Day 6: Switzerland- Luzern, Thurgau, Frauenfeld (July 14)

12:00 14 Jul, 2012
We are in the van on the way to Luzern. Evie got sick at the gas station. We're hoping it was just car sickeness. She seems to be doing ok, but I think the boys need a WC as they drank a LOT of water and are dancing in their seats.

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Connor didn't exactly want me to tickle him... and after I'd volunteered to sit next to him, too!

Sitting in the back of the back of the van. I don't get to sit there often at home!

19:30 14 Jul 2012
We ate lunch on the bank of Lake Luzern and then walked along the canal towards the "RailCity" train station crossing under the huge arch. We stopped for our second bathroom break at McDonald's. The first was for Ian and Connor who had raced to drink water and both drank about 1.25 L as we left home and by the time we got to Luzern both were dancing, moaning, and sighing on either side of me in the back seat. Jen ended up getting out with the boys in the middle of an intersection and carrying Ian to an Optik (eyeglass) store. She said the shop keeper was helpful and kind as she raced to the bathoom; both boys peed a looooong time (at the same time!)

Camera equipment? Check
Snacks? Check
Boys? with Jen at the bathroom

Some of the old buildings surrounding the river that feeds into Lake Luzern. I love the clock towers!

Picnic lunch at the lake.

Swiss Cheese on Swiss Bread. Yum!

These church clock towers were pealing as we ate lunch.

Churches in Luzern
The caption on the back of this postcard said
'Stadtanisicht mit Hofkirche'

There were tour boats that took of about every hour from this pier near the train station.

Kaeley sportin' some cool sunglasses.
Not for long, though.

See those Hello Kitty Socks?

I am in FRONT of the camera this time!

See those Alps?

I got to see them, too :)

Clock Tower outside of the underground "Rail City" and main train station in Lucerne.

We made our way across the famous wooden bridge in Luzern. The views were breath-taking. If it hadn't been 100 CHF per person, it would've been awesoem to take a Gondoal to the top of Mt. Pilatus adn a luge down one side, trian ride to teh 'hafen' and then a 'schiff' or boat back to the port at Luzer. But, not enough time or money...

So instead we walked across the wooden bridge. We got postcards of the bridge and LOTS of pics. (Connor used my camera to tkae pics of all sorts of things and Jared had fun with his camera.

Famous wooden 'Kapellbrücke' or Chapel bridge in Luzern. It partially burned, but was reconstructed.

We strolled along and posed for lots of pics.

Lots of Swans, too.
Apparently the locals say they originated as a gift from teh French king, Louis XIV.

The kids loved climbing and looking at the swans and other avian life.

Connor liked taking pictures of everything.
This pictures shows the Wasserturm, or Water Tower, that predates the bridge by a century
(bridge was built in in the 14th century)

Connor caught Kaeley running

He also took some pictures of Jen and I.

Jared took these pictures of all of us.

He had a hard time (again!) getting Kaeley to look at the camera.
Jen, Connor, Evie, Kaeley, Nadine, Ian, and Travis

These flowers on the bridge were so beautiful!
The kids liked climbing up the walls along the side and looking out over the river.

Since the bridge was part of the city defense system, the "window" openings facing the lake are smaller than the inland side.

"Kaeley, where's your dad?"
That's how we got her to look at Jared.

View from the northwest side of the bridge.

I caught Travis on the bridge just as he was turning to step down to the sidewalk on the opposite side from where we got on the bridge.

Jen took this picture of Kaeley hangin' out on her dad's shoulders.

If we'd had time, and more money, we could've taken a gondola ride up to the top of this Mount Pilatus.
We decided to enjoy the view from below.

What's he doing?

Carrying the boys, of course! I guess the both wanted to have a ride.

Kaeley was "styling" Jared's hair.

Walking back to the van.
Yes, Burger King has also arrived in Switzerland.
Hey, at least it's better than McDonald's!
Poor Evie was really not feeling well.

Poor Evie was SICK. She threw up before we left Frauenfeld, when we got to Luzern, and so we decided to just head home- but the long way, going south of Lake Zürich. I think Evie puked one or two more times, but she was such a trooper.

'Kapellbrücke, Altstadt'

An artist had painted these historical scenes of Luzern along the bridge. Many of these were destroyed by the fire, but have those that remain are restored 17th-century originals.

Jared explained the flags of the different states in Switzerland. He lived in Thurgau, we were visiting Luzern that day, and we also visited (and drove through) a few more.

View from the car window of Lake Zurich.

The cities were really built right into the side of mountains, and surrounded by beauty. The bigger cities (Zurich) looked more urban, but most of the cities we saw still had this "old small town" look about them.

Tunnels, Tunnels and More Tunnels
I lost count of the number of tunnels we drove through in Switzerland.

Awesome sky

We stopped a couple of places along the route home to take pictures- a mountain (and potty break), a bridge along the Thur at bridges (foot, car, and train all in the same place) crossing the name of the river the city state that Frauenfeld is part of (it has a flag of lions on a yellow and green background).

Travis wanted to stop and take some pictures of the foothills of the Alps to try and capture some of the colors and contrasts.

I just loved that he was smiling and enjoying himself.

Jared took these pictures.

I love this shot- the echo of the train bridge (above) with the street bridge (below) and then taken from a foot bridge. The Thur river these bridges are spanning is the namsake of the state: Thurgau

A 200-year-old bridge. Doesn't allow regular car traffic, but does allow for some awesome pictures and for bike/foot.

This is mostly what I saw of Jared this day.

Love the echoing arches, the river, the rocky sandbar...

REALLY love the smile on Travis' face.
And, Jared getting the "perfect shot" (with the train crossing the bridge!)

This shot was taken with my camera.

View from the other side of the bridge. That's the road for cars crossing the river.

There were these random cement blocks with an old firepit in he center. The boys had a blast jumping from rock to rock.

Midflight shot

Posing for dad (to hide the pylon preventing cars from driving across bridge)

Kaeley got in on the action. And, this is what cracks me up, showing how boys and girls play SO differently!
Instead of jumping from rock-to-rock, she started dancing.

Dancing or Jumping

Kaeley found this little snail and came to show us how beautiful it was.

Travis and I went for a walk after a yummy sausage dinner (mozzarella and tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, melon, 2 kinds of sausage, and cucumber with yogurt & dill) up behind the Klaumünzner's house to look for the mountain range to the southeast of them. The sky se was black with clouds, but the sun was bright and setting in the west.We saw the Kindergarten adn Primary schools, fields of wheat and sunflowers, but the mountains were too far and in the clouds.

View from the hill behind Jen and Jared's house. The sun was starting to set, and a storm had just passed through.

Too many clouds to see the Alps, but I loved the lighting and the colors and the shadows.

Field of wheat (?) in the last glow of sunset.

See that field behind Travis? another Sunflower field.

Jen explained something I'd never known:
See the sunflowers at the edge? They are still facing the sun(set).
But the rest of the flowers have turned away from the sunset, to await the rising sun.

Tomorrow we might go to Appenzell- maybe we'll be blessed again with BEAUTIFUL weather and see (hike?) more of the mountains.


I got to talk to my girls this afternoon. They sound like they are having fun and enjoying various activities. My mom sounds good, too. Although, I'm sure they're all looking forward to Nanaunt.