Family Again

I haven't blogged for a week because I haven't had internet access during that time. My life has been a whirlwind since then. Last Friday I picked up my family at the Zurich airport. It was so wonderful to see and touch them again. Actually we had been keeping in touch using Skype video so I had seen them about every other day on video. But now I could touch them.

At the Zurich airport they have a glass wall between those arriving and those waiting. So I saw them through the glass but they could not come out to greet me until they got their luggage. So it was like the "Boy in the Bubble" movie with John Travolta back in the 70s, who was separated from those he loved by plastic. Once they were through the glass I hugged them a lot. It is so nice to have them here.

After a night in the Backpackers Hotel in Zurich, we went on a hike to the Anabaptist Cave near Baeritswil. You can see my Tauferhohle, or Anabaptist Cave blog from before to learn more about this place. I thought it was such a lovely place for a family to visit when I was there that I thought I would take the family when they came, even though they would be suffering from jet lag still. I have no mercy.

So I bought some bratwurst and hot dogs and then we hiked all the way from Baeritswil. I had ridden my bike the first time, and I have to say that the hike is much prettier. It is about 3 hours round trip, assuming you stay for a little while. For us it was more like 4 hours because we not only grilled meat at the fire pits, with wood and newspaper already there for us to use, but then we stopped at a pool in the creek to wade.

So what is nice about the hike is that for the first half you go along a creek which is also surrounded by woods, so it is not just farmland in the sunlight. And then of course the cave is huge and magnificent, and what kid doesn't like a cave? So I would have to call this the number one family friendly Anabaptist site in Switzerland. And again we did it all with public transportation, taking a train from Zurich to Wetzikon, and then a bus to Baeritswil. It took about 45 minutes to be out in the country. You get off at the Baeritswill Oberdorf bus stop and then just follow the Tauferhohle Wanderweg signs, and the yellow markings as you go. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

From Zurich we went to Langnau im Emmental, an historic Mennonite community. There we stayed in a cozy farm building. And there we didn't have an internet connection, and Langnau was not the kind of place to be full of internet cafes. And so that is why I have been out of communication for awhile. So I will try to fill you in over the next several days about what we did in Langnau.