{"id":384,"date":"2019-10-12T12:46:14","date_gmt":"2019-10-12T12:46:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/?p=384"},"modified":"2020-05-01T19:45:09","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T19:45:09","slug":"one-short-getaway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/2019\/10\/12\/one-short-getaway\/","title":{"rendered":"One Short Getaway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Destination: L\u00fcterkofen – Nyon – Geneva – La Garenne<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

School holiday was coming up and we did not have a chance to go on a proper holiday. Unfortunately my dear Husband\u2019s work was stopping us from doing any REAL journeys, so we decided to do a SHORT getaway instead. But how much can you do in just four days? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel Diary:<\/em> <\/strong>Day One \u2013 lost in labyrinth<\/strong><\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We packed enough clothes, food and other necessary items into Skoda das Auto, mounted the kids in and hit the road. Since it is a pumpkin season, our first stop was naturally a Pumpkin Farm in L\u00fcterkofen. Weyeneth K\u00fcrbis<\/a> has created an adventure world that includes four garden labyrinths and a treasure hunt, a huge ball track with wooden balls, and some other pumpkin-related activities. There\u2019s also a small pumpkin shop and a funny little flea market in the venue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our little princess loves labyrinths and riddles so she was all in for some treasure hunt. In order to find a treasure you had to go through four labyrinths and locate the hidden code numbers in the middle of them. With the right code you could open a treasure chest, that is if you managed to find it\u2026 So off they went, little princess wildly running ahead, my dear husband lazily walking behind her and little Prince Charming tailing along. I sat on a sunny bench, enjoying the rays of autumn sun, and could hear them going around in the bushes. Little Prince Charming probably did not quite get the idea and was causing long moments of distress to his big sister\u2026 Sounded like my dear Hubby was forced to a role of a referee in there. I don\u2019t really know, I was concentrating on sunbathing\u2026 Just guessing from the tone of their voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somehow\nthey got through all four labyrinths, no signs of fist-fight in the two little\nones.  They even figured out the right code\nand after some searching located the treasure chest from an old cellar which\ndefinitely smelled like rotten potatoes. What a JOY when the chest popped open\nand the little ones got to choose their nuggets of GOLD\u2026 now wait a minute, don\u2019t\nget too excited! My interpretation is that these NUGGETS were just regular\nstones colored with a golden ink. If you don\u2019t believe me, go check it out\nyourself. But I am NOT telling the code\u2026 ;)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After the treasure hunt day was still young, and our Little Princess wanted to try out the wooden ball track. It was so much fun that I suggested we could build one to our backyard\u2026 Prince Charming was a bit too small for heavy wooden balls so he got to choose a funny shaped pumpkin from the shop instead.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally we had had enough of pumpkins, labyrinths and ball tracks and headed over to grandma\u2019s house. She was busy elsewhere but had generously granted us a permission to sleep overnight in her villa. So we did. The kids where a bit perplexed about a house without granny but got over it rather fast and were soon busy playing with their toys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traveler’s Guide for planning a visit<\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Location:<\/strong> L\u00fcterkofen, Switzerland<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a car:<\/strong> Navigation Adress Kesslergasse 30, 4571 L\u00fcterkofen<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public Transportation:<\/strong> check out the timetables from sbb.ch<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cost:<\/strong> Adults 8,oo CHF \/ person, Children 5,00 CHF \/ person. Children under 4 years free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Open<\/strong>: from 15.August until 31. October, Monday – Saturday 13:30 – 17:00, Sundays 11:00 – 17.00<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Services:<\/strong> Pumpkin shop, flea market, adventure world, cafe, WC <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More information:<\/strong> website of Weyeneth K\u00fcrbis <\/a> (the website only in German. If you need help planning a visit, please feel free to contact!)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel Diary:<\/em><\/strong> Day Two \u2013 Nyon<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a more or less restless night and a tired morning we tidied grandma\u2019s villa and tucked ourselves again in Skoda das Auto, our faithful servant. We were on our way to Nyon, an idyllic city located on the shore of Lake Geneva. We were planning to stay a few nights in Nyon Hostel<\/a>, which has successfully hosted us a couple of times before. It is a neat, tidy and relatively new hostel located in between blockhouses in Nyon\u2019s sleeping suburbs. We were lucky enough to make it without too much traffic, which has not always been the case. There was a parking space reserved for us in front of the hostel (Skoda das Auto also has to sleep somewhere safe, you know!). Only problem was that my dear Husband didn\u2019t have a clue how to open the locking device of this parking space. After several attempts I could see some drops of sweat appearing on his forehead and steam coming out of his ears. He was about ready to use some dynamite to explode the darn thing up to the sky\u2026 luckily some friendly soul just showed up and unlocked the device for him. We avoided getting sued for illegal explosions and parked the car successfully. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We took our\nbags up to our room and decided to head to a playground nearby \u2013 one that we\nhad spotted while driving by. Kids were happy. After long hours in the car they\ngot to jump, climb, slide, and run etc. as much as they wanted. Little Prince\nCharming was also fascinated about the fact that there was a train station just\nbehind the fence and a train passing by every 5-10 minutes. The fence was not\nexactly THAT unbridgeable and my mother instincts were screaming Danger! Danger!\nevery time I could hear a train coming\u2026 but our little boy was blissfully\nignorant about that. His eyes were sparkling with excitement\u2026 Did I tell you he\nloves trains? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Like always\nwith playgrounds, it was time to go way too soon. We had some grocery shopping\nto do. You see, there\u2019s a really nice kitchen for hostel guests in Nyon Hostel\nand we were planning to use it for cooking our evening meal. And so we did.\nOnly this time we were really unlucky with the timing. There was some youth\ncamp group staying at the hostel and they had conquered the kitchen. I managed\nto take over one corner of a stove but really felt a bit claustrophobic with\nall the teenagers jumping around, listening loud teenager music and trying to\nfind pots and pans\u2026 I\u2019ve become my mother, I thought, getting pissed off about\nthem being all teenagers. The meal they cooked looked delicious, thought. We\nate our dinner, changed to pajamas, red a bedtime story and jumped into our\nsoft fresh-smelling hostel beds. Except for my dear husband who still had to go\nfind a geocache.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Travel Diary: <\/em><\/strong>Day Three \u2013 some border crossing<\/strong><\/em> (Lake Geneva area)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We consider ourselves lucky \u2013 lucky to have good friends in numerous places. And often we plan our traveling routes so that we can meet and spend time with these precious people. This time we had hooked up with my husband\u2019s old friend who lives in Geneva. We met in front of Mr. Local\u2019s home and he loaded his car with barbecue coals and other stuff needed for a picnic. In no time he took us over the French border and after some grocery shopping mixed with French mentality we drove up to Mountain Saleve. After driving hundreds of kilometers (okay, really up to 10km!) of narrow, winding and steep roads we were reaching the top. The most beautiful landscape ever opened before our eyes. We stopped the car and landed our feet\u2026 well, literally, in the middle of goat shit. It was everywhere. Endless little piles of black doodoo everywhere we laid our eyes (or feet!) on. There were plenty of picnic tables and fireplaces in the area, but every inch of the ground was covered. Mr. Local looked a bit perplexed and offered to take us elsewhere but since our kids were getting hungry and there was not knowing if it would have gotten any better, we decided to stay. You know, there\u2019s nothing so jolly as two hungry kids\u2026 never mind some goat doodoo. All the parents would probably agree\u2026?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We gathered some wood trying not to stick our fingers into doodoo, and Mr. Local lighted up a fire. The wood was a bit damp and it was rather windy up there on top of the mountain so the fire was not exactly burning merrily. Mr. Local and my dear Husband improvised living two-man bellows and were puffing and blowing on the verge of fainting. These two heroes, a bit out of breath, got the fire going and not a moment too soon. Picnic table was prepared just seconds before our little fellow would have caused a nuclear attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somehow food always tastes better outside. Even if there\u2019s goat poop under the table… We ate with a good appetite and enjoyed the magnificent landscape in front of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Little Prince Charming was still close to explosion, even with his stomach full, so it was my turn to improvise. I made a bed for him in the trunk of Skoda das Auto using all the blankets and sweaters I could find and put him in for a nap. Mountain air is magical – he was sleeping in a matter of seconds and I had time to marvel the view. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Meanwhile others were cleaning up. Not the goat shit, but the leftovers of our picnic, mind you. Later we drove to a panorama restaurant for a coffee and had an excellent view on some sky surfers who were circling around just in front of us. And then back to Geneva. We said thanks and goodbye to Mr. Local and got seriously stuck in traffic while trying to find our way back to Nyon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally\nback at the hostel, another traffic was waiting for me in the kitchen. Oh boy,\nI am becoming my mother, I thought, getting pissed about the teenagers being\nall teenagers\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travel Diary: <\/em><\/strong>Day Four \u2013 La Garenne Zoo<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the\nfinal day of our short getaway, and the kids got to choose the destination. We\noffered them a couple of choices, from which they chose the Zoo. We packed our\nstuff, returned room keys and locked the horror parking device for the last\ntime. The clouds were hanging heavily on the sky and didn\u2019t seem to be able to\ndecide whether they should rain or not. Over the years I\u2019ve spent here I have\nlearned that most Swiss people do need some rays of sun to come out of their holes;\nwe Finns seem to be more ignorant about the weather\u2026 so it was not a real\nsurprise that the Zoo was almost empty. Lucky us. We got to walk around minding\nour own business. Zoo personnel was just feeding the animals so there was some\naction available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My personal favorite was a cute raccoon. Kids seemed to like the wolves and we did meet Mr. Foxx and his family amongst others. Personally I am not a big fan of Zoos, mostly because the animals often seem to be suffering about stress, probably because of the crowds staring, pointing and screaming on the other side of the fences. But La Garenne Zoo<\/a> was a pleasant exception. It proved to be rather small (a few hours were enough for a grand tour) but pleasingly well taken care of. All the animals looked well-kept and happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a few hours it started to rain, just when we had had enough. Time for some warm drinks and Ikea-lunch. And time to say goodbye to Geneva region and head home. Both our little travelers fell asleep in the car and slept all the way home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And guess what? I got to prepare dinner in my own kitchen, without a herd of teenagers jumping around or any goat doodoo under my feet. It was good to be home again ;)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Daily Verse for a Traveler:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Destination: L\u00fcterkofen – Nyon – Geneva – La Garenne School holiday was coming up and we did not have a chance to go on a proper holiday. Unfortunately my dear Husband\u2019s work was stopping us from doing any REAL journeys, so we decided to do a SHORT getaway instead. But how much can you do …<\/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":[17,15,23],"tags":[44,14,41,45],"class_list":["post-384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exploring-switzerland","category-family","category-outdoors","tag-exploring-switzerland","tag-family","tag-friends","tag-traveling","entry entry-center"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384","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=384"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":633,"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions\/633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buenzliburg.ch\/ontheroadagain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}