The Singletons in Dagmersellen

Early on Wednesday, 12th November I went into Zurich Airport to pick up Katrina, Charles, Matthew, Hannah and Nikita Singleton, who had flown in from Melbourne, Australia. After settling in and catching up with each other we took a walk around Dagmersellen, saw the church and the Wurst-o-Mat.
On Thursday we drove to Luzern to have a walk around this pretty city. We saw the Chapel Bridge, the Lion Monument and plenty of shops. Katrina bought herself a Swiss watch, while Matthew, Hannah and Nikita feasted on giant pretzels. The family had leased a car for their travels throughout Europe, so on Friday we caught the train to Zurich to pick up the car and see this famous city. What a wonderful delight to see not only a modern town, but the attractive narrow alleys of the old city sitting on the Zurich Lake. The falling Autumn leaves were used for fun. We walked into the Grossmunster, with its dual spires, the Fraumunster with its distinctive stained-glass windows and checked the time on Europe's largest clockface at St. Peter's Church. Even though the day was overcast on Saturday, we checked the webcam at Mt. Pilatus that showed sunshine above the clouds. We decided to take our chances and rode up the two gondolas to the peak. The air was very cold, but the view was magnificent. We listened to the Swiss horns, walked through the Dragon Caves and enjoyed a beer/hot chocolates and hot chips. A quiet morning on Sunday was welcomed by us before we went into Sursee to watch Alexandra and Zoe play basketball. A walk through the quiet Sunday streets of Sursee was very pleasant. On the way home we bought a Blackforest cake to treat ourselves with.
Matthew went into Alexandra's English class at school on Monday morning, then Madeleine took Hannah and Nikita in at the break to meet the girls' friends. When they got back to the house we drove off towards the Rheinfalls and Schaffhausen. The falls were very heavy as we had had snow and rain. In Schaffhausen we had some coffee and hot chocolate to warm us up after walking through the lovely streets. Tuesday morning came and the Singletons headed off towards Koln, Germany. We were very happy to spend this week with them, knowing that there were more good times to come when we caught up later in December.

The Other Komps in Dagmersellen

Andrew, Soo, Mitchell and Sam arrived from Cinque Terre in Italy to the Dagmersellen train station on Thursday evening, the 16th October. We let them settle in and caught up with each other. On Friday we went for a walk around the village of Dagmersellen and bought a pumpkin from the local pumpkin farm. Mitchell was interested to see the Wurst-O-Mat, a vending machine for packaged meat. The weather looked clear on Saturday, so we took the gondolbahn to the top of Mt. Pilatus, where we viewed the wonderful Swiss Alps while enjoying a beer, soft drink and chips. On our way down the mountain we stopped at the halfway point and all of us had a ride on Switzerland's longest Summer toboggan run. We had a walk through Sursee on Sunday and met up with Monika, Todd and Lilian (friends of Marianne and Mark) at a cafe. We took the kids to the park, where the Autumn leaves were piled up, tempting everyone to become buried under them, which was great fun.
The following morning, after picking up a hire car from Luzern, Andrew, Soo and the boys drove up to Glessen to see our relatives there.
When they got back to Dagmersellen on Friday we all made our way to the Sorenberg chalet. Soo lit an open fire which set the scene for a relaxing time, with a gorgeous mountain scene outside the full-length windows. Early on Saturday, Mark led Soo and I on an exhausting, though scenic run along the river. As Brienzer-Rothorn, the highest peak in this area, was bathed in sunshine, we took the steep gondola ride up. While we looked out towards the valleys between the enormous peaks, we saw a magical fog sea. We took a mini-hike to get other views from this high platform, and so deserved a hot Swiss lunch at the restaurant. Mark and Andrew took the kids to the local toboggan run after that. On Sunday we set off on a hike up the mountain across the way from the chalet, where we had a view of the Sorenberg town.
A visit to see Emma and Dolf (Marianne's parents) started our tour of the city of Luzern on Monday. Our walk included the Chapel Bridge, Water Tower, the Lion of Luzern, the Library, Lake Luzern and McDonalds for lunch. Andrew and Soo drove off for a night away in Interlaken, so the boys and I caught the train back to Dagmersellen.
An unusual event occurred on Tuesday night - it snowed in October! We all went out into the backyard to see. Krista (my German tutor) invited us over for a coffee on Wednesday morning to take in the wonderful view of the Alps from her patio, but after the continuing snow the only view was of the snow falling, which for us was beautiful. Soo and I took an opportunity for a girls' day out on Thursday, in the capital city, Bern. We wandered through the covered footpaths, ate a delicious lunch and walked up a short path to the Rose Garden where we looked out over the whole of this picturesque town. While we were there Andrew and the boys got busy making a fantastic snowman.On Friday we drove north-west to the Rheinfall and Schaffhausen. Unfortunately, the boats weren't operating (it is now off-season), but we were able to experience the loud, large volume of the waterfall from the many vantage points. At Shaffhausen, a lovely old town close-by, we walked around and drank coffee and hot chocolates. That evening Alexandra and her friend, Moni, dressed Mitchell and Sam up for Halloween, then took them 'Trick-or-Treating' around Dagmersellen. Late on Saturday afternoon we walked to the Lowen Inn and spent an hour playing in the Kagelbahn (a nine-pin bowling alley), where I was the winner. A delicious Raclette was the final meal that we shared together on this visit, a meal that we all enjoyed.
In the time that we spent with Andrew, Soo, Mitchell and Sam we had plenty of music, card games, hair straightening and laughs. Mitchell was a great help at the Co-Op, wheeling the shopping cart around and Sam made lots of creations with the Lego set that we have here. We are so glad that they came to visit us and share in our experience.

The Time with Hetty

Here are the Girls' accounts of the week with Hetty (30th September - 9th October).

Time With Hetty in Dagmersellen

Mum and Dad were going to Santorini in the Greek Islands for a week so we decided to invite Hetty down to stay with us for that time. She arrived in Luzern on the 30^th of September by train. We took her back to our house, gave her the grand tour and let her settle in. Mum and Dad left that night at about 10pm and Hetty, Alex, Zoe and I got settled in for a good week of eating chocolate and watching way too many movies.

For one day while Hetty was here we took a trip into Luzern. Hetty drove us in and we got ready to show her around. To tell you the truth, we didn’t really do much sight seeing, it was just shopping, shopping and more shopping for us. Alex bought some boots, Zoe bought some tank tops and I bought some novelty earrings. We had a really good day and had Maccas for lunch.

Other activities we enjoyed while Hetty was here were Europa Park, watching Friends, playing Monopoly and playing ping pong. We had some really good competitions with ping pong, it was quite funny.

Overall it was a good week and we really enjoyed having Hetty down here with us.

-- Madeleine

Time with Tante Netty and Bernd in Dagmersellen

They arrived in Switzerland on Monday the 6^th of August. I had already baked a nice chocolate cake for them for when they arrived. We all sat together and caught up on everything. On Tuesday we all went into Lucerne to show them around. They (Hetty, Bernd and Tante Netty) went on a boat cruise and we (Zoe, Mad and I) walked around the town and had a lot of fun. It was a nice sunny day and no one wanted to go home in the evening. We played a couple of games together and just had a really nice time. I think they enjoyed their stay in Switzerland.

-- Alexandra

Our Trip To Europa Park

Ok, well, I’m going to be giving a short summary of when Hetty, Madeleine, Alexandra and I went to Europa Park. We all set our alarms for 5.30am on Thursday morning as the train we were taking left at 6.32am. We had already packed our bags the night before so all we had to do was have breakfast, get dressed and do all of our normal morning activities. At about 6.00, all 4 of us headed out into the cold and complete darkness towards the train station of Dagmersellen. (Which is about a 15 minute walk).

It was 3 hours on the train to get to Europa Park which is placed in Germany and we stopped off 2 times to swap trains. When we finally got there, of course, we went on the first ride we saw! This ride happened to be named ‘Silver Star’ and it was so scary! When you went down the big decline, all the breath left you until you got back down! I don’t want to bore you and tell you every little detail about all the rides we went on so I’ll just say that we went on HEAPS of rides which were all really fun! We bought some hot chips and Coke for lunch. (of course!). By the end of the day, we were all EXHAUSTED!! It didn’t help that we missed one of our trains to get back to Dagmersellen either! We had to wait another hour and a half until the next train came and it was already 8.30. But we took advantage of the delayed train and walked into the town and got some pizza which was expensive, but yummy! So, when we finally got back home, we all went straight to bed and slept-in very late the next morning!

--Zoe

Santorini in the Greek Islands

On the first of Oktober, Mark and I flew out of Zurich Airport towards the Greek Island of Santorini (St. Irene). On arrival the temperature was in the low twenties and the sun was shining. We took a taxi to our accommodation, the Kafieris Apartments On The Cliff, in Fira Stefani. Our room was cosy and clean. It had a balcony with a magnificent view over the Caldera, other islands, the beautiful blue sea, the magnificent sight of white buildings on the cliff faces and sunsets that defy imagination.


During our relaxing week we went for walks into Fira, the main city on the island where there were plenty of souvenir shops, tourist offices, kebab stalls and restaurants. Each of the towns can be accessed by a cobble-stoned walking track which follows the coast around, so the walks have a spectacular view. We took a boat cruise one day and stopped at the volcano and the thermal hot springs for a while. After jumping off the side of the boat into the sea and swimming for about 100 metres we thought that the thermal hot springs should be renamed the mildly warm springs. A couple of donkeys took us back up the very steep cliff when we returned to the Old Port of Fira.



On a couple of days we took a local bus ride to some beaches on the opposite side of the island. These beaches , Perissa and Kamari, had black sand and were covered with sun-lounges and umbrellas (that we needed to pay three Euros for). What a wonderful way to relax, with warm air and mild water temperatures. Mark and I both read a few novels while relaxing in this way.

Overall we had a great time; friendly people on the island; warm weather; delicious food; gorgeous sunsets - the most difficult decision we had to make each day was when to have our first beer.


P.S. While Mark and I were away the girls remained in Dagmersellen and Hetty (their second cousin from Germany) came down to stay with them. They had an all-day trip to Europa Park, an adventure playground for teenagers and beyond, where they had a wonderful time. A couple of day trips into Luzern were had. Tante Netty and Hetty's father, Bernd, visited Dagmersellen for a few days as well. We were happy to catch up with them when we got back home.

Oktoberfest in Munich

A four hour drive north took Mark and I to Munich, Germany on Sunday the 28th of September. The purpose of our visit was the Oktoberfest, the home of the original. As we drove through Munich on our way to our accommodation (at an apartment of Matthew Komp's friend, Heinz) we took in the lovely streetscape of the city. From there we took two trains to get to Theresienplatz, the place where the fest is held. The crowds were huge as we walked into the grounds. There were lots of thrilling rides, food stalls and beer halls. The halls are enormous, with large bands playing on a raised platform, so we could all see them. There were dancing songs, traditional singalong songs, and even a Robbie Williams song as well as the regularly sung "Ein Prosit" - a beer drinking song. The tables and stools needed to be super-strong as most people stand up on them to dance and sing. The steins that hold the beer are very heavy and I needed to use two hands to hold my full glass. For soft drink and water you can buy half litre glasses, but for beer they only sell one size - large (one litre). We had beer, bratwurst, chicken, sauerkraut and a gigantic pretzel.The atmosphere is very friendly and happy and everyone seems to want to have a good time. Mark wanted to really get into the swing of things, therefore he bought a silly hat - and looked silly in it. We met quite a few people, mostly German, and had a fantastic evening.

Pumpkins

On the 27th of September the Dagmersellen pumpkin farm held a celebration to welcome the pumpkin season for the year. All year I have missed eating pumpkin (roast and soup in particular), so I was thrilled when I found out about this farm just up the road from us. The farm is amazing. There are so many varieties of pumpkin for sale, even a Queensland Blue. Also available are miniature pumpkins that are used as house decorations. We bought a couple of pumpkins and an Autumn collage to get into the spirit of things.

Travelling Teachers - Val de Travers

On the weekend of the 13th and 14th September we met with the Travelling Teachers group in Val de Travers, in the French part of Switzerland. The new exchangees from Canada had only been in the country for about a month, and we got to talk with them. This time it was us who had some experience here.

The weather was cold and wet for most of the weekend, but we soldiered on. Our first visit was to the Fountain of the Fairies. At the fountain there is a box with Schnapps and cups in it. When you leave a small donation you can take a drink of this strong, aniseed, not for kids drink. Lunch was in a small, cosy restaurant at the top of a hill that was covered in cloud. We ate the specialty of this place, a delicious Rosti pizza. Even though it was drizzling we all had a go on the toboggan run - great fun. Back at our mountain chalet, a warm log-fire was set up and our dinner was another Swiss favourite, Raclette. This is melted cheese over potatoes. The evening was a lovely chance to talk to the other members of the group.The following morning we took a train ride to the Asphalt Mines of La Presta. We went on an interesting guided tour of the underground mine, followed by ham cooked in asphalt with vegies in the mine's restaurant. After this we boarded a steam train for a ride.

It was a great weekend, with good company and interesting places to see.