The Pristine Beauty of Lucerne, Switzerland

Really, I've never seen a city so beautiful.  Set upon Lake Luzern, with snow capped mountains in the background and a lake so clearly pristine, this is a city that takes your breath away.  And with over 200 pictures on the first full day, it clearly is a haven for photography as well.

Barcelona is an impeccably clean city.  With city workers out daily cleaning up trash, washing the streets and power washing buildings, I'm always in awe of how clean it is for a city.  Lucerne makes Barcelona look like a dump.  And by no mean is Barcelona a dump.  That's just how clean Lucerne is - pristine.  Even the water in the lake is so clear you can see the bottom.  When have you ever been in a harbor area and been able to see the bottom??  Um, probably never!

We slept in a little bit on our first morning in Lucerne as we didn't make it in til after 11 the night before from our tobogganing trip and we were all pretty wiped out.  Figuring that it was supposed to rain all day, we didn't have super ambitious plans of what we would be able to see.  However, in the end, it was a gorgeous day!  We didn't have sun the entire day but I would say we had it most of the day and when you walked in the sun, you could feel the warmth on your skin and it was hard to believe it was the end of December in Switzerland.  With little to no breeze, it was a perfect day to be walking around town.

Lucerne (or Luzern as it is called locally) is located in the north central part of Switzerland and is located in the German speaking part of the country.  With a population of about 76,000 people, it's relatively small by city standards.  This is not quite double the size of Attleboro, our hometown back in the States.  And as another comparison, Barcelona is home to about 1.6 million people.  Yeah, it's a small city.  

Because this was a chill, touristy day before we start 3 consecutive days of skiing, we played it all by ear with absolutely no itinerary in mind.  We started off walking thru some of the old city which is where our hotel is located.  The streets in the old city were filled with shops, most of them chains.  I was hoping for more local artisans and I'm sure they are somewhere but they weren't located on the main drag of this part of the city.  

One of the many bakeries that made my mouth water

Walking thru the old city

We saw many buildings with beautiful frescos on them

Aidan near the river

Both of these buildings had beautiful paintings outside

View from the river

The walk thru the old city took us to the river which then opens up on to Lake Lucerne.  On the river there are 2 covered bridges.  The first that we came upon was the Spreuer Bridge which zigzags across the Reuss River.  It is a covered wooden bridge that dates back to 1408 (yup that's pretty old!) and even has a chapel that was added inside in 1568.  I don't know many bridges... ok, I don't know any... that have a chapel inside them!!  

Spreuer Bridge

Looking at the pristine clear water below

 It's not just beautiful on the outside

From the inside looking out to the rest of the bridge

Also inside this bridge and the next one were interesting paintings in the arches - these date back to the 17th century and the ones in this bridge had a them of the plague called Dance of Death (by Kaspar Meglinger).  Josh and I were in awe of these paintings that are essentially exposed to the elements daily - and it's not exactly the most benign of climates here!  

One of the many paintings inside

A close up

View downriver

The chapel inside?????  Weird...

We crossed the Spreuer Bridge and walked down river towards the lake, coming upon the Chapel Bridge.  Before we got to the bridge, however, we found a bunch of swans.  We actually had seen a number of them last night and personally, I was surprised at the number of them as it's my understanding that they are very territorial and often you won't see more than a few in one location. We're talking well over a dozen of them.  Maybe it's a family???  Anyways, the kids are obsessed (and admittedly, myself as well) and we took a ton of pictures of them too :)  

Spreuer Bridge

What we loved about this house is that it looks like a giant Avent calendar!

There are several of these towers in the area, though we have not seen them yet.  But we are planning a possible excursion to the top of one of the mountains where we can supposedly see a number of them.

"Let us out!!"... they actually put themselves in there... if only there were a lock on the outside...

A few of the many swans

Boys LOVED the swans

While territorial and usually only found in pairs, I did some research and apparently in good feeding areas you can find up to hundreds of swans in an area... I had no idea!

So on to the Chapel Bridge, which is another covered wooden bridge that crosses the Reuss but does so on a diagonal.  The bridge was originally built in 1333 but 2/3 of it was destroyed by a fire (assumed to have been started by a disguarded cigarette) in 1993.  It was rebuilt but of the original 158 paintings in this bridge (147 were still in tact before the fire), only 47 paintings made it thru the fire and in the end, only 30 were able to be restored.  A shame... 

I love the sun on the top of the center building

Some of the saved paintings

Liam pretending to throw Aidan off the bridge

After travelling regularly with young kids on a regular basis over the last 4 years, we've become pretty good judges of when they need a break.  So when we saw the Starbucks across the river we jumped at the chance to just sit down with a mug of hot chocolate.  Yes, we are in Switzerland and yes, we know we can get better hot chocolate than Starbucks.  But for the kids, the familiarity is comforting and calming.  And so a decaf coffee frappucino for Aidan and an apple juice for Liam... and hot chocolate for me.

View from outside of Starbucks

 A non panoramic view and probably my favorite picture of the trip thus far...

We did a quick detour over to the train station to organize ourselves for skiing.  They have a promotion going on with the train company (the SBB) and the ski resorts so we were able to get our train rides and ski passes discounted.  We figured since we need to take the 7AM train tomorrow, it was best to get the tickets in advance so it will be one less thing to stress about in the morning.  It helps that we were already at the mountain last night for the tobogganing so we have an idea of where we need to go.

After the train station we decided to amble along in the search for lunch.  Our walk took us along the banks of Lake Lucerne.  It was supposed to rain but instead the sun was shining and it felt so nice to be outside walking along the water.  The stunning vistas of the Swiss Alps didn't hurt either!

Note the single swan swimming below

Our walk eventually took us to the Old Swiss House for lunch.  The building dates back about 150 years and has ties to the Anheuser-Busch family.  While Aidan, for once, was not thrilled with his meal, Josh and I both were.  Josh started with a lobster bisque and I started with a pumpkin soup, a specialty of this area and absolutely delicious.  We shared the famous wienerschnitzel which was prepared right at our table, something the kids really enjoyed.  They also loved seeing the crepes suzette being flambéed right at the table too!

As the kids were getting a bit cranky and were still recovering from the late night on Friday, we decided to hit the Lion of Lucerne which was right up the street and then head back to the hotel for a little downtime.  The Lion of Lucerne is a magnificent statue that was far larger in scale than I would have ever imagined.  The pictures do not do it justice.  It is actually 10 meters long and 6 meters high. It was carved into a cliff face in the early 1800s as a commemoration to soldiers lost during the French Revolution.  In the sculpture, the lion has been mortally wounded and you can see the look of pain and sadness in his face.  The sculpture can truly take your breath away with it's beauty and symbolism.

As Aidan was in a rush to get back to the hotel, it was just Liam and I on the walk back so we took a few more pics on the way...

The duck looks like he's just floating on air, but no, the water is just that clear

Can you see the sailboat way out?  Wish my camera could zoom just a little further so I could capture that one a little closer...

Unbelievably clear water - look at that reflection!

My baby...

After a few hours of downtime in the hotel to just watch a movie on the ipad, draw and relax, we headed out for dinner.  While we hadn't planned on fondue since we had it on Friday night, it's exactly what we ended up with and it was fabulous!  A feast - cheese, meats and of course, chocolate.  Liam who was definitive in his hatred of all things fondue, found that he, in fact, loves the meat and chocolate course.  Hey it's a start!  

Enjoy their dessert!

Tomorrow we are off to ski Mt. Titlis, a HUGE mountain in comparison to the tiny one we skied in France a few years ago.  The boys and Josh are super excited for the skiing.  Me, not so much.  I'm not a fan but taking one for the team because I know how much my 3 boys love to do it (and I'm hoping against hope that I can somehow skip out a little early!).  The boys will be taking private lessons early in the morning (hello 7AM train... um vacation sleep in anyone?) which will be good for them to regain the skills they've lost since they last skied 2 years ago.  I'm sure there will be tales to tell mañana!  

Besos,
Julie

Race to the Finish!

Planes, trains, automobiles (ok, a bus) and... toboggans??  We are off on yet another amazing adventure!  This time it's to Luzern, Switzerland for a little snow and skiing. After an almost 60 degree Christmas in Barcelona, it was time to get a little of that holiday spirit in our lives. And where better than the mountains of Switzerland.

The flight was my best in a very long time. No near panic attacks and total smooth sailing. A relief as we have 2 more trips over the next 6 weeks and hopefully as a result of this flight, I will be slightly less stressed. 

My little buddy ready to go see some snow!!

Josh with his new bluetooth Bose headset, ready to fly!

We flew into Basel and headed for the train counter. My god the trains here are expensive!  I had gone on the advice of a friend yo do the train thing and honestly didn't think twice. I figured we would be saving a few pennies and we wouldn't have to worry about driving on dangerous, icy mountain roads. Josh may disagree, but I'm still glad we went this route. And with the Swiss being so efficient, it wasn't a hard system to navigate.

We arrived in Lucerne and OMG I'm in love. Hands down one of the most picturesque cities I have ever seen.  However, I only caught a glimpse because we had plans to go tobogganing but it was a 45 minute train ride from Luzern AND we didn't know how long it would take us to get there from the train station. So when our train arrived in Luzern at 4, we raced to our hotel to check in, grab our snow pants and run right back to the train station for our 5 o'clock train to Engelburg. And it was a race because we still had to buy tickets. And being in a rush, I had, of course left the kids prepaid train tickets at the hotel. Oops!  I also left the details of the tobogganing. Good thing Josh had it on his phone. So more about Luzern tomorrow when we have more time.  I did get a few shots in when Josh wasn't yelling at us to hurry up!

We made it on to the train with moments to spare and arrived in Engelberg about 45 minutes later. We went from the lush green landscape with snowy mountain peaks and Lake Luzern to a winter wonderland filled with snow, ice and more mountains. We asked for directions and a little over a 15 minute walk later we were at Engelburg/Titlis station with 30 (long) minutes to spare. So far our day has been comprised of a lot of hurry up and wait moments.

The kids and I are ready to go... this is just moments before Liam became hysterical!

We finally made it on to the funicular to go up the mountain to do the 3.5 km toboggan run. Those in the States, you may have heard Liam's screams. He was totally NOT on board for this. Not being adventurous like this myself, I was surprised to find that I was actually excited about it.

Josh and Aidan ready to go!  Notice Liam in the background is less than thrilled!

Once we took off an he realized we would be going at a leisurely pace zig zagging down the mountain, he became quite cool with it. Josh and Aidan were well ahead of us and about 90% of the time it was just Liam and I on the run. It was a time I will always treasure. I hope he remembers it because it was one of the most beautiful experiences I have ever had. I wish I had stopped to take pictures but I just had to go with the peacefulness of the experience and let my desire to photograph it go to the wayside so I could take it all in. 

We were surrounded by forest and at its widest our trail was maybe 15 feet wide with it getting slightly narrower at other times. Tree branches were covered in newly fallen snow that made a canopy over us as we slid down the mountain. Everything was silent except our toboggan crunching over the snow. The stars. I've never in my life seen anything like it. The night was so perfectly clear and I don't think I knew that many stars existed - there were so many. And the constellations were as clear as day. Cassiopeia, Orion and so many more. Even Liam exclaimed he had never seen anything like it in his life. 

We had such a great time, I was sad when it ended so quickly. We had 30 minutes until dinner and so Josh and Aidan headed back up for a second run to race each other back down. It's probably best that I didn't see Aidan, his speed or his control as there were some very precarious corners along the trail. But he's a smart kid and made it back down so he obviously was doing something right!

Josh and Aidan on their second run... 

Warming ourselves by the fire while we wait for Aidan and Josh

Excited for the fondue that he didn't eat... for some reason he thought fondue was a drink???

Exhausted from our day of travel, we barely made it thru our fondue dinner and even (gasp!) skipped dessert as Liam was falling asleep at the table. 

Once more we had to race - down to the train station for the train that was coming in 20 mins. Only when it was 9:29 did we realize that it was a bus and not a train we needed to take. We raced around to the front of the building and the us had just pulled up.  That was close!

Our bus driver seemed to think he belonged on the Indy race circuit.  We drove quickly down ice covered roads that made 180 degree switchbacks that would make anyone nervous!  Both kids fell asleep and it's probably for the best as I white knuckled our way down to the train station, a half hour away.  We finally made it to the train station and had about 10 minutes to kill.  We couldn't wait to make it back to the hotel which was sometime close to 11 by the time all was said and done.  It was a long day of racing, but totally worth it in the end.  We're looking forward to some more Swiss adventures over the next 5 days!

Besos,
Julie

The Moment After

It couldn't have been even an hour after I posted about our wonderful Christmas when Aidan dropped the bomb. "Mom, I know you bought the presents."  To which I responded, "of course I didn't honey". Then he got me. "Mom, they were in the shower in your office bathroom."  Fail.  How do you respond to that?

Well not very well. Deny. Deny. Deny. Then switch the topic. But the fact us, it's time to come clean. I'm in no way ready for this but obviously he is. All those moments of his childhood where I wish I could have done more, played more, laughed more and created more magic for him. This is the culminating moment where I have to tell him the truth. Despite my wishes, my little boy is growing up. How could this tiny, defenseless baby have gone from this

Aidan - May 2004

 to this?

Aidan - September 2013

So while he went to bed without any new insight into the why, I ponder how I'm going to deal with this next chapter in our lives. It probably seems like I'm making a mountain out of a molehill here, but I think any parent with young children can relate to the moment when you realize your baby is no longer a baby. It's not a pretty moment. And I tear up a little just writing this. Once we have this talk, we can't go back. Santa will no longer be "real". 

When I was facing this "problem" a few weeks ago, a good friend sent me an article -  http://letslassothemoon.com/2013/12/16/5-tips/.   I have to say that her timing was perfect and my plan with Aidan is something along the lines that the blog suggests. I want him to feel that he is a part of a special club; that I wasn't lying just to lie but that this is a special secret that we must keep and protect and now he can be a part of this exclusive club. Because while Santa himself may not be real, Saint Nicolas was and it's in his spirit as to why we give gifts at Christmas and out of which the tale of Santa Claus was born.

Fast forward to today.  I debated on whether to tell him or not.  I figured I would just let it go unless he brought it up.  After all, why spoil things if he's not itching to know but is just questioning and trying to figure it out for himself without necessarily really wanting to know the truth.

But he brought it up... again.  This time mentioning the letter from Santa that he left with the half empty plates.  He said it was definitely Josh's handwriting (ha, it was mine!) and Santa did not leave him that letter.  He also said that I was the one that filled the stockings.  So is he just digging in the hopes of me telling him?  Well, I decided to own up.

I brought Aidan up to my room and sat him down.  While it might sound silly, I tried to explain it to him on his terms.  I asked him if he remembered watching Fred Claus this holiday season.  And while we don't know if Saint Nicholas had a brother named Fred, the beginning premise was true - that Nicholas was born hundreds of years ago (in the 4th century actually) and that he became a saint in part because of how he gave to others - and all of this, yes, was covered in the movie.  Again, trying to get on his level for him to understand the concept.  I told him that Saint Nicholas eventually evolved into Santa Claus and that we were so lucky because we get to continue on his traditions.

This is when he told me I was a liar and I had been lying to him for 9 years.  Hmmm... this is not going as I had planned.  I told him that it was like being a part of a secret club getting to carry on Saint Nicholas' traditions from year to year and that now he, too, could be a part of that.  And that he can help to make it special for Liam and other kids in coming years.  He wanted no part in that.

I could see his struggles with this information.  I asked him if he was upset and he said he was because he still had believed a little bit.  So I asked him why he kept on accusing me of being Santa and kept telling me things about finding the gifts, etc - that if he still believed, why did he keep questioning whether he was real?  He didn't have an answer.  And I told him that I didn't want to lie to him - that it's one thing to believe in the magic of Christmas but another to lie when he asks a point blank question or tells me that he found all the presents.  I don't think either of us have "won" in this situation.

Josh, of course, who was downstairs with Liam (he never seems to be there for these big serious conversations like the sex one either... lucky him!), said well what did you expect, you told him too soon!!  Um, hello, if you felt that, why didn't you stop me???  So now I've spoiled Christmas and Santa for Aidan.  He seems like he has moved on and is currently playing his wii u.  But what's going thru his mind as he's playing?  Is he angry?  Sad?  Betrayed?  Or is he totally fine with this current turn of events.

The good news is that we've got another 365 days until next Christmas to convince him that this time of year is magical.  And that we want to make it special for others no matter whether Santa is real or not. And that he can still be real in our hearts.

Besos,
Julie