Wednesday, June 8, 2011

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June 5

Confidential for Laura.

I was planning on posting on "active driving" that's required on Swiss roads. But, Laura's in the middle of an eleven day trip to the US, so I figured she'd like some pictures from while we're gone. This is for you, honey!

Sunday happened to be my birthday and Swiss Fathers Day. The boys made Fathers Day presents at school (once again, thanks Haut Lac!) and while I thought we should delay until Laura came home, both boys wanted to celebrate on Sunday. It was fun for them to go digging in their school bags and pull out cards and presents for me. I later realized that the reason Calvin was so set on celebrating is because he wanted to give me his present (chocolate hearts) so that he could eat them!

Anyway, after breakfast and Fathers Day presents, we drove down to the Pully park/marina/pool complex to do three things:

  • Ride on a Lake Geneva steamer
  • Ride on the little kiddie-train in the park (kids)
  • Ride bikes around the park
First, the steamer. I was a little annoyed at the start of this because I couldn't find Elliot's Jr. card, which meant instead of riding free, it would cost us CHF 42 (about $45) to take him. It didn't set me in a great mood, but I decided this was a special occasion, so let's do it!

Then, I got annoyed all over again when it was one of the new diesel boats instead of the super-full-of-character 100-year-old paddle wheel steamer that the schedule promised. Then, I looked at the schedule more closely and realized that while the route is filled by a steamer there's a footnote at the bottom of the schedule that says, essentially, "except when it's not." Thanks, guys!

In spite of the annoyances, soon we were riding on the deck of the boat, and it was a beautiful day. A rain squall came up and we ducked inside to eat lunch in the dining room. This was a mostly pleasant experience, but when I asked for a coffee to finish up, the waitress didn't return for 45 minutes! Then, I asked her to skip the coffee and just bring the bill. It never came. After one hour and nine minutes, I gave up, wrote a note on what I'd ordered with the cost, and left the money on the table. It's a good thing I didn't decide to try to collect the bill shortly before our stop! Over an hour, can you believe it? Needless to say, the boys were going a little bonkers sitting around the table by this time. It was good to get back to the park and expend energy biking. 

Pictures follow.
Boys having fun on the boat.
A brief moment of rest in between runs up and down the deck.

Smile, please!

Lavaux wine growing region. Hard to believe we live here.

Lake, terraces, vineyards and mountains.

Cully, an adorable little town on the lake. Next year we'll go to the Jazz Festival.

Mr. Calvin.
Action shot of Elliot.

Concentration.

Mr. Cool. You can't quite tell, but every time he sees me taking a picture of
him on his bike, he puffs up with pride.

We bought this bike for Calvin on Saturday. It's his first time on a real
bike. Laura will be thrilled when she gets to see this in person.

Still figuring out how this works....

Taking a break.

Daddy, did you see _______?

Our younger son is easily distracted.

Brothers on bikes. Sorry it's out of focus, but it's the only picture I got with
them both in the same frame.

Completely unrelated to this post: it is pouring rain here right now, the hardest I've seen yet in Switzerland. 60 degrees and rainy yesterday, tomorrow, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Meanwhile it's sunny and 103 degrees in Minnesota!