Morning
I woke up at 7:35. I could hear Sara's sleeping breathing for a minute, then it stopped, she sat up and said, "I love you Mom." She goes from sleeping to awake in zero seconds. There are two bedrooms in this apartment, one is a "family room", which has three places to sleep (that we are sharing with Sara) and then the other room is for Julia (who goes to bed earlier than us). So we hear every sound Sara makes at night. After Sara said, "I love you Mom" as her first words of the day, I sneezed, and then I heard, "Mom?" from Julia - so our day began.
By 9:00 we were outside headed up the hill to the train station. We were going to day trip to Bern - 1/2 hour away. We've been there before (even Sara has) so we wanted to go again.
I think our train tickets were like 37 CH but I don't really remember, and that is with the 1/2 price fare card. I can't imagine not having it! But trains are beautiful, the train stations are nice facilities, so I guess all that does not come cheap.
Arrival in Bern
A great thing about re-visiting a European city is you know your way around and don't have to figure it out. We just immediately headed out (in the right direction) and started exploring Bern right away. Our exploration was casual, we didn't follow the "walking tour" in the book, we just wandered which ever direction we wanted to go - which basically meant we headed right to a restaurant we both remembered so we could have a nice lunch.
Lunch
We ate at the "old tram depot" which is across the river where Bern keeps the bears their city was named after. (They are all hibernating now.) We had a nice window seat overlooking the river and the whole city. They gave Sara and Julia some colored pencils (common here, not crayons that are common in the US) and they were happy - also with the Lego blocks Dad/Maureen have given us).
I ordered a pork dish which came with noodles I could give to Sara and Julia. Dan had a rosti, which is potatoes, cheese, and more cheese, and then bacon on top. He said the bacon tasted like a hot dog, which we both decided was not a compliment. I had wondered why he didn't eat it. The girls ate nicely, played nicely, and our meal was a success. The last time we ate there was when Sara was about Julia's age.
Sunny Day
From dawn to dusk our day was sunny. There is nothing like a sunny day to make being outside all day a pleasure. My fit bit registered over 7 miles again today.
Choo-choo!
The last time we were in Bern with our little Sara, she was in love with trains. And Bern has alot of street trains that run on tracks in the street. She said "choo choo" every time she saw one (back then) and Dan and I spent the whole day smiling as we enjoyed how excited she was to see all the trains. Back then Dan carried little Sara around in the back carrier (Kelty) and now this trip Sara has a little sister and traveled around on her own feet or in the double stroller.
We wondered if we could re-live the "choo-choo" magic. That is one of our dearest memories of our baby Sara. Sure enough, Sara pointed to trains and said "choo-choo" and so did Julia! It made our day. There is one place in Bern where trains criss cross each other in all directions (near the clock that is mechanized to do things on the hour) and we stood there and let the girls enjoy watching the trains. Even I like watching them! A train can appear out of no where and turn left - then another can come from the left and go straight, and another can come up from the behind and go left -- and it is so well orchestrated -- all while pedestrians are crossing the street also! We just love Bern.
Another thing about Bern is all the shops selling yummy things. We got some Swiss dark chocolate (with embedded hazelnuts) and we got a traditional heart shaped cookie for Valentin's day with the writing on it. It looked a bit better than it tasted, but we ate it all in about 2 seconds.
Julia walked around the city when ever we let her (it just isn't practical to let her walk to much with so much ground to cover and all the street trains everywhere). She carried her little red purse (with toys inside) and was so cute - she'd stop, take out a toy, carry the toy in one hand and the purse in the other, then after a while she'd stop again, put the toy back, and continue carrying her purse. She does everything herself. If I try to help her down stairs by offering a hand, she pushes my hand away and wants to do it herself! I admire her desire to push her boundaries and do things herself. If she doesn't need help, she doesn't take help! But when it was nap time, she said "Mom?" and wanted a snuggle up in my arms before zonking out for the rest of the time in Bern, and even the trip home (about a 1 hour nap).
Sara didn't carry anything around the city she just liked making up games. When we came to a full-sized chess board (with pieces a foot fall) she wanted to play so we did. When we came to an open cement area in front of the capitol building she wanted to play a game, so we made up a game stepping on round circle lights. When we came to an open grassy area, she wanted to play hide and seek, so we did. She just loves to make up games and play them. In the field we ended up finding tiny white flowers. It was nice to make that discovery together. Another game we play is "I notice" where we look around and say what we notice. We take turns doing that, and it is interesting to see what she, Dan, and I notice.
Train back to Fribourg
Dan had a meeting that started at 4:00 PM local time (10:00 back in US) so we had to be back at the apartment by then. At 3:00 we were still in Bern. I didn't think we'd make it. But there was a 3:09 train to Fribourg, we made it with 1 minute to spare (we jogged to the track) and then zipped back here in 25 minutes. We actually got to the apartment about 20 minutes early. Julia was still asleep so we carried the stroller up the circular stone stair way and let her stay asleep. Dan did his meeting in the kitchen, Sara and I chilled out in the family room, and Julia slept. It worked well.
Dinner
I made pasta shells, tomato sause, and vegetables. Dinner went well except for Sara using her pants as a napkin (we tell her not to do that!) and she also sent her plate to the floor by accident (agh!) so we fixed those problems and all was well. After shower/bath time Julia went to sleep. Sara wanted to "help" put Julia to bed so she sang her good night songs -- which were songs Sara sang softly making the tune and words up as she went along. Julia was a good sport, snuggled into her mattress, looked up at me, and then closed her eyes to sleep. We left her room, trying to close the door with out the door knob falling off (it did) and Julia has been sleeping ever since.
Quotes of the day
(in the morning) Sara: "Julia wakes up automatically, just like I did when I was a little girl." (this was after I reminded Sara to be quiet since Julia was still sleeping, but then I sneezed and Julia called out for me after that. Oooops.)
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(getting dressed in the morning)
Me: "Here is a sweater and jeans for you Sara."
Sara: "I will wear that sweater tomorrow, it will be cold enough then. Where are the clothes I wore yesterday?"
(Sara wanted to wear the exact clothes she wore yesterday since she had so much fun with Julia at the botanical garden she not only wanted to go back to the garden to repeat the fun, but she wanted to wear the same exact clothes. It was sweet. The night prior when I asked her what was her favorite part of the day she explained it was the botanical garden where she helped Julia down the rock path - and Julia held on to her. They did have so much fun there - it is obvious that Sara felt the magic too. She even made up a song about it and sang it at lunch today. "Sara and Julia were on an adventure..." part of the lyrics went.
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(at a playground yesterday) Julia: "Help" (Julia knows the word help and will ask when she needs it.)
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(on a walk yesterday) Julia: "Out!" (Julia lets me know when she wants to get out of the stroller and walk! She isn't demanding about it, but she does look me in the eye and is clear about what she wants, she will make a good leader!)
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(brushing teeth before bed) Me: "Sara here is your tooth paste and your brush, you brush your teeth then go to your room."
Sara: "How about you do it, my left foot hurts."
(not sure what the connection is between a foot and the ability to brush teeth, but I did comply and brush Sara's teeth so they got a good brushing in spite of her hurting foot.)
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(On a walk today) Sara: "Mom! That was funny! A puppy in a tote bag! You missed it, but I saw it!"
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(on the train ride today) Sara: "Mom, do you know a famous landmark?"
Me: "Yes, the Eifel Tower."
Sara: "Yeah, but I know one taller than that. It is in Illinois. It is the Serious Tower. The tallest building in America."
(I guess Sara knows about the Sears tower, though she decided to rename it.)
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Great day trip to Bern. Loved the sunny weather, the lunch over looking the river, and seeing our girls enjoy the "choo choo" street trains!
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