Mount Pilatus

The first weekend in October, we took a trip to central Switzerland.  We wanted to go up some peaks before winter comes - and we had absolutely perfect weather that weekend!  Just south of Lucerne, we stopped at Alpnachstadt to take the cog railway train up to Mount Pilatus.  It runs at a 48% grade, the steepest cog railway in the world!

Mount Pilatus gets its name from an old legend in medieval times, saying that the city fathers of Lucerne banned travel up the mountain because they thought that its slopes were haunted by the ghost of Pontius Pilate.  They thought Pilate would be angered by intrusive visitors and cause violent storms.  For many years after the ban was lifted, only a few people were brave enough to climb the mountain.  Queen Victoria made the trip in 1868.  Today it is one of the most popular excursions in Switzerland.

   

 

You can go down the other side of the mountain on a cable car.  Much too steep for me (little did I know what was coming the next day!).

We had some amazing views, lunch, nice family photo ops, Nathan got to feed and chase some birds, and we even got to meet an Alphorn musician.  He was a really friendly man (letting the kids get a very close-up look).

Jumpy Seat

We have pictures of all of our kids in this jumpy seat that you hang in the doorway.  Now it's Meredith's turn!

Engelberg

Elise went on her 3rd grade week-long class fieldtrip last year to Engelberg, and we kept saying that we wanted to go there so she could show us around. Well, we took the opportunity in September to go there on a Saturday, and it was well worth it!

We arrived mid-morning and, just as we were pulling into the parking lot in front of the monastery, we saw the cows coming down the street!

It's a tradition in the fall to bring the cows down from the hills in a big parade (they do the same in the spring when the cows are taken up to the hills to graze).  The cows are adorned with beautiful flowers and ribbons.  And, of course, they have their giant cow bells.  We jumped out of the car and ran to follow the parade.  It circled around the main square of town a couple of times, so we had a chance to see it up close.  What was most striking was how loud it was!  Those cow bells are huge, and the sound of all of them together was so, so loud!  It really was an amazing sight and sound!

Engelberg means "Angel Mountain", and there are statues of angels all over town.  There's a working monastery in the town, and Mount Titlis towers over the valley.

After seeing the cow parade, we had time to walk down the main street of town, eat  a nice lunch (with the best zimt ice cream for dessert), visit the monastery, see the cheesemaking, and, of course, take a horse carriage ride.

Schloss Kyburg

There's a great castle about 30 minutes away from us, and we just recently found out about it! It's called Schloss Kyburg, and it's just outside Winterthur.  The great thing about it is all of the interactive displays - we went into the dungeon (and closed the door!), tried hoisting the stone used to build the castle, smelled herbs that grew around the castle and tried to guess which ones they were, and tried out their beds, tried on their robes, and much more!  The artillery was also really exciting to see!  Come visit, and we'll take you there too...

Summer in the Garden

Switzerland is so beautiful in the summertime! Everything is so green, and because it rains often at night, the leaves and trees are always very lush. There are two amazing pools, both with indoor and outdoor facilities, waterslides, kiddie pools, etc., 5 minutes from us in either direction. The kids take lessons at one of the pools, and we try to go there as often as we can. And, the kids took the opportunity on a warm summer day to run through the sprinklers in our garden (and we took the opportunity to capture it with our new camera!).

Bern in Summer

We visited Bern again, but this time it was during the summer, and what a difference it made! Bern, the capital of Switzerland, is an absolutely beautiful city. We went to the temple in the morning, then explored the city in the afternoon. We even visited Einstein's house and learned a lot more about him (including the fact that while he was born in Germany, he actually denounced his citizenship and was "stateless" for 5 years before becoming a Swiss citizen at age 22 in 1901).

William's 3rd Birthday Party

Will turned 3 on August 15 while we were in Berlin. But we had his birthday party shortly after, on August 21. He had his friends Vitus, Nicholas, Larissa and Constantin there, as well as Nathan, Elise and Meredith!

It was a "wild animals" theme, so we had lots of fun games, face painting (Elise was our master face painter), and a wild animal safari / treasure hunt. And, of course, we have our special birthday cake from the Japanese baker. The weather was nice, so we were out in the garden. It was a fun party, and WIlliam is surely getting to be a big boy!