Seerenbach Falls

Yesterday we did our first "official" day hike in Switzerland. The weather is turning nicer now, it's getting warmer, and we're more settled in now. So the time is right to start getting into the mountains. Now I know we've already done several quick hikes around our village. You've already seen several pictures on the blog. But this was the first "official" day hike that we've done that seemed more like a day trip.

We drove southeast to the Lake Walensee area, which is a gorgeous lake about 30 minutes from our house. Believe it or not the lake is also the official gateway to an area of Switzerland nicknamed "Heidiland." The Swiss author Johanna Spyri who wrote "HEIDI" set her story around the village of Maienfeld, which sits just east of Lake Walensee (hence the nickname.) Anyway, we drove to a small village called Betlis and then hiked to a beautiful waterfall called "Seerenbach Falls." It's the tallest free fall waterfall in Switzerland. The hike was fun. You get to see the waterfall in front of you during the entire hike (as well as hear it), and you get great views of the lake and the surrounding mountains. After we got up close to the falls we had a nice picnic nearby. Later on when we got back to the car we let the kids (and Glacier) play around in the lake, while Jenny and I just sat there and took in the scenery.

Anyway, the kids had a fun afternoon. It was fun to finally get up into the mountains.  Days like this one is why we decided to move here.  And now that it's warmer, and we're more settled in, hopefully there will more days like these.

Legoland!

This weekend we drove north into Germany to a town called Gunzburg. The big attraction there is "Legoland." For those of you who don't know, Legoland is a Disney-style theme park...all revolving around Lego toys. Being the Lego freak that he is...the park was the one thing Ben wanted to see the most during this whole move to Europe. Recently, Megan has also become very interested in Legos, and she was excited as well. We went there with our friends the McGaughs (whose boys are also big Lego fans) so the whole weekend was one big party for all the kids. The park is much bigger, and more established than I expected. It took us a full day to see and do everything, and then we spent a little time on Sunday finishing up our stay. There are a few roller coasters, a few shows, and a few thrill rides. But most of the park is for lower school age kids, so it turns out our kids were the perfect ages for the park. Another big attraction in the middle of the park is "Mini Land." This is an area where you walk around and look at giant Lego cityscapes and models. The creations are stunning. My favorite was the replica of the Munich soccer stadium, complete with 30,000 mini figures sitting in the stands. Anyway, I tried to take pictures, but the shots don't do the models justice. In fact, throughout the park you find amazing Lego sculptures. Another interesting area was a Lego factory where they show you how the pieces are made, and the warehouse next to it is actually an area where you can create and customize your own mini-figures. (We were there for quite a while.) We stayed at the Legoland Village in a "Lego Racer" cabin (all the cabins are themed.) Our favorite ride might have been the "Ninjago Ride," which is a flying ride where you get to steer gliders. Anyway, the park is very cool, and it definitely grabs the charm of Legos. You walk into the restaurants and there will be a Lego table with kids huddled around it building things. There are Lego creation centers where kids and adults are all sitting around tables building with Legos. Then of course all the shops and stores are filled with Lego toys. I think Ben had more fun here than Disney. I'm a longtime fan of Legos and I was blown away. It's not on the same level as Disney World, nor does it try to be. We all had a blast and we will definitely be back. It was really nice to do something completely different from Disney.