Stairs and heavy bikes don't go well together so we had to chill and miss a connection so that we could ride/walk the bikes around the station and back up to another platform. Getting the bikes and kids onto the train while feeling the 'tick-tock' of the train's schedule was a bit stressful, but fortunately everything went off without a hitch. We would make sure Saya and at least one other person were on the train and then begin to load the bikes. All 4 bikes take up some serious space. We need at least 5 minutes to load them.
As we made the climb up to Einsiedeln I both wished I had done it on my bike and was glad we had not had to stop due a flat and push the bikes up. We made plans to visit a bike shop to confirm that the 3 flats on Sho's rear wheel were unrelated.
Claudia met us with big smiles at the train station and we biked the short 5 minutes to her house.
In 1972 my family spent a year in Switzerland and 6 months of it was in Trachslau where, in April, I had a snow birthday cake due to the 6 feet that was still hanging around. We rented an apartment which was a part of the house where the Muellers lived. Across the field was where the Kaelin's farm was. We made quick friends with their kids who were about the same age as we were at the time and with whom we were in school every day. We were mesmerized by milking the cows and picking wild blueberries; they were equally astounded by American kids and homemade pancakes with maple syrup. I brought some pancake mix from Nashville as a gift for Claudia. I am pretty sure it is the only box of Cracker Barrel brand pancake mix in Europe right now.
Claudia's house smelled of freshly-baked cake. She had just pulled a vanilla/cherry cake out of the oven as we arrived. We consumed it immediately.
Coffee just tastes better here. I had given up caffeine in January but have indulged several times since arriving in Europe. The result for me was great late night discussions with Claudia about the depth of childhood friendships and when she was coming to Nashville. My 'swiss brother', Markus, and his wife Lisbeth stopped by and it was super catching up with Markus. I reminded him that at 16, on a solo trip to Switzerland to visit them, it had been with him and a friend that I had had too many Radler (beer with lemonade) and that I always remembered that experience as one of both youthful stupidity and safety since he had made sure I made it some safe. He had had fun asking me how my head felt the next day, back in 1981.
This blog should be named 'the great food stop'. We seemed to happily go from meal to meal!
Breakfast with Claudia and family - 3 kinds of fresh bread, local cheeses, meats, homemade apricot and strawberry jellies, fruit, yogurt from the farm on the nearby alp and homemade granola.
We took an easy 30 minute ride to Franz Kaelin's bike shop. Franz is Claudia's cousin and visited us in Nashville back in 1987. We descended upon Kaelin Velos, his bike shop, where, thanks to all the latest bike tools and machinery, we did some minor maintenance on all the bikes. I had a lump in my rear wheel which could have been a flat soon, so we replaced the tube. On of Charlie's wheels was out of true due to a fall near Neuschwanstein and Franz corrected it, greased up our chains, checked our tires and sent us on our merry way. See picture of Lucas in his new biking jacket from Franz's store - very chic! All our bikes now have Kaelin Velos stickers on them which are sure bring good biking mojo.
Lunch - Chicken in a mushroom sauce with some of the freshest and most delicious egg noodles I have had along with salad that was picked moments before from the Swiss raised bed I have become obsessed with. These beds would work super in Nashville. They are pretty much weedless and need almost no watering even in super hot temperatures. My Nashville neighbor, Kat and I will soon be sharing one!
Dessert - more homemade cake, this time chocolate. Woops - I said yes to one of her great espressos....
We road our bikes the short 20 minutes from Einsiedeln to Trachslau where we went immediately to the Kaelin's farm. The youngest of 5 kids, Jorg, runs it now. He has replaced the very intensive milk cows with a cow boarding and day school; i.e. people send him the babies and he cares for them lovingly until they are ready to go to a milk farm. There were 10 or so young cow and goats waiting for us and expecting attention (see pic). We petted them and were rewarded with sandpaper tongues and gentle nudges for more attention. Their soft brown eyes and sweet smell are irresistible!
Saya (5) and Julia (5) do not share a known language, but they were quickly communicating and playing on the swing and picking strawberries together. They were chatting and giggling non-stop in two different languages!
The boys had been talking about playing in the hay for days. The enormous barn must have a 20 foot mound of hay onto which they could jump. After their fill of barn time, they, of course, started a pick up soccer game which would have gone on for hours had the dinner bell not rung.
Our bikes feel so light biking without luggage, but after the last 4-5 meals we were carrying a bit of weight, albeit in our bellies; The Muellers fixed a wonderful dinner of salad with mozeralla, tomatoes and orange peppers, followed by Lebekaese (looks like a baloney loaf, tastes like heaven) and a cold macaroni salad. Erwin knows his wine and paired it with a regional red that was light but flavorful.
It is light until almost 10 pm so we were able to ride home (burned off one bite of Lebekaese) without using our bike lights. Claudia's husband, Harry, is a bike riding enthusiast and a manufacturer's rep for several sport clothing companies; the majority of his product come from a Qloom. They have great colors and designs and the fabrics are soft and feel great on. Harry called us in and asked for our sizes and then began to cloth us! We have great new tops and shorts and jackets, and, if I do say so myself, look pretty cool.
Did I mention that I had a coffee? So, and for those of you who know my bedtime routine, you understand how different this is for me; the adults stayed up visiting until 1 am or after. The only thing that got us to bed was knowing that we had a 745am sharp departure time.
Again, thanks to suggestions from our local friends, we took a train for a section to avoid this time, not a climb, but an intense descent. We are airing on the conservative side with the kids due to the weight they carry on the bikes. It is sometimes hard to shake that American competitive side ('oh come on, just do it') , but where the kids' safety came into play, it was an easy decision. We will bike from Interlaken towards Thun and Fribourg. It is likely that Lucas and I will leave for Munich (on the train) from Fribourg. We have settled in to our routine, and although we miss family and friends, our departure is looming like a dark rain cloud.
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