It has been much quieter around our house the last two weeks, since our stretch of visitors has ended. During the last two weeks we have continued to discover new places around Switzerland and France.
One place we visited was Swiss Vapeur Parc, which is located about two hours from our house. The parc is basically a miniature wonderland for kids to experience while riding miniature trains. The girls had a blast riding the trains and seeing all of the Swiss sites at their level.
Standing in front of the trains with their friend, Jonah.
Kid-size castle!
Last weekend, we took a day trip to Dijon and Beaune, both of which are located in France about 3 hours away. Dijon is the capital of the Burgundy wine region, and also famous for Dijon mustard and Creme de Cassis, which is a red berry liquor that you add to white wine or champagne. I had read that Dijon was a fun place to go with kids, since the town has created a city tour called, "The Owl's Trail." The trail consists of 22 different historical stops, and to get to each one you follow the small owls that have been embedded into the sidewalks. The girls loved finding the owls and leading us on our tour. It is definitely a great idea to get the kids engaged, I wish more cities had a similar tour. After completing the Owl's trail, shopping the large street market, sampling mustard, and drinking Cassis, we headed to Beaune.
The small owls that you follow-
La Chouette, is a little owl carved on one of the pillars of the Notre Dame church, which is said to bring good luck. Legend says that you stroke the owl, and you will have good luck- so we all took a turn- hope it works!!
Enjoying a Kir, white wine with cassis.
To drive from Dijon to Beaune, we took the Route de Grands Crus, which translates to "road of the great wines". On the route, we traveled through many different vineyards, all part of the Burgundy wine region.
Beaune is one of the key wine centers in France, known as the 'Capital of Burgundy wines". The town is surrounded by many famous wine villages. We spent some time strolling through the town, window shopping, and wine tasting.
This week, the girls and I also attended the "Livre Festival" (book festival), which was in Geneva. We had very little expectations going into the festival, and it ended up being so enjoyable. They had about ten different people reading children's books in the park, a tent where you went in and sang songs, another tent where you made bookmarks, and a small tea party set up where there was a waiter who served books instead of food. Even though all of the stories, songs, and plays were all in French, the girls had so much fun. It was an afternoon of learning for all of us- Eliza actually knew some of the books since she must read them at garderie.
Adalyn listening to a story-
Eliza making a bookmark-
This past Saturday, we attended Adalyn's school carnival. This carnival was unlike any school carnival I have ever been to, or even heard of. They had about thirty different food booths, all from around the World. Each different country had a stand selling their local food. The best part of the festival... they served booze!! You want Sangria from Spain, a Caipirinha from Brazil, or a Pimms from London, it was all there! It was a very fun day spent with friends.
This sign was posted on the booths- you must be 16 to drink wine, beer, or cider and 18 to drink spirits. For us, it was hard to get over the idea of serving all types of alcohol at a school carnival, and that the students older than 16 could be drinking at their school carnival!
It is hard to believe that it is already June- three weeks and we will be home! This week, the weather will be in the high 80's, which sounds fabulous, but unfortunately the Swiss, and many other parts of Europe, don't rely on air conditioning like we do in the states. Most homes, businesses, restaurants, and stores do not have air conditioning. They do sell small air conditioners, mainly for expats, to put in a window- which I may be in the market for this week!!
Have a wonderful week!
