Random

Just a few random pictures from our day

Fountain!

 We found the Swiss version of the American Girl doll.  She was $200

 One of my favorite sandwiches here:  Handmade pretzel cut in half, buttered and with salami.  MMMM

New House

We are getting ready to move into our new house here in Switzerland.  We were lucky to find a really great place in a quiet area.  It is right next to the tram the kids need to take to get to school.  It also has a big fenced in backyard for Scooby the run around.  It met all of our requirements and more.  We cannot wait to get settled.

Part of the living room - it has a fire place

 Also part of the living room

 Kitchen and dining room

 Part of the kitchen.  It is small, but standard Swiss size.  The part on the right you see is the fridge and freezer.  It is college dorm size!  The other is the oven and a crisper

 Kitchen.  Stove top and some counter space

 Front hallway and front door

 First floor half bathroom

 Stair case.  This house is 5 floors in total, and it is a spiral stair case to each floor.  Going to take some getting used to.

 This is going to be Cainan's bedroom.  It is long and narrow.  It also has a balcony

 This is the master bedroom.  IT has its own bathroom and a nice walk in closet.  Also has a balcony

 Part of the master bathroom.  It is a really nice size - much bigger than many of the places we looked at.

 Master bathroom.  

 Balcony off the master bedroom

 Big trees in the backyard

 Balcony off of Cainan's bedroom

 The other side of Cainans bedroom

 Finley's bedroom.  IT is slightly bigger than Cainan's, but since he got a balcony, her extra is the extra room on a different floor.  She wants to put all of her toys and art supplies there.

 Finley's other side of her bedroom.  IT is at the top of the house, so that is why the ceiling is sloped

 second full bathroom.  This is on the floor where the girls will be.

 The second bathroom has a shower and a tub.  That tub will come in handy when bathing Scooby

 Second bathroom's shower

 Second bathroom

 Arlington's room.  It is enormous.  They could have easily made this into two bedrooms.  Or built a loft in here.  The ceiling is incredibly high.  She got the biggest room since she is the eldest.

 Other side of Arlingotn's room

 Attic Space.  This is a finished room and where Finley will put her stuff

 Attic space

 Finished basement.  This was a huge bonus.  This room is huge!  We have lots of plans for this area

 Finished basement - lots of storage

 Laundry room.  Another defiinte on our wish list.  This is a nice size room

 Laundry room

 Utility room

 Stairs out of the basement into the backyard

 So glad I brought her along

 Storage room in the basement.  This will be great for our seasonal items and bikes

 Stairs into the basement

 Front door and patio

 Side of house

 Backyard

 Back of the house.  We are connected to an apartment complext next door.  This is very common here

Schwimmen

The kids are on break for two week for their fall break.  You read that right - two weeks.  That is a long time for this mama to keep these kids occupied.  We didn't plan a long vacation because Mat is so new to his job and he has to travel next week, so I am just doing a few little things here and there.

Today I took the kids to a big indoor water park for the afternoon.  There were a lot of pools, a wave pool, and water slides to keep them entertained.  We had a great time, and it got us out of the house for a few hours.

The pool was called Laguna, and it was in Germany.  It was easy for us to get to by tram because it is not far over the border.  We had heard about it from friends, and thought we would check it out.

We laughed because it was a 30 minute tram ride from the city and a 15 minute walk, and we STILL could see Roche in the distance

Day Trip to Lucerne

Today Mat and I took the kids for a trip to Lucerne for the day.  It is only an hour by train and we really wanted to do the CogWheel train up Mount Pilatus before the weather got bad.

We had a great day.  We did something called the "Golden Round Trip" which included the boat ride, the CogWheel, and the Cable Car.  Right now Basel is doing a great deal where we can buy our train ticket to Lucerne and that covered all of our local transportation in Lucern (trams and buses there as well as the boat and cable car).  And it got us half price off on the CogWheel ride.  PLUS - the kids were COMPLETELY free .  Because they are under 16 and they we a Junior Travel Pass for them, they can travel on any mode of transportation in Switzerland for free.

We took along a picnic lunch and snacks, and by the time we got on the boat it was 11am, and we had an hour ride.  So we decided it would be a great time to pull out our goodies and eat.   We brought a very Swiss lunch of Salami, bread, cheeses and fruit.

The boat ride was great.  We road the length of Lake Lucerne and took in all the scenery as we cruised along.  We had an overcast day, but it wasn't especially cold, so we were able to sit outside for most of the ride.

Once we got off the boat, we were directed right to the CogWheel.  None of us had ever done this before and it was amazing.  This small train went straight up the side of the mountain and a very steep incline.  It was great.  We road right into the clouds.

The only sad part about our day was that it was overcast.  Which meant at the top of the mountain - no view down into Lucerne and the Lake.  Luckily we will have an opportunity to visit again so we can get a better view.

 Feeding the birds some of our bread

None the less - the top of the mountain was breathtaking.  We were 7000 feet in the air and above the clouds.  The kids loved it.  Well - Finley didn't love it because she doesn't like being high up, but she didn't hate it.  There is a hotel at the top of Mount Pilatus and we all decided we need to stay there sometime.

We did some hiking along the cliffs before we headed back down

 Took this for Aunt Betty - we always look for yellow flowers for her that grow in odd places

We even saw some mountain goats

Finley doesn't love heights, so she and I spend a lot of time together on the hike hugging the sides

We saw a guy playing an Alpine Horn when we returned from our hike, so we stayed to listen for a little while

 And we saw a fountain, so I snagged a picture.

After our hike we headed down the mountain via the Cable Car.  The cable car was a lot of fun and brought us to the bottom of the mountain quickly.

We spent about an hour walking around the Lake side area of Lucerne before heading home.  The kids were getting tired, and we knew we would be returning in the future, so we got on the train and came back to Basel.  It was a great day and I am so glad we made our first day trip.

Fountain!

 Beautiful bridge we walked across over Lake Lucerne

 There are beautiful paintings hanging on the bridge