We’ve started at three in the morning on a Tuesday, from Tržič, where we left our Joli. As a bow-wow she could not go everywhere with us. We bought the vignette for Austria at the Karavanke tunnel, determined to use its period of 10 days validity. It took a long time to get pass Salzburg to Munich, but the little rain made it more interesting.
At 8 we arrived to Günzburg. Tjuš was sure we reached Switzerland, but all of the sudden he saw the sign for Legoland. It’s not possible to describe the joy in his eyes when he realized where we are! It was still early, so we went to our board for the night, but returned to the park at 10am.
Seeing all those building blocks even a grownup can become a kid again. You really can see so many block in one place every day. I was most impressed by the little world of Lego, with all the buildings, boats, ships, cars, busses… all from Lego. It’s all so vivid you can hardly imagine it. The boys enjoyed all possible rides with trains, boats and a car from which you can shoot at the pyramid. Legoland offers fun and activities for the whole day (or even two). At the end of the day we were so tired we couldn’t manage more than a sandwich for dinner and went to bed.
We got fresh buns for breakfast next morning and finished them with great appetite and off we went; finally towards Switzerland. Over the Bregenz, St. Gallen and Zürich towards Strengelbach. I got a very nostalgic feeling getting to Strengelbach, as I’ve spent some of the best days of my life there. It was almost unchanged, except for some little beauty touch-ups. After first greetings with friends and a pizza lunch we went to Langenthal, where we took a look at the wild animal park: deer, goats and wild boars. For dinner Denis’ brothers joined us with their partners and we really had a fun time.
We had to get up by 9am, that was our scheduled time that we wanted to stick to (he-he). After breakfast we went to Luzerno to visit the Ferkehrshaus – the traffic museum. Tjuš was fascinated by all the trains, cars, RedBull racing car from Formula 1, planes and boats… Six hours were almost not enough; we had to skip the planetarium. We also saw the famous bridge in Luzern and had ourselves painted and went forth to Hasliberg, the mountains that separate Luzern from Interlakn in Bern mountains, with a great view of Mt. Egger, Brienzersee and the valley of the city of Meiringen, where Sherlock Holmes used to live. We concluded the day with a simply spaghetti dinner.
After breakfast we took the cable cart to Bidima, the upper stop with a lot of winter skiing. It is here that the dwarf’s path starts, where we get to know the lives of 24 dwarves, based on the fairy tales, living in the forest. Only children on their best behaviour can see and hear them and Tjuš was really brave, he heard one playing a trumpet. On the path children can see their holes, nut-slides, pine-cone cranes, lookout points, houses and homes. The most interesting thing was a real wooden house of two dwarves, who are the only two that live above ground. It’s designed for children to play in and explore it. On the way there you’ll also find picnic spots, where you can stop and grill a sausage – something we were sure not to miss out on.
We walked over 6km and returned by cable cart to the starting point. We were in for a ride with a big troti – a gigantic scooter – excellent ride!
The fifth day we went on, but for Tjuš the beginning of the day was already special. He took a cable cart ride to the city of Meiringen, known for a visit by Sherlock Holmes, who, for a while, lived and, in the end, died here. We took the mountain rail to the waterfall where he fell in the abyss after fighting his arch nemeses.
After a super sloth climb we went on to the Grimselpass which seperates the German part of Swiss from the French one. The view from high up on the mountains to the dams with artificial lakes is magnificent. And Tjuš could not believe it’s possible to be standing in snow in a short T-shirt in the middle of summer. The only thing missing was a groundhog to further brighten the day.
We "climbed" to the Furkapass. Just under the top is a glacier, from where the Rhone River springs. In the last 7 years since we were last there the ice has melted for almost 20 meters, not to mention the 100 meters of height it lost since 1996. You wouldn’t believe it unless you see it with your own eyes. Here you do get a perspective on the forecasts about rapid ice melting. There is a cavern – or tunnel – open for visitors, made right in the glacier. The Swiss really make an attraction of just about everything.
After the visit to the ice cave we went forth along the entire Wallis valley from the spring to mouth of the Rhone River. The 250 km long road was managed in 4 hours. Our destination was the town of Le Bouveret on the eastern shore of the Geneva Lake. This town grew on us seven years ago, when we first visited it. It has a nice peach by the lake, an aqua park and a park of little trains that all fit with the town, so you feel like you’re at the sea.
In the morning, after a strong breakfast, we went to the – one month awaited – aqua park nearby. Tjuš was not disappointed by a single slide or ride and there were screams and shrieks of joy! After five hours of sliding we were all nicely tired, but still went for an evening stroll.
Next morning we woke into a cloudy and rainy day. We checked the forecast and decided to go to the train park. It’s a nice theme park that offers rides with the miniature famous trains of Switzerland. You check the station to see when one arrives, and off you go.
On a bright morning of the next day we left Le Bouveret, waved to the lake, and headed for the 150km ride towards the capital (Bern). The city is mostly known for the three bears, which are the symbol of Bern. First off we went to see the Barengraben, which was completely renewed two years ago and the bears really do enjoy not. Also we had a look at the city and bought souvenirs, shirts and hats. Our lunch, however, was very untypical – a kebab.
From Bern we continued towards the Swiss-French border to the city of Basel. Having a look at the ton we headed to our board for the night and realized, we can take the tram to the zoo, so we decided to do just that the very next morning.
Since you can tell what the day will be like by the night, we knew it will be cold – only 15 centigrade. The tram took us to the main station, which is fascinating – with the French border right there in front of our noses. There was a 10 walk to the zoo, which does offer many more animals than the one back in Ljubljana. First there’s the aquarium with fish of all colours – including the Little Nemo. Next we passed some “strange water,” as Tjuš said and something suddenly jumped into it! It was a penguin and the joy was unbelievable. He never saw one up so close and he loved it! Another such animal was the kangaroo, next we were surprised by a while donkey, with the zebra like legs. We also saw flamingos… and the famous rhinos that seemed to have too much of just about everything on. And let’s not forget a hypo, who seemed very friendly behind a strong fence.
After all we’ve seen and the laughter and singing in the car, we were really happy we chose Switzerland and decided to come back some day and have an even longer journey. Now we headed home – some 800kilometers and the drive was really nice. We made 2430 km and experienced and saw many great things. And I can say we really have a great kid, who’s interested into many things and can enjoy also little things that life has to offer. We had fun and I know we can go just about everywhere together and have fun to the max!
Urška Perko
