Our second week of vacation started. On Monday we had to get from Barntrup, Germany to St. Gallen, Switzerland. We took a train to Hannover airport, flew to Zurich and took a train to St. Gallen.
Luckily, everything was on time and we had some time to relax and get ready for the special day – it was Lukas’s doctorate degree award and Franzi’s mother’s 60th birthday. Once we fancied up, we met with Franzi’s family who already came in on Sunday. Together we made our way to the University of St. Gallen. The weather was beautiful, a sunny and hot early fall day. We attended the award ceremony, which officially made Lukas into Dr. Lukas and had some celebratory drinks afterwards! Once we enjoyed the atmosphere at the university, we went back into the city and had a lovely Italian dinner at La Vigna. The dinner was accompanied by exchanging gifts and cards, which brought tears, laughter and plenty of hugs.
On Tuesday, we got into the car and drove to Bern. Before leaving St. Gallen we stopped by the famous ponds (Drei Weihern) and took a little walk in nature and visited some cows.
After about 3.5 hours of driving we arrived in Bern, where Lukas lives and works. We dropped off our stuff and threw our bathing suits into a bag. We were super lucky since this was probably the last day of the year warm enough to engage in the city’s tradition of “Aare Fahren”. This means you can get into the river running through Bern, the Aare, and get carried by the stream, which runs pretty quickly. This is so fun, and the crisp water makes you feel fresh and alive as ever. After two rounds we relaxed on the grass of the public outdoor swimming pool of Bern (Marzili). Overall, a truly awesome day with lots of fun and sun. Back home in the evening we cooked a meal and spent some family time together.
Bern is a beautiful city and offers a high quality of living with beautiful nature around and within it. Thus, on Wednesday we went for a hike – after a drive and a breakfast on the road to Wilderswil we took a special train, a so called Zahnradbahn (rack railway), up to Schyinge Platte. We hiked for about 4 hours, including a lunch break in the mountains. We ended the day with some authentic Chinese food to recover from the endeavors of the day.
On Thursday we explored the city and walked around in Bern. It has beautiful little boutiques, a lot of greenery and charming old houses. The city also has three special inhabitants – three bears who live right by the Aare in an enclosed area called the “Baerengraben” (bear pit).
In the afternoon we went to a Hammam. This was the birthday present for Franzi’s mum from all of us. The hammam was beautiful and the perfect “activity” to bring our time in Switzerland to a relaxed end. As everybody knows, spending time in the water makes hungry. For dinner we went to a nice Pizza place (La Vita) close to our Airbnb.
On Friday it was time to leave – we made a stop in Luzern on the way to Zurich airport. The city is beautiful but truly overwhelmed by Chinese tourism. Each year, more than nine million tourists, most of them from China and Taiwan come to Luzern to look for luxury watches to take home. It is clearly noticeable that the city is aching due to that. Among walking around the city and across the famous bridge, we watched some swans by the lake and enjoyed the swiss panorama for a last time.
We got back to Hannover on time and drove back home and fell right asleep to fuel up for our last day in Germany. On Saturday Alex was unfortunately a bit sick so he stayed in bed. Franzi went to her university’s homecoming together with Eileen. It was weird being back after so many years, but fun to see some familiar faces and enjoy the sun on the beautiful campus. Once back home, we all got ready for Franzi’s mother’s 60th birthday celebration. We celebrated in Bremen at Schnoor 11 with countless friends and family and danced the night away. After four hours of sleep it was already Sunday and with that time to leave.
We took a train to Duesseldorf and from there a direct flight to New York. Well, at least that’s what we thought. After about five hours we were informed that we’d have to do an emergency landing in St. Johns on Newfoundland on the coast of Canada. A passenger needed urgent medical care due to a heart attack. This stop cost us two hours. Finally, by midnight we made it home, where we tried to mentally prepare for going back to work and fly somewhere else the next day all-inclusive of jetlag.
