Kandersteg and Interlaken

Our next stop was Kandersteg, which served as our home base as we traveled to mountain stops around Switzerland. Our Airbnb chalet was at the far edge of town and a perfect spot for our family.

We went on a walk right after arriving in the alpine town and it did not disappoint. Right across the street was the most magnificent pond! The view! That reflection! Wow!

From there, we went into the mountains and found wild raspberries and blackberries! We enjoyed finding the sweet surprises as we hiked. M-A-G-I-C-A-L. This is the stuff I live for!

We could see a waterfall in the distance on the other side of the valley, so we decided to take a walk over to get a closer look. On our walk, we came upon a tiny gondola, the Scout outpost, and lots of camper vans near the waterfall. It was cool to see all the many people, from all over, enjoying this special place. It was a perfect day in the mountains.

The next day we took a day trip to Interlaken, which is out of the canyon and down in the foothills. We stopped at one of the lakes and the littles took a swim (in undies) which looked so fun, so we decided to go back again so the olders could swim too. 

We saw some neat birds and enjoyed the magnificent water which was cold but, oh, so refreshing. Who cares when you're surrounded by this? 

We were warn out and needed some food, so McDonalds! We had to try the Swiss version which turned out to be just as delicious as in France, but a tad bit more money. Jess enjoyed the Raclette sandwich, which was a Swiss special. Plus, apple soda came in the kids meals. I mean, how can you not like this place?

We drove through the town of Kandersteg daily, and it was always so beautiful.

The following day, we stayed in Kandersteg and hiked the Oeschinensee mountain.We tackled the hike and stayed focused with lots of crackers and gummies and positive talk all the way up.

 

At the top, we were rewarded with this lake and more amazing views!

We also had the reward of ice cream and then riding the alpine coaster, which was the funnest part of the day, as far as the kids were concerned. They have been trained on the alpine slides of Snowbird and Park City so were ahead of the curve of most people taking to the slide. They wanted to go faster than anyone else. Ha!

We decided to take the trip down on the Gondola. At 30 CHF, it was a bit pricey, but it was a welcome ride. Beauty all around and a lot of fun, plus we had an aerial view of cows on the steep mountains grazing like it was no big deal. Those Swiss cows sure have it good.

Another stop we made during this week was to the castle in Thun. Another town in the valley. This was a cool museum and historic spot. 

At the top, the kids got to dress up as knights and battle each other on wooden horses. They also had a fun quiz game that they completed for a prize at the end. Ansel was totally into it. And again, I loved the views from the top! I couldn't get enough of the views.

The kids enjoyed the fresh water fountains all over Switzerland. They couldn't quite believe that you could drink the water that was constantly running from these spouts. It's one of my favorite things in Switzerland (and I saw it a few times in France too), fresh water for all, at all times, and in most places.

And here's one more shot of a perfect day, in a perfect spot, in Interlaken; a place situated between two turquoise lakes surrounded by towering mountains and green hills with cows and chalets. Maybe it's the beauty, the combination of nature, the fact that my ancestors come from this place. I don't know, but I sure love Switzerland.

 Next up: Grindlewald and Lauterbrunnen.

Suisse

From France we headed off to Switzerland. It was an 8 hour drive, so we decided to break it up a bit. We stopped in Dijon, France and stayed in a motel room with 6 bunk beds, a fan for AC, and one bathroom and a shower. It was roughing it, so to speak, and I think it was good for the kids. I remember staying in an airport hotel when traveling back from Europe when I was a teenager. We were sleeping on the floor and it wasn't great, but it made me stronger! In truth, I think Ian thought this place wasn't bad at all.

We arrived in the evening, but needed to stretch our legs, so we walked around the industrial part of Dijon for a bit and found an IKEA and a McDonalds. There is truly comfort in what you know, and this wasn't more apparent than when we visited McDonalds. We went to the fast food joint in Europe four times during the trip, and that was three more times than we've been to the restaurant this whole year in the states. Ha! Below, Ian is showing us that in France, McDonald's offers nectarines. Delicious!

We drove through a city where a stage of the Tour de France was held. This was so neat to see. Jess was in cyclist heaven. We'll have to get him in France during the Tour sometime.

Our first stop in Switzerland was the Bern, Temple. My family tried to find this place when I was a teenager and we could not find it using physical maps. Turns out the temple isn't really in Bern, but rather in Zollikofen, a suburb of Bern. Maybe that's why it was so difficult to find, but thanks to GPS and smartphones we got there in a jiffy. This was a great stop!

We ventured off to the city of Bern right after. The historic downtown was very cool, including this very old clock that had moving parts and was fun to listen to and watch.

 

We walked through the streets and visited a church.

After lunch, we took a walk and looked at the river and peered at the bears that are kept in the city. The views were spectacular. The water was beautiful. 

The river was going pretty fast. We watched as people jumped in and traveled with the current as they floated along. I seriously would have done this had we not had two younger kiddos with us who aren't strong swimmers. Instead, we walked down and dipped our heads in.

Attached to our Bern hotel was a mall. One evening, I went with Ian and Elsie to the mall. It was wild to see Switzerland prices vs. France prices. Needless to say, Switzerland is expensive! Still, they had these fun photo-op spots that the kids loved. Here, Elsie poses with the posies display. Fun!

We visited the Bernisches Historisches Museum/Einstein Museum. It was free that day too (thanks free museum Tuesdays!) and very well done. The information there is given in German, French, and English. Traveling in Europe truly made me want to be bilingual, no wait, trilingual.

We finished off our visit to Bern on a nature walk and then back to the river. Then we took off to drive for another 2ish hours to the alps via Interlaken.

Next up: Interlaken and Kandersteg.

More in Northern France

After some heavy historical sites, we decided to head to some beach towns. Honfleur was a neat stop. The town was much cooler than the windy beach. It was busy here, and I had to be really cool, calm, and collected while driving. Have you seen Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I when the GPS guides Tom Cruise over a mountain to meet a train? This is how I felt when Apple GPS took me on all the back roads where it was crazy to be driving. Still, it did get us to see some of the less traveled roads and I guess that was fun. . . sometimes, so we changed to Google Maps and it was a lot better.  Honfleur and Etretat were the hardest spots to drive in because they were full of tourists and I got yelled at once when I had to do a five point turn. Luckily, I hadn't the foggiest notion of what they were saying, so I finished the fifth and final turn and went on my merry way as did the motorbike and Audi that I had inconvenienced. But I digress, onto Honfleur.

Once we were there, it was a neat spot, especially all of those buildings lined up! 

This place was one of Elsie's favorites because of the double decker carousel. I must admit, it really was quite the sight to see. There is something magical about carousels, don't you think? Or is it just Elsie and me?

We got in our Ferris Wheel fix too, and the views were incredible! Afterward, we ate at a very good Galette (a buckwheat crepe that is usually filled with savory offerings and, dare I say it, better than a crepe) place in Honfleur that was probably my favorite meal in France. I spoke a little, horribly pronounced French here, which made me feel dumb and proud of myself all at the same time. Ha!

Then we were off to Etreat, a beautiful spot on the northeast coast of France. Here the boys stand at the edge of the cliffs with rock formations on the right and a golf course on the left.

We then went down to the very rocky, but smooth rocky, beach. 

And then stopped at the playground. It was fun to see the younger kiddos play with the French kiddos.

Here the older kids are, relaxing at our Airbnb, which was down this very long, very narrow road, only wide enough for one car. It was an adventure every time we went back and forth. 

This place was a fun stop and it felt like we were really living in the country. There was only one other (very grand) house on this same road so it was very secluded. We walked near the creek and picked blackberries in the afternoons. It was like the double decker carousel, magical.

 Up next, a stop at a very cheap hotel and then onto Switzerland!

Sabbatical begins in Normandy

A month off work? Heck yeah! And with that, our whole fam was off to France and then to Switzerland. It was quite a trip, one I will never forget. And with that, I'll share some of our memories. 

We took off for France and arrived at the Paris Airport. That place is HUGE and busy and neat all at the same time. As you can see, the boys were happy to be there.

Getting through customs was a bear! Still, we got to talk to a nice family from Paris who gave us insights into the city. Finally, we were so happy to get our rental car (yes to the VW Touran!) and we were off. This is the part of the blog post where I give a huge shoutout to traveling with a smart phone. Everything is so easy! I remember traveling in Europe when I was a high schooler, and reading the map and getting to places was the most difficult part. I was so glad to have that GPS (and all of the things)!

To stave off any jet lag, we visiting Giverny, Monet's home and gardens. This place was amazing! I loved it. The kids were tired (see Oliver's face below), but they managed. Ha!

We stopped at our airbnb in Giverny. It was an artist's home and so cool with lots of kid toys and books (in French!). We loved relaxing at home after a long day of travel. 

The next day, we visited the Chateau de Guyon, a castle build into limestone caves. This place was awesome! I have 50+ photos on my camera roll from here, but I told myself I could only use two photos of each stop in this summary, so here's one from the front gate.

And here's another photo from the keep at the very top of the castle. The views were magnificent! Of all the things we did in France, this was one of my favorites. I should note, this stop was not on our schedule but Jess found it and we decided to make a day of it. I am so glad we did! Another travel note: make sure to put some flexibility in your traveling. You'll find some gems this way.

The next day, we went to Le Mont Saint Michel, a place I've wanted to see for many years. This is an abbey built on an island off the coast of Normandy. When the tide goes out, you can walk there. When it comes in, it's surrounded by water. This place was busy but it was still amazing. The views. The history. So here's another travel note: try not to go to Europe in July or August. Popular spots are very busy. But really, who are we kidding? If you want to take your kids on a month trip, it's going to have to be in the summer. Amiright?

We went on a tour of the Abbey and it was pretty magnificent. It's pretty crazy to think of all the sweat and toil that went into building such a place. We wanted to go to a famous omelet stop in the little town, but the restaurant was filled and the creperie was full too, so we had baguette sandwiches and sodas. Not too bad. As the vacation went on, I came to love those baguette sandwiches.

The following day we headed up to the beaches of Normandy. Of course, these spots are well known for the D-Day attack on German fortifications in France. It was very surreal to be in a place of past intense fighting on a beautiful sunny day in August. The younger kids wanted to build sand castles. The older kids took it in. Jess really loved these spots. The photo below was at Omaha Beach.

Below is a photo of Jess is at Point du Hoc, the area where army rangers had to climb up the steep cliff wall to attack the strongholds of the German Army. This spot was new to me. I'd never heard of this part of the mission in regards to D-Day. The things these men did were unbelievable.

Another shot on Point du Hoc. At this site, you can still see the craters from dropped bombs and damage from bullets. If you are ever doing a trip to the World War II sites, I would recommend a stop here. From there we went to the American Cemetery in Normandy. A site to behold and worth a visit for sure.

While the kids went to the Overlord Museum, I stayed in the car with Elsie because she was exhausted. Ha! A day full of several stops + jet lag = sleeping in totally awkward positions.

The next day we stopped at Ste. Mere Elise, or the church by the sea. It was at this church that a paratrooper's parachute was caught on the bell tower. He was only able to get down because another soldier spotted him. As such, there is a mannequin of the paratrooper on the church and the Airborne Museum is right across the street. This was a great stop too! A note to the fellow traveler...don't eat at the spots directly by the sites. You may be really hungry, but take a walk down a street or two and go there. Better food, better prices. We figured this out the hard way here. The croquet Monsieur was the worst we had, but the ice cream down the street was the best!

We wrapped up our WWII visits with at stop at Utah Beach. At this stop, Ian lost a tooth (see him pointing to it below)! We came away very grateful for the freedoms we enjoy and the beautiful place the military liberated on the days following the D-Day attack.

Next stop: Honfleur and Etretat...

What kids say...

Yesterday, Ian came home with a cold. He came through the door with malaise but he still wanted to go play and therefore asked, "Can you give me some medicine so I can get going?" To which I replied, "You'd better stay home from friends' houses today and rest." Finally, when evening came, I wanted to give him some medicine to help him sleep better. Within 15 minutes he responded, "This medicine is amazing. My throat feels better, my head feels better, and I have so much energy!"

Elsie came with us to the podiatrist for Ian's foot appointment. He's dealing with a small thorn piece that is stuck in the ball of his foot. Anyhow, I was explaining that we were at the foot doctor and that it was a different place than the pediatrician. Later that afternoon, Elsie was feeling a scratch on her chin that was irritating. She then said, "Mom, I think I need to go to the chin doctor."

And with that, we stand by ibuprofen and are on the lookout for a chin doctor.