It’s been a while since we’ve written. Mostly it’s because we’ve been plagued with a nasty tummy bug, and coughs and colds for the past couple of weeks and we’re still not quite recovered. It’s kept us home, feeling sorry for ourselves, but thankfully we didn’t have much on so it wasn’t inconvenient.
Author: Michelle Page 1 of 2
It’s been exactly 3 months since we set foot in Europe. Time has gone very quickly! Though, when I think back, we’ve done a lot in our time here so far.
The weather has been much cooler lately, with most days not reaching over 3 degrees and overnight around -2. We’ve seen a bit of snow falling but it doesn’t hang around for long.
My lovely Dad ‘popped’ into Switzerland on his way to a work meeting in Brussels. He happened to be here over Tobias’ birthday, which also happened to be a public holiday in our canton of Lucerne. Double bonus.
Dad stayed with us for a couple of days and we had the privilege of showing him around Altwis and the boy’s schools by bike.
Visiting Berlin was a bit of a last-minute decision. I’d always wanted to go and it’s only a 3-hour drive from Wroclaw, so we went for it. As we had less than 24 hours in this very cool city, we made the most of our time, knowing we’d have to come back one day and spend more time exploring.
It felt comfortable, more familiar back in a German-speaking country. We could understand people, read the road signs, knew the currency etc. (Czech Republic and Poland don’t use Euros except in some tourist areas)
Before the Herbstferien are over and it’s down to serious school / work / study business, we thought we’d take a week to visit a few places around Europe. The weather has been stunning for weeks and it feels like summer for us Kiwis.
I don’t know if the novelty will ever wear off but it’s crazy to be able to drive through country border after country border, sometimes without even noticing. Oh, I guess we are in Austria now!
We spent our first day exploring Salzburg. The birthplace of Mozart, home to The Sound of Music, castles, fortresses, and tons of history and beauty.
Wow, where to start? Perhaps I’ll let the photos do the talking for now.
Athens is crazy cool. So much history – buildings that date back to before Christ! Like 2500 years ago! Amazing to be able to stand on the Areopagus, where the apostle Paul stood and had a wee korero with the Greeks about their ‘unknown God’
And the food! That might have to be another post. It’s so so good, healthy and cheap.
Ok some photos…
We love the Saas region. They call themselves the ‘free republic of holidays’ a bit Swiss cheesy but I like it anyway. When you stay here in any accommodation you get access to the gondolas and buses for free. As many times as you like. So it’s awesome for families.
They boast views of 18 mountains that are over 4000m high, and have the worlds highest glacier run. And the ski slopes are 3600m above sea level so you can ski all year round. It was a bit strange seeing skiers walking through the gorgeous, car-free village in 20 degree weather, kitted out with all their gear.
Sundays are quite special here. Shops are shut, like all the shops! And it seems most of Switzerland is out and about with family and friends, exploring, hiking, cycling, swimming, eating together… It’s a pretty cool atmosphere.
We combined two of my favorite things: hiking and Swiss mountains and took to Mt Rigi, an easy half-hour drive from our home in Altwis. There we took a gondola halfway up the mountain and did a 4 hour loop hike up to the top and back down. Part of the walk was called ‘the way of the cross’ so we thought it fitting (being Sunday and all) to take along some communion bread and wine (syrup!) and celebrate Jesus.
The views of the Vierwaldstättersee and surrounding mountains are stunning.
A well deserved ice-cream after in the beautiful village of Weggis.
There will be more posts of mountains and hikes ?
Monday was Daniel’s first day back at work and my first day of study – a diploma in NLP (neurolinguistic programming).
Nice though, to be able to work and study from anywhere. At the Badi, on the balcony, in bed!
So we’ve had to get into a bit of a routine and it’s been good. Boys are spending a couple of hours each morning doing their German studies and a bit of schoolwork. The plan is that they’ll attend Swiss school after the Herbstferien from mid-October. The Swiss kids come home for lunch each day. Lunch is the main meal here, so I’ve been cooking lunch and it’s bread and cheese etc. for dinner. Its quite nice actually, leaves the evenings free for exploring, family time, swimming, biking, hiking…
Benjamin Willis
Daniel
Michelle
Noah Willis
Tobias Willis