The One Where We Go to Liechtenstein

The Prince of Liechtenstein's castle in Vaduz, Liechtenstein

I have been meaning to post our pictures from Ascension weekend because we had a four day weekend. We didn't end up going anywhere far, but we did do a couple of day trips. Tobi was thrilled to add the country of Liechtenstein to our list of countries (though it barely counts - they use the Swiss franc as their currency). We drove there in about an hour, walked around the city of Vaduz, went into a church, had some pastries at the local bakery, and then drove back. On the way back, we decided to pull over at a rest area for a picnic lunch. It was the most gorgeous scenery along a lake (which I still am not sure the name of). There was a tourbus of Indians who were more than thrilled to see our super-blond children. At least three of them asked to take pictures with our kids. When can we start charging for that? (edited to add: this also happened to us twice in Milan).

Vaduz Cathedral, a "new" church built in 1873

Vaduz Cathedral stained glass windows

Tobi & Caroline in Vaduz, Liechtenstein

Rest area scenery

We also took a drive to Konstanz, Germany. It's also about an hour away and is known for expats in Zurich driving over the border to buy cheaper goods. The kids loved the toy store. That's all I need to say about that.

Legos! from Fairy Godmother Vanessa (and not a fairy, Andrew)

We also celebrated Charlie's fifth birthday in the most unorthodox way. Instead of birthday cake, we went to Starbucks and had cinnamon rolls. His request. We looked like weirdos with 5 cinnamon rolls (they gave Charlie his for free! Who says Corporate Coffee has no heart!?), singing Happy Birthday on a Saturday morning.

Lastly, we went for our first Swiss Sunday brunch, at a lovely restaurant in Wädenswil, called Schönegg. We haven't gone out to eat much, but we had great food with a beautiful view. They also had a big playground for the kids, miniature golf, and goats! Better still, our family was together and happy!

Enjoy your weekend!

Cheers!

Tiffany

The One Where We Visit Legoland Deutschland (for the 1st time)

This past weekend we visited Legoland Deutschland, about a three hour drive from Zurich. We had planned this trip even before we moved, because it was to coincide with Charlie's fifth birthday, which is this coming Saturday.

We left early Saturday morning; the boys were so excited they could hardly stand it. Tobi was excited, but for a different reason. He has a goal (which I think might be a bit lofty): for us to visit thirty countries in three years. I'll be happy with ten. Anyway, he was excited because the route Google maps (which is now our BFF, by the way) suggested took us through Austria. Now, don't get too excited. The hills were probably alive but we didn't hear much from them because we were only in Austria for about fifteen minutes. I told Tobi it didn't really count if we didn't stop and at least have something to eat (he remedied this by stopping at a gas station in Austria on the way home and buying us drinks and M&Ms. He's so sneaky).

When we got to the German border, it was like someone had waved a flag and a race had begun, but no one told us. Suddenly the speed limit icon on the GPS (our other BFF) went away and cars were zooming past us. Finally we figured out that we were in fact on the Autobahn and so Tobi tried to see just how fast a Ford S-Max would go (hint: not as fast as a BMW or Audi).

We arrived at the Legoland Hotel and checked in, and then walked through the woods from the hotel to the park. The kids had a blast. Grant was old enough to ride the bigger rollercoasters, so he went off on his own a bit and rode those. I rode some of the smaller rides with Charlie while Tobi and Caroline hung out at all the fabulous Legoland playgrounds sprinkled throughout the park.

My kids always want to sit on strangers' laps.

A lego miniature of the Allianz soccer arena in Munich. The Lego minimen in the audience periodically took flash pictures of the match. This was Charlie's favorite thing in Miniland.

We stayed in Room 122.

The boys enjoyed the Egyptian-themed room and bunk beds.

We closed down the park at five o'clock and headed back to the hotel. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the playgrounds that were everywhere - there was even one right outside our room. I had already booked the dinner at the hotel, so we had dinner and then played a little outside before heading to the room to crash. Everyone was pretty exhausted, but we were up bright and early the next morning. We had breakfast at the hotel and then headed back to the park for a few more hours of fun.

Are those hands creeping you out? Is that Lego Elvis?

Around two o'clock on Sunday afternoon, Grant said to Tobi and me, "Can we go now?" Yeah, you know they were tired if they were asking to leave. Caroline was asleep before we even made it to the highway. The boys soon followed her.

Since the kids were asleep, I asked Tobi to make a detour to a city, not far from Legoland, called Ulm, which sits on the Danube (geek moment: I had to play the Strauss piece, On the Beautiful Blue Danube, in piano lessons when I was a kid, so I was excited to see the real thing. Not blue). Ulm has a famous church, the Ulmer Münster. The church's claim to fame is that it is the tallest church in the world. We could see the spire from very far away, but I really had no idea it was the tallest in the world.

Tobi stayed in the car with the kids and I just went in alone for a few minutes. I could do an entire tour of Europe just to see churches. They were all amazing in their own way. I also always feel a twinge of sadness to think of how long it took these churches to be built. The church in Ulm was started in the fourteenth century, but was not completed until the 19th century. I try to imagine the people who worked on it and how they never saw its completion, nearly 500 years later. Simply astounding.

After the detour, we headed home. Through Austria again. Yes, Tobi, it counts. M&Ms and Sprite totally count as enjoying Austria.

So there you have it - a lot of fun, a lot of Legos, and a little bit of history thrown in for good measure.

Cheers!

Tiffany

All the pictures from the trip are on my FB page.