Joyful Journey

"Mom, come look out front..." This is getting to be a regular occurence at our house. Joel looks outside and there is wildlife! I recently saw an adult-sized red fox and this appears to be a kit. Who knows, maybe last week was mama or papa. We watched as it found and ate what appeared to be a lizard with a long tail or a small snake out of the grass. It seemed to find quite a bit to eat in the yard. Go for it, kit! Sydney missed out again. He was sleeping in the garage after a "strenuous" game of "retrieve the tennis ball."

Took Amtrak to Newark (now that's a story for another post!) to visit Daniel and Angie and family as well as travel out to visit Dad and Mama Miriam. Friday morning included a few minutes of Aunt Pammy's babysitting service. Noah cooperated for a mini-photo session. What can be more fun? The girls were having fun Friday evening playing with their Nintendo DS games, and even more fun trying to teach their Daddy how to play.

My favorite photo of our time in Luzern, however is from town, looking up at Mount Pilatus. Next time we visit we trust that the weather allows us to take Europe's steepest cog railroad up this mountain. "Say to God, 'How awesome are Thy works!'" (Ps. 66:3a)

Later in the day we skipped the Starbucks (right on the river) and instead had an espresso at a Swiss coffeeshop/ice cream store. (Do you see a pattern?) We walked along the lake some, visited Hofkirche (almost getting locked in during vespers) and the finally to the Lowendenkmal, or Lion monument honoring the Swiss guard who defeneded the Palais des Tuileries in Paris in 1792. This breathtaking monument is carved out of a sandstone cliff.

Before lunch we climbed up one of the remaining towers that was once part of the fortification around the city. The view of both the city and the Alps was stunning!

We arrived via train in Luzern, and although it was raining, it was evident that it was only a matter of time before the sun would shine through. We headed into town, first walking over the Kapellbrucke (how do I get the umlaut over the u?), which is the oldest wooden bridge in Europe, built in the 17th century. Then we toured two of the historic churches: a Jesuit church, Jesuitenkirche, built in 1666-73 and the Franziskanerkirche, a Franciscan church that was built even before Switzerland was a confederation. Wandering through Old Town, we also visited St. Peterskapelle, almost toured the Rathaus (town hall), until we realized that it was a tour group going through, as it is not usually open to visitors. Oh well.

After Bob finished work on Friday, we toured most of the historic sight s, the Grossmunster, Lindenhof (a hill that was originally a Celtic settlement and then a Roman fort. Now just a great spot from which to see the city or play chess on the giant chesboard), St. Peters Kirche, Bahnhofstrasse (the window shopping only street!), and just enjoyed wandering around "Old Town" and along the Limmat River. Of course, an espresso at Starbuck's (can you believe it?!) definitely helped with the jet lag. The flavor of the month, at least in Switzerland is a Banana Java Chip Frappucino. Glad we were around for samples.

The photo on the right was our first view of the Alps as we were flying into Zurich. Please note that the Alps that are visible are above the clouds. We were very grateful to see this as we had seen online that rain was forecast for our entire visit and we didn't know if this would be our only view. We arrived Thursday morning in Zurich and after breakfast in the hotel, they had a room for us and we were able to begin driving around different areas to see where we might or might not want to live. We had rain in Zurich for most of the time that we were there, but even when overcast, the area is beautiful. This photo is taken near the top of Zurichsee (Lake Zurich), were the city begins.