Luzerne and Engelberg

Our trip to Luzerne and Engelberg was our first overnight weekend trip in Switzerland, which we took in early May. Just getting around to post about it now.Luzerne is about 1 hour's drive from Zurich and we reached there in time for the 12 o clock lunch cruise on the Luzerne lake. Beautiful cruise which went alongside mountains, literally took our breath away. Spent half the time sipping wine in the inner deck and the other half gazing out at the mountains on the outer deck. We were lucky with the weather, it was a sunny day and largely cloudless and we could see far into the horizon.

The lunch menu did not look particularly appetizing and we decided to try our luck at Kanchi restaurant back at Luzerne which we had heard about (the only South Indian restaurant near Zurich). Unfortunately by the time we reached the restaurant it was2:45 and it was shut! Could not get over this, mostof the restuarants back in Bombay have their peak lunch time crowd at 3 p.m. Anyway we spent another half an hour looking for restaurants, but most of them shut around 2-2:30 so we had to grab a quick lunch at the Migros take away (which was not that great). We drove to Engelberg , which is a mountain town and reached there around 5:30 p.m. Our room had a balcony and had a lovely view of the mountains and after hurriedly preparing and feeding their kids their dal rice we sat back and enjoyed the view. The town was pretty quiet and the kids played in the central park for sometime after which we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner, which finally had some spicy food.

View of the mountains from the hotel room

The next morning we drove to the Titlis base station and started our journey up Mt. Titlis. The first stretch is a cable car ride and we had the car to ourselves. A fell asleep for the whole ride and S was thrilled to see pigs (her current favourite, obviously because of their colour) in the farm over which the cable car was moving. We saw cows with bells, making lots of noise while grazing and a farm barn with a trampoline outside and spent many a minute giggling with S imagining pigs jumping on the trampoline. As you can see our conversations hardly border on the intellectual :)

The cable car ride up, the farm barn with the trampoline

The second leg of the climb up Mt Titlis was much more crowded and was on a 360 degree

rotating cabin (Rotair). The concept is nice, you can see the snow covered mountains in front andas the circle rotates around you can see the valley and the field you are leaving behind. But unfortunately it was peak tourist season and we were pressed like sardines in the closed cabin. I was worried for the children, making sure that they were comfortable and only too happy to get out at the second post. The third leg was a faster cable car, but much bigger with room for about 50-60 people on it, and we reached the top pretty fast. The top of Mt Titlis was breathtaking, snow covered mountains all around and lots of snow for S to play in. A was a bit overwhelmed by the snow and sat on my lap and refused to get up and walk around/play in the snow. S had a ball, making snowballs and throwing them at us, sliding down the slopes with the hubby/me and generally running around. It was very cold, and we decided to skip the snow fun activities. Actually I decided to skip it, since S and A are too young for it, and the hubby is not a fan of any activity involving height and speed. Next time.

The children got a bit cranky with the cold and we rushed to the open air cafeteria and fortified them with hot fries. As I mentioned it was peak tourist season and the main tourists are Indians (courtesy Yash Chopra films, can you imagine there was a cut out of Kajol-SRK in a DDLJ still on top of Mt. Titlis and many people taking photographs with it!) and Chinese. And in the table we were sitting, the others had brought their own Farsaan and were enjoying it with hot chai (pity they did not offer us any).

We had lunch in the self service restaurant mid way. They had a special Indian pizza which we tried, but just turned out to be the normal Margerita pizza with some carrots and haldi!!

Good trip, but too overcrowded. It was not fun standing and being squashed most of the way up and down, while carrying two kids. By the time we reached the base, we were exhausted and were pleasantly surprised to see a vendor selling samosas/vada paz, pav bhaji and masala chai. We hogged on the samosas and chai and was it ever so yummy. We then drove back to Zurich, reaching home around 6 p.m.

View from Mt. Titlis

As good things come to an end...

And so it is with the Harry Potter series. Just watched HP and the Deathly Hallow Part 2 during the week and was thinking about how I watched the first movie with the hubby on our honeymoon 10 years back, and the last one with a friend while the hubby was babysitting our two kids... how time flies.

I'm a big Harry Potter fan having read each book at least twice and watched each movie. I was introduced to the series by a friend in campus and read the first three books back to back, mostly all night sessions (aah I miss those days sometimes, when I could afford the luxury of reading all night and sleeping through half the day). The release of each of the other books was a major event and I would try to get my hands on a copy as soon as possible. The flight back from London to Mumbai during a holiday in 2003 felt considerably shorter as I was glued to Book 5 , Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In July 2007, when the last book was released I was on bed rest in Bangalore, as I had some difficulties in the first trimester of my pregnancy with S. The hubby on a visit to Bangalore to see me was ordered to go and get the book from any shop in Bangalore, and I spent the next few days huddled in bed, reading till late in the night. The only problem I have with the series, as with most books I read is that I am very impatient and when the book gets too interesting I need to know the ending. So for book 7 I had to know who survived,so somewhere halfway through the book I jumped to the end, and having read the end and satisfied my curiousity I could get on with the book. In the series my favourite has been the third one, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The twist in the end was extremely unexpected and gripping and I must have read the book at least 4-5 times!

As for the movie series, while it has not been faithful to the books and the books are much better in terms of character and plot development, I've enjoyed the movies too for the entertainment. And I also like to put a face to the characters, to the school etc. The hubby accompanied me to the first few movies, being in the early stage of our marriage where we felt we had to do everything together. Then came the realisation that its best we do some things separately, especially movies where I had to explain most of what was happening (and the movies can be quite confusing for non book readers),and I quickly found other HP enthusiasts to accompany me. My nephew it was for movie 6, a friends for movie 7(1) and for movie 7 (2) I was all set to go alone, till a friend here mentioned that her hubby also had no interest in the movie and was enthu to come along. I liked the last two movies the best. The pace was much faster and the story telling more compelling.

So with a heavy heart I bid adieu to the HP series.

But guess what, The girl with the dragon tattoo releases December 26th and I just finished reading Millenium 3! Will keep you posted :)

Animal tales

Driving down the road today

Driving down the road today

Driving down the road today

We're going to the Zoo

Peep Peep Peep Peep Peep Peep Peep

Peep Peep Peep Peep Peep Peep Peep

Peep Peep Peep Peep Peep Peep Peep

Screech

That's S and A's favourite song from the Musical Bonding class in Bombay. And the Zoo is turning out to be one of their favourite outings here. So far we've already been to the main Zoo (in Dolder) twice and to the KinderZoo in Rapperswil (about 45 mins drive from our place) once.

The main Zoo is pretty close to our place (about 10 mins drive) and we usually for for about 4 hours. After that its gets a bit tiring for the kids. So it took us two sessions to cover the entire Zoo. The first time we saw the big animals like the tiger (A was completely impressed, we could see it from a glass window and it was walking up and down in its habitat, drinking water from the lake etc), the lion (lazy lion was sleeping), elephant (family of elephants inside the enclosure, they were playing in the water), ,rhinos, zebras. We took a break for lunch, where there was a playground to keep S busy while I tried unsuccessfully to give A her cereal (if only she ate ice cream like S!) . After lunch we saw the seals swimming (through a peephole so it feels like they are swimming right next to us), crawling turtles and pink flamingos (S's favourite!).

The second trip to the Zoo we started from the opposite side, starting at the aquarium. It was awesome and the kids loved it. One tank had the Nemo characters, the clownfish, the pufferfish, seahorse etc and S kept looking at it and pointing out all the characters. The penguin enclosure was also nice, the penguins were lying down and lazing in the sun and we kept waiting for them to get into the water. Above the aquarium they had a section with tapirs, owls (there was a funny one which kept standing on one leg, think it was a burrow owl) and a very agressive shoebill bird. The shoebill bird was behind a glass enclosure and a girl tapped on the enclosure and the bird suddenly flew to the front and banged its face hard against the part she was standing. All of us got quite a fright. We then went to the petting zoo section where the hubby took A and S into the goat petting enclosure. A was quite courageous and kept petting the goats, S petted a couple, then got a bit scared as one of them made a charging action and refused to go back into the enclosure. That part had many farm animals like rooster, pigs, horses, donkeys etc and the roosters were left free to roam around the place (I was quite frightened, since I'm very scared of birds). We went back to the lion section and for a change the lions were not sleeping. Next to the lion section, there was a peacock which had spread its fan and was dancing. S was very intrigued and went and touched its feathers. I told her that Lord Krishna has a peacock feather on his head and she remembered it from the Krishna CD she watches (Karadi tales). We then went to the monkeys section. They had many of the varities of monkeys- chimpanzees, gorillas etc and the largest cage had a huge swinging section and we could see the monkeys swinging from one swing to another, climing up the trees, chasing and fighting with each other and A and S were quite taken with the spectacle, as was I. Outside we caught the sea lion show.

The visit to the Kinder Zoo was just last weekend. Its mainly a Zoo for children and about having fun with animals. There are camel rides, pony rides and elephant rides. We saw giraffes and baby giraffes, bisons and rhinos in one enclosure. The next enclosure had two ponies which you could pet. One of them leaned through the gap in the fence and started licking A's leg and she was most upset so we had to leave hurriedly from there. It was elephant bathing time and we saw the keeper scrubbing elephants clean with a broom, the elephants taking a shower under a waterfall before getting into the water and then spraying each other and themeselves with the water. S was taken with the family and kept referring to them as 'Manny, Ellie and Peaches' from Ice Age 3. At one point the elephants started spraying water on the visitors and we decided it was time to move onto the next enclosure. This Zoo also had a goat petting enclosure but both kids were happy to just stand outside and watch other kids pet the goats. The squirrel enclosure was very interesting. There were small swings, rods, branches etc in it and the squirrels kept hopping from one to the other and running upside down on the top of the cage, at top speed. S was disappointed that only grey pigs were in this Zoo and not the pink pigs which are her favourite! We were in time to catch the 2 pm sea lion show which was quite an elaborate one. The show was for half an hour and had kids throwing rings into the water and the sea lions catching it, throwing balls and the sea lions catching it on their nose, sea lions sliding down the water slide, dancing with the trainer etc. That was the highlight of the day for both S and A, and on the way back we bought a plastic seal for S (to match the collection of animals she has) and that now ties with the plastic pig for her favourite toy (which she asks me to carry them in my bag wherever we go). The seal has also turned out to be useful while feeding A also as she remembers seeing the sea lion show when I show her the seal and that gives me the opportunity to get a couple of bites in.

All in all fun times at the Zoo and plenty of animal tales to go around.

The new babysitter

I found me a babysitter!

S!

Two days back I urgently needed to have bath (had just finished a workout and was all sweaty and stinky) and could not wait for A to take a nap (usually I can take a bath only when A's napping or the hubby is at home to mind A). So I told S, please look after A, keep her entertained and don't fight with her, I'll be back in ten mins. And S was such a doll. I could hear her telling A, mummy's coming in some time, come take this toy, come and play with me on this rug and so on. And can you believe not a peep from A and when I came out both were playing happily. Really, sometimes S can be a real doll.

And sometimes not. The other day some friends had come over for lunch with their kids, and S asks me loudly in front of them "When are they leaving". And not just once, but twice. I was totally embaressed. But I must admit, I handled it badly. The thing is S is allowed to have snacks (chips etc) immediately after her lunch. This is the only time of the day she's allowed to have it as I don't like to completely restrict it (me and the hubby keep eating snacks and its difficult to eat in front of the kids and say no to them) and I found that it is a good time as she's already full from her lunch and doesn't have too much. So its become a habit for her to have her snacks after her lunch. So that day after her lunch she asked me for snacks. I asked the other moms if they were ok with me giving her chips but they asked if I could avoid it as their kids had not eaten their lunch properly and would not eat lunch if chips were offered to S. So I told S, after everyone leaves you can have your snacks. My mistake! After that she kept on asking when they were leaving, so that she could have her snacks. I still feel embaressed thinking about it.

Coming back to the babysitting find, I made the most of it today as well. I had to cook dinner and A did not nap properly in the afternoon so I could not get a chance to cook while she was sleeping. So in the evening I tried to cook but A kept coming into the kitchen, clinging to my leg and crying. I finally called S, asked her to look after A, and shut the kitchen door. When i checked after five minutes A was happily playing in the toy room, S was showing her some toys, and I managed to finish my cooking without any interruptions.

And finally the hubby has started babysitting (and about time too I say). The problem so far was that A is very clingy to me and was not going to the hubby much. But now realising that fun times can be had with the hubby and S, and being with mummy means being in the kitchen, or being fed A has started going more to the hubby. So in the last week I've been able to leave the kids with the hubby twice and go out and get my work done. The test will be when I go and see the latest Harry Potter film and leave them for a longer period. Keeping fingers crossed.

Funtime at the StrandBad

The weather has been awesome for the last week, sunny the whole day with few clouds. So two days ago I decided to make the best of the weather and take the kids to their first outing of the StrandBad (lakefront beach). It is an artificial beach on the lake with sand and waves. You can go swimming in the lake, and there's a diving platform, slides in the water and other platforms to just laze about. Behind the sandy beach is a long strip of grass where there is a paddling pool for toddlers among all the sunbathing adults.

We first went to a friend's place who stays very close to the Strandbad. She has a 1 year old daughter and had called another friend who has a 21/2 year old daughter. The kids had lunch at home and would you believe it the younger kids ate pasta by themselves and the elder kids were fussy and ate cereal! The Strandbad was a 15 mins walk away and we reached there around 2:30. Since the kids were already fed and rested, we put them in their swimming costumes and gave them their toys and put them in the paddling pool. Where they splashed about happily for the next half in hour. We had a nice picnic on the grass of pizza, fries, spring rolls and baked potato (there is a nice restaurant in the Strandbad from which we ordered). After the kids had had enough of the paddling pool (S started shouting when one kid took one of her toys, and this is after she had played with the toys of almost everyone in the pool) we took them to the playground at the back. S favourite was the bouncy castle and A enjoyed the merry go round.

Then we went onto the beach. At first S refused to come in because the water was dirty! and then it was time for a temper tantrum when I tried to persuade her to some. She kept howling on the sand, and I finally left her and took A in the water and waited for S to calm down. A loved the water and kept running around in the water. She fell a couple of times and got water in her mouth/hair/face etc so I took her and made her sit in the sand in the part where the waves come and go. So she could play in the water but it was not too deep for her to fall in the water. S had calmed down by now, but refused to go on the water slide where the other kids were playing, and instead played in the sand, making heaps of sands (not exactly sand castles and I was feeling too chilled out to help) picking up pebbles and throwing into the water.

It was getting to be 4:30 by then and time for the kids milk. So we went back to our spot on the grass- this time we moved our blanket to a sunny spot as we were all cold from playing in the water instead of sitting in the shade like wilting flowers. A had her milk and S refused to drink the chocolate milk i got from the restaurant so I had chocolate milk and espresso (not a good combo). My friend had packed yummy strawberries and melons and we feasted on them and sat around in the grass while the kids ran around playing with a ball. It was really nice to have a conversation with adults without having to interrupt with S don't do this, A don't do that and there were so many other screaming kids there we didn't have to worry that our kids were making a scene!!

Then S insisted on going back to the playground where the kids played till about 6:30. We ahd to drag them out from there as it was getting late for us to get back home. A was very tired and slept off in the pram as soon as I put her in it. S was also very tired and found it very difficult to walk back the 15 mins to the house- i had taken the small stroller where there's no place for her to sit on the back. So I had to carry her part of the way (and push A's stroller as well, don't ask how I did it). The Strandbad was outside the Zurich city zone and the bus frequency was less so we ended up waiting half an hour for the bus back. A slept throughout and S lay down on the bench. One of the moms was taking the bus back with me and helped me with carrying S and A in her stroller onto the bus but just as I was worried S fell asleep on the bus. This was not a direct bus to our place and we had to change buses halfway and that was quite a struggle with two sleeping children. I had help to get off the bus (my friend was continuing in the bus as her place was further down) but had to struggle to get into the next bus.

I met Pakistani lady in the second bus and we chatted in Urdu/Hindi all the way to my stop. Quite an experience, was the first time I was speaking to a Pakistani. The girls had woken up by now and I was able to get off the bus with no difficulty. We finally reached home at 8 pm after a long day out and we were all exhausted. The hubby is travelling the entire week so I had to wait till the kids were fed, bathed and fell asleep before I finally got to put my feet up.

But it was a lovely day and an amazing time for the kids. Must go often while the weather is good.