Spring Break - Mega Picture Post

Spring break = road trip
2000 km
9 playgrounds
8 days
7 cities (Munich, Zurich, Bern, Interlaken, Grindelwald, Luzern & Fussen)
4 countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria & Liechtenstein)

Highlights for Rebecca

We often heard the shouts of "a train, a train" from the backseat! Becca was very good at spotting them.

Rebecca could be found using her stroller in any manner besides the traditional sitting in it!

Becca loved watching the swans in the river at Luzern, in fact there was one right near our feet while we sat along the river bank.

Another favorite of Rebecca's was the many playgrounds.

We planned most of the driving around Becca's nap-time, so we saw this display of displeasure quite frequently!

Becca could always be found doing whatever Jess was doing; here she is posing for a picture!

Highlights for Jessica

Posing for pictures, again; she is so photogenic!

Jessica loved watching the baby bears (in Bern) wrestle & play

Jessica also loved the horses at the Neuschwanstein Castle. She really wanted to ride in the carriage but it was a bit pricey.

The bunk beds at the hotel in Grindewald were a hit! Jessica is already requesting a set for when Becca is ready for a regular bed.

Jessica was tearing up the ski hill, even conquering some intermediate runs on her 3rd time skiing ever!

Jess will take a free ride anytime she can get one. Even though she's not 4 anymore, she's still our "four-loader"!

Jessica really enjoyed the children's art museum in the Paul Klee Zentrum in Bern. Here she is intensely focused on a light box drawing.

Jessica also loved the chocolate, but who doesn't love Swiss chocolate! The Czech treats we brought along were enjoyed as well. That's what vacations are for, extra treats, right?

Of course Jessica like the playgrounds as much as Rebecca did. She was climbing and hanging on anything she could find, whether it was a playground or not!

Highlights for Cameron

Cameron loved all the tunnels we went through. He unsuccessfully tried to hold his breath for the entire length of each tunnel (there are some really long tunnels through the Alps)!

Cameron also liked the Paul Klee Zentrum. Here he is displaying his light box drawing.

Cameron was skiing so well that Jess & I could not keep up with him. He would ski part way down the hill, then wait & wait for us to catch up. He was a patient participant!

One of Cameron's favorite parts of the trip was the tour of the Neuschwanstein Castle. He stayed right by the tour guide, eating up the information, and even asking some questions. I'm pretty sure he learned more about the castle than I did.

Cameron also like watching the bears in Bern (the city got it's name because the man who founded the city killed a bear there; or so the legend goes).

In Zurich, we found several outdoor chess boards. Cameron loved challenging Brian to a game of chess. It was also interesting to watch the locals gather around a game.

Cameron would also like a set of bunk beds now! We stayed in the temple hostel in Bern and we each got our own bunk; kind of an interesting sleeping arrangement.

We found some cool doors on a church in Zurich, so Cameron & I played name that Bible story!

Cameron also loved the playgrounds and would ask if we could find another one, as we were leaving a playground! The many playgrounds were a great break from the traditional site-seeing.

Highlights for Brian

It goes without saying, Brian really liked this car!

And he was very glad that this car didn't haul him away. I'm pretty sure they stopped us because of the Czech license plates. Everything checked out fine and we were on our way again.

I'm thinking that Brian's favorite part of the trip was the down-time (the doner kebabs were a close second)!

Highlights for Me

I'll be honest, I loved the whole trip, including the Temple in Bern, the beautiful Alps, and having an amazing adventure with my family; but I'm really, really glad I was able to find a charger for my digital camera battery so I could take all of these fun photos (I left my charger in Prague)!

City by City Highlights

I decided to select a "few" pictures from each city we visited rather than putting them all in a slide; sometimes the slide shows go too slow. This way you can skim through them at your own speed!

Munich

My favorite German sign!

Olympic Stadium

Interesting statue
St. Peter's Church

Zurich

Grossmunster Church with the cool "Bible story" doors

Swiss National Museum (we didn't get to go in because we were there on a Monday, and all museums are closed that day!)

Bern

Paul Klee Zentrum

Bern is a cute old city set in the bend of the river

Bern is a city of fountains

A fountain of an ogre eating a baby!

Einstein lived here and developed his theory of relativity using this clock tower

The Bern Temple is set in a quiet forested area of Bern

Grindelwald

I think collectively, this was our favorite city of our trip; a quaint little town nestled in the Alps! When we arrived the valley was in spring. The next morning there was 4-6 inches of new snow.

"Sledging" as they call it in Europe is very popular. They have sledging runs at the ski resorts.
The famous Eiger

Targhee could sure use chair lifts like these!

Gondola to get to the ski area

Interlaken

Paragliders who landed in the city park

I took these photos along our drive after we left Interlaken on the way to Luzern

Luzern

Luzern is an old walled city you can walk along

Balzers

Yes, we did just exit the freeway, drive around the city, and take a few pictures so we could say that we have been in Liechtenstein!

Fussen

We loved the Neuschwanstein Castle. We were very lucky to get inside for our tour, since we showed up 15 minutes late!

There is a trail leading around the side of the mountain to this bridge, which provided some great views of this castle as well as the Hohenschwangau Castle.

Hohenschwangau Castle