Lugano

Venturing into Ticino, the Italian region of Switzerland...

The journey to Lugano put on a show of some of the most spectacular scenery and engineering marvels we have ever seen. Bridges straddling large gulfs and then diving into deep tunnels, then suddenly you're on the other side of the mountain. The mountains again are magnificent and even though these engineering marvels seem to have tamed them by making passage easier: through, over and around them; we are fooling ourselves if we think that these peaks can be conquered. They even defied photography, as G leapt around the carriage trying to get a shot that came close to doing the scene justice. Finally, defeated, we just sat in incredulous silence and marveled at the picturesque views - bugger the blog ;-)

Unloading ourselves off the train we scuttled up to the hotel where Herman Hesse once stayed, even making a cameo appearance in one of his novels.

Rooms were given the Mack seal of approval and once luggage was stashed we went exploring Lugano. After a winding steep descent, we made it to the beautiful lake and strolled beside it in the glorious afternoon sunshine.

We observed with some amusement and a suitable measure of grumpy disapproval, what must serve as Lugano's local hoods - part gangster rappers, part Italian hipster (think immaculate vest and shirt, teamed with low-slung pants). Irritatingly, they were strumming toy guitars, which they progressively smashed and pieces of which they discarded behind them.

As we meandered through the park, we frequently noticed a distinct 'herbal' aroma in the air. As people were none too discreet about lighting up, we made a note to check the finer points of legality...

Dash was very excited about a trip on the funicular, a small train on a steep track that takes you back to Lugano station. Everyone surges forward to catch it, creating quite a crush and making you think that the walk must surely be longer than ten minutes.

On our return to the hotel, a highlight for G & D was watching Cam beside himself with laughter whilst watching a crazy Japanese game show where contestants dressed in outlandish and cumbersome costumes and completed physical challenges, which was dubbed and narrated in Italian. Such is the variety of International travel...

Border crossing, but no passport

We decided to sample a little of France and visit the very well preserved town of Colmar in Alsace. Our Swiss neighbours, Sherri and Markus had been there a few days before and brought us back a delicious local cake - we were sold!

Having caught so many trains lately, it had been a while since we had ventured out in the car, but GPS's are a godsend and we were soon on our way to the border, being overtaken at 130kph (love Euro freeways!)

The Macks have something of a knack for taking hours to get out the door and then forgetting one crucial item. Usually MacGyver-like we make do. Unfortunately, as we neared the border crossing, we realized that Cam had forgotten to put on his attractive flesh-colored belt housing our passports. Too late to turn around, we approached with trepidation, wondering if the 'clueless Aussie' ploy would get us through without a hefty fine. As we approached, G almost crashed into a barrier that looked like it completely closed off the road - thankfully she found the opening and drove through trying not to look guilty. We breathed a sigh of relief at the laxity of the European Union when nobody looked remotely like they wanted to stop us and then realized we could still be stopped anywhere outside of our house in Siggenthal and be expected to produce our documents.

The drive into Colmar got slightly more stressful when we hit a maze of one-way streets, with signs in completely unfamiliar French. However, once we found a park and started walking it was all worth it. Some of the buildings appear to have random street numbers in the eight hundreds until you realize that is the date they were built! We even passed Voltaire's residence, although possibly a fancy plaque is overkill to mark a stay of only one year.

God bless the Swiss and their two-hour lunch breaks - spot the tourists all gathered around the information bureau, puzzling at the sign. Damn civilized I say (but often quite inconvenient).

On the way home, again navigating the freeway, between the slow trucks and the super-sonic sports cars, G received a thumbs-up from a passing driver. Apparently not a compliment in these parts...

Bern baby Bern

Leaving the wonderful Bellevue...

Bern has a thing for bears. It is their symbol, the word Bern is associated in meaning to bear and they even have a bear pit to taunt the poor things. Actually it had a make-over in 2009 a vast improvement on the old bear pit.

While sadly the old part of Bern burnt down in a disastrous fire in the 15th century, it was rebuilt with stone and the rebuilt old city is a marvel. Strolling down cobbled streets, er actually ricketing down cobbled streets with dash passed out in the stroller (glad we paid full-fare for him to see Europe...) it was once again easy to get lost in time (except for the fancy shops and buses fanging down the narrow streets).

In an embarrassing tourist moment, G was so intent on pointing the iPad (embarrassingly conspicuous in itself) at the clock tower that supposedly inspired Einstein's theory of relativity, that she almost got hit by one of these careening people movers, people watching with amusement as she leapt aside as the horn blared but iPad and pride still intact - stunt clocktower photography at it's best. We often get funny looks taking pictures with the iPad but it's the only way we can get pictures onto the blog -Oh the sacrifice! If apple are reading this blog we are happy to take sponsorship as we are endorsing your products and making them look cool...actually not...more like idiot-proof!

The old city built on a hill had incredible vistas of the outer suburbs on the other side of the river. Stay tuned for our intended return to Bern for the onion festival...

BlogThis!

Lake Thun majestic, G shopoplectic

Today we headed to the lake town of thun. Dash had been begging to take a bus and it turned out to truly be the scenic route. Hugging the side of the cliff, it provided an incredible view of the lake and a few hair raising turns (bless the skilled bus driver, or was that the skill of other drivers avoiding the bus..?) We arrived safe and sound in the middle of town and it was time for the family Mack to get schlossed.

Schlossed: An affectionate term coined to describe the manic process of a family marching up some ridiculously steep hill, with screaming kids, so that they can see a castle or what used to be a castle and is now but an interesting pile of old assembled stone.

Schloss Thun is a 12th century castle that seriously dominates the skyline. Described as a fairy tale castle I thought it looked more like a "don't mess with me I am your lord, and ye who dwell below my lofty pinnacles are nothing but dust and shall do my bidding" type of deal. This was no ruin in fact looking up at this monstrosity of stone assemblage I felt like an ant and that I was about to be attacked by some Swiss knight with a pike. Alas we could not go inside as it is only open on Sunday's between 1 and 4 in winter, so we didn't stick around and wait, though daddy Mack, still schlossed with schloss fever thought about it...not for long. But he did think about it....a little

G chose our lunch spot, and being fond of the occasional indulgence in the finer things in life, she saw hidden potential in a somewhat pretentious sushi bar called Fluss (even undeterred by Switzerland's status as a land-locked country). G - I needed a light antidote to all that bread, cheese and wurst.

Anyway, although not ostensibly family-friendly, we were not put off by the dubious looks garnered by our party, nor the assertion that there was no room for a stroller, pointing out that we would like to sit on the fabulous deck overlooking the river that was probably more accustomed to skimpily attired young and funkies - but at least I pulled out a boob (for Jett) to get in the mood! It was very enjoyable sitting in the sun, munching on raw fish watching the river run by and Dash both ate his food (Japanese being a rare cuisine that he enjoys) and ran amok on the deck and riverside = happy parents!

After lunch G claimed some shopping points earned from intensive schlossing. I found a double row of gorgeous, quirky shops on Obere Hauptgasse, where you could walk on the level above the street level shops - twice as many shopping opportunities! I found a handmade jewelry and homeware shop where I kept bringing new items to the counter as fast as the owner could wrap, which I think she did excruciatingly slowly as a ploy to keep me buying her beautiful wares. In a slightly 'single white female' moment, when we returned to Markus and Peggy's house, I realized that Peggy must have been to the exact same shop, as there are a few (fairly obscure) items in their home that are exactly the same as those that I bought!

Dinner was at our favorite Swiss restaurant the golden anchor. Once again we ate a lovely dinner. Cam had the mountain goat and Greta and Dash had fish from a Swiss mountain stream. The staff are very friendly and just love the kids. One of the staff was all gah-gah over dash and took him to meet the kitchen staff who all gave him high fives and fussed over him. She did not notice Jett who was snoozing in the stroller until we got up to leave and she was quite overcome, topped off when Dash gave her a hug. Traveling with young kids can have its moments of @&/$$/;!:,);>\,£ @@&&@!!!! but interactions like these make it so worth it.

Jungfraujoch

We were first in the door for our hotel's delicious buffet breakfast (The Macks love a buffet!) We feasted on bircher muesli, cold meats and an impressive selection of Swiss cheeses. Dash seemed to be overwhelmed by the choice, taking about a bite of each offering, before surrendering it to his Dad to finish off.

Entirely sated, we headed off to inverlaken Ost to catch the first of seven(!) trains. We arrived 20 mins later at our first stop, Grindelwald and with Kenny Rogers crooning don't fall in love with a dreamer,the Macks dreamt of snow covered mountains while we sat down for a hot choc, before beginning our ascent in truly magnificent weather. [G- trust Cam to pick up on the background music - he also noted Metallica at breakfast!]

A couple more train changes and we were on the Jungfrau railway (Europe's highest). It is a true engineering marvel and something of a testament to human folly, with sadly many lives lost. Construction began in 1896, with thousands of men toiling for sixteen years and finally halting just short of their intended destination.

At over 3500m, the views are spectacular as you walk out into more ice than snow as Cam soon discovered when he 'got air' and landed spectacularly on his arse! We didn't stay too long as we were concerned about the possible effect of the altitude on the kids. They were little troopers however and it was Greta who wound up with altitude sickness - totally worth it though!

We were all thoroughly exhausted on the return journey, but Dash perked up no end when a lovely Japanese lady enticed him over with chocolate - even returning for seconds!

Jett gave us some big smiles and last night she slept through - the perfect ending to a wonderful day.

So too was the Jettski

Dash was impressed with the digs at Interlaken.