Return to Kannenfeld

Today the kids and I returned to Kannenfeldpark, where they had had so much fun sliding and playing in the fountains a few weeks ago.  The park is so large that today we discovered a few new fun spots.

Layla finally climbed her way to the top!

 These statues provided lots of great places to picnic.

And then we returned to the swimming spot.

Tomorrow is the Swiss National Day, so tonight there were lots of festivities along the Rhine.  As I type this there are fireworks going off all around us.  The kids are asleep and missing that portion, but they did have fun earlier in the night.

Trash Day

We've been here long enough now that our days in the city aren't really filled with new experiences anymore.  But on our way to the tram today for our weekly Schutzenmatt meet-up, we did see something that we hadn't witnessed before: the trash truck!  In our apartment complex, residents dispose of household trash in designated bins in the front courtyard.  They bins look pretty standard until you realize that the interior goes far underground.  Today we got to see how the bins are emptied.  The kids loved it!

Muerren, Day 2

There are many options for where to stay when you plan a vacation to the Interlaken region.  One reason that we chose Muerren was because of its easy access to the Schilthorn.  Another was because of the Sportszentrum, with its pool and mini golf.  Lastly, we selected Muerren because I had read about a Children's Adventure Trail that sounded like a hike that we might actually be able to manage. Manage it, we did, and the Children's Adventure Trail did not disappoint.

We first took the Allmendhubel funicular to the top of the, you guessed it, the Allmendhubel, a smaller peak in Muerren that's quite popular with hikers.

Funicular: a cable railroad, esp. one on a mountainside,
in which ascending and descending cars are counterbalanced.

On our way up!

At the top of the funicular ride is the Allmendhubel's Panorama Restaurant as well as a playground.  Between trips down the slide, the kids nibbled on elephant-shaped chicken nuggets.  We had been told by our hotel's manager that there was a festival happening that day, complete with a yodeling competition and alphorns (of Ricola fame).  We hung around for quite some time, and it was clear that something was going on.  We ordered a bratwurst and beer from the festival tents and marveled at the people milling around in full traditional Swiss garb.  But time was ticking and we needed to start hiking if we had any hope of finishing without a complete meltdown from the kids.

The funicular station/Panorama restaurant.

Mountain-top playground. 

Mountain-top slide.

Mountain-top swings.

The view.

Accordion group playing at the restaurant. 

Checking out the wildflowers.

The hills are alive!

Alive and great for rolling down!

This path is for tired bare feet after a hike.  It ends in a little pool of water.
The kids enjoyed it before our hike. 

Finally we headed out on the Children's Adventure Trail.  We were told it was roughly an hour's walk down the mountain and we were hoping to complete it in two.  Our kids have been great travelers, but walking long distances is not one of their strengths.  There were some setbacks along the way (fights over who would be the leader, plus some minor scrapes, etc.), but we finished in an hour and a half and everyone finished with a smile on their face.  

At one point, right after we'd stopped in the shade for a snack, we saw a family come out of the woods instead of the path we would have expected to see them on.  As we rounded the corner we realized where they had been.  Hiding in the woods was a perfect zip line swing!  We all took turns and even Josh was able to hang on (we caught him before he bounced at the end and really went flying!).

You can imagine how difficult it was to pull the kids away, but there was more hiking to be done.

Yes, the cows really have bells and you can hear them as you wander the village below
(or when you are 3 ft from them on the trail down the mountain).

Close to the end of the trail we came upon another playground.  Layla was amazed to watch the cable car that we'd ridden the day before fly above our heads.

We celebrated with high 5's when we finally reached Muerren.  And then we headed straight for ice cream!  Josh was spent, but managed to keep his eyes open for the ice cream today....barely!

It was later than we'd planned and we knew we had a long journey home.  So we gathered our ice cream and headed to the train to Lauterbrunnen so that we could slowly make our way back to Basel.

Layla found great joy in waving to the hikers that we passed while on the mountain train. 

Lauterbrunnen - where we would catch the next train to Interlaken.

Train to Interlaken, passing the fast-flowing river.

Train from Interlaken to Basel.
Met a nice family from Bern, with their daughter Sophia. 

We arrived home at around 7pm, earlier than we had feared.  We had a time to unpack a bit and settle down before bed.  The kids can't stop talking about the snowy mountain and the flying thing.  And they think they're real hikers.  All in all, an amazing weekend.  Already scheming about how we can get back there some day.