Switzerland

We have now moved out of our house in Englefield Green and have begun our 5 week European camping trip. Following this, we will return to England for a couple days and then fly to California, stay there for ten days and then go home to Seattle.

Today is the 5th day of our trip. We took the ferry across the channel and then stayed near Reims, France for a night. Our first camp site welcomed us to France with cold champagne (at a price of course) and homemade, delicious pizza. It was near 90 degrees, but the kids still jumped on the trampoline and made the most of it.

We then headed to Lake Geneva, which again was boiling. We spent all day at the pool complex adjoining the campsite. We decided that Lake Geneva was a bit commercial and busy, changed our plans and drove two hours east to Interlaken, where we are quite happy with our decision. Seeking a bit of the more typical quaint, mountainous Swiss village, we had found it. We are camping at a site near Lake Thun, not far from the town of Interlaken.

In a valley, we are surrounded by green rolling hills, Swiss cottages, and rugged mountains, including glaciated peaks (unlike anything in England that is for sure!). The only downside is that upon our arrival, it started to rain, and I don't mean a little Seattle light rain, pouring down rain including thunder and lightning all evening and all night long. Turns out our tent does not leak and the following two days were quite pleasant. We visited Interlaken and then took a mounatain train 2300 feet up from Interlaken and enjoyed incredible views of the lakes, the town, and surrounding peaks.

The next day, we drove up the Lauterbrunnen valley and took two gondolas up to Murren at 2800 feet. The clouds parted and we were able to view the glacial peaks as a backdrop to green rolling hills and, quaint swiss cottages (each with those beautiful little flower boxes overflowing with pink and red and shuttered windows- so perfect!) . We then walked back down, with Aaron and Linnea completely fascinated by the flow of water from the many (70 they say!) waterfalls and streams along the way. Back at the campsite, Linnea and Aaron swam in the freezing little pool and played with their new friend, Sara, a three year old British girl.

Family and Friends visit

 My dear friend since kindergarten, Jennifer, who lives in Boston, visited us with her family in May. She was about 32 weeks pregnant at the time.  We spent a lovely day walking through Great Windsor Park, playing at Savill Garden, and watching some polo.  On Jennifer's birthday, we spent a nice day in Winsdor, which included a boat ride on the Thames.   The kids played together beautifully.
 

In June, my brother Jimmy and his girlfriend, Brandl, who live in Monterey, CA, came out to see us.   We visited Stonehenge, followed by lunch at a seriously quaint and very old pub called The Swan in a small village near Stonehenge.  We also spent time at home with the kids and a day in London.  We had a fabulous time together.  Jimmy and Brandl went on to spend another night in London followed y a few days in Rome.

Camping in Dorset

Don't let the pictures fool you......  Our good traveling luck came to an abrupt end as we drove 2 hours southwest to Dorset, famous for its quaint fishing villages, miles of sandy beaches, and shale and limestone cliffs that continuously erode to reveal fossils from tens and even hundreds of millions years ago.  We had organized a camping trip with friends from school and our neighbors, the Bennetts to the Dorset Coast, having picked campsite that sits atop a cliff on the sea's edge.  Unfortunately the cliffs only accelerated the gale force winds that were blowing when we arrived.  The initital attempt at putting up our tent (which we had yet to use) resulted in its complete flattening, breakage of one of its irreplaceable (in the UK at least) poles, and a giant tear in the rainfly.  Had others not been arriving soon to join us, we would have used our good sense to pack up then and there but sadly did not.  After duct-taping the pole and rain-fly, with the help of near-by campers, we got the tent set up and then spent the next couple hours helping our friends do the same.  Dinner was spent largely chasing food and plates that were being flung at 40 miles per hour from our laps in the wind, and the night was spent holding the tent off of our faces as it buckled in the wind every few minutes.

Things looked up the next day, as the wind abated slightly and the sun poked out of the clouds from time to time.  We looked for fossils on the beach, visited several quant fishing villages, found a great country pub for lunch, and took a long walk along southern England's famous and incredibly gorgeous coast trail that extends from Kent in the east to land's end in Cornwall to the west.   As violently as the wind blew the first night, we were torrentially rained upon during the second night.  Not only did we have to pack up in sheeting rain, Meade had acquired some sort of food poising during the night and was vomiting up his soul every 10 minutes while packing up.   His only accomplishments for the next 24 hours were to get in the car, get out of the car, and get into bed when we got home while I had the luxury of unpacking from our wind and rain-drenched weekend and soaking up the inch of water that had collected on the floor of our trusty green Rover sedan from all of our wet gear.

The kids, as they often do, slept well both nights, and thought Dorset's weather more to their liking than  had it been sunny and hot.