The Birds

We got an early start to our last few hours in Rome, and arrived at the Termini Rail Station in Rome after some exciting cab rides through the city. Our 4 hour trip on the train was pretty relaxing, at least compared to flying. Many of the kids have said that this was their first long train ride and that it was pretty enjoyable.

We arrived in Venice about 2 pm and jumped on the first Vaperetto, or waterbus, we could. After arriving at our hotel in the Accademia region of the city we took a quick tour through San Marco Basilica and got a quick snack at a Burger King. After refueling, American style, the kids were allowed to shop San Marco Square, and then we took a walk around the alleys and canals to Accademia Bridge, Rialto Bridge and the San Elena area.

While in San Marco Square several of the boys were standing in the middle of a significant number of pigeons. Standing with their arms extended, the boys were hoping the birds would land on them. While they are doing this it is just beginning to rain, and Chip thinks the birds are pooping on him. Easier than explaining I thought it’d be easier to show you.



Our second, and very short, day in Venice was our “Secret Itineraries” Tour in the Doges Palace just off San Marco Square. Our tour guide Hillary did an excellent job of telling the story of the Middle Class role in the Venetian justice system and their most famous inmate, Giacomo Casanova. After our tour we checked out of the hotel, crammed ourselves onto the Vaperetto, and headed to the train station. Right now we’re one hour in on a 7 hour train ride to Switzerland. The kids are very excited and still have an abundance of energy. There are times when fatigue sets in, and I think I’ll do a post on that in a day or two, but for now I’ll leave you with some photos of our 24 hours in Venice.

A lot has happened since I’ve typed the above, so I thought I’d add a bit. Our train ride from Venice to Murren turned out to be quite an adventure. We had to switch trains in Milan, but we only had 20 minutes to get off one train and onto another. Originally we thought this would be our most difficult switch. With a small group or little amounts of luggage the change would have been simple, but with a group of 20 all with luggage these exchanges were quite a rush. I have to commend your kids for how well they did on the train exchanges, especially the boys. Throwing luggage off the train, literally sprinting to the next track, throwing luggage onto the train and then hopping on and trying to find a place to put all the luggage. If you’ve ever seen the scene in Home Alone as they run through the terminal, that was us, but everyone we were rushing in and out of were speaking a foreign language. If the change in Milan was the only difficult exchange it would have been a simple day. However, we only had 9 minutes to change when we got to Brigg, 8 minutes in Speiz, 8 minutes in Interlaken, and 3 in Lauterbrunen. We were wiped out by the time we got to Murren. Through in the fact that when we got to Murren it began raining and we had a 10 minute walk to get to the chalet, it was definitely an exhausting day. When we got into the chalet Denise, the owner, told us that the weather in Murren has been bad for 10 days, and they haven’t seen the mountains in that time. The great news was that when we woke up this morning the skies were clear and we could see the snow topped mountains sitting above us. Today we’re off to Trumelbach Falls and a walk in the valley.

The Bear Grylls Adventure Club

Our time in Switzerland is going very well. After visiting Trummellbach Falls in the morning we went for a hike in the valley ending up in Lauterbrunnen where we ate lunch. After lunch we went back to Murren where we split up a little. Some enjoyed down time in the hotel and walking the village, while others went swimming at the local sports complex. Finally, I took a small group, Nancy, Chip, AJ and Michael on a hike in the Swiss Alps. It was raining when we started, but none of them decided not to go. Once we started we came to a washed out bridge. Rather than try to wade our way across a freezing cold stream we decided to go cross country to try and meet the trail above us. After blazing our way through what felt like a jungle and in the mean time getting completely filthy, we found the trail and made it to the top of the mountain. Once there we followed the trail along the ridge where in some places the drops on either side of the ridge were well over 1000 ft. After returning to the village for dinner we were so messy that we weren’t allowed in the restaurant, and had to go back to the hotel and shower first. The five that went don’t believe that we took a hike, instead had an adventure and created the Bear Grylls Adventure Club, whose motto is “who needs trails”. We also think its appropriate because we traipsed around the country side, but ultimately spent the night in a hotel. Finally, I feel that we need to thank all of you very much for our time here. As I said earlier, Denise had told us that they hadn’t seen the mountains in 10 days until we arrived. Well we have seen the mountains everyday, although we have seen a little rain. However, the weather report for the next 10 days in Switzerland calls for rain everyday. Thank you all so much for all the prayer, it is working!

* For those that don’t know, Bear Grylls is the guy from “Man vs Wild”*