Another Day in the Rain (aka More Wet Fun in Switzerland)

The same day that we hiked through the gorge, we spent the afternoon at an open air museum (Ballenberg) in Brienz.  And no, it hadn’t stopped raining.    (A side note about open air museums in Europe.  They’re everywhere and they’re great.  They are usually created by moving old buildings to a central location and restoring them.  Often they are grouped according to origin, so, for instance, in this one there was a grouping of buildings from the Bernese Oberland (where we were staying), another area that represented the Southern (Italian) part of Switzerland, a  French Swiss grouping and so on.  Usually open air museums have live exhibits as well, for instance, we watched someone weaving, someone cooking on a wood burning stove, someone operating a flour mill, someone operating a wood mill, someone carving a crucifix, someone making chocolates, and someone spinning yarn.)  Anyway, it was pouring rain when we arrived but by the time we left the skies had cleared enough to pull out the camera and get some nice pictures……and here they are. 

Our first glimpse of the mountains around us.  We had no idea that the area around Brienz was so mountainous until the clouds started to lift.

There was an enchanted forest for the kids to explore in one of the buildings which they liked so much, they did it twice.  The masks are probably for a Fasching celebration.  I was disappointed that they weren’t part of a hands-on display… 

I’m a sucker for half-timbered buildings…

                

Yet another giant wine or olive oil press…

                

I love that the reflective surface on Ian’s jacket glows in every picture that is taken with a flash.

Another fine example of traditional Swiss architecture.  I posted both pictures so that you could see the entire front unspoiled by our presence and so that the grandparents can get another grandchild fix.

   

A functioning wood mill.  Ben is standing by the wheel (which was turning – you can see the water pouring in at the top) which powered the saw which was, in turn, trimming logs.  The power of water is amazing.

    

The kids could have sat and watched this for hours.

                      

Ian and Naomi in front of another village grouping.  Note that the water spout is also functioning.  The kids just didn’t get why they couldn’t lean over and take a drink.

                                             

Another peek of the mountains.  Throughout the afternoon we got continually better views as we walked around.  You may wonder at the seemingly inadequate fencing – there was also an electric fence.  Not terribly authentic, but apparently quite effective.  We wondered what would happen to a child who wandered under the fence and into the field.  Fortunately we didn’t find out.

                      

                      

                      

Naomi loved all the animals we saw.  If we had let her, she would have spent her afternoon chasing these poor chickens.  Fortunately for them, we did not.  I wonder if she would have been able to catch one…

                      

Ian and Naomi really enjoyed trying out the period tools at this house.  We only spent the afternoon at Ballenberg, but you could easily spend a whole day there.  It is a fantastic place.  I’d love to go back.

     

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As we were leaving the park, the clouds disappeared and we (FINALLY!!! ) saw the beautiful blue Swiss sky and caught a view of the tops of the mountains.  This is why we went to Switzerland.

 

That’s it for now – back soon with pictures of our one sunny morning in Switzerland.

It was bound to happen sooner or later…

Bad weather, that is.  Well, we have bad weather all the time here at home.  It’s just that we have had uncannily good luck when we have traveled.  When we went to Switzerland in October, however, that was most definitely not the case.  It rained.  It rained and rained and rained.  And then it rained some more.  Normally this wouldn’t pose much of a problem – who cares if it’s raining while you’re in the Louvre?!  This time, however, I had planned a kid-friendly, outdoorsy, commune with nature kind of trip.  So, what do you do when it’s raining in Switzerland? 

The same things you do when it’s sunny.

We altered our plans somewhat (we didn’t pay the $150 (apiece!!!) to take the train to the Jungfraujoch (the highest train station in Europe), and we didn’t go up the Shilthorn.  Overall there was less hiking than I had planned.  We still, however, went on some walks, we still went to the open air museum, and we still walked through Brienz.  We just got really wet doing it all. 

We stayed in the Lauterbrunnen valley (aka the valley of waterfalls).

                         

                         

The view from our apartment…

                                                 

Our first day there (it was raining of course!) we decided to visit a small castle (Schloss Spiez) on the edge of the Thuner See.  We escaped the weather for awhile, had the place to ourselves (there was NOBODY there) and by the time we were done, the rain stopped just long enough to get a few pictures.

                     

                    

        

Maybe sometime we’ll get back there on a clear day.  I imagine the views would be incredible.

                     

         

                           

As we were walking around the castle in these few moments of non-rain, I noticed an overpoweringly strong yeast smell.  “Hmmm...,” I thought to myself.  “Either they are baking insane amounts of bread in the old castle kitchens, or this castle is a brewery masquerading as a museum.”  We continued walking and sure enough, down beneath the castle museum was a brewery.   All I can say is that if beer tastes anything like it smells…..yuck.

The next morning the weather was rainy………………….again, so we decided to go on a hike that would have gotten us wet on even the sunniest of days.  In the Lauterbrunnen valley there is a gorge that is home to 10 waterfalls.  You take an elevator up into the gorge (they’ve tunneled through rock to make the elevator shaft) to the halfway point.  From that point you can either hike down to the bottom 5 waterfalls, or hike up to the top.  We opted to hike up first (why hike it twice?!) and then wound our way down past all 10 waterfalls to the bottom.   It was hard to get pictures that accurately portray the coolness of this place. (It was very dark so a flash was necessary, but it was also rainy.  The flash bounced off the raindrops and wreaked all kinds of havoc on the images.)  Anyway, a few turned out, and here they are…

A peek into the gorge…

                

A view down into the valley, probably from the midway point…

                                      

On the trail…

             

In the gorge…

             

             

       

       

The following picture is is how most of our pictures turned out.  As you can tell, the pictures of falls that were already illuminated by lamps or by light from the outside look the best.  It’s unfortunate that it was so hard to photograph because the entire hike was incredible.  I wish I could have captured what we saw better on “film.”

                         

The sound of the water thundering through these small spaces was deafening.  I must confess it was somewhat of a relief to get back into the open, calm and quiet valley.

        

At the end of the day we went to dinner and had, of course, fondue.   The meat fondue was delish, but I’m thinking we should have gone for the cheese…

                                    

This post is already going to take 9 years to upload, so I’d better stop for now.  Back soon!

Eight is Great!

Can you believe my baby boy is 8 years old?!  I can’t.  (Of course, some days I could swear that Ian is 8 going on 37!)  Time is moving so quickly.  Ian has grown up so much this year.  As well as adding a few inches to his height, he has become more patient, more loving and more responsible.  (That isn’t to say that we don’t have our moments – they’re just fewer and further between.)  It is amazing to watch Ian devour information.  He’s constantly spouting facts - information on animals, plants, the universe, math, music, the scriptures….you  name it.  Something that constantly surprises me about Ian is that he loves, loves, LOVES to run.  I just don’t get it.  I hate running.  HATE IT.  For Ian, however, running is something that gives him joy.  It is something that is tangible.  It is something that you can see in his face.  Here are some things that Ian has said about himself…

                                        

I have to say here that Ian was in the middle of a Pokémon game with Ben and Naomi, which may account for some of his answers.  Generally speaking he’s much more obsessed with Star Wars  - all he ever asks for at Christmas and for his birthday are Star Wars Lego sets.  He has pulled apart and rebuilt the x-wing fighter more times than I can count.  In fact, this year, a few weeks before his birthday, Ian came up to me and asked if we could please do something other than a Halloween themed birthday party this year because all he really wanted was a Star Wars party.  (We’ve done Halloween parties since he was two.  I knew eventually he’d tire of the Halloween theme, and this was the year.) 

Unfortunately for me, this meant that I had to start from scratch.  I got a lot of mileage out of my jack o’ lantern cake pan and Halloween bingo game!  (It’s a lot easier to recycle party ideas when you move every couple of years.)  Anyway, we did a Star Wars birthday party complete with clips from the movie, games which were related to the aforementioned movie clips, Star Wars Bingo and a Death Star Piñata. 

                                                   

This is my first fondant covered cake.  I think it turned out pretty well.  Next time, however, I’m going to make sure that I have a large enough cake board before I start constructing the cake.

                                 

The Death Star after the Rebel attack.  It’s too bad we forgot to take a picture before the attack.  Ben made this piñata* and it was fabulous.  Before the rebel incursion, there were laser beams (spaghetti painted luminescent green) positioned around the circular dent which came to a point.  (The Death Star was about to fire on a rebel planet.) 

                                

                                                 

   

A funny thing about these pictures – Ian is actually quite a bit taller than John (the kid in the green shirt).  I don’t know what John was doing, but the perspective is definitely askew. 

                                

I love Ian’s face in this picture – so intense.  I also love that Naomi is sitting primly on the edge of the couch amongst a posse of fierce jedi (and sith, I guess) warriors.

Ian (upon turning eight) made the choice to be baptized into our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We are happy he made this decision and proud of the person he is becoming.  He is a wonderful boy.

                                   

Ben’s baptismal attire was really, really weird.  For one thing it makes him look about twice as round as he really is, and for another, well, it was made out of some strange denim-like fabric that was really heavy.  I think it weighed 50 pounds wet.  Unfortunately it was the only thing in the closet that wasn’t two feet too long, or that didn’t come up to his knees.

                                

We had a very nice program.  Ian was the only child baptized that day, so it was a nice, quiet, family experience.  Ben baptized and confirmed Ian, his mom and dad gave the talks, Ian and Naomi sang “Baptism” from the Primary Songbook together, and I played the piano.  It was wonderful to watch Ian be so excited about making a great choice.  We love you Ian and we are proud of you!

While it was absolutely wonderful to have Ben’s parents here (we are so, so, so glad they came) the day felt a little bittersweet to me because I missed the rest of our family and friends so much.  It is on days like this one, special, momentous days, that I miss you all the most.   I wish you all could have been here to share this day with us.

This turned out to be a longer post than I expected.  Eight is a big birthday!  I am firmly trying to keep my resolution to be a better blogger, however, so when I have time I’m just going to plow ahead.  Hopefully I’ll be back soon with pictures of Switzerland or Paris.  Love you all!

* Ben and my in-laws helped a lot, lot lot with this party.  Ben and I got home from Paris around 11:00 p.m. the night before the party and my father-in-law arrived from UT the morning of the party, so pulling it off successfully required much advance planning and was a group effort.  I made the fondant for the cake and Ben prepared the piñata and the birthday bingo before we left, my mother-in-law baked the cake while we were gone.  It wasn’t the ideal day for a party, but the next day (which was Saturday) we held Ian’s baptism.  I wanted Saturday to be uncluttered and free so that we could focus on that important event.