Category: Switzerland

We are moving the family to Switzerland in July, 2010 for a full year. This is the best place to get photos, videos, and other updates.

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Birthday Bunny

My little girl turned 8 years old last week. Wow! Joe and I watched our video footage of her birth in 2004… our first child. Now she is a strong young girl who speaks 2 languages, bosses her two brothers around, reads chapter books, and does division. When did that happen!?

As we mentioned, she spent her actual birthday in Sorrento, Italy. But the real celebration was on Saturday when her friends from school came to our house for a 2 1/2 hour long party.

Now, let me just say that my history with birthday parties is mixed, at best. There was the time I planned a swimsuit/water-play party in July, and then it turned out to be 60 degrees. There was the time I spent several hours building an obstacle course as the primary party activity, which took the kids only 5 minutes to conquer and demolish. And there have been several times when I have burned through all my party activities only to look at the clock and find at least half the party time still remaining. Over the years I have done a lot of improvising, and learned that it’s really just better to hire professionals. Some of my prior successes include a rented bouncy castle and an expert face-painting artist.

But in Switzerland, birthday parties are “simple.” There is no birthday party industry like there is in America, no destinations, no bouncy castles. You can buy balloons, candles, and “Happy Birthday” garlands at the store, and that is about it. So, I was on my own. Plus, none of Emily’s friends speak any English. I knew the only way to pull this off was to be really well prepared.

Thank goodness for the internet! Emily had decided on a “bunny” theme, and I quickly found several blogs by moms who are way better at this than me. I picked bunny crafts, decorations, food, and activities. Two days before the party, I hit the stores (at least the ones I can reach on my bike) and came home mostly empty handed, failing to find most of the things I needed. Back in America I would know where to go to find tagboard and puff balls.

And I’m proud to report that the party was a smashing success! The girls had a lot of fun with the crafts and activities. By some stroke of luck, we had a few hours of blue sky during the party, so we were able to go  But here, I don’t know where to find those things, and even if I did, I probably couldn’t getthere on my bike. This is where my improvisation skills came in handy, using what we had in the house to make what we needed. And this year, Emily was old enough and interested enough to help with the preparations. She and I spent most of Friday afternoon sitting at the table cutting, glueing and tying.

outside for a hoppin’ gunny sack race, to make beanbag bunnies out of socks and rice, and to teach the girls the Bunny Hop dance, which they performed for their parents at the end of the party.

I knew we had done it when I looked at the clock and there was only 15 minutes left, and we still had one activity to do. We played Bunny Bingo (with the letters “HASEN” at the top – German for “rabbits”) using Swiss M&M candies for markers until all the parents arrived. The girls all had fun, and Emily only had to translate for me a handful of times.

Given the challenges of living, making friends and communicating here, throwing this party was a huge accomplishment. After her friends had all left, Emily ran over to me with a glowing smile, wrapped her arms around me and thanked me for such a great party. Her smile alone was worth it all!

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A Quick Interlude

We will take a quick break from reporting on our Italy trip, to bring you this highly solicited message from our most recent visitor, Jeff Schwab, a.k.a. “Gramps.” We loved having him visit and, as always, love to hear his thoughts on his time in Switzerland:

I visited Joe, Sarah and the kids and now I have homework. Joe “invited” me to write for his blog. And pointed out that no previous guest had failed to write something. Even though I was taught that blogging was a sin (at least I think that I was), here goes…………..

Well, let’s get the “Switzerland was beautiful, the weather perfect, the mountains majestic, the cows contented, etc., etc.” out of the way. Why? Because it is all true and well documented long before this blog.

What has been noted, but deserves reiterating, is what great hosts Joe and Sarah are, and how fun Emily, James and Henry are to be around. Grams couldn’t make the trip, bum knee (still supporting MCW Orthopaedic Surgery), and although I missed her greatly, the trip was a smashing success.

Now what are the memorable moments? (see Sarah’s blog account for full details) Well, in no particular order:  Squinkies*, roasting cervelas by the Aare, the farm, biking to buy beer, ping pong, Team Alps, Rubigen by night, but mostly seeing everyone live and up close after almost eight months.

I thought at first I was in Lake Wobegon because Sarah is strong (bikes and walks everywhere), Joe is good looking (Grams made me say that) and the kids are clearly above average.

Emily is the official Swiss translator, gave a great fashion show complete with a Skyped Grams, skied like a champ, and warmed my heart with an early morning read of Calvin and Hobbes.

James and I hit about 1,000 ping pong balls in a row for a new personal record (as I remember). He introduced me to his own Hobbes and reintroduced me to Calvin and Hobbes; skied faster; and reminded me to stop and smell the roses (in his own inimitable fashion).

Henry was amazing; just what Joe deserved. A child without an unspoken thought. His line of the week was “Yah sure, why not”. He is a fabulous traveler, hiker and holder of Squinkies* (up to 10 in one hand). He is also an excellent jumper, especially when least expected, and thrower of rocks.

Sarah made me feel at home, almost like I was family (wait…….I am family) but it was nice and comfortable. It was fun to spend two days at the Bernese Hip Symposium with Joe. I was able see him professionally and meet his worldwide cadre of colleagues.

Friday night I was supposed to babysit. Well, I got to see Rubigen first. This is a small town one stop before Joe and Sarah’s. Instead of the recommended reading the town names when the train stops method of knowing when to get off, I used the counting stops method. It failed and I got off in Rubigen, a picturesque Swiss town usually; less so, however, in the dark while waiting 30 minutes for the next train with no way to notify Sarah and no restroom in sight. I finally made it to Munsingen, to be met by Sarah on a bike which wasn’t planned. I did get to babysit and Sarah did get to the Symposium dinner but I missed over half of “The Empire Strikes Back” and I was really looking forward to it. The rest of the night went well.

We went to the beautiful Lauterbrunnen (or something) Valley. Left our luggage unguarded (I was assured this was just fine and it was) then went and had a great time. Trains, buses, cable cars, hikes, snacks and nearly “Top of Europe” views. The next day I found out, while skiing for the first time in 10 years, that Swiss snow tastes pretty much like all snow. But the kids welcomed me to Team Alps anyway.

The week went by fast, but for me was great. Sarah pretty much captured it all on her blog report EXCEPT for my big THANK YOU to all the Swiss Schwab’s.

I also had to leave to get home to Grams and to let Joe and Sarah get ready for Italy. It is my and Grams fervent prayer that they make Pope Squinkies* so the kids have something for the train.

Thanks again for a great time with you all.

Love,

Gramps

* For those unfamiliar with Squinkies I suggest www.squinkies.com. Really. Mary Lou is online buying some more Squinkies – this might be a good stock opportunity.

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Signs of Spring

Spring is here. Many of the signs are familiar to us — daffodils and tulips are blooming in our yard, the kids are playing outside with the neighbors who we didn’t see often during the winter, and the stores are filled with bunnies, chicks, and colorful eggs. The clouds moved in on Tuesday and have stayed all week, bringing the infamous “April showers.” There are, however, a few things that are different about Spring here than back home.

For the Swiss, spring means gardening in a much more pervasive way that we are used to. I have spent hours in our yard, our raspberry patch, and our vegetable garden trying to get them ready. And they still don’t look as good as all the other gardens we see. Many people who live in apartments, which is very common, rent a garden plot in one of the many community gardens in the area. Gardening is like a religion here. Neighbors greet each other over the bushes and talk about the plants and the weather.

Many other flowers have come up in our yard that I don’t recognize. Little purple flowers that look like styrofoam balls stuck to a q-tip are growing under our elderberry tree. Clumps of 5-petaled flowers in white, yellow and violet are everywhere! And our peach tree, magnolia bush, and giant cherry tree are all flowering. It is really quite beautiful. And though there is a shortage of robins, the ducks have returned in large numbers. We have even seen them in the road and one took a bath in our backyard pond!

Today, we died Easter eggs the Swiss way. There are no egg dying kits in the stores, so I wasn’t sure what we were going to do. But I had recently seen bags of onion skins for sale, which I thought was a little strange. Then a friend explained that they use the onion skins to dye eggs. Huh? I looked it up online, and sure enough it is a common way to dye eggs in many countries. We gave it a try, peeling the few yellow and red onions we had in the refrigerator, and it worked beautifully, producing eggs marbled with yellows and browns. If you want to try it, there are instructions here.

And, finally, today is Good Friday, the start of Spring Break for the kids. Everything is closed today, as it is a holiday throughout the country. Tonight I have a choir concert for the Good Friday service at the main church in town. We will be performing Charles Gounod’s “Seven Last Words of Christ” among other things. I found some samples of the music here. The last movement is particularly beautiful, a perfect piece for a beautiful season.

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Keeping Gramps on his Toes

Joe’s dad left on Tuesday after a week-long visit. It was great having him here, and we loved sharing our life in Switzerland with him. It was a lot to fit into 7 days!

In the first couple of days, he got to spend a lot of time with his grandchildren. They bombarded Gramps, and adored having someone new to show all of their toys and tell all of their “funny” stories. Henry showed him the animals in our pond, James demonstrated his ping-pong skills, and Emily got to open a few early birthday presents from Grams and Gramps and did a fashion show of her new outfits. We showed Gramps our town of Münsingen, walking to the farm to meet our cow friends, biking to the Aare river to roast cervelas, extending our bike ride toward the mountains, taking the bus to the town center to play at the playground and eat lunch at the outdoor restaurant.

The next couple of days, Gramps got to spend a lot of time with his son. He and Joe attended the Bernese Hip Symposium hosted by the hospital where Joe is working. They had a chance to “talk shop,” as I like to call it. After the first day of the conference, the kids and I met up with them to go out to a nice dinner in Bern. The second night, Gramps babysat the kids (after a minor miscalculation trying to find his way back on the train) so I could join Joe at the official conference dinner.

[singlepic id=920 w=320 h=240 float=right]Once the Symposium was over, it was time to hit the mountains. We had viewed them from a distance, but we couldn’t let Gramps visit Switzerland without showing off it’s most stunning features. So, on Sunday morning we navigated the trains to Lautebrunnen in the valley between the Jungfrau and Schilthorn mountains. We have been to this area before, and it is one of our favorite places. We wasted no time getting up the mountain and taking the cogwheel train across to Mürren, something we’ve never done before. Then we caught the main cable car to the top of the mountain, a first for Gramps and the kids. We snapped a lot of pictures and had some hot cocoa and a snack in the beautiful rotating restaurant of the Piz Gloria. On the way down, we hiked one leg of the journey. We got off the cable car in Mürren, a fairly touristy mountain town with lots of hotels and restaurants, and walked down to the smaller town of Gimmelwald, a much smaller village where we were greeted by a chorus of bleating goats. We caught the cable car again, giving Gramps the exhilerating experience of riding it over the cliffs beyond Gimmelwald. After returning to the valley floor, we had a little down time at the hotel, ate a warm meal in the restaurant, and collapsed into our beds.

The next day, Gramps joined Joe and the older kids for the final day of skiing for the year. The Schilthorn is the highest skiing area in the Berner Oberland, and while the lower areas are melting, the higher pistes still have good snow. Gramps, who hasn’t skied in about a decade, kept up with the kids who showed him what they have learned this year. Meanwhile, Henry and I took a funicular from Mürren to Allmendhubel, which we had never done, and then hiked a stunning but also snowy trail back down in our tennis shoes. We all met up after our adventures to return by cable car, bus, and train to Münsingen where we made a fondue dinner to celebrate Gramps’s last night with us.

The weather has been remarkably beautiful the whole week — sunny and unseasonably warm. The morning Gramps left, the clouds blew in bringing April showers. We still miss our families, but seeing Gramps was indeed like sunshine for our hearts.

See some more pictures of Gramps’s Visit here.

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Wildlife Weekend

For once, we spent a whole weekend at home. The weather has been beautiful, spring is in the air. So, we were outside most of the time, and the kids developed a new past time — watching the wildlife in our backyard pond. In our pond, we discovered one dead koi fish, one alive koi fish, one or two frogs, and about a dozen salamanders. Henry is terrified of the frog, and he screams at the top of his lungs whenever it hops out of the water. The other kids had no such fears, and they held the frog and caught several salamanders, until James fell into the pond. At that point we decided we should let the animals be and just watch them.

Emily and James also spent a lot of time up in their tree fort. And Henry likes to play in the pebbles just below the fort. He kept a close eye on the frog, who was sitting by the pond and croaking the whole time. We had our first outdoor fire and even roasted Cervelas (fat Swiss hot dogs) and ate dinner outside. It was almost like camping in our own backyard.

On Sunday morning, we went for our first Schwab family bike ride of the Spring. Joe had seen something from the train on his commute that he wanted to try to find. So, we biked north from Münsingen, and when we were nearly to the next town, we saw some large animals grazing in a field. These were not cows, as we are accustomed to seeing in Switzerland. These were buffalo! We stopped and watched them for a while, and tried to read the sign about the buffalo farm. It was all in German, so we aren’t completely sure of the details, but it looked like the original buffalo on the farm were brought to Switzerland from Wisconsin! Okay, so technically they don’t count as “wildlife,” but they were still fun to see.

Other wildlife spotted this weekend: an eagle soaring above us on our bike ride, lots of worms in the garden, and songbirds in every tree. It might not seem like much, but for the kids, its like a zoo in our own back yard.

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Newest member of Team Alps

Another beautiful weekend in the Alps. What can I say? We left on Friday afternoon for Hasliberg, where we stayed in a 400-year-old guest house in the mountain town of Reuti. We ate out at the restaurant next door twice, a rare treat!

Our primary objective for the weekend was to ski. The season is rapidly coming to an end. Snow is long gone in the lowlands of Switzerland, but the mountains are still open for business. Emily and James have come so far in just a couple of months! We wanted to squeeze in every opportunity we can.

As you may know, Emily and James have become such good mountain kids that we call ourselves “Team Alps.” We use it especially when we are in difficult situations. For example, this weekend when I led Emily and James down the wrong ski piste at the end of our final day. We ended up on a long, flat, slushy run that went to the wrong town. We had to take off our skis and walk part of it, and face the possibility of missing our bus back home. But, as always, we gathered our strength and said, “Come on, Team Alps, we can do this!” And we did!

Henry, on the other hand, has really just glided through our trips to the mountains. He usually gets pulled on a sled, carried on someone’s shoulders, or just stays back for a nap while the rest of us take turns hiking and skiing. But he has started noticing that he is the only one in the family who doesn’t get skis, and he insisted he wanted to ski with the rest of us. I was skeptical, to say the least. The one other time we put him on skis was a disaster. But Joe agreed to be in charge of Henry, so we rented him the smallest skis in the rental shop and headed to the slopes.

I have to admit, Henry really stepped up to the plate! Granted, we mostly kept him on extremely small bunny hills, which abound in this area known for the best ski school for kids in Switzerland. Joe or I had to be right with him the whole time, but by the end we could let go and let him glide on his own for 20-30 feet. And he loved it! He also had his 2-year-old moments, as one would expect. But, he walked around in clunky ski boots for two days, didn’t get a nap all weekend, and got a sun burned face. It’s official — Henry has earned his place on Team Alps.

His accomplishment completely wiped him out, and he passed out on the train on the way home. It’s okay, Henry, you earned it!

You can see a video of Henry skiing on our video page.

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Wait, why are we here again?

It came up recently that I had not been posting much about my work, since that is the reason we ended up moving to Switzerland anyway. I’ve had a number of friends email me assuming that work is keeping me very busy since Sarah authors most of the posts on this blog. Work does keep me busy, but not so busy that I can’t take time off to spend with my family.

So when I looked back, it turns out the only real meaningful post I have written about my job was from back in August, and that was within a week of me starting at the hospital. So I guess it is time for an update. Make sure you grab a drink for this post, because it may be a little dry, and pictures will be sparse.

You may remember that I am here to learn about “hip preservation surgery.” This is a new field in orthopaedics that was really started here in Bern within the last 20 years, and has come into its own here over the last ten years or so. One awesome thing about my job is that I get to work with, and learn from, the world leaders in hip preservation. The Inselspital is used to having people come visit for varying lengths of time to learn their techniques. Most people will visit for four weeks, six weeks, or maybe three months. Six months is not common, and a whole year is not very common at all.

But with that said, there are some very cool benefits that come along with being here for a full year. Unlike most other fellows, I get an office (with a great view of the northern Jura mountains), a new computer, and an ability to really delve deeply into what they’re trying to do here. Research here is plentiful, but not much can be done in 6 weeks. So when a new fellow comes, it’s difficult to integrate them meaningfully in research. Since I am here for a full year, I have as much research work as I can handle, and then some.

My mentors/coworkers are like every other group of orthopaedists that I’ve had the pleasure to work with; they’re fun, irreverent, enthusiastic, and sport a great sense of humor. They have taken the time to teach me their trade, but also to integrate me into their culture and social life. I’m learning history and language and medicine and so much more.

As far as how things compare to what I am used to back home, there are some definite differences. First of all, surgical scrubs are only to be worn in surgery, no exception. I repeat, no exception (and when someone says that with a German accent, you listen). Not only that, but there are communal-use surgical shoes (sterilized after each use) that you must wear. And for infected cases, there are a separate pair of shoes that are to be worn only in the Operating Room (OR), itself.

The OR lounge for nurses, surgeons, and staff has loaves of fresh bread, platters of cured meats, and fresh soup brought in daily. There is also an excellent coffee maker and taps for naturelle (no bubbles) and frizzante (bubbles) mineral water. While lots of time can be wasted here, I rarely see people linger her for more than 20-30 minutes.

Lunch is A BIG DEAL here. Back home, “eating lunch” meant shoving cold chicken strips in my mouth as I walked between the OR and the ER. But in Switzerland, lunch is the main meal, and the Inselspital is really no exception. Most of the orthopaedics department gathers for lunch between 11:30am and 1:00pm. Lunch is a time to sit, relax, eat a LARGE meal, drink a coffee, and… eventually… go back to work.

While all of this sounds great, I can’t help but think how different it might be if I were really able to speak the language. My relative shyness in talking, mixed with the Swiss’ natural tendency to not be very welcoming into their friendship circle, naturally means that my ability to make friends with ancillary staff, techs, nurses, etc is not easy. Back home this was not a problem, but here it can be a bit isolating. But even with those obstacles, I’ve been able to make some work friends. Or perhaps my ridiculous way of speaking is just a novelty to them. I’m like a monkey. A monkey who is poor at speaking Swiss German.

But with all of that said, I could not be happier with my decision to come here. The opportunity has been great, and will hopefully provide a continuing productive professional relationship well into the future. It’s exactly what I want to be doing right now. And in a way it really makes me appreciate what I have to look forward to back home. Sarah and I say it all the time: we’re blessed. We’re extremely lucky to be here.

In fact, I’m the luckiest monkey I know.

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Climb Every Mountain

“Love is looking at the same mountains from different angles.”
– Paulo Coehlo

We are in love with Toggenburg. After a week of looking at these mountains morning and night, on skis and by foot, from the valleys and from the peaks, we are sad to be leaving. To be honest, we were already familiar with the grandeur of the Berner Oberland and the Wallis, the Alpine regions nearest to our home. When we first arrived in Eastern Switzerland, we were skeptical of how it would compare. We admit it. We had become mountain snobs.

But it turns out this is yet another beautiful corner of Switzerland. Toggenburg is a string of towns in a valley not far from the border with Lichtenstein and Austria. We have spent the past few days enjoying much of what the region has to offer. For starters, we took advantage of our location and visited the tiny country of Lichtenstein. We took the relatively short and scenic bus ride to Vaduz, the capital of Lichtenstein. We walked around the town, enjoying its beautiful vinyards, cobblestone streets, cliffside castle, and views of the surrounding mountians. Not suprisingly, Lichtenstein feels liks a combination of Switzerland, southern Germany, and Austria. There isn’t much in the way of tourist attractions, so the highlight of our visit was our picnic lunch on a small grassy knoll where the kids had a chance to run around and play before we headed back home.

We are staying at a Swiss holiday village that is specifically for families (Reka Feriendorf). It has a few nice benefits including a pool, playrooms for kids, and a children’s program where you can drop your kids off for supervised activities (Rekalino). It makes for a great vacation that everyone can enjoy. Our kids had dinner at the Rekalino on Wednesday night, so Joe and I had a night out, or rather a night in, all to ourselves. We did plenty of swimming and playing between our other adventures.

Speaking of adventures, Thursday and Friday were our skiing days. We rented our equipment and took the whole family up the first chairlift. Joe and I took turns skiing with the older kids and hanging around with Henry and the sled. It was yet another beautiful day. So beautiful that the snow was pretty wet, and the snow levels were getting dangerously low in some places. Emily and James have really become quite good considering they’ve only skied a handful of times. They are working on keeping their skis straight sometimes (“french fries”) and spreading them out (“pizza slice”) to turn and break. They are handling medium runs like champs.

Friday morning, the kids went to Rekalino again so Joe and I could have a chance to ski together. We made it all the way back up to the Top of Toggenburg above the town of Unterwasser. Then we skied an unforgettable run all the way back down to the town of Wildhaus. It had incredible views and lots of different terrain including wide snowy slopes and narrow trails along the side of a cliff. Whatever you do, stay between the orange poles! In the afternoon, I took Emily and James skiing again while Joe stayed back with Henry. Emily loved to ski back and forth down the slopes singing the Abba song, “I Had a Dream.”

In a way, this whole week was like a dream.

Check out our Sport week pictures here.

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The Return of Team Alps

In February and early March, all Swiss schools have a week-long vacation that is known as “Sport Week.” It gives Swiss families a chance to enjoy the beautiful mountains that are the country’s pride and joy. And being in the mountains in the winter automatically means “sport” – mostly downhill skiing, but also sledding, snowshoeing, etc. This is not intended to be a relaxing vacation, but a week of winter sports.

As other parents know, a family vacation with young children is never relaxing anyway. In fact it is a lot of work to get the whole family transported somewhere, and then find things to do all together that everyone enjoys – which is nearly impossible. When you combine these two things to make a family Sport Week vacation, it turns out to be really exhausting!

Add to that the fact that our apartment is on the side of the mountain (really the only place it can be when you are in the Alps), so we have to hike up and down a zigzagging sidewalk and road whenever we walk out the door. Plus we arrived just as the grocery store closed on Saturday, and of course nothing is open on Sundays, and there are not many convenient restaurants around here. This made things particularly challenging for the first couple of days.

Oh, and on Sunday, it was foggy and raining/snowing all day, so we couldn’t see anything. Plus, I am still recovering from my knee injury that happened last week. All of this put together was a recipe for disaster. While we were supposed to be having a nice vacation and doing some family bonding, we were mostly just doing a lot of whining and yelling.

Now, I generally try to not to complain or be negative on our blog, but I want you to know the reality of the situation. It was a rough couple of days. I wondered if this whole vacation was a good idea in the first place. However, it is good that we have a whole week here. Although the weekend was not so good, there is still room for a happy ending.

Things started to turn around on Monday afternoon. The weather had cleared, and we decided to go sledding at a hill in town. Getting there was awful. Henry was cranky from having his nap interrupted, we had to hike down the road to rent an extra sled, we got off at the wrong stop from the ski bus, so we had to hike some more to get to the gondola that took us up the hill. By the time we finally reached the top, it was so late that we knew we would miss the last ski bus and were facing a very long and steep climb back to our apartment. Tempers were flaring and emotions were running high, to say the least.

There was no choice but to start our journey back, so we crammed everyone onto the two sleds and started down the hill. Given my knee injury and our poor track record for steep sledding, we opted for the longer, slower slope. We sledded and walked a beautiful trail above the town. But, we didn’t really know where we were going, and after a while it became clear that we were lost. We were not going back toward the gondola station or even the main bus stop in town. Just as the situation was getting really desperate, we looked down and saw what looked like our holiday village. “Is that our apartment?” Joe asked. Indeed it was. There was much celebrating as we hiked down the trail back home. We ended up getting back in plenty of time to enjoy a nice family dinner made from the groceries we had gotten that day. I’m not sure exactly what it was, but something had shifted.

Tuesday was our best day yet. We went to the “Top of Toggenburg,” riding a bus, a funicular, and a cable car to get to the top of a mountain with a spectacular panorama view. We were surrounded by downhill skiers, but there is also an amazing hiking trail on the plateau of the mountain that we had almost completely to ourselves. We sledded, hiked and played in the snow with (almost) no complaining. We caught all the right buses to get home smoothly. Then we watched one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen. It was a great day.

Team Alps is back!

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Fasnacht Friday

It is Fasnacht season. What is Fasnacht? It’s a traditional festival that takes place before Lent, and is celebrated primarily in Switzerland, Southern Germany and a few other areas. I always thought it was like Mardi Gras, but in Switzerland, Fasnacht season starts as early as mid-January and goes through mid-March. Nearly every town in Switzerland has a Fasnacht celebration on one of the weekends. The biggest and most well-known Fasnacht  festivals are in Basel and Luzern.

We wanted to experience this phenomenon. So on Friday after school, Sarah and the kids got in the Fasnacht spirit. James sported a mohawk, the girls wore some facial jewels and crepe paper, and Henry had a homemade Fasnacht hat. We drew a lot of looks as we made our way through Münsingen to the train station, and I was a little worried we overdid it. Boy was I wrong!

Once we got to Bern, there were plenty of colorfully costumed people mixed in with the normal business people at the train station. We picked out a costumed family, and decided to follow them. We made it to the parade, which consisted of very strikingly dressed marching bands. There had to be a lot of space between the bands so you could differentiate the music, and in between bands, crowds of costumed people walked right along so that the line between the parade and the spectators was completely blurred. So, after a handful of bands had passed, we decided to follow the crowd and paraded the streets of Bern. We ended up at the Munsterplatz or Cathedral Square, which was packed with people. We had a lot of fun.

I remember being a little disappointed back in October when Halloween passed without much fanfare. But now I understand why. Who needs Halloween when you’ve got Fasnacht?!

Check out our Fasnacht pictures here.