{"id":370,"date":"2019-09-20T19:16:31","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T19:16:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/?p=370"},"modified":"2020-05-18T19:30:37","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T19:30:37","slug":"a-mothers-day-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/2019\/09\/20\/a-mothers-day-off\/","title":{"rendered":"A Mother&#8217;s Day Off"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>Destination: Melchsee-Frutt, Switzerland<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Travel Diary:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What would you do if you were granted half a day off all of a sudden? Half a day without your beloved, nerve-racking little sweetie pie-monsters, your kids\u2026? Drink champagne and eat chocolate? Party and go wild? Or read a good book without being interrupted? Clean up the house?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Go horseback riding, would have been my answer before. But now my horse is dead so there\u2019s no going anywhere with her (<a href=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/2019\/05\/08\/one-day-i-will-die\/\">read more about that here<\/a>). I\u2019ve often heard a saying <em>one day spent at the mountains is a day well spent. <\/em>Why not? So we decided to try that one out. We quickly decided to head to Melchsee-Frutt which is reachable in less than two hours from where we live. And also something we never landed our feets on before&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5300-1-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-372\" width=\"374\" height=\"499\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5300-1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5300-1-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5300-1-780x1040.jpg 780w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5300-1.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 374px) 100vw, 374px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Right after\nlunch we kissed the little sweetie pie-monsters goodbye and mounted our Skoda\ndas Auto. Road to Melchsee-Frutt was sunny and winding like the mountain roads\noften are. We were planning to drive all the way up, but discovered that since it\nis kind of in-between-season, they were having an offer with really reasonable price\nfor a round trip with gondola. Yes, there are some benefits in going up there\nwhen nobody else is there. No snow for the skiers yet but the summer season\nalso hopelessly over. Perfect. So we decided to save Skoda das Auto from\ntrouble of taking us up there and mounted the Gondola instead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/EPHB8717-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-373\" width=\"578\" height=\"326\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/EPHB8717-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/EPHB8717-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/EPHB8717-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/EPHB8717-1600x900.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/EPHB8717-780x439.jpg 780w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/EPHB8717.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 578px) 100vw, 578px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>I just love\nthe odd silence that there is at the mountains. Which is broken only by cow\nbells underneath your feet. The sceneries are breath-taking and naturally you\ncan wave for the cows as you pass by traveling through the air with your\nGondola. Most of the time they don\u2019t wave back, they are too busy with their\neating business or whatever, but anyway\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/HNRM0659-576x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-374\" width=\"372\" height=\"662\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/HNRM0659-576x1024.jpg 576w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/HNRM0659-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/HNRM0659-768x1365.jpg 768w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/HNRM0659-780x1387.jpg 780w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/HNRM0659.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 372px) 100vw, 372px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>We put our\nfeet back to the ground on top of Melchsee-Frutt, discovering that we had just\nreached the clouds. It was beautiful. Walking around a lake on top of the\nmountains and almost being able to touch the clouds that really look like\ncotton candy\u2026 streams of light coming through the clouds and making the water\nsparkle. What else do you need? We walked around and took some photos (like\nreal tourists!), and my dear geocacher husband had a really fruitful day. I\nstopped counting after three finds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5307-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-378\" width=\"377\" height=\"502\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5307-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5307-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5307-1600x2133.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5307-780x1040.jpg 780w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 377px) 100vw, 377px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>We also\nlooked around the little village that is located up there. Some hotels,\napartments that one can rent, restaurants, playground, post office. A very well\nequipped grocery store that also sold hiking shoes amongst other things.\nObviously everything was planned for the skiers, and was just waiting for the\nwinter to arrive. No skiers yet, but the only thing that was spoiling my joy a\nlittle bit was that the new buildings didn\u2019t fit in to the scenery. I really\ndon\u2019t get it, why do they build these concrete blocks instead of the beautiful\nAlpine houses??? Or of course I get it. Money talks. Easier, cheaper, faster.\nAnd maybe the skiers don\u2019t care. But I REFUSE to ACCEPT. Period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DDMW1243-576x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-376\" width=\"378\" height=\"671\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DDMW1243-576x1024.jpg 576w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DDMW1243-169x300.jpg 169w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DDMW1243-768x1365.jpg 768w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DDMW1243-780x1387.jpg 780w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/DDMW1243.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 378px) 100vw, 378px\" \/><figcaption>speaking of ugly concrete blocks&#8230; :(<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>So we turned our backs to the concrete blocks and headed back to the lake. Too soon it was time to mount the Gondola again and travel back to the car, wave the cows goodbye on the way. My dear husband couldn\u2019t resist but had to look for one more geocache which was located nearby Gondola Station, so I headed to the restaurant instead and enjoyed a nice cup of coffee served by immigrant waitress from the eastern bloc, guessing from her dialect. We had a pleasant conversation about how\u2019s life here in the shade of Alps, and she seemed nothing less than happy. Good for her, I thought. My coffee moment was close to perfection. Afternoon sun was warming up the terrace (and my face!) just right, and together with the thin Alpine air it was making me sleepy,  invalidating the normal effects of caffeine&#8230; Meanwhile my husband was getting frustrated trying to figure out the code to open up the geocache he had already found. In between daydreaming my eyes half-closed, I checked after him a couple of times, wondering why he was taking so long. Who knows, maybe he fell into some hole or something\u2026? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5308-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-377\" width=\"376\" height=\"501\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5308-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5308-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5308-1600x2133.jpg 1600w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/IMG_5308-780x1040.jpg 780w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 376px) 100vw, 376px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally the\nmystery was solved and since my coffee cup had already been empty for a longer\nwhile, we decided to head back home to our little sweetie pies\u2026 yes, half a day\noff is sometimes enough to forget the monster-part! Skoda das Auto drove us\nback through the winding mountain roads and we had a happy reunion with our\nlittle ones. Perfect afternoon. Time to go back to reality\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em>Traveler&#8217;s daily verse:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/a-mothers-day-off_dailyverse.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-503\" width=\"590\" height=\"332\" srcset=\"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/a-mothers-day-off_dailyverse.png 560w, https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/a-mothers-day-off_dailyverse-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 590px) 100vw, 590px\" \/><figcaption>traveler&#8217;s daily verse by Kirsi\/ buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Destination: Melchsee-Frutt, Switzerland Travel Diary: What would you do if you were granted half a day off all of a sudden? Half a day without your beloved, nerve-racking little sweetie pie-monsters, your kids\u2026? Drink champagne and eat chocolate? Party and go wild? Or read a good book without being interrupted? Clean up the house? Go &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,23],"tags":[47,49,51,44,50,48],"class_list":["post-370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exploring-switzerland","category-outdoors","tag-alps","tag-coffee","tag-day-off","tag-exploring-switzerland","tag-geocache","tag-mountains","entry entry-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":664,"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions\/664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}