We were on our way up to Grindelwald on the train after stopping for a short time in Interlaken. Ethan and I were excited at the prospect of playing mini-golf for the first time since Cape Town. Of course, it’s six times as expensive here, but it was still ‘enjoyable.’ After 18 holes with complex contraptions, Mom won with 80 points. Ethan had 108 and I had 107. Oh, that made me proud: it’s rare when I don’t place last in mini-golf. On the bright side, the notepad on which the scorecard sat was pink, and so was my ball ...
“Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen… fluorine, neon, lithium—wait, no!” Ethan exclaimed. He was trying to recite the first 50 elements (from hydrogen to tin) on the Periodic Table of the Elements in a short period of time. My record is 19.49 seconds. We were on our way to Grindelwald from Kleine Scheidegg. After riding the train, we got on the gondola to First. Passing through the Bort stop (we didn’t abort), Ethan exclaimed, “Restez assis!” “What?” “Look at the sign!”—which read ‘Keep your seat.’ (You didn’t have to get out of the gondola at that stop.) At ...
We tried going to the base of Staubbachfall first, but the gate at the bottom of the trail was closed due to it not being summer. So we walked for another hour-and-a-half before getting to Trummelbachfall. After paying the 30-franc (US$30) fee, we were in. Up the ascensor we went, and we were reminded of Valparaíso. At the top we went up the stairs to chutes 6-10. Trummelbachfall is a series of falls in the mountain. The water on the rocks drips and drops and it's cold and wet as you stand near the wall to get a better view ...
Today was the first time I’ve seen snow fall from the sky in thirteen months. That’s a long time, by the way—the last time was (I believe) 2012 spring break, when we lost our power for two days, our tree house fell down, and Willamette Pass Ski Resort was closed due to too much snow. Today was better since we still have electricity. We don’t have a tree house, but all the ski resorts were closed due to a lack of snow. After buying our tickets, we boarded the train up the mountain and rode to where the line ended ...
Holding your breath for 1.8 kilometers would be more impressive if you were walking (or running), but doing it for 1.5 minutes seems pretty impressive to me. Which is good, since I did that. We drove through four or five tunnels after crossing the France-Switzerland border on our way to Lauterbrunnen. Lauterbrunnen means ‘loud fountain’ in German. Although Switzerland has four official languages (Italian, German, French, and Romansh), two languages are primarily spoken in the touristy Lauterbrunnen: English and German. We arrived in the town at about four in the afternoon after buying groceries from Spar in the town of ...
Unless we don’t have our visas to Switzerland (and visas aren’t needed), we’re good to go tomorrow. We get to wake up earlier than usual to drive to Lauterbrunnen. In the meantime, today was our last Friday in France. It started off the way it normally does: with Ethan going up to the boulangerie and buying a baguette, pain cereal (healthful bread), and braided pastries with lots of chocolate chips. For breakfast, I ate a boiled egg, a pastry, a slice of baguette, and an orange. No one else in the house ate an egg, and Dad and Ethan had ...
We walked 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) today around Lac de Pont (Bridge Lake). After arriving at the parking lot, we walked down the beach and across the dam and, under a red bridge, saw the overflow area, which had obviously been used recently. It only took us three hours and we were going at a fairly slow pace. Ethan talked about Minecraft the whole way, and I, after yammering on about skiing for the first hour, walked ahead of the others. We didn’t see any animals or anything particularly interesting. It was what we didn’t see that was interesting: where ...
Doing the breakfast dishes—scraping off egg shells and orange peels Other chores (such as reading Baby Blues) go by Winning Scrabble—against Mom and then myself Nagged to do schoolwork—the ‘happy days’ of the 1950s Dishing up the chocolate cake with crème anglaise All enjoy the (super yummy) treat Yesterday the weather was better—it rained today Ciao! ...
As I sit in this chair typing my post, I’m trying hard not to wince. Despite the fact that this chair has a cushion, it is painful to sit because the bicycle seat on which I sat for seventeen kilometers (about 10.6 miles). We drove to the tourist information center in Montbard only to find it closed for lunch, so we sat on a bench in the sun for an hour. Riding the yellow bikes along the Burgundy Canal was Ethan’s idea, so he must have enjoyed it the most. I would say the most exciting part of the whole ...
Mom convinced us to go on an hour-long walk in the area around Semur-en-Auxois, so we went outside to enjoy the green and the sun and the lowering waters. After the walk, Mom made supper (pizza, rice and zucchini, broccoli) and at 7:30 we left for Notre Dame de Semur-en-Auxois for the organ concert, which was a fundraiser for the organ in Notre Dame de Paris. We also went to a fundraiser/organ concert for the organ in Notre Dame de Paris itself. This one was more uncomfortable in the long run since it was twice as long (an hour and ...
Everyone, write this date (May 5, 2013) down: for the first time in over two-and-a-half months, I wore something besides pants and a shirt in public. It was one of my Dijonian dresses, and it was very exciting. For me, at least. We walked across Pont de las Minimes and into town, where there was supposed to be a farmers’ market. Mom declined to buy anything, so we kept going to a shop where we bought a newspaper. Although news of the flood (the water’s gone down about five feet already) was splashed across the first four pages, Semur-en-Auxois didn’t ...
It was so sunny today that we couldn't decide what we wanted to do until after noon. That was a good thing, too, since Chateau de Bussy-Rabutin closes at 11 a.m. and re-opens at 2. We arrived in the town at 2:15. On our survey (“it’ll only take two minutes”) over which we slaved for five minutes after our tour, we said that, overall, the place was satisfactory. It would have been nice to have a speaking guide who spoke English, but the brochure was okay. Ethan and I enjoyed the maze, even though there was only one way. Someone ...
There are a lot of tourists on Pont de las Minimes taking pictures of the quickly-rising river. I’m not one of them—I prefer to stay inside and on the top floor. This house on the river is interesting: the kitchen, living room, dining room, master bedroom with ensuite bathroom, and another bathroom are upstairs. Out of the front door and down some stairs is the entrance to the bedroom for Ethan and me, which has its own bathroom. It also has several inches of water. Earlier this morning, after schoolwork, Mom made us get our clothes and luggage off the ...
Today we visited Dijon of mustard fame. Yes, we did buy mustard. Later we saw it at the supermarket Intermarche and realized how overpriced it was in Dijon. Oh, well—we know for sure that it was Dijonian. We started our Dijon day off at Notre Dame, which is home to two bells: Jacquemart, which has run since the church was finished in the fourteenth century, and its counterpart: Jacqueline, Jacquelinet, and, finally, Jacquelinette. After a stop at the tourist office, we continued our stroll towards the garden. On the way, we stopped at the mustard shop and then a patisserie/boulangerie, ...
There was no funeral in Notre Dame today, so we went in for forty-five minutes. After looking at a stained-glass window, I ran to my dad. “Did you see what that window said?” “No.” I dragged him back to the window and pointed out the truck that read “rican Red Cross” (a.k.a. American Red Cross). The top part of the window showed a French flag and an American flag. Below the window was a plaque which read: In Memory Of the dead of the 310th Infantry 78th Division United States Army who fell in the Great War 1917—1918 And of ...
Wow Eryn! you really are going all around the world!!!! LUCKY!!!! I’ll miss you @ school though 🙁
Eryn! Have a safe trip! I miss you already. And post a lot of things, cause I’ll be checking;) Love you TONS!
Good Morning Miss Eryn, Did you like bowling? Did you put the ball down the lane or were they gutter balls like I manage? I’m glad y’ll made it safely to the country of Siam. I’m assuming you have gotten warm, thaughed out or otherwise melted? You’ll get used to it as the days go by. Enjoy everything to the fullest. Laters, Love Grandma
Bowling was okay. Not my favorite … “sport”. (Honestly, I prefer minigolf.) Umm… it seems like half-and-half, but I think it was 1/3 gutter balls and 2/3 “good” balls. Oh, yes, we’re very thawed, and we’re melting through the back of our shirts. 🙂 I love you! Tell Grandpa and Zoie “hi” for me, and tell Grandpa I send my love!
Good Morning Sweetie, Well guess what…its raining. should be in the mid 60’s today. Did u get my reply from yesterday? when I pushed the Post Comment button it said the server was down or some such nonsence!
I’m getting ready to go to Curves. Today is the Garage Sale and its raining. Should have it on a different weekend.
Have fun today. Love you
Good Morning, Ethan!
The things and places you have already seen and enjoyed are very interesting and will be remembered for your life. But even more interesting to me is what you see when compared to the other scribes’ reports on this ADVENTURE. Keep up the good work!
Your discription of the Buddhist shrine/Temple leave me wondering how odd Christians must look to Buddhists.
I am really enjoying your notes.
Love, Gramps
Hi Eryn,
Wow! Is what I have to say! You have a great writing style, informative and entertaining 🙂 I look forward to your continuing sagas.
Happy trails!
Eryn.. it most certainly seems like you and your family are having a wonderful time
(so Jealous!) Love your stories, especially about your mom ! Thanks for keeping us posted.
Yes… but I tone down the stories of my mom a lot. 🙂 And, yes, we’re having a good time here in South Africa.