Heading home

Flying home, over the Swiss Alps.

Windmill farm off the coast of the Netherlands, on our way to our connection in Amsterdam.

Last day in Erlach

Erlach Castle, we look onto this every morning from our window.

Nina and Pete's minis.

Butterflies in Nina's garden.

Another gorgeous butterfly.

View of Erlach, Lake Biel and the island. We intended to walk out to the tip of the island but ran out of time. Next visit perhaps?


Beautiful stone wall alongside a vineyard.


The mountains in the distance and the farms of Erlach.


A closer look at some fields.

Ballenberg

Those incredible snow capped mountains in the distance, on our way to Ballenberg, a couple of hours away.

Ballenberg, an open air museum set in gorgeous woods. It has century plus old buildings from all over Switzerland, farmyard animals, traditional gardens and local crafts. http://www.ballenberg.ch/en/Welcome

Trails to the different 'regions' of Switzerland.

Espaliered pear tree, absolutely incredible. It's on the front of a winegrower's house from Richterswil in th East Midlands. (ca. 1780) The link has a photo of the pear tree at 1/2 the size http://ballenberg.ch/en/Map/5

Looking out through one of the windows of the same house.

Beautiful flower garden. So free and organic, yet disciplined.

This guy had a lot to say, and he didn't stop!

Freshly saw-milled logs.

Rustic fence

Another espaliered pear tree.

The four of us, Karen, Jake, Pete, Nina.

Heidi probably lived in a place like this, can you find the houses?

We saw lots of base jumping in the area, I guess all those hills make it perfect for the sport.

Gruyère

The cheese comes from this area. This is the medieval town of Gruyère. And guess what we had for lunch? Gruyère grilled sandwiches and gruyère omelettes! Delicious!

Jake, Nina and Pete ... cousins.

A real Swiss Chalet!! Wonder if they have rotisserie chicken?!

Heidi is very popular in Switzerland. They have Heidi brand eggs, Heidi milk, Heidi cheese, etc. This is just a t-shirt.

Hans Ruedi Giger http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._R._Giger (HR Giger) Museum/gallery is in Gruyère. He won the Academy Award for "Best Achievement for Visual Effects" for his design work on Aliens. Some strange and slightly disturbing pieces in the museum.

Bern, Switzerland

We took a day trip into Bern, about 40 minutes from Erlach. Pete lives here.

Swiss chocolate!! Was delicious!

Did you know Einstein lived in Bern?! This was his apartment. http://www.einstein-bern.ch/index.php?lang=en&show=start&subs=

Zytglogge tower in Bern http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zytglogge

Bern rooftops

Chronology of Bern's history with bears and the bear pit

Old bear pit. Currently out of commission and a new bear park is being built.

The new bear park being built. The bears will be on the slope on the left hand grassy area with access to a deep water pool. Can't wait to see it next time we visit Bern.

Aare River that runs through Bern.

Morning glories. Inspiration for my garden next year! They're just climbing up string!

Nina and Jake at Pete's apartment

Around Erlach

We stayed in Erlach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erlach,_Switzerland for most of our time in Switzerland.

This is Jake's cousin's house where we stayed. We had the lower floor apartment, full kitchen, living room, bathroom and bedroom. Sweet! A very peaceful house with a lovely yard surrounded by vineyards.

Jake and Pete walking through the old part of Erlach. It's a little hilly here!

Local friendly goat. Him and his buddies ran up to the fence when they heard you coming.

The view of Lake Biel.

Mother swan and her ugly ducklings in the lake

Jake feeding the 'ducks', they look a lot different from the ducks of Ontario!

Stone steps up a vineyard. There are many vineyards in and around Erlach.