The most beautiful place on earth?

***A word of warning. This post is ridiculously long with an insane number of pictures. But, if you're going to title a post "The most beautiful place on earth," don't you need to justify it? ***

Apologies again for the big gap in posts, but I'm finding it very difficult to get things done over the past month and a half. Laura has been traveling a lot recently, and there was a lot to do to finish up the school year through June. Then, with the kids at home all day through July, it's been pretty hectic around here.

We had friends visit us over the first weekend in July. They arrived the same day the boys finished school, and we decided to take a quick trip to the Bernese Oberland -- the valley sections of the Alps near Bern/e and perhaps the most famous and "typically Swiss" part of Switzerland. Laura decided this was her "most beautiful place on earth." I guess I can agree, because not wanting to commit to anything, I've decided to have more than one "the most beautiful place on earth."

A photo-tour of our trip follows:

Looking across the Lauterbrunnen valley from Mürren.

That's a beautiful valley down there!

In this view, you can see how Mürren sits on a shelf in this side of the valley.

Three quarters of our family. The boys are at that age where asking them to smile
doesn't always work out too well.

Old* friends and the Lauterbrunnen valley (looking the other way).
* Not old, you know what I mean!

Watch out Elliot....
(If you look closely, you can see a paraglider in the middle distance of this photo.)

...that next step is a doozy!

These first pictures were taken just after we arrived in Mürren, when we decided to take a quick walk around town. We'd taken the train to Mürren, and in spite of making five connections (five trains plus an aerial tram) in three hours and 19 minutes, it was a pretty easy and relaxing journey. It was nice to take a trip with a group of people where I wasn't driving for once and could sit back and enjoy the view!

The journey was very scenic and kept getting better. First, we rode a train through the rolling hills of the plateaus above Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). Then, took a train from Bern into the Alps that included a run along the beautiful lakes around Interlaken. Then, a narrow gauge rail journey up into the Lauterbrunnen valley. Next, an aerial tram up the side of the valley where we gained over 1600 meters in six minutes. Finally, another narrow gauge railway trip to Mürren, this time in an 40 year old railway car along a track that skirted right along the cliff face above the valley.

We stayed at the Hotel Eiger in Mürren. It was pretty expensive, but had a wonderful room for the family, a superb deck with the most amazing views of the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungfrau, a pool (great for energized kids and weary parents!) and by far the best service we've had at any establishment in Switzerland. It's quite expensive, but if you're ever in the Bernese Oberland, we'd highly, highly recommend the Hotel Eiger!

We've found now, after a few trips, that while they enjoy the views, museums, churches, etc., the boys' definition of a successful day is finding a great playground. So, in order to maintain health and sanity of parents, we always try to find a place to stop and play. This was our playground in Mürren (will the kids end up rating European destinations by the quality of its play equipment?).

Kids spent 90% of their time on this, and we have a million pictures of it, but they all look pretty much the same....

Adults can get in on the fun, too!

Laura took a couple of nice portraits at this park:

The next day, our first order of business was a visit to the Schilthorn. 

Ring any bells? No? Okay, how about the restaurant on that peak called Piz Gloria? 

No? All right, how about James Bond? Do you remember that hideout the villain Blofeld had that was on top of a mountain, and James Bond got trapped there and tried to monkey-walk his way down across the cables for an aerial tram? The movie was "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," the actor was George Lazenby (the guy after Sean Connery), and the setting was the just completed revolving restaurant Piz Gloria.

We went there. More aerial trams. These things are suspended way high up in the middle of the air, and it feels like you're barely moving until you pass the tram going the other way and you realize that you are just flying up the mountains!

That's Piz Gloria we're heading for.

Random view from the tram.

Beautiful view! (And I'm talking about the foreground, not just the background!)

Panorama from Piz Gloria. Chrismas picture?

Big boy enjoying the panorama. You can see the intermediate stop where we changed trams on the tip of the mountain peak above his forearm.

Our fellow travelers head out to the mountain top, should we follow?

Good looking family!

Christmas photo? Wait, didn't we already take one of those?

Looking back at Piz Gloria at the top of the peak.
(You can also see a helicopter in the middle of this photo, against the mountains.)

Taking a break.

The other photographer!

Snow in July!

Having fun!

Two seconds before they toppled over and the smiles disappeared....

I took dozens of pictures of the flowers up here, but I'll only bore you with two.

Random family beginning a walk down toward Mürren. The lake in the background is one of the two lakes
surrounding Interlaken.

I like this because you can see the drop off into the valley. It doesn't quite give
an accurate representation of the plummet, but it's close!

Happy for the handrail. One of the few places in Switzerland that has a safety feature!

On the tram heading back down to Mürren. I like this photo because you can really see how Mürren sits on that plateau hanging onto the edge of the cliff.

Eiger...Mönch...Jungfrau. One of the most famous vistas in Switzerland.
 Sorry for the tram cable right in the middle of the picture!

So, that was just our morning activity. Next, we took a little hike in the hills above Mürren.

In a funicular singing songs from the Sound of Music. I know, I know, that's Austria, not Switzerland....

Found another park! Important to stop when you see one.

Edelweiss. Yes, it grows in Switzerland, too.

The hills are alive! Wait, wrong country again! Okay, look, it's Heidi!

Nature, it's all around me! (Moving from Rodgers & Hammerstein to The Samples.)

This was described to us as a flat walk.

Just another random beautiful view!

More nature. Flowers, meadow, trees and mountains all together this time.

The two big kids leading the way.

Hmm, looks like we'll be sharing the path with cows if we want to continue with our plan.

Yep, those are cows.

Mürren again.

This is why Calvin doesn't mind these hikes. This won't last forever; he's already getting pretty heavy!

Time for a break. Should we have lunch here?

More nature. Laura went crazy on the flowers this time....

First, let's try this with Elliot.

Add in Laura.

Let's get that same picture, but be able to pick out your faces this time!

Yep, nature again.

Where's Waldo Elliot?

What, I'm carrying him around on my back and he's sleeping?!

We found a cute little mountain stream.

Calvin wants to touch the water.

Watcha doin'?

Ooh, that's COLD!!!

I'm getting out of here!

Very proud girl found a butterfly and walked with it on her hand for 10 minutes!

Showing off her discovery!

Almost back to Mürren. Christmas photo #3?

More nature. Laura didn't notice the caterpillar until after she was looking at the flower on the camera display.

Just finished our hike. Tired, but happy!

I should mention that half way through that hike we stopped at a little farm where they made ice cream from their own cows, probably some of the same cows that you saw in the photos above. That was fun, and it helped with the kids to promise them that we'd have ice cream part way through the hike.

That's pretty much our adventure in Mürren. We were only there for two nights and one full day plus a half, but we'll definitely be returning again!

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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!

Sport Day

Two weeks ago, Calvin's class had a Sport Day, and last Wednesday, Elliot's did, too. Yes, that's "Sport Day," not "Sports Day." For further information, check out the last post.

Anyway, there's not a lot to discuss, but I thought we'd post some pictures so you could see the boys in action!

Sport Day #1: Calvin

Our super-fast Motor Mouse runs in the Shuttle Race.

He's a fast runner but lost a lot of time on the pick-ups!

Just finished Over Under. He was quite fast at this one!

Space Hopper. Not Calvin's best event.

Long Jump. He did great on 2 of 3 jumps. Of course the one jump that I properly timed
the shot was the one where he landed right on top of the crocodile....

Medal winner! Miraculously, all five of the teams tied with the exact same
number of points! What an amazing coincidence!

Sport Day #2: Elliot

Do you think Elliot is skinny? Check out that left leg!

Long jump.

Sticking the landing!

Elliot was very careful on Over Under. Not fast, but he didn't lose his ball!

Rocket Throw. Point where you're aiming...

...follow through...

...release!

To those who remember him best, doesn't this runner look remarkably like Bob Cooley?!
Elliot does his best impression of his maternal grandfather....long and lanky.

Elliot tied for first in bowling!

Brother imitates brother. Space Hopper is also not Elliot's best event....

Elliot's class post-races.

Check out those mountains. We're not in Minnesota anymore!

The Camera

• Hey, why are there so many more, better pictures of Elliot's Sport Day? Simple! Because we like him better! Hahahahahahaha. Haha. Ha. ...excuse me? Oh, you're right, that's a spectacularly unfunny joke.
• Okay, here's the real answer: We lost our camera in Salzburg, so we used a cruddy old camera that Calvin's been using since Christmas* to take the pictures of his Sport Day. Then, the next week, two days before Elliot's Sport Day, I dropped entirely too much money on a new digital SLR camera at a department store here. It was expensive, but it's the best toy ever! (And, the continuous shooting mode was remarkably useful for Sport Day!) As you can see, we may finally be able to take pictures that do Switzerland justice! Stay tuned to future updates to see if we can follow through with our commitments....

*Actually, this makes me think of a potentially good topic for another post! Post some of the pictures that Elliot and Calvin have taken on their cameras. Switzerland/Johnson life through the eyes of a 6 year old and a 4 year old.

$#*! my sons (will) say

With apologies to a certain Twitter feed, although when it comes down to it, this post doesn't really bear much of a resemblance....

I've written about the boys' school before. Haut Lac is a fairly unique school. It doesn't quite follow the English system (for that, head down the road toward Montreux and take a right into St. George's, with Harry Potter-esque uniforms and all), nor is it really a typical international school system. But, it has a lot of English teachers, and hews closest to the English style. This is really going to ruin the boys' American English skills.*

• They're already saying they'll do something "straight away" when they're going to do it with some urgency.

• What do the the Brits have against articles? 
• Here's a sample sentence from Elliot's most recent "Reading is Fun" book: "People who have been injured are taken to hospital in the ambulance." 
• Maybe it's not the absence of articles that's a problem, but the lack of consistency. Shouldn't it be either "People who have been injured are taken to a hospital in the ambulance," or "People who have been injured are taken to hospital in the ambulance?" 
• Another example: Under the British scheme, when the kids grow up, they will go to university, not to a university....

• Photo quiz: What's this?

• No, it's not a ladybug, it's a ladybird. You know, because of the beak and feathers and all....

• Photo quiz #2: What do you call the green part of the uniform that the boys are wearing in this photo?

• A lot of you may have gotten this right. It's not a sweatshirt, it's a jumper. Actually, the Brits may have something here. Sweatshirt is a kind of gross word/description when you think about it!

• Brilliant! Okay, I always thought this was the British way of saying "great!" But, I've come to believe it means something more along the lines of "okay, that will do" or "that's acceptable" or "it meets my needs." I guess it's been watered down over the years? In that case, it's no worse than how we Americans have utterly ruined the definition of the word "awesome."

• Mum. Okay, this one is really cute. The kids have not taken to calling Laura "mum" yet, however.

• Brits don't play sports, they play Sport.

• Of course, you all know cookies are biscuits.

Well, there's more, but that will do for now. The boys haven't picked up everything. They are mostly amused by the term ladybird, although Calvin sometimes uses it interchangeably with ladybug now. They do say straight away, jumper and sport. Not brilliant or mum. They day they stop using articles will be the end of me.

* We've been reading the How to Train Your Dragon books in which the protagonist speaks the dragon language called Dragonese. Ever since then, Elliot has taken to calling British English "Britishese" and American English "Americanese."

English Muffins!

There are good things and bad things about adapting to the food that's available in Switzerland.

Good things:

• The produce tastes really, really good.
• Less processed food = need to make more from scratch = better tasting and healthier
• Fewer preservatives = food doesn't last as long + longer distance from car to grocery store = more walking + better food and few processed snacks so not as much food = Laura and I have both lost more than 10 pounds since arriving in Switzerland

Bad things:

• More expensive
• Hard to know exactly what you're getting when products are labeled in only German/French/Italian (also means my grocery visits seem to run at least 2 hours)
• Missing some of our favorite foods. For Laura, this means Aunt Jemima syrup (seriously, Laura?) and English Muffins. 

In the US, Bays English Muffins were a breakfast staple for Laura. And, a fill-in for a missed dinner staple. And a random snack staple. It didn't seem like a big deal when we got here, but going on five months without them has been hard.

I tried making English Muffin bread in the bread machine. It was okay; it sort of collapsed and was therefore dense bread, and it turned moldy really fast. But, in any case, English Muffin bread just isn't the same as English Muffins. Yes, I know there are expat-focused groceries somewhere not too close to here, and they'd be sure to carry English Muffins, but I just haven't been able to work that one out.

But, last week, I stumbled across this blog recipe for English Muffins. And this weekend I decided to surprise Laura with some homemade English Muffins!

I have to admit, the recipe looked a bit daunting. Setting the batter aside for an hour and a half to let it rise. Scooping (free form!) onto the corn meal scattered griddle at "medium" heat (can you define that please?) and cooking for a variable amount of time? More details, please! When are they done? How is it that I won't be able to tell until 10 minutes after cooking? Well, this morning I decided to just dive in and try. 

Time for some photographic evidence.

First batch. Three have just been flipped and the rest are still on the first side.

Not too bad. The left one even looks sort of  like an English Muffin!

Half-way done and the first seven on the plate. I made the mistake of not drying them
on a rack at first so the ones touching the plate are soggy on the bottom.
(The big black box is our converter that drops the voltage down to 110V for our US-spec electric griddle.)

I have to say, they turned out pretty well! I made the first group too small, so they were quite thin and dropped down inside the toaster, but they tasted great! (Of course, that might be because we're five months removed from a taste comparison!)

So, what is one to do with fresh new English Muffins in Switzerland? Make Jared's favorite breakfast!

Mmmm, Eggs Benedict!

Happy wife!

Our kids don't like Eggs Benedict. But, it's amazing how  when you break it down
into the separate components, all of a sudden they love it....

Okay, obviously I told him to smile!

So, why did I find a recipe for English Muffins this week? Well, I was perusing Michael Ruhlman's cooking blog after he made quite a buzz for himself this week. I haven't tried this recipe, and I'll certainly not review with you my attempt, if any, to try it in the future, but I can tell you that I heartily endorse it. Bon appetit!

Okay, okay, we're back

Thank you to all the people who have just *reminded* me that I haven't posted since April 8! I know it's been a long time, but there are so many things now that have happened, I don't know where to start! I guess it will be with our breakfast this morning: we've been missing English Muffins so decided to make them from scratch. That post will take a while to put together, though (look later today), so in the meantime, here is a little something to tide you over:

Here are a few ideas of some of the entries that may be added in the future:

• Visitors!
• Cameron in February -- our first visitor from the USA!
• Mom and Dad over Easter break, including a trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany, and Salzburg, Austria
• Alan visits from Paris!
• Billy and Catherine, our tour guides in Switzerland (car and GPS, respectively)
• Swiss food
• Made in Switzerland
• Organic and UHT?
• Lots of other possibilities here
• Swiss walks and hikes