We got ourselves a new car! Well, it’s not a new new car; it’s a new second-hand car. It’s a nice little (maybe not so little) car and we’ve had it for a week now.
Here it is:
It is an Škoda Octavia Combi, about 3 years old.
If you are interested, you can read about the technical specs here.
It is roughly the same size as our old car, even though when i sit in it, i feel like it is bigger. i also feel that it is a heavier car to drive than our previous Ford Focus Combi but it also feels safer, in the sense that it hugs the road more. We were told that is likely because the 4-wheel drive is on always, which regulates itself so it is not always a 100% on 4-wheel drive. This car does a lot of this self-regulating stuff, which rightly should put me at ease but i’m old-school and if the car is doing something on it’s own, without me knowing about it, it just makes me feel weird!
We haven’t quite figured out all the gadgetry in it yet. Still i like the new ride 🙂 What do you think of it?
syc
PS: i would describe the colour as light metallic blue but apparently the official colour is called Satin Grey Metallic 😉
So almost 2 weeks ago (oh my, has it been that long?) i wrote about our Spring holiday trip to Munich/Legoland. Now it’s time for a very short summary of what the 2nd week of Spring holidays was like for us this year.
This was the protective suit they all wore to go into the hive to look for the queen bee.
On Monday, the washing and housework were taken care of. The in the afternoon, Tobias went to visit the bee-keeper in our village.
This is part of the Frühlings Ferienpass, which a Spring holiday program run by the local youth/parent association. It has lots of different activities the children can choose from to take part in during a week in the holidays. i drove him there and went off to the supermarket. Then i picked him up again after 2 hours.
He said he had fun but he already knew most of what the bee-keeper told them because we have already watched documentaries about bees and about how they are dying worldwide. He wasn’t brave enough to ask the bee-keeper about the bees dying (colony-collapse disorder). But he did get to see lots of bees and help make some of the wooden slots which make up the hives the bee-keeper has.
He simply loves his strawberry ice-cream!
The next day was spent relaxing around town with mummy and enjoying ice-cream in the warm Spring weather. Our local chocolatier/tea-room serves lovely ice-cream.
We took a day to go see the Qin Exhibit at the Bern History Museum. It showcases the terracotta soldiers from the Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di and other interesting elements from his reign. i was initially worried if the exhibits would hold his interest but we bought the audio guide and he was hooked! He loved all the facts given in the guide and i enjoyed seeing in reality what i had only studied in books (i did Ancient History in school).
This was the little book he bought from the Qin exhibit which is now his diary.
i would highly recommend the exhibition to anyone who is interested in the terracotta soldiers and wants to know a bit more about ancient chinese history. If you do bring kids (preferably school-aged), it is best to get the audio guide to help them understand more about the exhibit (great for the adults too). No photography was allowed once you passed through the ticket gates and you can not exit the museum and return again that same day. Which means you would have to finish the whole exhibition in one go. But that shouldn’t be a problem. However, your ticket does allow you to visit the rest of the Bern History Museum so if you do go without children, it would be a good opportunity to see the rest of the museum after you are done with the Qin exhibit. The downside is there is no cafe or restaurant in the museum itself. You would have to exit the museum to eat. They do have a special chinese restaurant setup to tie-in with the Qin exhibit, near the gift shop area but we didn’t eat there. We went to the outside cafe and had a pizza and soup. The exhibition runs from 15 March to 17 November 2013.
That Thursday was given over to a visit to Basel where we enjoyed a nice relaxing afternoon and evening with friends who live there.
Here we are enjoying the fruits of Tobias’ labour at the butcher’s… He made a special patty for himself which had a smiley 🙂
On Friday, Tobias went to another Spring holiday program. This time he went to the local butcher to learn how they make sausages and handle the meat. The butcher very generously (if you knew the price of meat here, you would say it was generous too, considering we pay nothing for this holiday program) allowed each child to bring home the sausages they made as well as some beef patties.
The weekend was family and church time… then it was back to school.
We have had a couple of sick days over here… first me with sinus-headaches for 2 days (ouch!) and now the boy with slight fever and runny nose. So what do you do when you are home sick? Sleep? Watch television? Play games?
Ah… what games do you play? Lots of people spend loads of time on electronic games, social media games… i see that the latest craze is something called Candy Crush?
i have decided quite a while ago to stay away from those addictive games… of course i still play every now and again, like when i’m waiting for my train. i did, of course, when i first discovered Facebook games, spent endless hours on them. However, i pulled myself away from them, after realising how much time they took away and getting frustrated with the constant need to increase your “neighbours”.
i thought i was safe from them BUT… they have invaded even traditional game stores!!
i liked these games but can’t imagine how they would play without the digital elements…
That isn’t all that scary. What is scary is the merchandising which has also invaded our stores and none more overwhelmingly than…
ANGRY BIRDS!
They are simply everywhere!! And i haven’t even featured the clothing and soft-toys! It is simply unbelievable what one little game can create.
Now i think i should end this rather aimless, just for fun post 😉 hehhehee…
trippingdifferently 