Ribbons Undone

On the way to Italy for Fall vacation, we decided to split up the long drive over two days so it wouldn’t be so hard on the girls ( and us! ). Lucerne, Switzerland is almost exactly at the halfway mark, so we decided to check it out, and I’m SO glad we did!

Before hitting the city, we pulled over at a rest stop and found all of the things you would expect to find at a Swiss rest stop..

chocolate

Swiss army pocket knives

cow bells

even fondue pots!

and Swatch watches, of course!

cool faucets in the bathroom that wash AND dry your hands (am I easily impressed?)

driving into Lucerne..

The city’s famous Chapel Bridge- built in the 14th century

the girls on the bridge

All along the ceiling of the inside of the bridge are these cool paintings of scenes from the city’s history..

photos taken from inside/ on the bridge..

can you see the castle up on the hill?

the girls and Simon on the smaller bridge that’s parallel to the Chapel Bridge

checking out all of the birds..

across the river..

Talk about a family tree!

with the Chapel bridge in the background..

Probably their favorite part of the day- checking out the wildlife..

Finding these swan feathers definitely made their day. I love that they would much rather have these than buy something in a store.

The architecture in Lucerne is incredible..

where’s Quinnie?

you know I can’t resist a beautiful door..

Even more birds- they were in heaven!

I saw later that Kiera had written this on her arm 🙂

When it started to get dark we got back on the road. We passed by many interesting things like this (above), and you realize that you’re probably missing out on seeing so much. If only we had all of the time in the world!

Next up… Italy!!

Here’s a link if you’d like to read more about Lucerne.

Even though we live in the city, we get to see plenty of Autumn beauty. I love watching the leaves change in our backyard..

Fall is my favorite season. It’s just so beautiful.

There are chestnut trees everywhere in Cologne. So much so that Fall Season is interchangeable with Chestnut season. Kids bring empty bags to Park Pause (Recess) to collect as many chestnuts as they can. There are competitions at school with prizes for the kids who collect the most.

We usually have every vase in the house filled with them (and then emptied out and refilled). Sometimes we roast them in the oven. The girls love to eat them. At Christmastime they’ll often choose to buy a bag of roasted chestnuts over a bag of candy (I didn’t grow up eating them and have never acquired a taste for them).

chestnuts everywhere

Fancy Chestnut candies advertised in a store window (the outer shell surrounding the chestnut meat is made out of marzipan!)..

The girls and their friends love to create all sorts of things with chestnuts and toothpicks..

There were structures all over the house..

even a dog (I think?)

Quinnie did a school report on the chestnut tree (called Kastanienbaum in German) in school this Fall..

I took this video from our back porch. Turn your volume way up. Sorry it’s a little wobbly- I don’t have a tripod for my iPhone. If we ever move away from here, the sound of these church bells that ring so often is what I’ll miss the most (as well as the view).