We began with a day trip to Besancon, France, only an hour away, to visit the Dino Zoo, une Parc Prehistorique. It was a very enjoyable day with the highlight being the life-sized dinosaur replicas spread out over a 2 mile radius. At least that was the highlight for Sam. For Hardy & I the highlight was definitely the cheap entry fees, lack of crowds & delicious lunch. No hot dogs & chicken nuggets at this venue. We dined on Croque Monsieur and local wine! A happy family indeed.
It's Alive!
Afterwards we headed over to the Citadelle which was a very interesting place. It was a beautiful and very large historical site with amazing views which housed a zoo, aquarium, insectarium and various museums among other things. We accidentally found ourselves in a mini-museum dedicated to WWII and the history of the extraordinary neutrality of the Swiss as well as the role of the French. Fascinating, as you can imagine, however not exactly kid friendly. Lots of questions from Sam we weren't quite sure how to answer...
The next day we drove up to the town of Stockalp. From there we left our car and took a tram up to our hotel in Melchsee-Frutt which is at 1920 meters or 6300 feet. There is a windy road that is accessible only in the summer however the rules are very strict: you can drive UP the mountain at even hours and DOWN at odd hours. As far as I know, there is no other country besides the rule-following Switzerland where this would actually work. As we didn't want to mess up the flow by leaving late and potentially not making it before the direction change, then risk being known as those pesky Americans who can't follow rules we decided to take the tram. The view was stunning but certainly not for those afraid of heights!
Pouring Concrete - Swiss Style.
We spent two days and two nights in Melchsee-Frutt. There wasn't a whole lot of action up there but we had an amazing time hiking around to the various play parks and looking for Marmots at Sam's request. Those little suckers sure are elusive! Our original plan was to take the tram back down to our car for a day trip to another town called Engleberg. However we woke to find that the tram was out of service for the day. Yup we were literally stuck on the mountain. Thankfully we had the back-up Marmot plan or who knows what we would have done!
Besides the Marmot search we rode the local train called the Fruttli-Zug which is used by both locals and tourists. This was definitely my favorite part of the trip and our most quintessential Swiss experience yet. The train drove for about 30 minutes through some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen.
Next Passengers Waiting for the Train.
At the top of the mountain we got off the train and explored the countryside. It was obvious that the cow was king up here. Every summer the cows are brought up to the mountain over a 2-day period (while we happened to be there) to graze during the warm weather season. In late fall they return, in full costume we're told, parading down to the valley during huge celebrations all over the country. We'll definitely be attending! Most of the cows are outfitted with the huge infamous "Swiss cowbells" which surprisingly make a really beautiful sound. At night there were so many cows all over the place we could hear the bells from our hotel room and altogether they sounded like music from the Andes mountains - Cowbell style.
Besides the friendly and tame cows that we walked with, we were able to visit a cheese house and watch them make cheese. We purchased some (duh!) and it was truly the creamiest, yummiest cheese I've ever had.
As there are throughout Switzerland, there were a number of lakes on the mountains and plenty of fisherman. Near the lakes they had set up little fire-pit stations with cut firewood and stone seats for impromptu barbecues. The ever-efficient Swiss had even included axes to cut the firewood further if necessary. Genius! Although again probably not something you'd ever see in the states. We saw one young family cuing up some incredibly fresh-looking sausages and then using the cut firewood as plates! How creative is that? I really wanted to take a picture, but felt that might be too intrusive. :-) At least you can see the BBQ areas.
Lake View.
This was the view from our hotel room. Besides being amazing can you see that very tiny red dot in the middle? That's the helicopter that spent most of the day flying back and forth to help fix the tram.
In the morning as we were getting ready to leave, Sam looked out this same window and spotted a marmot, all by himself. It was right about where the white car is and roughly the size of a very large ground squirrel. He was thrilled and was then able to pronounce the vacation a success. We all had a wonderful time and highly recommend a visit if you ever find yourself in this part of the world. Lastly, I'll leave you with one of my all-time favorite SNL skits....and the inspiration for the title of this blog (cut and past entire link below to your browser to view).
http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=more%20cowbell&tnr=21&vid=4900901943443484&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts1.mm.bing.net%2Fvideos%2Fthumbnail.aspx%3Fq%3D4900901943443484%26id%3D505aaa9537aa75642ec2eb46acfd54ae%26bid%3D4YSrxfuKLTUNBw%26bn%3DThumb%26url%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.ebaumsworld.com%252fvideo%252fwatch%252f719364%252f&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebaumsworld.com%2Fvideo%2Fwatch%2F719364%2F&sigr=11eojs9s3&newfp=1&tit=SNL+Will+Ferrell+More+Cowbell
Much Love and Happy Summer to All!
Lilli & Boys
