8 Months: Update

I'm like 0% prepared to write a big, long blog post right now. So, we're going to try to keep this one short-ish and sweet-ish, in a highlight-ish style.

Germany: Koblenz to Bingen with Cochem

We drove a 60 mile length of the Rhein river and saw 17 castles. SEVENTEEN CASTLES. That was almost more than my geeky history major heart could take.

Russ gives the Romantic Rhein two thumbs up.

We also visited several picturesque villages with half-timbered inns and restaurants, churchbells, and names like Bacharach and St. Goar. One of my favorite discoveries was the boney remains of a cathedral.

But the real highlight of the day was skulking around the walls and tunnels of Rheinfells Castle.

Since arriving in Europe, Russ and I have developed a quirky sort of luck, that manages to land us in little towns just as some festival or party is about to begin. So, I should not have been so surprised, when we arrived in Cochem exactly as a parade came marching up the street. The area's residents were celebrating the harvest of the wine grapes, and they marched along carrying glasses of wine, decked out in all sorts of fabulous German costumes. Then everyone had a party in the village below the castle.

In case that wasn't fabulous enough, one of the Oom-pa-pa bands decided to play some tunes while RIDING THE CARNIVAL SWINGS. So incredibly awesome.

FRANCE: Nancy Stake Conference

In many ways, round two of Stake Conference in Nancy, France looked a lot like round one. We hung out in the park with our friends, we stayed in the same hotel, and we ate glorious macarons. But this time we also ordered pizza--the American-style variety that I miss more than any other food--, played games in one of the hotel rooms after the kids were in bed, and sang "A Child's Prayer" in French with our entire ward as part of a special musical number.

Park Merveilleux:

My friends are kind enough to invite me when they take their kids on outings. We checked out Park Merveilleux, a part zoo, part mega-playground a little outside Lux City. The first thing we did was load most of the kids on the little train ride, only to have the engine jump the tracks as it was coming around the last curve. Turns out one of the wheels had fallen off. Seems legit. Don't worry. The Great Train Disaster of 2015 did not have any casualties.

Besides, there were lots of other things to do.

Switzerland: Lucerne

Russ talks about his triumverate of most-beautiful countries. Norway, of course, is a given for him. The others he chose sight unseen: Switzerland and New Zealand. So, when we drove down to meet some friends in Lucerne, I was pretty excited that we'd arrived in the dark, and Russ would get the full effect in the morning. Switzerland did not disappoint.

We met Lewis and Natalie near the train station, and then walked around the open air market until it was time to board the boat to go out to Pilatus.

The boat took us several stops around the lake, all of which looked like scenes from postcards, and we disembarked on the back side of the mountain. The clouds were rolling through, and I was crossing my fingers that the weather would hold until we'd been to the top.

We boarded the cogwheel train, and started up the mountain.

We went up and up and up. It was a lot of up.

Finally, we reached the top! Ta-dah!

And it was... like heaven.

The last time I'd visited Pilatus, I'd been unable to hike down to the mountain's chapel. I guess the trail keepers decided that ice+snow+terrifying cliffs+tourists sounded like a recipe for doom, so the trail had been locked. This time, I was excited that the gate was open, and I managed to convince my companions that making the trek would be worth their time.

Five minutes of hiking later, a cloud parked itself on the peak, and preceded to pelt us with rain, sleet, and tiny stinging hailstones. We tried to perservere, but when another group of hikers informed us we were looking at at least another 40 minutes of walking to even reach the church, we were compelled to abandon the pursuit and trudge back to the warmth of the visitor center. Pilatus 2, Star 0.

We rode the gondola back down to Lucerne, and I tried really hard not to think about how we were in a little box over a very, very big drop-of-certain-death.

Then we set off to do a little sightseeing.

The Lion of Lucerne

An excellent cow

The next morning we jumped in the car, drove up to a tiny town called Isenthal, where I was disappointed to learn that cows do not like carrots, and the overall scenic gorgeousness of the place was almost upsetting. Then we drove back down the valley, around the base of an Alp, and then over a high mountain pass that somehow magically transported us to Norway. I was beginning to understand why Russ sees similarities.

Feeling really small in the mountains

As we reached the valley floor on the other side, I began to see signs that had my geek senses all a-tingle. Reichenbach Falls. Now for those of you who are not enormous nerds, Reichenbach Falls is the place where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle set the final struggle between Sherlock Holmes and his evil nemesis, Professor Moriarty. I must have made some sort of joyful squee-ing noise, because I gave myself away, and the others gamely suggested we stop and investigate a bit. It was awesome.

The back of my head, Switzerland, and Reichenbach Falls

We swung by Interlaken at lunchtime, ate really great ice cream and really mediocre sandwiches (in that order), and watched the parasailors who had jumped off a cliff way, way, way above us land in the town's center park.

Last stop was the Bern temple, which is perhaps our closest option now that Frankfurt is closed for the next couple of years. We had a great time with Natalie and Lewis, and were so pleased that they allowed us to gate-crash part of their vacation.

For the record, when I asked Russ about whether Switzerland was still part of his triumverate, he made a little speech and waxed eloquent. But then he made sure I knew that Switzerland was SECOND. Norway, apparently, will always be king.

#star #update