Monday, September 7, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Lauterbrunnen, Murren and Schilthorn Switzerlalnd
Thursday, Dan decided I should pick somewhere for a trip this weekend. With the help of our friends, the Van Essen's, and Rick Steves' tour book, we were off to Switzerland. It was about a 3 hour drive. It wasn't bad at all. The kids watched movies for a while. When we hit the Switzerland boarder and could see the mountains, the only words out of our mouths were WOW. WOW! WOW!
We spent the afternoon in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. We were flying by the seats of our pants for the most part. We had no hotel reservation. I found one after a few calls and we were golden. I also thought I would take charge and get some menus for us to order some food at the hotel restaurant. I was a little surprised when the waitress asked if I wanted soup with that. I was thinking to myself, how does she know what I want and to ask if I want that soup with it? Then As I quickly racked my brain for the very little Deutsche I know, I remembered back to McDonalds and menu means...Meal! 75 Swiss Franks (1 SF = ~$1 US) later we had a nice chicken, rice and potato lunch. It reminded me of my Grandma Hoeger's house. It smelled like it and it even had polka music playing in the background. I hope she doesn't get any ideas and start charging for her great meals.
Our next adventure was going to Trummelback Falls...A series of beautiful waterfalls. For only 11SF for adults and 4SF for children, we were off to the falls. We road a cable car half way up the inside of the mountain and we walked up the rest of the way. The falls were deafening at some points and the kids are quick to tell you they were very cold. We could see our breath. It took us about an hour to get through the falls. When we were done, we enjoyed pie and hot chocolate before heading back to the hotel. After unloading a few things from the new BMW. (Yes I am bragging a bit but, how many times in a girls life will she say brand new BMW), we were off to visit the little town and get some more to eat.
The next morning (Sunday), we had a small breakfast at what I would like to refer to as "Grandma's". (It was free). I was totally bummed out when there was no cinnamon rolls. Instead we were greeted by the normal cereal, fruit, and cold meat sandwiches. The morning activities took us to the Schilthorn (appx. 10,000 above sea level) by cable car up the side of the mountain. These spectacular views and revolving restaurant were made famous by a James Bond movie made in the 1960's. (Google - Schilthorn Switzerland). Dan and I had the "007 breakfast" at a mere 20SF per person. I only had a cup of hot chocolate. The kids were so excited to see snow. We spent a nice amount of the time up there. We made our way down to Murren, a automobile free resort town. This little town is filled with bakeries, cafes, souvenirs and lots of people with walking sticks. We had a nice lunch and about a 45 minute hike down to the next town. It was all we could get out of Paige. It was still amazing with the mountains on each side. We took a small train up to Murren again and the cable car back down to the valley. We shared many laughs and plenty of good memories. Although it was expensive it was well worth the money and we are looking forward to our next trip to Switzerland. I hope you can see the beauty we were able to experience first hand. God is an absolutely and amazing artist.
Leia Mais…
We spent the afternoon in the Lauterbrunnen Valley. We were flying by the seats of our pants for the most part. We had no hotel reservation. I found one after a few calls and we were golden. I also thought I would take charge and get some menus for us to order some food at the hotel restaurant. I was a little surprised when the waitress asked if I wanted soup with that. I was thinking to myself, how does she know what I want and to ask if I want that soup with it? Then As I quickly racked my brain for the very little Deutsche I know, I remembered back to McDonalds and menu means...Meal! 75 Swiss Franks (1 SF = ~$1 US) later we had a nice chicken, rice and potato lunch. It reminded me of my Grandma Hoeger's house. It smelled like it and it even had polka music playing in the background. I hope she doesn't get any ideas and start charging for her great meals.
Our next adventure was going to Trummelback Falls...A series of beautiful waterfalls. For only 11SF for adults and 4SF for children, we were off to the falls. We road a cable car half way up the inside of the mountain and we walked up the rest of the way. The falls were deafening at some points and the kids are quick to tell you they were very cold. We could see our breath. It took us about an hour to get through the falls. When we were done, we enjoyed pie and hot chocolate before heading back to the hotel. After unloading a few things from the new BMW. (Yes I am bragging a bit but, how many times in a girls life will she say brand new BMW), we were off to visit the little town and get some more to eat.
The next morning (Sunday), we had a small breakfast at what I would like to refer to as "Grandma's". (It was free). I was totally bummed out when there was no cinnamon rolls. Instead we were greeted by the normal cereal, fruit, and cold meat sandwiches. The morning activities took us to the Schilthorn (appx. 10,000 above sea level) by cable car up the side of the mountain. These spectacular views and revolving restaurant were made famous by a James Bond movie made in the 1960's. (Google - Schilthorn Switzerland). Dan and I had the "007 breakfast" at a mere 20SF per person. I only had a cup of hot chocolate. The kids were so excited to see snow. We spent a nice amount of the time up there. We made our way down to Murren, a automobile free resort town. This little town is filled with bakeries, cafes, souvenirs and lots of people with walking sticks. We had a nice lunch and about a 45 minute hike down to the next town. It was all we could get out of Paige. It was still amazing with the mountains on each side. We took a small train up to Murren again and the cable car back down to the valley. We shared many laughs and plenty of good memories. Although it was expensive it was well worth the money and we are looking forward to our next trip to Switzerland. I hope you can see the beauty we were able to experience first hand. God is an absolutely and amazing artist.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Just Another Week
As many of you have heard on facebook, Dan was in Berlin for the week. He took the train over. It took him approximately 5 hours, with the stops in little towns. While he was gone the kids and I started organizing the house. I also fought with a trampoline. It was my great idea to get a trampoline for the kids so they would have something to do while we were over here. Christian and I put it together for the 3rd time Monday while Dan was at work. By Monday night, I had the net around it so the kids could at least jump without flinging off. I knew something wasn't right when the net started hanging half way down by the middle of the week. I finally figured it out today (Sunday). Triumphantly I fixed the net for the last time and it looks GREAT! By the way, Dan came out when I only had one more pole to go, and asked if I needed any help? AH....NO.
It seems like the week has gone so quickly. We are watching a lot of movies because we don't have cable. We probably won't get that for another week or two. I've been trying to figure out what meat to cook on the stove. We have a beautiful new grill without a gas tank. This, we are also waiting for.
The John Deere wives have been extremely helpful and are making the adjustment very easy on us. They have been inviting us over for suppers, and I have learned to accept even if Dan isn't around. It gets the kids and I out of the house. Lisa Dickson (John Deere wife) came over and helped me order school books off of Amazon.DE. That was a trip. It was all in German. Another reality check was when I was putting a cabinet together I was only able to look at the directions. I had to use Google translator to figure out what they were saying. I think I better get some German lessons soon.
Everyone was happy to see Dan come home Saturday. Today we took the kids into Heidelberg to see the castle and walk around a bit. If you didn't know, Sunday's around here are for family. You don't work around the house. I was scrambling last night to put my last cabinet together so I could put it up and not worry about it today.
My goal is to try and get this web page up by Sunday night. We'll see how well I do. Enjoy and have a great week.
Sunday, August 23, 2009
One Week In
Well, we are one week in and everything is going pretty smooth. Dan, like usual, has had almost everything done for the house. We arrived last Monday the 17th of August. We fought jet lag for a couple of days but by the 3rd day or so, we were all doing fine.
We are very lucky that there is such a nice group of people over here (expats). We went to supper at Schmidt's with the Grau family. They have children almost the same age as Christian and Paige. They will be going to the same school and will ride the same van. On Saturday, we ate at the Van Essen's. They also have kids close to our kids age...just a little younger. They took us on a great little hike through a vineyard and up a mountain. All things that we will be excited to show others.
Today, Sunday, was a great end to the week. We met up with some friends and went to a nice park for the afternoon and enjoyed a great meal with ice cream for dessert. We definately can have the dessert because we walk alot!
Looking forward to updating you as often as possible about our new adventures.
The Leibfried's
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