Lucerne (Luzern), Switzerland

Lucerne is a three-hour train ride from Nyon, Steve and Maria's nearest station, so Bill and I decided to take a day trip there. While they experienced rain all day in Geneva, we were dry as we took ourselves on the self-guided walking tour of Lucerne. The tourist information center provided a nice booklet with descriptions and a map showing the major historic sites. We were back home by 7:30 in time for dinner with the family.

The arch in front of the train station makes it easy to find the way back.

The Post Office is across the street from the train station.

This tower was built around 1300 as part of the city wall. We watched quite a waterfowl food fight  over  a slice of bread.

The Chapel Bridge was built in the 14th Century. The paintings commemorating Lucerne's history added  in the 17th Century include biographies of city's saints, Leodegar and Mauritius. Much of the bridge has been reconstructed following a fire in 1993. 

The Chapel bridge is quite long. This is part of it.

The Baroque Jesuit Church was built in 1666.

The Italian Renaissance style Ritterscher Palace was built 1557 as a private residence for mayor Lux Ritter. It was the living quarters for Jesuits called to Lucerne in 1574. It is now the Cantonal seat of government.

The Needle Dam was built in 1859 and renovated between 2009 and 2011.

This is the top side of the Needle Dam, which provides flood protection.

The Spreuer Bridge was completed 1408 as part of the city fortification. Between 1626 and 1635 Kaspar Meglinger added 67 Dance of Death paintings under the ceiling in triangles like the historical ones on the Chapel Bridge.

The rampart walls were built in 1386. It was quite a hike to get up here, but we were able to walk along the outside of the wall and see several towers, all different.

The city views from the rampart walls are spectacular. We were so glad it wasn't foggy or raining!

The Dying Lion of Lucerne commemorates the heroic death of  the Swiss mercenaries in 1792 in the Tuilleries  in the service of Louis XVI during the French Revolution.

The clock tower is on the back of the Town Hall.

The white building on the left is the Phistern guildhall. Next to it is the front of the Town Hall,  completed in 1606.

Weekend in Liechtenstein

We are spending a week with Steve, Maria, Anna, and Kate at their home near Geneva, Switzerland. This weekend we added Liechtenstein to Bill's wish list of visiting the seven European microstates of Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, and  Luxembourg. His first was Malta , which he visited while he was in the Navy in 1959. This weekend added the seventh and last to his list.  Liechtenstein is located in the Alps between Switzerland and Austria, about four hours from Steve and Maria. Liechtenstein's area is just over 160 square kilometers (62 sq mi) and its population is about 35,000.

This was our hotel in Triesenberg.

This was the view from our balcony in Hotel Kulm in Triesenberg. You can see the Rhine River, which is the border between Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The hotel is located about in the middle between Switzerland to the West and Austria to the East.

These little guys, located in the stairway of Hotel Kulm, represent the Alpine hiking and banking traditions of Liechtenstein.

This bank is located in the capital, Vaduz.

We spent a couple of hours in the Vaduz Christmas market. This picture shows a couple of the outdoor vendors' stalls  in front of the side of the city hall.

Lunch in the Christmas market consisted of sausages and bread for all and gluhwine for the adults. 

This tiny little guy was giving rides to tiny little children in the Christmas market.

 Anna went a bit off the path to the castle to examine some wildflowers blooming in December.

Our goal at the end of the hike was a view of the castle, the private residence of  the royal family of Liechtenstein.

Saturday afternoon, we visited the national museum in Vaduz.

While Jean, Maria, Anna, and Kate hiked, Bill and Steve visited the local vineyard and winery.

This is a view from the town center of Vaduz, showing the front of the same castle. 

Anna and Kate had a great time climbing a snow-covered hill in Madun and sliding down on their bottoms.

Jean in Madun ski area

Someone else left a very nice snowman for us to enjoy.

While Jean, Maria, Anna, and Kate were playing in the snow, Bill and Steve drove all the way  to the North end of the country, which was only a few kilometers. It's a small country, but we certainly enjoyed lots of enjoyable activities during our stay. We left at noon so that we could get back in time for Anna and Kate to participate in the Christmas Pageant in their 5:00 church service in Nyon, Switzerland.

2011.10.08 Apples, Pumpkins, Skooters, Bikes, and a Birthday

Mindy, Al, Amanda, and Sophie came to Ripon to help me celebrate my birthday. An entire weekend of spectacularly beautiful fall days gave us the opportunity to be outdoors most of the time. Greg Becker welcomed us to Pineapple Hill Orchard and helped the girls pick and polish two big bagfuls of Courtlands. Some of the apples went into the special birthday pie Mindy baked. Allen arrived later that day with steak and lobster...yes, lobster!!! So the family cooked while I enjoyed playing with and reading with Amanda and Sophie. The following day Bill, Judy, and Rob joined us for breakfast at the Blue Moon in Princeton. We inherited bikes from the girls' Cousins Anna and Kate when they moved to Switzerland, and those provided hours of outdoor fun, along with the scooters Amanda and Sophie brought. Amanda's really big accomplishment of the weekend was learning to ride the two-wheeler!

 Greg feeds the apples into the polisher.

 The apples come out clean and shiny

 No doubt about it...Bill is a cat magnet wherever he goes.

 Mindy's apple pie with whiskey-soaked dried cherries was as delicious as it looks.

 We checked out 18 books from the library, and Amanda made good use of them.

Bill, Bill, and Al in front of the Blue Moon in Princeton

 Judy and Jean in front of the Blue Moon

Rob is willing to play along with Sophie's fairies, which is just one reason he's so popular with our little girls.

This was also the annual pumpkin trip. At $40 each, these big ones were not among our choices. They did make for some nice pictures, though.

 These are more like it...easy to carry, too.

 Look! Look! I can ride!!!

 A bit more time with the training wheels for Sophie

The girls could really tear around on these little scooters.

What a great weekend!

2011.08.29 Our Wisconsin Week with Amanda and Sophia

The perfect end to a lovely summer was a week with our granddaughters, Amanda, 6, and Sophia, 4. They live in Chicago, so we are able to get to their house in only three hours if we correctly predict the traffic density on the expressway. We started our week with a celebration of Bill's birthday on August 29. Allen and Mindy went all out with food and wine, topped off with a very tasty cake. Here's a review of our week's activities--at least the ones for which we had a camera. We have not joined the smart phone world.

GRANDPA'S BIRTHDAY IN CHICAGO

 Blow, Grandpa! We'll help you!

AROUND GRANDPA AND GRANDMA'S HOUSE

 Even though they have some of the same toys at home, the ones at our house still offer hours of fun.

 Grandpa and the girls created and printed fairies galore, which they were able to weave into lots of imaginative play.

 The sweet corn season was at its peak, and we ate it every day. These kids can really pack away a lot of fresh corn and beans from the farmers' market. They always helped to prepare it, too.

 Grandpa put out the wading pools and set up the hose, which more than compensated for the fact that the Berlin Aquatic Center, where we had planned to take them, was closed. Berlin, pronounced with the accent on the Ber, is a town about 12 miles from Ripon. School had already started in Berlin, which probably accounts for the closing of their large water park even though the temperatures were in the 80's.

 Amanda has discovered Double 12 Mexican Train Dominoes. She could hold her own against regular players, Grandma Jean, Bill Neill, and Mary Alice Wilkinson!

 Harvest time!

Artists

We visited the public library at the beginning of the week and brought home eleven books, which were read and re-read all week long. 

Mom Mindy came for the Labor Day weekend and we went shopping for school clothes at the outlet mall in Oshkosh. Incidentally, we also found these fantastic Halloween costumes and a bike for Mindy. Between Sunday and Monday, Jean and Mindy rode 27 miles on country roads around Ripon, while Bill and the girls created fairies and a book about their Ripon adventures.

CIRCUS WORLD

The Circus World Museum is one of Wisconsin's historical treasures. The Ringling Brothers founded their circus in 1884 in Baraboo, about an hour and a half from Ripon. The site is now a place to explore circus history, see a huge collection of restored circus wagons, go to circus shows, eat cotton candy, and ride the carousel. The history is fascinating. Check it out at http://circusworld.wisconsinhistory.org/.

 Amanda thought a painted face would be the perfect complement to her circus experience. Sophie said, "No thanks."

 Bill and Jean remember cotton candy as pink sugar, spun before your very eyes around a white paper cone. For the girls, it was blue and already bagged for purchase at the concession stand. Jean's taste test verified that the taste has not changed.

The kids' interactive circus gives children an opportunity to be a performer or a member of the audience. Sophie was an attentive audience member, while Amanda performed as an elephant. A highlight of her day was walking the tightrope with a parasol, seen here.

This little pony, Lucky Star, was part of a circus act. Afterward, he was available for petting.

 Given a choice between riding Tiny the elephant and the ponies, both girls went for small rather than Tiny.

Sweet dreams!