Home Sweet Home

Saturday was one last, long adventure as we said farewell to Basel and to our summer of fun.  We took a train to Zurich and arrived around lunch time.  The train was an "up and down train" that had one car dedicated to children - complete with a slide and play space.  What a way to travel!  Once we arrived in Zurich, we wandered the city a bit and then made our way to the airport.  The flight home was 8 hours and the kids were amazing.  They even rallied at Logan when they had to walk, since we'd checked the stroller (which was impressive, considering it was 2 a.m. Basel time and they'd both been in a deep sleep on the plane).

That about sums it up!

On the way to the bus stop, making our way to the SBB.

The Tikki Park train car!

Slide and boat on the train.  Amazing. 

Bahnhofstrasse - the main street in Zurich for window shopping and people watching.

The Zurich Hauptbahnhof.

More Zurich.

We found a large toy store and the kids were psyched.

Josh was brave this time and took a ride down the dragon slide. 

Josh says, "Ka-chow!"

Lake Zurich.

Cool fountain by the lake. 

Sporting new hats at the airport.

Layla was a great helper in the airport!

Josh fell asleep within 5 minutes of take off.
Layla was happy to play Mickey Mouse video games. 

Finally back in Boston and still energetic enough for silly faces!

Summer is over but the adventures are not.  Can't wait to see what's in store for us next!

Home in 2 Days

Dear Layla and Josh,

What a summer it has been!  Dad and I are so immensely proud of the way you two adapted to all of the changes and excitement that this summer in Basel had in store for us.  Deciding to come here for 8 weeks wasn't something that Dad and I did without a lot of thought.  We knew that it wouldn't be easy; in fact, we knew that certain things would be really difficult.  But your dad and I have both always wanted to visit a foreign country for an extended period of time.  Neither one of us studied abroad in college and then we got to a point in our lives where it seemed very unlikely that such a move would happen.  So when this opportunity with Novartis presented itself, we were excited and scared, but mostly excited!  A big part of our decision was knowing that (despite the inevitable challenges) the two of you would be exposed to more in 8 weeks than many people experience in their whole lives.  There is just nothing like traveling and experiencing other people and their customs to make you feel like a world citizen.  We live in a great country.  But there are so many interesting, inspiring, and amazing people and places all over the world.  I believe that the two of you know that now.

I worked hard to document all of our adventures so that you would hopefully remember pieces of this trip.  Layla, I have no doubt that with your amazing memory, you will be able to recall details about our adventure for years to come.  Joshua, I hope that this blog book helps to trigger the memories of the fantastic time that we've had.

There are so many moments, both big and small, that I hope you never forget.

• the snowy mountains
• castles and dragons
• funny faces in the elevator
• fights over elevator button-pressing
• balance bikes in the apartment
• Lego creations with paper faces
• My Little Pony drawings
• running through the rain
• boat rides and "water elevators"
• crossing the "famous river" on the tram
• saying hello to dad each time we passed the Novartis Campus
• blue cereal bars
• pigeon hunting
• lunch picnics at Schuetzenmattpark
• cuddles on the couch
• tram rides
• saying "Danke schoen"
• hiking with cows
• the Baby Jake dance
• the zip line
• up and down trains
• friends from around the world

We will never forget the enthusiasm with which you both put on your backpacks every time we went on an adventure, even when you (and sometimes we) didn't know exactly what the day had in store for us.  Please keep adventuring; there's a great big world waiting for you!

Love you both to pieces!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Maerchen Paradies

On Sunday morning we enjoyed a delicious hotel breakfast and then headed to the pool.  Josh wouldn't swim, but Layla had fun.  And both kids did a great job staying out of the way of the folks there to exercise.  

After that, it was back to the funicular, this time for a trip to the top.  I had read vague descriptions about a place called Maerchen Paradies (translates to fairy paradise).  I knew that there were fairy-tale themed rides and play areas but I couldn't get a good sense of exactly what it was.  To get there, we had to switch funiculars half-way up.  We transferred to what is the oldest funicular in Germany and at one point it made its way up the hill at a 40 degree angle.  

Stopped for a lion ride on the way to the old city.

Nice views of the city and the Neckar River.

When we got off at the top, there were no signs directing us to Maerchen Paradies.  In fact, when I asked the train operator which way to go, she was unsure and didn't know much about it.  I was feeling dubious at this point!  However, it didn't take long for us to get pointed in the right direction and as soon as we glimpsed the park through the woods, I knew this would be a great outing for us!  It cost a few Euros to get into the park and then we purchased some tokens for rides.  As the day progressed we discovered that there was lots of free fun to be had as well.  I had foolishly been concerned about how we would fill all of the time until our 6:15 train.  I needn't worry!

The kids found the giant climbing structure first.
My German was good enough to decipher the sign that explained that the kids must wear socks.
Lucky for Layla, we had a pair of Josh's dirty, stinky socks for her to wear :).

There were lots of these little fairy-tale scenes that moved
and told the stories (in German) of various stories.

On his way to hear the story of Rumplestiltskin....auf Deutsch.

Time for a train ride! 

Choo choo!

This is what their faces looked like in the dark tunnel.

Eventually the kids stopped long enough to get lunch.
I managed to order wienerlis (hot dogs) for the kids and sausages for us.
Chris tried a Radler, which is half beer and half lemonade.  It was.....interesting.

For certain rides there was no line to dictate whose turn was next.
It was basically a push other little kids out of the way kind of arrangement.
Eventually Chris joined in and Layla got a turn!

Josh loved this one.  He got to ride in a dragon while Mom pedaled our way around! (bonus, this one was free!)

Playground and bouncy mat....also free!

Headed back to the train station.  It was a long, fun day!

Heidelberg

This past weekend we met up with a friend in Heidelberg, Germany.  Forget about the fact that we were heading out to see a new city, Layla was just thrilled that she and Josh would get to share a bed and that the hotel had a pool.  

Heading to the German train station.  

Grape cheeks - en route to Heidelberg.

It was close to a 3 hour journey, with a switch of trains in Karlsruhu.  As usual, our first stop was to a playground.

There was a 3 year old German girl here who loved following Layla around.

Then we killed time at the hotel bar while we waited for our room to be ready and for our friends to arrive. 

Heidelberg's Old City was full of tourists, even more so this weekend than normal, as there was a huge 400th anniversary wedding celebration for Friedrich V and Elizabeth Stuart.  All weekend we were surrounded by parades and drummers and horses and folks dressed up in fancy dresses!

Like everywhere here, bikes are a way of life.

Cathedral.

The biggest attraction in Heidelberg is the castle.  Because of the wedding celebration, there was a crazy long line for the funicular up the hill to the mountain.  So.....we walked. Up hill.  With a sleeping Josh.  Chris and Jeff were the afternoon's heroes!

 Much to Josh's disappointment, there was no dragon in this castle.  However, there were some crazy huge wine barrels!

The kids tried their hands at several classic games in the castle courtyard.

We failed to take any pics of our dinner out at a German restaurant.  Josh was too busy playing to eat, but Layla gobbled up her "chicken nugget" - aka schnitzel!

Then it was off to bed.  Kids would need energy for hotel pool swimming in the morning!