Lovely Lucerne

Walter had heard that the best transport museum in Europe is in Lucerne, so we decided to take a wee trip on what was supposed to be one of the warmer and sunnier days this winter. Lucerne is about a 2 hour train ride from Saint Blaise, with a short bus ride to the museum. It's recognised as one of the most beautiful, quintessentially Swiss towns. It's home of the covered, Chapel bridge, built in the 14th century, and partially burned down in 1993.

The Water Tower on the Chapel Bridge

Wee boys enjoy the entrance to the bridge.

Looking back on the bridge.
The boys on the rebuilt portion of the bridge. People were giving out the blue booties at the entrance, I suppose to preserve the floor a bit.

The Transport Museum.

First stop the trains.... the many many trains!
Next stop, the buses with funny stuff written on them. Hahahaha.

Climbing our way to the next mode of transport.

Boys below the Corvair Coronado. The insides were preserved in all their 1960s glory.

Hey Uncle Jamie! Two little pilots in the making. Well, 2 boys playing at dive bombing.

Spaceman! All done in Scotch tape.

The museum is also home to a huge aerial map of Switzerland. We found Neuchatel and Saint Blaise.

We had a faboo time, but the wee boys didn't have enough energy to do the town properly too. next time!

The excitement of learning to read.

Allie's learning to read- yay! We've discovered he's more of a maths guy, as he loooves all his number stuff- Walter and he could chat for hours about that kind of thing. He wasn't that motivated until Mr. Tobe came along. Tobe is more into wordly stuff, so they're both learning in their competitive way. Today, Allie went to a birthday party and came away with a little book of Post-it notes. He and Tobe immediately went to town and covered the walls in writing/pics etc. I discovered the one below:I think he's found a way of combining love and necessity....hehe.

STS-122

I've gotten the boys into watching the Space shuttle on NASA TV . We've seen a couple of take-offs and landings, thanks to good timing. The boys get very excited and ask difficult questions- huzzah for the astrophysicist!
I watched it go over tonight (well, more like beside), thanks to "Heavens Above. I don't listen to the radio on the computer any more, now I listen to exchanges between the shuttle and ground staff. NASA has a ridiculous amount of acronyms!

A little correction....

Re-reading my previous post and a comment from a Scottish bro, I think I sounded a bit harsh on Scotland. Scotland is the country where I spent most of my childhood, where I was very well educated (tertiary too), and where most of my family choses to live. I've been away for a long time, but I've tried to keep up on what's going on there. I go back as often as I can. I think I know a bit about my mother country still. I also have the benefit of a different perspective now, having lived in 2 other, very different countries: California and Switzerland. This benefit also has a downside that I never really thought about till recently. All of these places have strong points and weak. If I live in one I'll miss some aspects of living in the others, and feel quite superior about other aspects. I'm afraid health care is one of them. And I'm not just dumping on the NHS, I know the American system is beyond broken. Here's an interesting take on it:
http://scienceweek.com/2004/sb041008-4.htm

Anyhoo, please know that there's so much that I love about Scotland (and the UK), that I would be the happiest chica if we could move there. Wee Archie could benefit from some serious sweary word learning!

Mr. Stinky Breath

Allie came home from the hospital last Friday morning, after having his tonsils (and adenoids) out on Wednesday (the day before his 6th birthday!). Naturally, he's a tired and volatile boy, but I was surprised at how stressed the rest of us were too. We've been going to bed early, getting up twice a night to comfort the wee boy, and trying to make sure he eats and drinks the appropriate stuff. Tobe has turned into a complete loon!

Well, we're on the downward slope now. Fetid breath has gone down a bit, he can go a little longer than 3 hours between drugs, he wakes up once a night, and he can play with Tobe without bursting into tears. It really took a lot out of him, and he can't go to school for at least 2 weeks. Gone are the days of quick kitchen table chops.

We got a firsthand view of Swiss healthcare. The hospital (which we know quite well now) is new and (what I found really shocking) quiet. Even in the ER. We have the 'cheaper' insurance, which means that one shares a hospital room, but it was quiet enough for Allie to have his own room. The paediatric department has a large playroom with an 'educator' there in the morning, who also gives parents a break. The rooms are cleaned every morning and afternoon and the food was very good. All the nurses disinfect coming and going. This contrasts with the new hospital in Wishaw (Scotland), where the room was cleaned twice in 8 days and the nurses often forgot to wash hands. Allie was in at that time with (extremely contagious) RSV, and came out with a stomach bug. Is it because Switzerland has more money than Scotland? More intelligent people? A better attitude towards the general population? A better health insurance system? I would really love to know. Of course, we haven't received the bill yet, but children are completely covered...

The great thing about Allie being out of school for a couple of weeks is that he's missed all kinds of dreaded lurggies going around. Scarlet fever is currently raging around the canton...hehehe.