Day 7: Switzerland

From Maria:
Today we awoke to our beautiful setting in the Alps. I tried to capture a photo but my phone just couldn't do it justice. But here's a taste:

We enjoyed a European breakfast and headed further up the mountain in the cable car. The girls decided to try a zip line (!!) and some low tricycle bikes that you can ride down the mountain. Phillip had gotten somewhat queasy from the cable car and I'm a two-feet-on-the-ground kind of gal, so we went for the hiking option and it did not disappoint. We were treated to some wonderful views and wildflowers. A special highlight were some very happy cows, complete with cowbells. One laid there and periodically rubbed her head in wildflowers.

Down the mountain did have some stressful aspects as 1) it was ridiculously steep and 2) the tricycle vehicles would come careening down the path. Soon enough, some of those careeners were Jonathan, Amelia and Charlotte. Grandpa Phil, meanwhile, shouted  greetings from the gondola above. Charlotte did not enjoy her tricycle ride and had a small collision but everyone else liked it.

After lunch we said goodbye to our beautiful mountain spot and headed to Bern.               

Bern means bear in German and there is a family of bears that lives in the downtown. We enjoyed watching the bears and marveling at the gorgeous turquoise river.

Then a scenic drive to the home of some Swiss friends of Phil: Elsbet and Eric Zurcher. They were incredibly kind and treated us to a European meal. Since my kids usually wolf down their meals in about six minutes, I had given them fair warning and they did a great job with our 4.5 hour meal.

It was another great day in Europe.

Day 6: Up the Mountain

We started the day with a drive to Zurich, where we toured Anabaptist historical sites.  We visited the Grossmunster church on the Limmat River, where early Anabaptists started Bible studies.  We visited the street where Conrad Grebel baptized George Blaurock in 1525.  We also visited the site of the house where Grebel grew up, pictured below.

In the top right corner of the picture is an inscription about Grebel.

We then ate lunch by the Limmat and admired the swans.

We drove from Zurich to Interlochen and then up to Grindelwald, high in the Swiss Alps.  Our GPS was excellent notwithstanding a few twists and turns.

!!!!

We stopped on the way up for coffee and a nice view.

At Grindelwald we hopped on cable cars for the ride up to our guesthouse, where we had a relaxed evening watching the clouds pass by the mountain peaks, looking at wild flowers, and listening to the many many cowbells.  The guesthouse is primarily accessed by cable car so once those stopped around 5pm it got very quiet and calm up on the mountainside. The views below are from outside our guesthouse.

Day 5: German Castles

Blog by Charlotte
As the day began, the we started out by waking up early and grabbing a few pasteries so we could hop on the road quick and get to Neuschwanstein (noosh•von•stien) and Hohenschwangau (ho•in•shwahn•gooh) by 10:55 to pick up the tickets. Apparently if you picked up your tickets after then you would have to pay double the price, which is nothing like the US.

         Scored some €1.90 chocolate milk

Neuschwanstien

After driving through the cute German towns, we reached the castles. Before the tours, we grabbed some sausages for a lunchish meal/snack. The first tour was at 11:55, of Hohenschwangau. It was really interesting, as the castle was designed in the romantic era, so it was idealized midevil. The rooms were very ornate.

Hoenschwangau (the tan one)- we're not professional photographers. If you want a good picture, Google it.

After the first one, we then had to go to up a mountain a far way to get to Neuschwanstein. Phillip, Mom, and Dad walked up, while Amelia, Grandpa and I "took the bus up." The bus turned out to stop about halfway up, and at the halfway up mark we saw a path with a bridge that we crossed, and then walked up a very steep and rocky path to where we thought the castle was. It took a good half hour or so, and when we got to the end we realized we had gone the completely wrong way, and we had 20 minutes until we had to be there. At that point it started raining, and we had to walk done the path and bridge as quickly as possible. At the bus stop we realized there was another path that everyone was going on (we had noticed literally no people on the other path), with some obvious signs pointing to the castle. By then it was pouring, and we had to get soaked to the bone on the way to the castle, and finally got there and met up with others in the nick of time for the tour.

After that adventure we were just glad to be in the castle, and enjoyed the tour and browsed through the gift shop.

We went back (correctly this time) and got some ice cream and hot pretzels, and headed to the car.

The group was not sure whether to take the quick or scenic route. We were going to take the fast one, but somehow ended up on the long, winding senic, and headed on that way. *Emphasis on winding* after 2 and a half hours instead of 1, we reached the airbnb in Austria late, and got some schitzel and meat for dinner.

We drove back and found two cats, about ten cows, and one mini horse at our Airbnb, which was a frame. Then we settled down for the night, and got ready for the adventure tomorrow.

Day 4: Regensburg

Posted by Amelia

This morning, our family woke up in Regensburg, Germany where we had enjoyed a refreshing night of sleep. After taking quick showers, we headed out for the day.

     Fortunately, our lodgings were right outside of the "old city" section of Regensburg. As it is a small, quaint town, we were able to walk anywhere we wanted to go. Our first stop was a Bavarian bakery for delicious coffee and croissants. Then we explored the tight cobblestone streets and their shops. Unfortunately(although to the rest of the family's entertainment), Jonathan knocked over an ornament in one of the stores that shattered. But we moved on to Wurstküche, a sausage shop that has been open since 1320! There was some remarkable sauerkraut along with small sausages and sweet mustard. 

     During the afternoon we visited many beautiful Catholic cathedrals, as well as observing a few ancient Roman fortresses commissioned by Marcus Aurelius. Then we split up, Charlotte and Grandpa returning to our Air B'n'B and the rest of the family talking a tour of the City Hall. Aside from seeing where great leaders including Charles V and the several Fredericks of Prussia had made important decisions, there was a torture chamber. It was both fascinating and disturbing to see Judas's Chair, the Spanish Donkey, and other devices. *For any Mennonites out there, 1 Anabaptist was killed here and others were probably tortured.* The tour finished with some medeival jail cells that we climbed into. Highly recommended.

     To finish off the day, we went out to dinner with the Neujean family who had let us use their Air B'n'B and whose daughter, Charlotte, was our foreign exchange student. Ordering to their recommendations, we ate schnitzel, potato salad, pork slices, and large potato balls. It was very rich but also excellent. Then, before heading back, we enjoyed a gorgeous walk along the Danube river.

     It was a busy yet special day for us, learning the rich history and cultures of Germany. We are ready for some sleep and then more adventures!

 The store where Dad broke something

 The sausage restaurant

 The torture chamber

 Phillip with pork slices and knödel

The sausage restaurant sign

Day 3: Travel Day

Maria here. This blog will be changing voices, in case you hadn't noticed. And no, I wouldn't have mentioned the Kardashians in a blog post. In case anyone was wondering....😃

Today is a travel day and I am babysitting luggage while the other four explore a bit with our airport layover. This morning we left Reyjkavik quite early and caught a flight out to Amsterdam, where we have about six hours until we catch our flight to Munich.

My travel companions

It is hard to get around with all this stuff, but at least I have time on my side. I was excited to see this display in a store window at the airport:

A Swatch display! Big throwback for all you'80s kids!

Today is a huge travel day for us as we started around 4:30 am and will reach our destination around 9 pm our time, which is 11:00 pm in Germany.  After flying to Munich, we meet up with Phil at the Munich airport this evening. He will drive us to Regensburg where we will visit the home of Charlotte, our German exchange student.

Later...

Jonathan and the kids returned. They went into downtown Amsterdam, got some lunch, accidentally wandered into a seedy part of town, then headed back to the airport. All-in-all, we're pretty exhausted by now. And, with our flight to Munich now delayed, this is verging into the-day-that-shall-not-end. I reminded the kids of my guiding principles... Patience and a sense of humor (I read this somewhere). I noticed that I felt truly uninspired by those guiding principles at this moment in time. Somehow, somewhere, I shall find a bed again... But it's going to be a while.

Day 1: Journey to Iceland

Our journey began on a rainy evening in Cleveland with lots of gloom! We were happy enough to think of skipping town for a few weeks.

Iceland Air was a new adventure for us. The planes were new and fancy with a TV screen built into every seat.

So we were happy and excited but soon enough realized that the seats were also incredibly cramped.

We settled in for a six hour flight and it quickly became clear that none of us would be getting much rest due to those cramped quarters. So I got my groove on with a great 80s music selection (thanks, Iceland Air!) and did a bit of cat napping.

As we flew over Canada, night fell, but I knew that sometime before too long, the sun would be rising since the sun does not set in Reyjkavik this time of year. Sure enough, around midnight Cleveland time I noticed dawn breaking toward the front of the plane and tried to capture it in photos over 20 minutes or so. It was quite beautiful.

We landed on time and it then took quite a bit of time for us to gain our bearings and get the rental car, etc. Jonathan gets all the credit for being an amazing trip organizer!

We were excited to have arrived, but also super tired with no where to crash. We began wandering around Reyjkavik in 50 degree weather with wind. Then the rain started. Right about then our moods tanked, but we found a cute cafe and some food perked us up.

The day quickly devolved into a big effort of keeping various members of the family awake, and in fact we are still in that place! Thankfully we got into the Air B&B around noon so we were able to rest a bit, drop off our stuff and get out of the rain. We did have a chance to visit some sites as well: a lovely church (though we were all falling asleep during the free organ recital) and a museum about Icelandic history (I almost fell three times because I think I was falling asleep while standing).

Today did feature some delicious Icelandic foods of lamb soup, homeade bread and fish stew.

A final treat/staying awake strategy was to visit the local cat Cafe. Reyjkavik is loaded with adorable, friendly cats. This particular cafe had three rescue cats who were up for adoption. We had a great time.

And now....time for bed!