switzerland

I took German in high school and college, so it was fun to see how much I remembered. Bern is a German speaking town with cobblestone streets, cute shops, beautiful fountains, cafes, city squares and churches…. We could do a commercial for this place – that’s how much we enjoyed it even though it was chilly and raining. I bet it is magical during Christmas time. We walked along the streets, watched the huge clock strike on the hour – a golden statue of a man with a mallet hit a giant bell… so fun. When the sun started to come out, the city really came to life.

The Bärengraben, or Bear Pit, is in the Swiss capital city of Bern. It is a bear pit, like a zoo type enclosure for brown bears. In the city, there is also BärenPark, a larger and more natural enclosure alongside the River Aar. It is fun but weird to see these big animals right next to streets and houses. Bears used to freely roam the city!
The boys kept wanting to go on more “bear hunts” (just to spot them, of course. There are no hunters in this family.)

Our friend’s chalet is magnificent! I will post pictures soon, but for now, this is our view of the mountains!

We were going to have a relaxing day but decided to take a hike to see if we could see some snow. We did and we were, actually, quite excited. (Probably hard to believe for friends and family who are just ending pretty brutal winter months!) While hiking we came across wood carvings in trees- a shovel, a butterfly, edelweiss, a saw and a pinecone. We were surprised that people leave them alone. We followed the clearest, cleanest stream we’ve ever seen. I walked back while Jesse and kids kept going. When they got back, they were so excited about a beaver type animal they saw, crocuses and guys doing a running/jumping sport on the side of the mountain onto the snow. Pretty cool stuff in an unbelievably beautiful, serene part of the world!

In Switzerland now at our good friends’ chalet in the Alps! The Huss’ are the couple in the photo way back at the start of the blog who encouraged us to go on this trip. So thankful to you guys for so much!
One photo is of a view from the chalet and the other is of Em and Maddux actually volunteering to help me peel potatoes! Wow! I guess they have missed cooking, too. We made a huge amount of mashed potatoes for some good old fashioned carbo loading. (Pierre- your neighbor’s kid would have been in heaven!)
More photos of Switzerland to come! We love it here.

It would have gone much more smoothly if the two lady ignoramuses would have gotten out of the way, but the kids managed just fine. Everyone has gotten stronger from this trip- you should see Lennon flex his biceps! hee