Hungary & Switzerland

Last day in Heimiswil

2008-02-17T20:17:00.000-08:00

I think that Switzerland is the most beautiful place I have ever been. We have been to a lot of wonderful places and a lot of beautiful places but I cannot think of any place that matched the Alps in brute force volume of natural beauty.

Our hosts lent the children some sunglasses to use.
Up at the top of the ski lift. I think that perhaps there is no place to ski better than the Alps. I do hope that the winters do not continue to be so warm for them. There are many mountains with much less snow than usual. We spent the afternoon "sledging". Sledding down the ski slope. Something that is just not done, or commonly, in the United States as far as I know.
Our hosts were really wonderful people. Not afraid to have fun or act a little silly. We will miss them. Perhaps we will be able to host them in the USA or Mexico someday.

1st full day in Bern

2008-02-16T19:54:00.000-08:00

We followed our hosts to a cheese shop near Heimiswil for breakfast.

Afterwards we drove to downtown Bern. The center of Bern was very Beautiful. We brought some CDs in a very funky cellar record store in this area. And I do mean record store. I mean that they have real vinyl records.
We had an amazing tour of the Einstein museum. Very eduacational and the Curator who was a former school teacher took and interest in showing the kids around. Her she is pictured opening the windows for the children and showing the view of the clock that may have helped to inspire some of Einsteins work with time.
After a full day of sight seeing with our hosts we had some dinner in the center of Bern and then went back to Heimswil for some drinks before finishing the day out back at their apartment.

Thirbenthal to Heimiswil

2008-02-16T19:40:00.000-08:00

On our way from Thurbenthal outside of Zurich to Heimiswil outside of Berne, we stopped to visit the largest cloister in europe. It was large cold and no one was around. I have decided against becoming a monk.
Luzern was different than what I expected. I had thjought that it was built around the lake, but the old town is actually centered around the river. There are mountains visable across the lake in good weather. Unfortunately our weather was cool and hazy.

While in Luzern we purchase some watched that are only sold in Switzerland.

Unfortunately we had lost the address and phone number of our hosts in Heimiswil. After trying to locate an internet cafe or hotspot to get the phone number and directions, the staff at this hotel in Burgsdorf were nice enought to let us use the internet connection in one of their rooms to help us out. It was a nice hotel and our hosts recocommended it if you are ever in Burgsdorf. I was certainly thankful for them. It was really noce to be grated by our hosts when we finally arrive at the correct house in Heimiswil.

Thurbenthal to Hemiswil

2008-02-15T16:56:00.000-08:00

This is a picture take by the teacher in Thurbenthal. Our children blen right into the class and really enjoyed their time there.

We visited the largest cloister in all of Europe. No photos were allowed inside and we were in a hurry to get to Luzern for lunch

!st full day in Switzerland

2008-02-14T14:11:00.000-08:00

The kids spent the morning at elementry school in Thurbanthal. Laurel worked and I went to the grocery store and cheese shop with our host. The owner of the cheese shop brought us some cheddar cheese from her own home. If you are ever passing though Thurbanthal the cheese shop has an amazing selection of hand crafted local cheeses and other natural food products. Do the Swiss know cheese? It is really worth the stop!

Everywhere we drove looked like something out of a model railway set. It was all so picturesque and perfect. So what is it? N scale, HO scale, Z scale? I can assure you is is all 1:1. I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn't a photograph.
Valentines day 2008. Top of the world. Is there a better place to be today? I can't even imagine it,a dn I have a pretty wile imagination.
We stopped and did some shopping at the small village of Appenzell.

Arrival in Switzerland

2008-02-13T18:51:00.000-08:00

Our first day in Switzerland was very nice. I like Switzerland much more than I expected. But it could just be the company. It was quite obvious from emails that our host family was a warm wonderful family, but they are even nicer in person. What a great welcome, we were instantly made to feel comfortable and at home. Pictured we have the mother of the family with two of the three children and a neighbor child.

We all went to Rheinfalls together. A very beauiful place that we had never heard of. While it is no comparison to Niagra falls in size or mass it is more impressive in how close one can get to the falls.
Five giggly girls. Here they are pictured during the serious business of organizing candy. Our daughter is instantly at home here.
The small village they live in is like something out of a postcard. To us it looks fake. Almost like a "Swiss Village" at Disney land. But unlike so much that we have seen that has been reconstructed for tourists, this was the real thing,

Budapest Afternoon 4

2008-02-12T00:24:00.000-08:00

The kidz and I went into the Labrinth under Buda hill. While the artwork was reconstructions of art found all over europe, the Labrinth itself was really quite interesting.
Tipical were these cave paintings.
We ate at a very nice restaurant call "Roseenstein Vendiglo" and rated "Best of Budapest". Pictured are are a try containing Goose Liver, Duck Liver, and fried fat.

Our friend Kirzta bought us a cookbook written by the restaurant's chef. Perhaps we will cook you something from it someday. But, we are not very good chefs, so perhaps, if you are a friend we will not. :-)

Budapest Day 4 - Buda Hill

2008-02-11T15:06:00.000-08:00

Today we visited Buda Castle. A recent reconstruction after the war, the castle was quite beautiful but had somehow gained a Disneyish quality in its prestine presentation.
Quite beatiful the castle bastion had a cake like look about it.
On one of the castle bastions overlooking the Danub river and Parliment
The Hilton Hotel stuck smack in the middle of the castle area has to be the most agreejous pieces of architecture I have ever seen.

Budapest Day 3

2008-02-11T14:40:00.000-08:00

We went to the Széchenyi hot springs bath in the early afternoon. There were cool, hot and hotter pools as well as many specialized services available. This one is particularly popular with the tourists. We wanted to go to one of the older more traditional spas but as far as we could tell none of them allowed children.

The Spa was located across the street from a circus fair that appeared to be very well used.

We met our friend Val at Hero's square which commemorates many of the early leaders and important figures of Hungarian history. Unfortunately Hungary has found itself smack in the middle of history (or at least wars) way to many times.

This is Val perched up on the central statue commemorating the pasturalists with the kids.

Budapest Day2 - and continued

2008-02-10T02:40:00.000-08:00

2008-02-10T02:38:00.000-08:00

day 2 cont..

2008-02-10T02:36:00.000-08:00

Fay 2 Sentendre &

2008-02-09T15:15:00.000-08:00

2008-02-08T06:29:00.000-08:00

Flying into Switzerland was just amazing. I knew that the Alps where huge but flying over them gives one a real perspective. You see all the rolling hills and mountains below you. But then you look across and the Alps are towering up into the sky right beside you.

Nuclear reactors seemed to be a theme on this trip. We spent a long time circling one in Pennsylvannia and a good amount of time circling this one in Switzerland.

Today we slept in just a bit. We are all very tired from jet lag. It is afternoon and Laurel and Lindsey are napping. This morning we took a walk to the central market to get food. The market was a foodie's paradise. Fresh meats, fruit and vegetables. The selection was incredible. We picked up some cheese and sausages, bananas and some pumpkin and apple struddles which look absolutely delicious. We went to an underground wine bar restaurant for lunch. It was very good. It advertized that it served lighter fare but it was still very heavy for what we are used to. I think we will need to try to minimize our intake of traditional Hungarian food or we will not fit on the plane to make it out of the country!