The Ordinary versus the Extraordinary – A year of travelling with three children: 27 March 2015 - On the move again from Switzerland to Germany -

Our last morning in Lauterbrunnen was as busy as pack up mornings usually are: stripping beds, emptying bins and last minute checks. It was really lovely to have the Oak Hall breakfast provided as well as lunch making ingredients available for us to make food for our journey. The majority of the group was heading back to England via coach in the evening but our family and Kirsten (Parker) set off for the train for our next adventures.

I was so proud of Annika and Tim’s skiing achievements. Annika was a bit frustrated that she didn’t have more opportunities to go faster and for longer but I did my utmost to accommodate her in the afternoons and we really enjoyed skiing together. Tim, really did make amazing progress. When I think back to Tim as a little boy with flat feet and aching legs who hated team sport but was very active to now, when he has wow-ed the entire ski group with his style and physical form and skiing capabilities, I feel so proud! When he got his first orthothotics and his legs stopped aching, I rejoiced! When he succeeded at gymnastics when he was shunned from sport at school, I rejoiced! When he had a chance to swim at DCC and then succeed with his swimming squad, I knew he would "get there". Now, to see him confidently take off down the most challenging black runs and join with the young men at Oak Hall, it absolutely thrills me. I think of the people we saw in India with hip deformities and foot deformities who didn't get good care, so their bodies grew crookedly. And to think of children who didn't/don't have encouragement from their carers and just wilt. Thank you Oak Hall, for blessing us all!

Outside Chalet Jungfrau, ready to say our farewells.

Jumping for joy!

We could have stayed there for longer enjoying the company, environment and food – as could have everyone – it was such a wonderful week! Jenny had alluded to the “post holiday” feeling when we returned to “normal” lives in her introduction for an evening talk. For us, the return to normal did not apply, but the kids, in particular, were feeling really comfortable at Chalet Jungfrau, even after just a week and didn’t want to move on. Everybody had made us, the crazy Australian family, feel welcome and they even tolerated Luke’s antics with exceptional love and patience. It meant that Karl and I felt we did have a bit of a break from this intense family time.

So, after farewells we trundled to the bus stop to get the free bus to Lauterbrunnen Station. Kirsten was travelling to Bern, and it was tremendously helpful having her help us with the rapid train changes on the first leg of our journey.

Lauterbrunnen station

Train to Interlaken Ost

Poor Annika, here comes the headache

Bye bye Lauterbrunnen

The outward journey followed the little river which flows through the valley. The still bare trees would be sensational in autumn colours. Very early signs of spring are just daring to show their blooms in the valley in the form of yellow and purple crocuses and tiny leaf buds. But snow is still in the air and with a predicted -6 C, Lauterbrunnen was still in winter mode today.

Lake Thun

Kristen and the rest of us

As we approached Interlaken, along the shores of Lake Thun, we could see boathouses and boats getting ready for the season ahead. The lake was still and reflections of the surrounding mountains so peaceful and majestic. Through Interlaken we journeyed and then through Zurich and further east to Bern where we farewelled (and thanked!) Kirsten.

Kristen on her way to Bern Youth Hostel.

This next train was a double decker and not crowded so we took upper seats and settled in. It would have been great to hop off and explore places en route, but apart from the fact that we were heading for Bermatingen, Annika had a severe headache and struggled for most of the day despite pain relief. We think it was probably neck related and the past week of skiing and carrying skis and bags and boots and then also backpacks had caused the pain again. Not at all pleasant for her and really difficult on a big travel day.

Luke settling in for the journey

Karl settling in for the journey!

Arrival at Romanshorn

Finally we came to Romanshorn, end of the line, on the shores of the Bodensee. The Bodensee!! This lake has featured in many WW2 novels I have read and it was great to see it…and travel by car ferry across to Friedrichshafen, Germany. We decided to splurge on a pretzel each on board the ferry as we had eaten all the Oak Hall food by this time. A salty pretzel was enough to take way the munchies and get us over to the other side.

Car ferry across the Bodensee

It was only a small ferry.

To prove we were there!

Surrounded by Switzerland, Austria and Germany

Pretzels on board

Approaching Friedrichshafen, Germany

Friedrichshafen, from what I can remember, was where Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music was required to report to for service after he and Maria were back from their honeymoon. Of course, he didn’t want to work for the Nazis and this was the reason for their subsequent abrupt escape from Austria. AND we were there!!! There are SO many movies and books that we want to re-visit and see the places we have been to.

Straight to Friedrichshafen

The ferry turned so quickly and docked with perfect manoeuvring!

Friedrichshafen, from what we can glean is the home of the Zeppelin, and we plan to revisit the harbour town once we are settled in Germany. There was a great playground for Luke and sunshine for Karl whilst the big kids and I went supermarket shopping for essentials before the next leg of our journey.

Playing on the Zeppelin

The supermarket was fun and we got most things we wanted and spent our first Euros since the Belgium chocolate at Brussels airport some weeks ago. The important part of our shopping expedition was that we found Ayran (Turkish style buttermilk – there seem to be lots of Turkish immigrants in this area of Germany) and a Backerei! The bakery goods were cheap compared to Australian prices and we sat in the sun contemplating our next move. It seems that most of the small stations are no longer manned and ticket machines have replaced helpful station masters. This was not helpful for us. We boarded a bus for Markdorf and then took a local train to Bermatingen.

Checking out the Euros

How's this for a parents' nightmare? Impulse buyers beware!

Ein Berliner...mmmmm

The big kids just fitted up in the zeppelin

Just a bit too big for this play equipment!

Waiting for Markdorf bus

We dragged our heavy bags and shopping along the cobbled streets and found our historic house accommodation without difficulty. We left Annika and Luke halfway along our trek and went back to get them and more bags. With Annika’s headache subsiding, we didn’t want to trigger more pain.

Our first impressions of this area, is that it is a very historic area with lots of old wattle and daub buildings, including our accommodation, and there are vineyards and apple orchards on the outskirts of the town. It is very quiet with a speed limit of 30 km/hr. We were so glad we had bought the makings of dinner and breakfast with us as there were no obvious close shops and we were tired after our 8 hour journey.

We entered our accommodation for the next month and finally dragged all of our bags up the stairs. The house is a wobbly floored historic home with wattle and daub interior and exterior. The rooms are spacious but with little storage space and poor lighting at night. The kitchen is adequate but like most of the accommodation so far, there are not enough pots to cook with and only a small bench space for food preparation. Our main problem here was no internet connection and no apparent router. This has been a problem more than once on our journey and it is a challenge as we need internet for communication. So we need to sort that out ASAP. In this case, the host is in USA, so with no local contact, we are a bit stuck. Bermatingen is really a little village and there are no internet cafes until we get back to Friedrichshafen, an expensive train journey away and not feasible over the weekend. We are feeling grumpy with this host as we confirmed specifically regarding passwords etc emphasising the necessity of an internet connection.