Switzerland: Day 2

On our second day in Switzerland, we went exploring.

 We took a cable car to the top of the Schilthorn where there was a lookout area at the peaks around us and a revolving restaurant.

On our way to the cable car

On our way up the mountain. Murren below us.

The look out point

In the revolving restaurant

After coming down the mountain, we went for a walk to Gimmewald, another even tinier town down the mountain.

We had a blowout to clean up whilst on the trail.

After some good naps, we finished off with a good dinner and nice mountain views

Our beautiful girl

Such a sweetie!

Penny is delicious in her fur-lined puffy vest!

Switzerland: Day 1

After our arduous, exhausting trip to Germany and Austria, we vowed that our next trip would be easy and relaxing. We decided Switzerland in September would be just that. We may have been just a bit ambitious, though. Our end destination was Murren, Switzerland--a tiny town on the side of a mountain. In order to get there we did the following:

1. Drive our car to Gatwick airport, 30 minutes away.
2. Take a bus to the plane.
3. Take a plane to Basel, Switzerland.
4. Rent a gigantic van, more like a bus, and drive 2 hours to Lauterbrunnen.
5. Park the van in a parking garage and get on a cable car. Take the cable car up the mountain.
6. Get off the cable car and transfer to a train. Take the train along the side of the mountain to Murren.
7. Get off the train and walk across the street to the hotel.

And this is everything we took with us: 

 Needless to say, we were more than a little grateful for the hotel bellman who met us at the train station to take our luggage to our room for us. We also were incredibly grateful for Roo's patient and happy parents to entertain babies, carry bags, and help out in every way! The girls managed the trip as well as could be expected, depending on what you expect from a 6-month-old and a 2-year-old. If you expect a fair amount of tantrum throwing, demanding of food, crying, and pooping at inconvenient times, then you'd be right on.

What can I say about Switzerland? It was spectacular. Massive, craggy mountains, valleys carpeted in vibrant green, chalets overflowing with pots of geraniums and daisies, brown cows with cowbells that you can hear chiming in the distance, waterfalls, clouds, and sky.

On the cable car.

On the train

The view from the train

Our hotel

The view from our hotel room. It made the long, long journey feel worth the effort.

The panorama

The town of Murren. A few good restaurants, shops, hotels, and houses piled together and perched atop cliff.

After arriving at the hotel, we took a walk, ate a yummy dinner, and wondered how we got so lucky to be falling asleep with such a view out our window.

Hampton Court

Mingling with the Townsfolk

Yesterday, the girls and I walked into town to browse the market and do some errands. While taking a break by the fountain, I had a bizarrely revealing conversation with one of Horsham's residents.

The woman, who was at least in her late 80's, sat next to me on a bench where I was feeding Penny a bottle. She immediately began recounting how she nearly was run over by an ambulance, then she was distracted by the milk in Penny's bottle.

Old Lady: What kind of milk do you feed him? (Penny was wearing green.)

Annie: Usually I nurse her, but sometimes I feed her this powdered formula I get from the supermarket.

Old Lady: Well, I just couldn't make any milk for my babies!  It didn't come!

Annie (sympathetic, yet cautious. Worried this could get weird): Ahhh. Yeah. That's...tough.

Old Lady: But they said I have the best nipples!

Annie's Brain: (Yep, this got weird.)

Old Lady: You know, I didn't know some nipples were better than others, but they are!

Annie's Brain: (Please stop saying 'nipples')

Annie: hmm

Annie's Brain: (Sorry, Annie, I've got nothing more than 'hmm' as a response to that.)

Old Lady: Sadie, who shared a room with me in the hospital, well, she had inverted nipples and the baby just couldn't do much with those! (Every sentence was said in exclamation and amazement.)

Annie' Brain: (Oh please no. Let's not bring Sadie and her inverted nipples into this.)

Annie: Oh.

Old Lady: But Sadie said to me, 'Your nipples are wonderful!'

Annie's Brain: (How can Sadie know so much about your nipples? Dang--I wish I'd never had to ask myself that question because now I have to think about the answer!)

Old Lady went on to tell me all about how and what she fed her baby. I'm not a great conversationalist to begin with, but the most I could muster in this conversation was nodding and 'oh' and 'uh huh'. That was okay, though, because she couldn't really hear what I was saying anyway. Then suddenly she asked what the girls were named. I told her Penelope and Esmé. Surprisingly, she seemed to have heard of the name 'Esmé' before, unlike most people who look at me like I just made it up. "Ah" she said, "Esmé, yes, that's nice."

Then she left.

Then she came walking back.

Old Lady: You know what name I heard the other day? Phoebe! Now that's an old one too, isn't it?


Annie's Brain: (Has she been watching re-runs of FRIENDS?)

So even though I learned way more about her (and Sadie) than I ever wanted to know, the lady was sweet and it was nice of her to talk to me. Next time, I'll choose the topic, though.

This and That

Here are some miscellaneous goings-on from the past few weeks:

We had our 8th wedding anniversary. So we celebrated by going to the beach. I also got Roo a Lord of the Rings map...to symbolize the long journey we, too, have been on during our marriage...not really. I just got it because he's always dropping hints about wanting one.

We had a bank holiday, and after playing at a park with friends, we decided to go for a drive. Going for a drive in England is a good idea, because on our way, we happened upon a town fair with a petting zoo, dog show, chocolates and one-man-band.

We kept driving. The countryside was gorgeous. Then we came upon a cute, hilly, picturesque town.

 On the way back, we took a shortcut through the woods and saw this mysterious abandoned building. Cool.

Other happenings:

Penny blew out in the Bumbo. (I bet you're glad you stuck around to see this one!)

Esme sat in a plastic bin.

We ate at a good pub.

 

We bought food at the town food festival.

And Esme went for a walk with Belle, then with an owl.