This video was taken at an observation point up on a steep hill near the cabin. This is the location I'm describing below. For some reason the video loaded backward but you get the idea (and can hear the cowbells).
October 9, 2014 In which I start the day with stars and end it by temporarily losing 1 child
I woke up very early our last morning in the cabin and found that it was clear enough to see stars. The kids declined to join me. I couldn’t see as many as the first night because the full moon was very bright. I threw my jacket on over my pj’s and long johns and walked up to the observation point on the top of the steep hill next to the cabin. It was beautiful.
It was very bright and clear and the moonlight was reflecting off the snow on the mountains. The town of Thun was twinkling around the still, dark lake below and the stars were shining above. There were 3 cows on the other side of the fence near me and their cowbells were tinkling as they chewed their cud. A constant cool wind was rustling the leaves of the tree overhead and I stood for a long time looking at the world around me. The first rays of daylight started to come up over the mountain range and I was surprised to find it was nearly 7am. It was too dark to take a photo but I hope I can remember that experience for as long as I live. I returned to the cabin before the sun came up so I didn’t run into the farmer in my pj’s.
We ate breakfast, cleaned up the cabin and headed up the path to the bus stop one last time. We just made the bus. At the train station we discovered there was a train headed to Basel leaving in 4 minutes. We hopped on and away we went. The other nice thing about having a train pass is that you aren’t tied to any particular departure. If we didn’t make that train we could easily take the next one.
We can heartily recommend the Hotel Rochat in Basel. I stopped in the tourist info office in the train station and asked if they could make a reservation for us at a nearby hotel. They told me a couple options and I chose one. We had a bit of an adventure when we were getting off the tram and the girls and I got the bags off but the door closed before Liam could get off. The tram drove off. Last I saw, Liam was very wide eyed. Lydia said there was a woman near Liam who was smiling and gesturing to us. I headed down the street after the tram. Luckily the next tram stop was only a block or 2 away and the nice woman near Liam talked to him in German then English, sorted out what had happened and suggested he get off at that stop. We met up and returned to the girls who were wondering where their brother might be.
The Hotel Rochat is in the old town right across from the university and our room was bright and roomy with fast Internet, a nice shower and the kids were happy to see- flush toilets! We all showered and spent some time on computers/ ipads before venturing out for dinner (pizza and pasta). We spent the rest of the night “chillaxing” as per the kids. The next morning we had a delicious breakfast buffet and caught our train to Luxembourg. We should arrive there in about 45 min. We are going to spend a few days visiting Catherine Janot who we first met when she spent a month with my family as an exchange student in the summer of 1981. We lost touch over the years but I had gotten back in touch with Catherine and her family some years ago.
October 9, 2014 In which I start the day with stars and end it by temporarily losing 1 child
I woke up very early our last morning in the cabin and found that it was clear enough to see stars. The kids declined to join me. I couldn’t see as many as the first night because the full moon was very bright. I threw my jacket on over my pj’s and long johns and walked up to the observation point on the top of the steep hill next to the cabin. It was beautiful.
It was very bright and clear and the moonlight was reflecting off the snow on the mountains. The town of Thun was twinkling around the still, dark lake below and the stars were shining above. There were 3 cows on the other side of the fence near me and their cowbells were tinkling as they chewed their cud. A constant cool wind was rustling the leaves of the tree overhead and I stood for a long time looking at the world around me. The first rays of daylight started to come up over the mountain range and I was surprised to find it was nearly 7am. It was too dark to take a photo but I hope I can remember that experience for as long as I live. I returned to the cabin before the sun came up so I didn’t run into the farmer in my pj’s.
We ate breakfast, cleaned up the cabin and headed up the path to the bus stop one last time. We just made the bus. At the train station we discovered there was a train headed to Basel leaving in 4 minutes. We hopped on and away we went. The other nice thing about having a train pass is that you aren’t tied to any particular departure. If we didn’t make that train we could easily take the next one.
We can heartily recommend the Hotel Rochat in Basel. I stopped in the tourist info office in the train station and asked if they could make a reservation for us at a nearby hotel. They told me a couple options and I chose one. We had a bit of an adventure when we were getting off the tram and the girls and I got the bags off but the door closed before Liam could get off. The tram drove off. Last I saw, Liam was very wide eyed. Lydia said there was a woman near Liam who was smiling and gesturing to us. I headed down the street after the tram. Luckily the next tram stop was only a block or 2 away and the nice woman near Liam talked to him in German then English, sorted out what had happened and suggested he get off at that stop. We met up and returned to the girls who were wondering where their brother might be.
The Hotel Rochat is in the old town right across from the university and our room was bright and roomy with fast Internet, a nice shower and the kids were happy to see- flush toilets! We all showered and spent some time on computers/ ipads before venturing out for dinner (pizza and pasta). We spent the rest of the night “chillaxing” as per the kids. The next morning we had a delicious breakfast buffet and caught our train to Luxembourg. We should arrive there in about 45 min. We are going to spend a few days visiting Catherine Janot who we first met when she spent a month with my family as an exchange student in the summer of 1981. We lost touch over the years but I had gotten back in touch with Catherine and her family some years ago.