buildings, a tram, and look down there, a man about to go swimming!

According to the newspaper, at 22 degrees (71 F) the water was warmer than the air temperature today.  We saw a number of swimmers during our boat ride, even out in Lake Zurich.

Not long after boarding a new crew came on to the boat, and things got a little exciting.  A young woman was having her first lessons in driving the boat, and we were along for the ride.

Here you can see her, with the instructor hovering behind, ready to take the controls (and he did several times) as she slams the boat into the dock.  After a couple of rough dockings we found ourselves bracing for impact as we approached the docks.  We sat through about 10 dockings and things did not get better with practice.  I felt bad for her, but hopefully she eventually caught on, without taking out any docks or severely damaging the boat, and is enjoying her new profession. 

Back on land we headed underground to catch our train back to Antje's.

The rules are pretty clear on the trains: No smoking, no pickpocketing, no busking, no using handsaws on the seats, and no feet up on the upholstery.

However nothing was mentioned about using the handholds as monkeybars, so with the train mostly empty, I let the girls indulge in a little swinging from the ceiling.  Shhhh!

The uphill walk to Antje's was always pleasant.

The walk always took longer for me, because I kept stopping to admire gardens along the way.

Then there are the stops at every water fountain we pass.

And of course we have to stop to say "Grüezi" to all the animals along the way.  It is also mandatory to say "Grüezi" to any people you pass while in Switzerland, which I think is splendid.  I love it when people kindly say hello to each other instead of rushing past.  Of course you don't do this on busy city streets, but when walking through a neighborhood or rural area, or on hiking trails, you greet people.  I'm not sure if young people today, who are usually plugged into some electronic device, will carry on this tradition, but I insisted Aubrietta and Kelsey do it, and of course I did, too.  

Back at Antje's we were worried about being late for dinner, but Antje was still on her way from picking up her father after the meeting at the school.  Antje's papa joined us for a dinner of ratatouille and risotto, and again we stayed up way too late talking, and didn't get to bed until almost midnight.

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Day 22 - Boat trip and Fjord Exploration - Thursday, July 5th

Warning, this post contains a lot of photos of waterfalls, fjords, and cute little towns. If that bores you, skip on to the next post.

We started out the morning with the buffet breakfast included with our hotel stay. It was better than a basic hotel breakfast, but nothing compared to the extravagant feast we just left in Bergen. There was the standard pickled fish, bread and jam, cold cuts and cheese, fruit and veg platter, and yogurt and cereal. The coffee was mediochre and the juice watered down from a concentrate. We managed to fill up, though, and headed for the 9am boat to Gundvangen, via the Nærøyfjord.

Leaving the harbor, we sailed past our hotel and the empty cruise ship dock.

It was overcast and thus there wasn't great contrast for photos, but that didn't prevent me from taking at least 100. I won't post them all here, promise. You can keep reading...

Here comes the "floating city" cruise ship du jour. This one is Mein Schiff, bringing a few hundred Germans to Flam today.

This behemoth will be tied up in front of our hotel by the time we get back to Flam around noon.

The boat makes a number of stops at little towns along the way. I peek into the wheelhouse as the captain brings the boat into dock at Aurland, the largest town.

Aurland is much larger than Flåm, but isn't as touristy as Flåm since it doesn't have a deep water port for cruise ships, nor does it have the train station and rail connection Flåm has. I suspect that a number of people who work the tourist shops in Flåm might live in Aurland.

We wondered how old that timber and stone boat house might be.

This is the school in Aurland. The girls expressed interest in visiting it later in the day, so I planned to take them there by bus in the afternoon. They love to see schools, peer in the windows, try out the playground equipment, and imagine going to school there.

There must have been hundreds of waterfalls along the route.

The water was very still, so no one got seasick, thankfully.

We had the girls up on deck as much as possible, but to them one waterfall after another grew tedious.

Soon they were down below again, playing a game of Ludo, and glancing out the window whenever the captian pushed the pre-recorded naration button, describing some sight in Norweigan, English, German, and Japanese.

This waterfall was particularly powerful, with backspray. The water in the lower left corner is splashing upward.

The girls enjoyed the binoculars Daddy brought along. I've never used the binoculars since my big camera's telephoto lens accomplishes the same task.

One adorable little town after another. How do these people make a living? If they have a farm, it is certainly not large enough to make much money.

The crew raises the bow on our boat to prepare for docking. I suspect our vessel was designed to be a small car ferry, but has been retrofitted to be a cruiser instead.

The buses are waiting for us at Gundvangen. We thought there was a municipal bus, but all we found was giant tour buses. We located one that was completely empty and headed back toward Flåm. We think the driver had just dropped off a load of tourists to the boat and was heading back to Flåm to pick up more. He gladly took our money and we had the whole bus to oursevlves. Our cruise to Gundvagen up the Aurlandsfjord and down the Nærøyfjord took over 2 hours, but the bus ride back through a long, long tunnel took about 20 minutes.

The boat we had been on that morning, before it headed back to Flåm from Gundvangen without us.

Back at our hotel in Flåm we had lunch from the grocery store. The giant cruise ship we'd passed that morning on the boat ride was indeed parked right in front of our hotel. I tried to get on the internet but the hotel's wifi was worthless. I actually picked up a stronger wifi signal from the cruise ship out there!

After consulting the bus schedule the girls and I walked over to catch a bus to Aurland. Daddy stayed back at the hotel and rested. Above, we are going through one of those really long tunnels.

The driver made a sharp turn and crossed this narrow, one-lane bridge. I don't know how he did it -- it looked like we had just inches to spare on each side during his turn, and he did it fast, too. I can't even imagine it in the snow and ice of winter, either.

Aurland was a pretty little town with a lot of art and sculpture. The girls liked this reindeer.

A breakwater had been built and a shallow sandy area set aside for swimming. Behind the girls on the rocky rip-rap are several children hauling themselves out onto the rocks to dry after splashing across from the beach.

A short walk from the beach we entered the school yard. The girls "inspected" all the play equipment and deemed this the school with the best view, ever.

These kids have no idea how beautiful this is compared to inner-city concrete playgrounds without a blade of grass or shade of green to be seen in any direction.

Next door to the school an old house was being renovated and was receiving a new slate roof. It was interesting to see how the tiles were propped up between the lath awaiting placement.

One of the houses in Aurland that I found particularly lovely.

We were just wandering back toward the bus and found this cemetery. As usual, the girls spent time looking at the headstones and thinking about the people who may have lived and died here.

The church was open, so we went in. Well, Aubrietta and I went in, while Kelsey waited outside. Kelsey is very sensitive to the suffering of others, and the possible sight of Jesus nailed to the cross disturbs her deeply. I peeked inside and didn't see anything graphic, but she still wouldn't come in. While inside Aubrietta and I talked about Christianity, and how it compares to other religions. Our converstation grew lengthy, and when we finally emerged, Kelsey was furious we'd taken so long. You can't rush religion or prayer, I told her.

The church was lovely inside.

I was especially impressed with the organ up on the balcony. I wished someone had been there playing or practicing, but I just had to use my imagination.

We rode the bus back to Flåm and checked in with Daddy. His knee was killing him and he continued to rest. The girls were still bursting with energy, so I took them for a long ramble.

On the otherside of our hotel (you can see it above, with the ship in the background, spewing smoke as it does all day while at port - yuck), there was a campground. We walked through to admire the recreational vehicles, and I decided this Citroen campervan looked just right for me. If only I was 6 inches shorter and a million dollars richer...

On our walk we passed this gorgeous house and garden. I wondered what it would be like to live there, then I remembered the other 3 seasons of the year in Norway, and stopped fantasizing.

A short way out of town we found the youth hostel and another, larger campground. The girls and I found this camper trailer adorable.

Even more adorable was this Swiss baby sitting in a highchair enjoying a meal with its family.

We saw more of these yurt/tipi type tents we had seen in Denmark. I've never seen them in the states.

The girls had to try the campground playground.

Looping back toward town we found the spot where bus drivers wash and vacuum their tour buses while their tourists are on the boat or scenic train to Myrdal. We liked this purple one named "Busto."

We waved to the Flåm-Myrdal train as it went by. We'll ride you tomorrow!

The girls may have been disengaged from the view on the boat at times, but when they are out on foot they are on full alert and looking at everything. Aubrietta discovered that Norway has the same foot-long worms we have at home in our own garden.

We hiked up a hillside toward an Organic Farm, and looked back at the harbor (and our hotel to the right).

Here's a cute little farm. We'll take it! Wait, I forgot about the other 3 seasons. Never mind.

We headed back to the hotel, first stopping at the grocery store for more picnic foods for dinner. It was another meal of polar bread, cream cheese, strawberries, cold cuts, and potato salad. Kelsey protested and longed for rice. White rice, wild rice, just any kind of rice. Tomorrow we head to Oslo, where we'll be in an apartment with a kitchen, so we promised her we'd cook up some rice for her there. Another scenic day in Norway had passed.

NEXT:  Day 23 - Flåm to Myrdal to Oslo by Train - Friday, July 6th »

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Day 21 - Bergen to Flam, up the Fjord by Boat - Wednesday, July 4th

We had to check out of our hotel and start walking to the boat dock by 7:10. Here the girls say good-bye to the wonderful Havnekontoret hotel that fed us so well in our less than 48 hours in Bergen.

Bye bye to 1700's Bryggen.

Here we are at the boat dock, waiting to load the 8:00am boat.

The journey would take 5 1/2 hours, and was filled with views of colorful little villages and farms and homes in inhospitably steep locations.

An old fish processing plant is taken over by shrubs and trees.

Another Norled boat, heading to a different destination, played "leap frog" with us for about an hour coming out of Bergen.

Aubrietta saw the shrimp sandwhich on non-seedy bread in the boat's cafe and had to have it. She said it was the best sandwhich she's had so far in her life.

Our ship was a catamaran with 2 passenger decks.

Screens kept us appraised of our location.

The girls could handle only so much scenic beauty before swiping my iPad for a mindless game while I went to the upper deck to take photos. I had to confiscate it from them, because I wanted them to be writing or looking out the window. The art of watching scenery is lost of the young, I think. They take one long look, and then it all looks the same.

The hillsides changed from rolling to rocky as we entered the Fjord toward Flam.

Stopping to pick up or drop of passengers at tiny towns along the way. Ours was a foot ferry only, but some ports also received car ferries.

 

We wave farewell to the other Norled boat, happy to have it no longer in front of us, making a wake that rocked our boat.

During the wider parts of the fjord the captian opened up the throttle and went really fast.

The girls loved it, even though it was cold and too painful to keep your eyes open.

Aubrietta later had fun brushing the knots our of her hair.

Hold on! My husband, with bloodshot eyes from too much wind, just can't bring himself to go inside.

The interior of the boat was really comfortable. Seating was unassigned, and you could move around freely. Being a Wednesday in early July, it was half empty.

There was a glassed-in children's room with TV that played Disney movies and Scooby-Doo cartoons. I'm sorry to say that the girls went there shortly after I took the iPad from them. They had fun watching Scooby-Doo dubbed in Norwegian.

There was a well stocked cafe selling fresh foods, not the deep-fried, processed garbage that is found on our ferries back home. There was a variety of open-face sandwiches, salads, fruit, yougurt, juices, and good coffee. Of course there was ice cream and candy, and also the ever-present hot dog.

Kelsey got a delicious baguette stuffed with meat and cheese, and grilled all nice and toasty. Only after she sat down did she remember that she couldn't bite with her front teeth because of her recent tooth injury, so she sat there for almost an hour picking off tiny bits with her fingers and carefully chewing them with her back teeth. As you can see, Favorite Monkey is along for the ride.

We passed all these little farms in the middle of nowhere.

In the upper left a house is perched all alone. I can't imagine living there, especially in December with only a couple hours of daylight and harsh snowstorms.

As we got closer to Flam there was less exposed rock and more forest and farmland.

Off the boat but still wobbly in the legs for awhile.

Our hotel was right near the boat dock and train station, but we couldn't get our room until after 4:00pm, and we'd arrived at 1:30. We left our bags locked in the luggage room at the hotel and went exploring by foot. When we finally checked in we found our room was up a flight of steep stairs, but had a nice view. In the above photo you can see our deck.

From the other side of the harbor you can see the hotel complex. The double rooms are in the larger building to the right, then there is a brewery, and over to the left is the building our room was in. We were on the upper floor, and below us was the restaurant where we had our breakfast (included in room cost). During lunch and dinner you could go there for buffet meals, but we didn't because it was frightfully expensive.

This is the killer stairwell up to the hallway shared by 6 rooms, including ours.

It violated so many design principles and safety codes I could hardly stand it:

 

1. Door opening out over a stairway with no landing = Dangerous.

 

2. Each stair was of uneven depth (wider at one side, narrow at the other) = Dangerous.

 

3. A metal strip protruded up from the edge of the end of each step, catching the tip of your shoe = Tripping Hazard.

 

I wondered how many people had fallen down these stairs through the years. Luckily none of us did, because I was constantly reminding the girls to hold the handrail and be mindful of their feet. Hauling luggage up and down was a real treat, let me tell you.

Our room was small, but comfortable enough. One room had a couch that turned into a double bed.

The other room had two narrow single beds put together. They are not "twin" beds as we know them back home, but about 6 inches longer, and 6 inches more narrow. The size reminded me of train bunks, but they were actually comfortable.

The girls and I headed to the only grocery store in town to find dinner fixings. It was a small store for a tiny town (only 400 residents), but probably made most of its money in during the summer from campers and tourists not willing to spend $40.00 per person on restaurant meals. There were several different varieties of elk and reindeer sausage, which the girls implored me not to buy, though I was curious.

Look at all these happy, smiling faces. Makes you want to eat the Liver paste inside so you can be happy and smiling, too, right?

The store nearest our hotel was selling these fox pelts, heads included. Aubrietta was not happy about this.

Back at our room we had dinner on our balcony. This is it: potato salad, polar bread with cream cheese and roast beef, chocolate milk, banana, and fresh strawberries for desert. The strawberries were grown locally and were some of the best we've ever tasted.

There's Aubrietta enjoying our picnic dinner on the deck.

Just below our deck a drama was unfolding. A baby seagull had fallen 20 feet from a precariously placed nest, and the two Seagull parents were in hysterics. People came by and tried to help, considering how to get the chick back in the nest when another chick tumbled out, followed by a third. The chicks headed straight for the rocky edge by the water, the parents dive-bombing any humans that came close to try to get them back to the nest.

Here you can see one of the parents standing guard while the other dive bombs nearby people (I was hiding behind a wall and using my long telephoto lens). We went to bed that evening with heavy hearts, sure that the chicks would be dead and gone by morning, but you'll be glad to know that two mornings later when we checked out of the hotel, the parents were still tending their chicks by the water's edge, tucking them under their wings.

NEXT:  Day 22 - Boat trip and Fjord Exploration - Thursday, July 5th

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Day 10, Saturday June 23, Ærøskøbing-Odense-Billund

We had a breakfast of yougurt, bananas, and strawberries, then departed Damgaarden around 9:15 and drove into Ærøskøbing.

We passed this little garden shop on the way into town.

We walked around the historically preserved old town, admiring the architecture and back gardens.

The girls went into the "bottle Peter museum" to see the ships-in-a-bottle.

We also visited a bakery and the post office to buy stamps.

Bicycles outnumber cars in the summer, and the local service station is devoted to bicycle repair.

Even the smallest houses were immaculately kept.

All of the buildings in the old town were under historic preservation covenants, and any renovations had to keep the structure looking as it might have in the 1700's. The exception was window glass, and skylights, which could be efficient multi-pane, but were often fitted in weathered wood frames to look original.

See the man popping out of his skylight to work on his roof?

Some of the houses seemed to be caving in on themselves.

I am too tall for this town. My relatives might have been Danish, but there must have been some tall Swedes or Norweigans in my lineage as well.

This man was selling newspapers by bicycle.

Many of the houses had these little mirrors mounted outside a window, so the person living there could sit in their house and see who was coming down the street. We asked a local why the mirror was there, and they couldn't explain -- it just had always been that way.

 

This house was built in 1749. The car came almost 200 years later.

Some front steps had handicrafts and baked goods out front in baskets, with a little jar for you to pay for them on the honor system. The tin contained hard candy, the slippers were felted wool.

Before getting on the ferry we stopped in the Rogeri for more smoked fish to go, and French fries for the girls. The fishmonger was just taking fish out of the smoker when we stepped in and the aroma was heavenly.

 

The ferry ride back to Svendborg felt a little anti-climatic. We were all sad to leave, even though we had Legoland ahead of us. The girls played Ludo, and explored the children's room on the boat (with a little TV and some simple toys to play with).

 

From Svendborg we drove North less than an hour to Odense, where we had lunch at IKEA. The restaurant was much larger than the one in Seattle and had many more offerings, but in the end the girls chose meatballs, of course. Kelsey filled up on mashed potatoes and was able to eat bits of smashed meatballs. She wasn't in much pain, and was getting a little better at eating.

We were in no rush to get to Billund, so I suggested we go to Den Fynske Landsby (The Funen Village) Open Air Museum, which was based on the time of Hans Christian Anderson. It was only a 5 minute drive from IKEA. The museum was pretty deserted as it was late in the day and summer holidays hadn't yet begun for Danish children.

These beds looked cozy, but were only about 5 feet long.

The museum was important for me to share with the girls because my grandmother's mother, whose last name was Anderson, immigrated from Denmark to Wisconsin in the late 1800's. We could almost picture her there on the farms of the museum.

 

This baby was visiting the museum with his family, and it was all I could do to restrain myself from going over and kissing the top of his peach-fuzz head. Too many cute babies in this country!

 

The girls bought some little things in the museum gift shop: Kelsey a wooden ball-in-cup game, where you try to swing the ball on a string into the cup, and Aubrietta a tiny plush owl.

 

We left the museum around 4:30 and headed west, then northwest to Billund through Vejle. The drive was smooth, with intermittent rain showers. We arrived at the Legoland Family Village Hostel and settled in. We'd paid the equivalent of $760.00 USD for the 3 nights, which included one dinner and 3 breakfasts. Our room was a stark step down from the beautiful apartment that we left behind on Aero.

 

Linen was included and we made our own beds, the girls in bunks, my husband and I in twins side-by-side. The room felt small and cramped compared to the apartments we'd been staying in, and we kept tripping over each other. There were only 2 small, dim lights in the room, other than tiny reading lights on the wall above each bed.

 

We went to the hostel kitchen to make our dinner, and discovered that we had to rent dishes, cups, and cutlery, along with a dish towel and dish cloth, for a 100 DKK deposit. The kitchen was small for a hostel, with just one stove with 4 burners, and a 2 burner hotplate. There was one refrigerator, practically full, with just a tiny freezer compartment, also stuffed full. We made dinner of soup and soft bread, along with the smoked fish from Aero, salami, and tomatoes.

 

Rain was coming, so I decided to take a quick walk with the girls over to the gates of Legoland, to scope things out for the next morning. We found the front gates, absolutely deserted, as it was 20:30 and legoland had closed half an hour ago. We continued on toward the Legoland Hotel, where my brother Ted and I had stayed one night in 1997, on the off-season in September. Legoland is out in the middle of nowhere (really) and at the time it was the one of the only places to stay (the hostel we were staying in this time hadn't been built yet).

 

The hotel had been expanded and remodeled, and the reception area held a large tree house, fire engine playroom, and tables full of lego bricks to play with. The rooms had thematic decor now: pirates, princesses, ancient Egypt, etc. There were conference rooms and private dining rooms filled with people in evening wear, celebrating something, and little children in their finest clothes running about. The main restaurant was bustling with people enjoying a lavish buffet.

 

I let the kids play while a rain shower passed, and after about an hour we headed back to the hostel. The girls were in a sour mood, disappointed that we were staying at a basic hostel instead of the Legoland Hotel, where all the action was. Our three nights at the hostel, which included 3 breakfasts and a dinner, cost the same as one night would have at the Legoland Hotel, and we just couldn't justify the expense on top of park admission and everything else. I warned them that they better shape up, or instead of going to Legoland the next day we'd make them stay at the hostel and do laundry in the sink by hand. I also reminded them about the museum we'd just been at, and how children their age, just a hundred years ago, were already laboring full days with no time to play at all.

 

The girls and Daddy were asleep by 22:30, but I stayed up and wrote awhile. When I went to bed I couldn't sleep, for fear of Aubrietta rolling over and falling off the top bunk, which didn't have a very high side bar. The next two nights I moved her mattress down on the concrete floor, so as she danced in her sleep she'd just roll onto the floor instead of falling 5 feet down to it. I'd seen enough of Danish hospitals.

 

NEXT: Day 11 - Legoland in Billund, Danmark, Sunday June 24

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