Berlin trip

Hannah has her first 2 week break from school right now and so we had decided it would be a good time to take a week vacation. We have started to try to plan our vacations a bit more in advance, we still are not up to Swiss standard of having them planned a year in advance, but we are trying. 

This year we decided to go to Berlin. We wanted to see most of the main historical sights, eat some good food, gets some yummy treats, and do a little shopping. I would say despite a rainy two last days we accomplished our basic goals. 

The first night we arrived we headed downtown for Mexican. We just happened to see a chocolate store on the way.  We all got a truffle to try. Elliott was impressed by all of the chocolate sculptures.

The yellow trains and this public transportation map were our friends during our stay. Thankfully the German trains run so frequently we didn't have to pay attention to train times, just routes.

We rented bikes with a tag a long bike for Hannah and a kid seat for Elliott to ride during our first two days in Berlin. We did this in Amsterdam last year. It is a great way to see the city with kids. We were also quite impressed with the bike lanes in the city and the drivers awareness watching out for bikers. 

The Brandenburg Gate. We went there on the German Reunification Holiday. There was a big festival going on making it difficult to get too close to the gate.

Cruising through the Tiergarten on our bikes with the German parliament in the background. 

A family selfie at the East Side Gallery. The largest remaining section of the Berlin Wall is in the background.

The park and river area at the East Side Gallery. 

Hamburgers! We found a window seat in the very crowded Burgermeisters and at a wonderfully greasy Bacon Cheeseburger.

Berlin is very family friendly. This is one of the  many specific Parent child coffee shops. There were 3 play rooms and an open play space for the kids. Switzerland needs to get some of these!

Another very cute cafe that specializes in waffles- sweet and savoury. They also have ice cream, crepes, and a few shops with clothes... It was called Kauf Dich Glucklich.

This year is the 500th year since the reformation. We decided to take a train ride to the town of Wittenberg where Martin Luther nailed his thesis to the church door. 

Inside the church

And finally a beautiful path leading into a park Gleisdreieck. It was where I did some exercise while the kids were napping or "resting". It is just one example of the many green spaces with trails inside the city of Berlin.

Overall we really enjoyed our time in Berlin. It had a great mixture of Culture, History, great Restaurants, and a family friendly atmosphere.  Next up, a long flight to America at Christmas time.

Our little Hannah turned 5 on July 30th and is starting her first year of Kindergarten tomorrow (here they have 2 years of kindergarten). She is so ready and excited to go to Kindergarten and I am excited for her. She only has 3 hours of school a day, and it rotates between mornings and afternoons. We are excited to see her grow this year, watch her Swiss German language improve, and look forward to meeting some of her new school friends that she will make. We pray she will make wise decisions, listen to her teachers, and to continue to be a kind little girl this year.

 Hannah's 5th Birthday Interview

What is your name?  Hannah

How old are you? 5

What is your favorite thing to do? Go outside when it is sunny.

What to you want to be when you grow up? I want to stay home with Mommy and Daddy.

What is your favorite food? Tacos.

Who do you like to spend time with? Elliott, he's my favorite boy.

What do you do really well?  Coloring.

What makes you laugh?  Silly things and tickles.

What is the best time of day? When Daddy comes home.

Who is your best friend? Aron, Abigail, Juliette, I guess I like all of my friends.

What do you like to do with your family? Walks on the mountain with Bear.

What do you love to learn about? Riding my bike.

Where do you like to go? Up the Stanserhorn and to the park.

What is your favorite book? The Balloon Chase.

If you had one wish what would be? To get a Frozen Lego set.

3 day hiking trip Mürren to Oeschinensee

Trini and me

Last year I was supposed to do a three day hike with my good Swiss friend Trini. Sadly she tore her ACL (2/3 of it) and meniscus playing in the teacher vs. student soccer game during the last week of school. She was lucky enough to recover with Physical Therapy and no surgery! Since her knee was healthy we decided to schedule the trip for this summer. It happened to be right before her and her husband left this area of Switzerland (very sad for us, her and her husband are very good friends of ours).   Trini invited a few other friends for this years hike, none of us knew one another, but we all thankfully had a really nice time together.  Although it was almost all Swiss German!! I think my head was more tired than my legs!!

Fog/drizzle on the first day at the Rotstockhütte

Our trip took us from Mürren to the Rotstockhütte (night one) to Blumisalphütte (night two) to the Oeschinensee. The first day was supposed to be longer and spending the night in the Gspalthornhütte but the weather forecast was questionable and it isn't wise to be up at 2800m in storms!! The weather forecast was actually not too favourable for the whole weekend, but thankfully the other two days we had wonderful weather. The Rotstockhütte was quite small, but us five ladies had our own little room, and the spaghetti and meatballs were amazing (also the coffee cream dessert)!

Rotstockhütte the next morning

The big mountains. Pretty sure you see Eiger and Mönch in this one.

Our little hut.

Since the first day we shortened, the second day ended up being a long one. We hiked for about 8 hours and the last 2 km had about 800m of elevation gain up to the Blumisalphütte. The views from this hut were spectacular, so it was well worth the effort. The dinner here was also very tasty: broccoli cream soup, mixed salad, roast beef and spatzli, and a vanilla cream dessert ended with a traditional swiss coffee schnapps (you have to once or twice while you live in Switzerland). In this hut we were just in a dorm room with about 20 people... it was actully ok until someone closed the window in the middle of the night. I have never been so hot while trying to sleep!

We headed up this green field to a pass.

On our way... and so Sunny!!

Looking down into Kiental and our Swiss mountain markers

The flowers, so many of them!

A glacier, sadly which have been melting away. It is quite crazy to see it in person.

A little bridge of Glacier melt.

Heading up the steep section to Blumlisalphütte

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Blumlisalphütte

The last day we hiked down to Oeschinensee, via the unmarked and a bit exposed Fründschnur route. Not recommended for those with a fear of heights, there was a cable to hold onto the whole way and some even used a climbing harness and clips. Once we made it down to the lake, which is almost too beautiful for words with the rock walls of the mountains surrounding it, we decided to go for a swim in the teal blue COLD mountain water. It was SO refreshing. Finally before catching the gondola, train, train, and car ride home we had ice cream and  Panache beer (half lemonade half beer) which was also very refreshing! I would recommend this breathtaking  3 day hike to everyone. If you don't take the optional Fründschur route it is all a normal red white (not alpine) hiking trail which is physically challenging but not scary.

Ready to go... day 3

Around and bend and there was the gorgeous Oeschinensee.

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The start of the narrow exposed section.

Water splitting the rocks. 

 I am hoping to get out on at least a 2 day hike next summer (hopefully with John as a part of our 10 year anniversary) as it is such a great experience to sleep in the Swiss Alpine Club huts and to hike through the Alps. Who wants to come join us on a hike :-).

A family trip and a kid free trip

We didn't necessarily plan for our two summer trips to be so close together, but that is just how it worked out. About a month ago we headed north to Germany for a five day getaway. The main purpose of this trip was for the kids to experience Legoland. We had planned this trip a long time ago and the last several months the kids have looked forward to going to Legoland. John LOVED legos as a child(really he still does) so he was also really looking forward to their reaction to the park. Both Hannah and Elliott were tall enough to go on quite a few of the rides. Hannah even went on two pretty fast roller coasters. I think Elliott enjoyed the train the most, or the safari ride, but didn't enjoy spinning in circles. After spending two days at Legoland we drove to a town about 15 miles outside of Stuttgart in the Black Forest. We really enjoyed our day of hiking in the Black Forest for Bear's birthday and eating yummy food in Stuttgart. The city of Stuttgart itself was a bit disappointing. We didn't realize how big it was and it didn't have a very historical looking old town, most likely due to destruction during the World Wars.  But in general we had a nice time and the kids had fun, which was the main goal of this Germany trip.

Luzern

Swiss Gondola

Dreaming....

So Excited

Legoland pizza lunch

Schwarzwald landscape

German hills

Birthday Ice Cream

Playing with the new Legos

The second trip we had was a 4.5 days/4 nights kid free vacation!  John had asked a friend from America if she would be interested in coming here to watch the kids. She was, and she even works as a nanny to a family with 3 kids. We were so thrilled that she wanted to come here!  We decided to stay somewhat close to home and spent 2 nights in the Engadin area of Switzerland and 2 nights in Livingo Italy. Basically in a very beautiful part of the Alps with lots of nice mountain passes to ride on the bikes. Our Itinerary was two long road bike rides going over a few passes and a long trail run.  I don't get as much time on the bike as compared to running so I was a bit nervous for what John had planned. But, I survived, despite the heat, and really enjoyed it. Unfortunately I do have a hard time keeping my electrolytes balanced in the heat and altitude during long duration exercise...I consumed a lot of sport drink and a lot of salt and vinegar chips to keep from getting really sick!  We were also able to stroll around the towns, do some shopping, and eat relaxed meals out for dinner. What a blessing it was. Now to plan next year (it is our 10 year anniversary after all)!!

Dinner in Pontresina

Almost to the top of Julierpass

Day 1, 1st pass Julierpass done

Day 1, 1st snack stop before starting up the big pass.

French fries and bullion soup for lunch... trying hard to keep the sodium up.

Day 1 second pass Albula! 2600m of climbing total for the day

Action shot

Cruising down Albula Pass

Yes, I am as tired as I look. Day 1 almost complete.

Beautiful church from 1300's

Stroll in St. Moritz

Day 2, trail run up to a glacier

Glacier in the background. There were signs along the way showing how big the Glacier used to be... melting slowly :(

Day 2 selfie on the trail... beautiful trail run

Day 3: ride from Livingo. This was supposed to be an easier ride. Ended up being 2900m!

Rode over two passes up to Lake Cancano

Day 3: almost done after this Pass. I was tired.

Well deserved dinner.  Delicious. Right at our hotel in Livingo.