We are currently on Autumn School Holidays! 3 whole weeks of no school! Nice! But what do we do with the kid?? Well, we travel all over Switzerland, which is pretty much what we do for our Spring and Autumn hols here.
So Week 01 was a take it easy week. (See Week 02 and Week 03.) We did the housework – yep, my little boy did his share of keeping the house clean and tidy 🙂 And to reward ourselves we went to see a Swiss movie, the S’Chline Gspängst, with some friends at the local cinema here in Solothurn. Something which we have not yet done in all the years of living here cos we always travel to some big city to watch a movie in English. BUT this was a Swiss story, which of course, had to be watched in Swiss German. The title translated is The Little Ghost. And it was a delightful story although i have been informed by Swiss friends that the movie only very loosely follows the book it is based on. What was wonderful was that it was shown at a little cinema which reminded me of how cinemas were when i was a kid. i tried to get a feel of it in a photo but it doesn’t quite come across as you can see below.
We were seated in the balcony.
Then we spent a lazy day at home. The next day it was off to the beautiful lakeside village of Brienz for a short walk and our Grinberg treatment. We discovered this lovely new climbing structure by the lake. If you are ever in Switzerland, you have to make a stop in Brienz. Take in the amazing views and ride the steam train up the little mountain. The lakes and the mountains join to make this an amazing village to visit. We were last here when we visited the only Swiss Violin-Making School.
The boy had so much fun on this structure.
We were to meet the husband for dinner so we took a slow walk along the river in our town and guess what we found! An open bookcase (Offener Buchschrank). i had written about the Little Free Library about a year back and wished we had one and now we do!! The boy happily found a book of animal stories to bring home.
The bookcase is made of metal and has glass panels to protect the books.
Friday was the exciting day for my boy – we took his best friend along with us and went to the Swiss Knife Valley Visitor Center in Brunnen, where the boys got to assemble their very own standard/basic Swiss knife.
Here the manager of the place was telling the boys some history.
It is a nice little place, not very big. There are a couple of historical films to watch. We found those very informative. The store took up a fair amount of the 3 floors. The museum is down below, not very big but again interesting, there is even a story corner where you can listen to 6 stories of how a Swiss Army Knife saved the day. And some interesting knives on display.
The boy hard at work assembling his knife at the special workstation.
They sell a lovely gift set which i think makes a unique gift. The set consists of all the parts you need to make your own Swiss Knife. The only catch is that the person getting the gift would have to come to the Visitor Center in Brunnen to actually assemble it.
You couldn’t find a happier boy that day.
Saturday was spent at the Suisse Toy Fair in Bern, which we have gone to every year since i discovered it a few years ago. It was nice and crowded as usual. Of course, my little guy headed straight for the digital games zone and we stayed there for at least an hour if not more. Then it was lunch and the boys headed to the remote control section and i went to the crafting section. i loved that they added this section a couple of years back. i had fun walking through the small but interesting section, drooling over all the tools and materials which i can’t afford 😉 Unfortunately, the little boy felt unwell after that. So we had him rest in the quiet zone (it is so thoughtful of them to create such an area), while we did a quick sweep of the rest of the fair (we were almost finished by then).
i didn’t get many photos this year. So here one of the boy playing one of the new Wii games he has been waiting for. The conclusion was that it wasn’t as fun as he thought it would be. Yippy! He won’t be asking for that for Christmas… hahhaha 😉 The other photo is the group project for this year – boats. Last year’s was lego buildings of Switzerland.
Well, the last week of our holidays came and went… the main highlight of that week was our Farmstay, or in German “Ferien auf dem Bauernhof”.
Last year we did a “Sleep-in-Straw” farmstay (read about it here). This year Tobias wanted to bring his best friend along, who may or may not have an allergy to straw so i decided that would not be good to sleep in straw. So we chose a farm where they had a little apartment for us to stay in; it was the Guggishaus (that’s the name of the farm), near Köniz, Bern. We booked it through the Reka website; a travel agency of sorts which handles holiday homes and has travel vouchers which you can purchase as gifts.
i find that these adventures are best shown in pictures so warning this will be a very picture-heavy post.
My beloved husband, who had to work, was unable to come with us but he did drive us there on Sunday afternoon. And the first resident of the farm to greet us was the ever-energetic farm dog – Xenia. She is such a sweetie! Once she gets to know you, she is always coming up to you, asking for a little love and attention.
Xenia – the lovely farm dog… i would love to have a dog like her at home too 😉
Here you can see the farmhouse and the barn. i was told that this farm has been in their family for 4 or 5 generations now. So these are truly people of the land. We stayed in the apartment on the second floor.
Left: The Barn, Right: The Farmhouse.
It wasn’t a huge apartment and it wasn’t new but it was clean and comfortable, and had more than enough room for me and the boys. Here’s a mosaic of what the inside looks like.
The view from our balcony was lovely as you can see (i was sorry not to have taken a picture when it was sunny).
In the left picture, you can just see the lookout point we walked to on the second day.
Once we were settled and had unpacked, it was off to help the farmer with the cows. The boys helped to shovel the cows’ evening feed into the feeding trough. Then they were allowed to walked the cows down into the barn. The farmer gave careful instructions that we should stay clear till the last cow came through the gates, then we could walk behind them. He said the cows will charge down and he wasn’t kidding. They knew it was time to go home and most were already at the gate the moment they heard the farmer’s voice. There was a stubborn one which lingered behind chewing the fresh grass. It was interesting to watch the farmer get each cow into the correct position; they all have a specific place to go to with their names clearly labeled at the top.
The boys working hard for their stay at the farm.
There was more shovelling of the feed while the cows were being milked. i didn’t get a good picture of the milking so i can’t show that to you. He had a portable milking machine which could be wheeled around to each cow in turn. The boys helped with moving the machine around for a bit. i also learnt that the cows’ tails had to be tied up with a string attached on a line above their backs. They could still move around freely but when they sat down for the night, it kept their tails out of any poo which may have accidentally fallen outside of the poo drain. The farmer said you really didn’t want tails full of poo swinging around all over the place. And they do swing their tails quite hard; the farmer got smacked in the face several times quite hard!
After the milking, it was dinner time. i took the option of having dinner and breakfast provided so i didn’t have to think about preparing food while on holiday (Not every farmstay can provide this service so do check if you want meals provided). We ate with the farmer’s family. It was a lovely Swiss meal and afterwards we sat around and talked, had tea and ice cream. They have 5 children, 2 girls, 3 boys. The older daughter lives away, doing an internship. The second girl speaks a little English as does the farmer himself. The older boy is a good lad who helps out around the farm. The 2 younger boys are about Tobias’ age which was just great. It was also great to find out that they are Christians and go to the local church when work on the farm permits them to go.
The next morning, the farmer and his wife were up very early and the children left early for school (they start school a week earlier than us). We had breakfast while the farmer read his morning devotion. Then it was off to have a ride in the tractor – this was the favourite part of the whole day for the boys. The corn feed for the cows was freshly cut each day from the farmer’s fields down the road. The boys also spent a good deal of time playing with the farm kitten and the rabbits. Then we helped the farmer and his wife to pick apples which would be juiced the next day. The apple juice they make is yummy! We brought home 5 liters which was gone in a little over a week. i have a good mind to go back up there just to get more apple juice! 😉
Left: Playing with the kitten, Middle: See their big smiles at being able to ride in a tractor? Right: Helping to pick apples, most have already fallen to the ground.
i made a simple lunch for us – this was the only meal i cooked on this trip. In the afternoon, it was rest time for the animals. While the farmer took the apples to be pressed and his wife ran errands, we took a little hike up the neighbouring hill to a lookout point with an amazing view. It took us about 25 mins to get to the top so it was a nice walk, not too difficult at all.
Top Left: Lots of choice of Wanderweg (hiking trails). Top Middle: The 2 tired out boys sitting on the road. Top Right: The tower we climbed to get the view. Bottom: The View.
When we got back to the farm, everyone was home already. The boys along with the 2 younger farmer’s boys gathered the water and pellets for the sheep, which were in the field a little way down the hill. Then the boys played some soccer on the street. After which, they went to feed the calves with milk from the evening’s milking. Those calves were hungry little things!
Left: Going to feed the sheep. Middle: Playing soccer. Right: Feeding the calves.
Then it was dinner. The farmer did not join us as he had to go for a fire drill; he was a volunteer fireman. The wife and myself chatted while the boys played games or watched a movie. She made a really nice dessert of baked apples. At about 8.30pm, we (the adults) tried to get the kids off to bed. It took a good half hour before they moved; they got along so well with each other and, i think, were a little sad to say goodbye.
The next morning, our last morning, we watched the farmer clean out the pig pens and feed the pigs. Then it was off for our little trekking outing with the donkeys. First, the boys helped to groom the donkeys and get them ready. Then off we went. The boys took turns on the donkey (only one was harnessed for riding on). On the walk, the farmer showed me the farmlands and which families were still actively farming and which were giving up. It was sad to hear that farmers have to give up on farming because they have no children to pass the farm and land onto. But he did say the land either remained with the farmer’s family till a grandchild can take over or else they sell to another farmer in the area. This way at least the land would likely remain farmland.
Left: Getting ready for the trek. Right: On our way!
We had a quick snack after our trekking with the farmer and his wife, and then the farmer very kindly drove us to the train station. We were tired but we had a good time and learnt a lot. In fact, Tobias is so happy with this experience that he wants to come and stay again, next time for 4 nights!
There are more pictures but too many to share here. So i’ll just leave you with a shot of the happy boys coming back from the donkey trekking outing.
Love seeing those big smiles on their faces 😀
Oh i do want to say, the weather forecast for those 2 days was not looking good a week before we went. We prayed real hard for good weather and thank God that we only had rain overnight and one overcast morning. Praise the Lord for the good weather those 2 days.
Oh and you can find out more details about the farm here.
Have you been to a farmstay? How was your experience? Do share.
So what did we do to occupy our time during the second week of the three-week Autumn hols? It was all about transport!
We had planned to go to a pumpkin maze but the weather didn’t hold out… so we went to the Swiss Transport Museum, known as the Verkehrshaus in German.
We have not been there for quite a long while and met our good friends there for an afternoon of travelling through the various forms of transport. LOVED IT! We had only a few hours there but it was great. We did not manage to cover the whole museum but what we did manage to see was fantastic.
Left: Huge Pinball Machine, Right: 3D train display
There was a huge pin-ball machine on the 2nd level of the first hall – it required 10 people to play in order to get the balls up to the top end of the board. There were also a few other interesting informative and interactive displays about trains and train lines. But the one which capture the attention of all the children, big and small alike, was the big 3D display of the trains going through the Gotthard Tunnel! (By the way, you can see the huge drill bit they used to dig the tunnel out by the front of the museum building.)
Top: the Wall of Cars, Bottom: One of the first automobiles
We saw more trains and tried to wait our turn to get on a train-driving simulation but there were just too many waiting. So we went on to the hall with all the cars! This was amazing. There was a whole wall of cars to look at. People sat around voting buttons to vote for which car they want brought down from the wall. There was a whole lot of banging noise at each voting session. After which a special car lift brought down the chosen car. We saw a F1 race car and then what i considered to be a more interesting choice was picked; one of the first automobiles from Mercedes!
Time ran away from us and after a drink break with the kids, we had only a little time left so we went to see the airplanes! i loved the interactive display where you could feel like a paraglider, flying over different parts of Switzerland. We saw a whole lot of planes. There was also an actual model of a Swissair plane which you could visit.
Left: Ceiling of Planes, Right: Swissair Plane
There are a few other halls which are very interesting but we had to give those a miss this time; the boats, space travel and communications bits would have to be covered at another visit. The kids loved it and the adults can learn a lot. This is one museum which is always worth coming back to. That’s why our friends who live nearer to it have a year-long pass for the family! i recommend reserving a whole day for this museum if you are planning seeing everything.
Our next travel adventure came in the form of a Falconry in Locarno; the Italian part of Switzerland! The travel bit was getting there. It took us more than 4 hours, almost 5 hours of travelling on train and bus to get there but it was good. We like riding the trains here and the scenery was amazing. We had books, games (both non-digital and digital) and food to keep us entertained as well.
Wonderful Views from the train
The Falconry isn’t very big. It has about 10 or so cages with about 15 varieties of birds and about 25 or so birds. It is a lovely little place, right in the middle of a residential area, which greatly surprised me. But once inside the park, you don’t notice the buildings around very much. We were early for the show so we walked around the park. It didn’t take very long but it was a nice walk and we saw all the birds in their cages.
Lovely Snowy Owls and the short walk around the park…
i really liked the stage area; it is open and very well-kept. It gave me a very peaceful feeling, sitting there waiting for the show to start.
The Stage…
The show opened with a little introduction about how animals have helped man to hunt. The whole show is done in both Italian and German. They showed off falcons, eagles, vultures and owls! The show was fantastic, well-organised and it kept the audience on the edge of their seats. The birds’ natural talents was so well highlighted.
You always had to be on the lookout for where the next bird was going to fly in from. And the birds flew so close, the tip of one of their wings brushed across my face and you could feel the downdraft from them zooming by.
Top Left: The Opening, Right: Barn Owl flying at us, Bottom Left: a funny little bird which looked like a cross between a flamingo and a falcon to me… it was a clever little thing…American Bald Eagle in flight – amazing!
There was a lot of demonstrations of how fast the falcons can fly and their hunting skills and great eyesight. The show was 45 mins but it didn’t feel all that long. You could tell that people who have been happy to sit there for longer.
Top: a Vulture swooping in near us, Bottom: See the blur on the bush next to the man, that’s the falcon chasing his prey which the man swings around.
Oh, i have to tell you; near the end of the show, they got a bird called the Karkar (i think) to stand on people’s head and my head got picked! But i don’t have a picture cos there was a bird on my head (mind you, he was a heavy bird). You will just have to take my word for it that it happened to me. i do have a picture of the bird on someone else’s head though.
Top: The Karkar on a man’s head, Bottom: The Closing
So was it worth the 9 hours roundtrip? No, not for just 2 hours of entertainment. But i had a holiday train pass and special discounted entry so it was ok. And besides, we liked the journey there.
This little guy kept screeching… the lady said he was talking…
However, if you are planning to be in the Italian part of Switzerland, a stop at the Falconry should be on your list. A fair number of people do come for the shows (our show saw about 200 people) so do go early to get a good seat. There is a small snack bar and souvenir shop. We bought a couple of cute owl keychains 🙂
Well, that’s it for now. i leave you with a cute Snowy Owl, less than a year-old and hatched at the Falconry earlier this year.
trippingdifferently 