Destination Deutschland: September 2009

For the Labor Day holiday, we decided to take another weekend excursion. I had 8 hours of use-or-lose comp time, so we decided to take Friday off as well and make it a four-day. We thought about lots of places, but in the end decided it might be best to go somewhere close enough to drive this time and bring along the doggies. So, we ended up going to Engelberg, Switzerland, on the recommendation of my lovely mom who has been there before and absolutely loved it.

We packed up the car and headed out Friday afternoon, finally reaching the land of the Swiss just a few hours later. Oh my goodness. It was so beautiful I honestly can not put it into words!

The night we arrived it was raining and slightly chilly. We got checked into our hotel, only to get some bad news. While they advertise themselves as being pet friendly, in all actuality they do not allow you to leave your pets unattended in the rooms for any amount of time. Great. I wish they would have told us that in the beginning, because we definitely would have found a different hotel (I'm sure they knew that, too). Our dogs are very used to traveling and very used to being in hotel rooms or wherever by themselves for a few hours at a time. They are fine -- we leave the tv on for them, and they just sleep.

So, the disappointment was that Engelberg has lots of really neat things to do that we were now going to be unable to do because of having the dogs along, such as diggling down the mountain, or perhaps the rotating gondola that takes you to the top of the highest peak where you can ride a snowtube or take the Ice Flyer chairlift over the glacier. Next time, I guess.

We were able to take the reds in a cable car with us up the mountain on Saturday though, which was so cute to see how nervous Scouty was when it was our turn to jump into it! They did fine, and we got to the top of the mountain and spent a couple hours hiking around a gorgeous lake. There we were, smack in the middle of the Swiss Alps. It was honestly just unreal, the beauty. We had fun for the afternoon hiking and taking lots of pictures and watching the adorable cows with their giant cowbell collars just jangling away as they grazed on the grass in the meadows around the lake.

The next morning, poor Noel was so sore that she could barely walk down the street to go to the bathroom! So, that ruled out any more hiking that we'd be able to do that day. We had decided to rent some bikes and kiddy trailers and pull the doggies in the trailers, but of course the bike rental place that was open didn't have trailers, and the one with trailers was closed that day. Ugh. So, we drove around the mountains, napped, read, took more pictures, wandered the city and basically spent a lot of time relaxing.

The weekend overall was very fun, but we were disappointed with the stupid rules of the hotel. I just think they should put that in their room information offer letter they sent us. Our situation is just a little different due to the fact that Noel is special needs and simply can't walk very far. Most people who bring their dogs to the mountains probably have no issues just taking them everywhere. Oh well, at least we'll know next time that we won't stay at that hotel.

We are looking forward to going back to Switzerland again since it is so close to drive and it is just absolutely beautiful. It is very, very expensive though! But the beauty of the mountains is simply worth it.

It's hard to believe that today marks exactly one year from the day we arrived here in Germany. Sometimes it feels like it's been forever, and other times it feels as if it's flown by. Overall, it has been a truly wonderful experience though! We have made some great friends and had some amazing experiences. Part of the experience has been keeping up this blog and being able to read back through and remember what we've been through. We've learned to adjust quite a bit to the cultural differences, tried to learn the language and gotten used to the small selection of tv we have to choose from. We've been to five other countries and several cities within Germany. I've already gotten a promotion and Carl has been able to get back into the world of aviation. We only made it home to the States one time but it was a wonderful trip, and we also had one super amazing trip here by my parents! We don't know how long we plan to stay, but we know it'll most likely involve traveling, working, and learning and experiencing all we can during this amazing blessing of being able to live here. Thanks for the support to everyone who has read along with us. Please stay tuned because we have lots more to experience and share!