Summer Update

I haven't been blogging as much as I'd like, but the kids are out of school now and I'm barely holding it together trying to entertain an eight year old, a five year old, and a two year old 24/7. SO... I thought I'd just give a picture update (mostly for the grandparents!).

The heathens are storming the castle...

Draw the bridge!

We haven't been traveling much - just doing day trips around our area. A couple of weeks ago we went to Lenzburg Castle. It's about a 45 minute drive and it's a really lovely thing to do with the kids. They have a craft table so kids can make their own swords, shields, and crowns. Watching Tobi use glue and scissors to make crafty things was the highlight of my day! After spending the day there, we decided to have our first real Swiss dinner out and went to Buchenegg (thanks, Beth, for the recommendation!). It has about 15 types of fondue and a great view of Lake Zurich. We'll definitely go back and try other kinds of their fondue.

Knight of the Kids' Table

Princess Caroline

The view from the Adliswil cable car - towns & Lake Zurich in the distance.

Last week we went to the town of Adliswil (about 15 minutes from our house) and took the cable car up the mountain for a short hike. And then this week we went to Zug to take the Zugerberg Bahn up that mountain and did about a two hour hike. The kids complained a leetle bit about that hike as it was a bit tougher, but we got to hike through a cow pasture, which was the highlight for everyone. We stopped and had lunch and the boys rode the requisite zip line swing before we rode the train back down the mountain toward home.

The boys enjoyed the sculpture park at Zugerberg.

Hiking through a cow pasture - Charlie pointing out cow pies.

Grant enjoying the zip line swing

Charlie hanging on for dear life

Later that day we went to the Ruschlikon seebad (seebad = beach) for some swimming and playing in the sand. The kiddie pool has been repaired so the kids enjoyed that as well as the lake.

Caroline enjoyed the new baby pool at Ruschlikon.

Grant loves the water pump at the sand box.

Charlie and Tobi just chilling on the lake

Next up: Munich!

Cheers!

Tiffany

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.

The One Where I Almost Fainted on a Bridge

Last Sunday we decided to tackle another tourist destination around Zurich. We spent the day at Sattel Hochstuckli. In the winter, it's a ski resort. During the summer months, they've figured out a way to bring in revenue by offering toboggan runs, jumpy houses and trampolines, and Europe's longest suspension foot bridge (374 meters of FUN, FUN, FUN).

We got there on Sunday morning and took the revolving gondola up the mountain. If you know me, you know I do not appreciate it when my feet leave the earth. I don't like gondolas, airplanes, or rollercoasters. But I tried to keep my crazy under wraps because the boys thought it was the best thing ever. I've been on gondolas several times when skiing, but somehow I've never been bothered by it. Seeing the hard, rocky earth beneath me instead of snow is a little disconcerting. In the end, it was fine and it got us to the top quickly.

The kids immediately ran off to do the jumpy houses. Even Caroline got in on it. She was a little hesitant at first, but finally she got her jump on! Then we couldn't keep her off of it.

After that, Grant decided to be our tester for the toboggan run. He proclaimed it "awesome!" but then amended his statement to say that he didn't think Charlie would like it. It would be too scary. I'm pretty sure Grant just wanted all the tickets for himself. Charlie wasn't about to let that stop him. He went with Tobi and they had a good time. Grant went a second time and got the hang of it quickly.

We decided to walk across the suspension bridge and have lunch on the other side. That was a good call because I'm preeeeeety sure I would have lost my cookies on the bridge if I'd been able to. The kids were trotting along, enjoying the view. Even Caroline walked across, refusing to sit idly in the backpack. Meanwhile, I was behind everyone, almost crying, a bit panicked. Poor Tobi. We have three children, but the only one he was talking across was me. We made it and I really wished I'd packed some wine in our picnic lunch.

We took a break for lunch and then decided we should get back across the bridge as there was a storm making its way toward us. I've never walked so fast in my entire life. I was practically pushing other tourists out of the way to get across. As soon as we made it, it started lightning and raining. So I'm really glad I wasn't standing on a metal bridge between two mountains with nothing but a river beneath me when the storm approached.

We had a good family day, but I think the next time, I will forego the suspension bridge. Tobi took a few good pictures of the view from the bridge. Since I had tunnel vision for the end of the bridge, I appreciate his pictures. I hope you do too!

Cheers!

Tiffany

All pictures from the Sattel outing are posted on my Facebook page.

Easter Weekend Roundup

I know Easter was two weeks ago, but better late than never, I say . . .

Easter weekend here is a four day weekend. Tobi had Good Friday and Easter Monday off so it was a nice little family break. Luckily, I was warned by some friends and neighbors that all the stores are closed on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. The stores were open on Saturday. It was like people were stocking up for Armageddon. But I managed to get the essentials, even though I wasn't able to secure an Easter ham. In the end, that didn't matter much because we spent the whole day sightseeing (side note: we had wurst for Easter dinner. There is an abundance of wurst in Zurich. Did I mention I'm not a fan of wurst?).

On Good Friday, we went into the city and had a picnic by the water because the weather was unbelievably beautiful. In fact, the entire weekend was sunny and in the low 70s (sorry, Europeans, I still have no idea how to calculate that into Celsius).

On Easter Sunday we decided to drive to the other side of the lake to Rapperswil. Rapperswil is a little town on the southeastern side of Lake Zurich and is a popular tourist destination. On Easter Sunday, the cafes and restaurants were open and families were visiting the castle, playing chess, and feeding the swans. Unfortunately, the castle was closed, so we could not tour the inside but we walked around outside and visited the church & cemetary.

On the way home we drove to Meilen, a town halfway up the lake, to take the car ferry back across the lake to our house. The ferry ride is no more than 10 minutes (Lake Zurich is a rather narrow lake) but the boys thought that it was lots of fun to drive onto a boat.

We continue to sightsee every weekend. I usually pack us a cooler with lunch and snacks. Tobi consults Google maps for where to turn next. We've been hiking a lot; the views are amazing. The kids like walking "in the forest," as Charlie likes to say. Thank goodness we brought the baby backpack for Caroline - she loves it too. The trails are shared by families hiking and people biking and horseback riding. It's a very nice activity for our whole family.

Next up: What I've Learned So Far in Zurich, and Legoland Deutschland for Charlie's birthday.

Cheers!

Tiffany