Capa'Cite 2010

Every 2 years, Neuchatel hosts Capa'cite. It is basically a one week fair of all professions that is geared towards to middle school and high school age kids. In Switzerland, testing begins in the 6th and 7th grade to begin the development of your career. I believe by 9th grade, kids have to basically decide what they want to do in life. If you do well on exams and in school then more than likely you will go on to University studies. For those that don't do well, then apprenticeships begin in the different labor trades.

The fair was set up all over downtown. There were 5 tents set up in front of our place in the parking lot and across the street at the port. Our building is basically where that arrow in the picture that says "ici" (here). The tents housed the following areas: Health and Social, Gourmet, Tech Village, Arts and Business Management.

The area that really fascinated me was the Village Green and the Building and Construction.
It took them about a week to build the structures and get everything set up. However, some of things were built out of demonstrations and they just kept adding to them.

I was amazed at all the time and effort put in to the areas that were going to be taken apart in a couple of days. The ponds were beautiful along with the flowers of course.

The Building and Construction Area was busy and the artwork was wonderful.

They had demonstration of building cobblestone streets and it was a huge area.

The agricultural area was set up at the end of our street. I couldn't believe they brought in corn and cows and sheep. There was one cow that wasn't too happy and he didn't make the sound of "moo". It sounded more like a boat horn. The smell wasn't too pleasant either. Kate had a hard time standing there to get her picture taken. I think she is a city girl:)

It was something to see and it was wonderful to see them build exhibits as part of the town. I was also thrilled when it was taken down because it made the downtown area too busy for me.

Kate has a new Bike!

When Jason came back from the US this past trip, he also brought back a bike for Katelyn. He had taken it apart and stuffed it into a golf bag. He had to leave the rear tire behind. However, when we were in the states this past summer, we bought this 2 wheel adapter to replace the rear wheel. It didn't properly fit the bikes made here so that is why we had to resort to having Jason buy one in the states. It was well worth it!

We have been having really nice weather, especially on the weekends. The lake was busy as usual and some people are still swimming.

Jason also brought back some books I had ordered. Lucas was sneaking the chance to read book 2 of a trilogy that we are all reading.

Jason and Devin took the advantage of no wind and flew their airplanes. It was cute, Devin had a crew of 5 little boys that just followed him everywhere. He was giving them turns until one of them flew the plane right into a tree. At least the airplane came down but that was just too close for comfort for Devin.

Katelyn loves her new bike and is working some of those muscles that she doesn't normally use when she walks. I think we have a few good weekends left until the rain comes.

Estavayer-le-Lac

I'm back! I am just a couple of weeks behind. I hope to get caught up today and tomorrow.

The boys went on a school field trip the first of September to a small historic medieval town across the lake. They took a boat ride from the port across the street at 8:00 in the morning. Devin took the following pictures. I think overall they had a good time:)
Looking back at Neuchatel.

Into the fog.

Roaming the town of Estavayer-le-Lac.

I just want to thank Devin for remembering to take some pictures for me! He did a great job!

Orchids

Orchids are very popular here. We see them in store windows, people's homes and especially at the flower stores. At times, I didn't think they were real because they looked so perfect. I've been wanting one for our place but I just wasn't brave enough to buy one. We don't always get very good light and I didn't want to spend money on something that would not last.

In May, one of Kate's friends came to spend the night and she brought us an orchid as a gift. It was a nice surprise and I was very excited. You can see the section where it took some time to adjust but I have to say it is doing quite well. I just need to read up on them to make sure it lasts the winter.

Road Construction Nightmare

This posting is dedicated to my friends - the Taylor Family and the Yee Family who have moved back to the United States. I have finally decided to voice my daily nightmare on the blog!

Let me just say this - Neuchatel is very good about providing job opportunities for their citizens. Sometimes I feel they create road problems just so there is another road construction project to keep everyone employed. I have heard that funds are scarce but I would never know that by the amount of times they have dug up this road.

This is the roundabout right before I get to Katelyn's school. I am waiting at the temporary stop light because it is only one way thru the round about. Parking has pretty much disappeared. Everyone use to park where that yellow building is by the trees or on the road to the right. However, that is all closed. Now we all fight for a spot in a lot belonging to an apartment complex. There is about 6 spaces where we can legally park for 15 minutes.

There was a parking lot up the road in the woods where about 12 cars could easily park. On the first day of school I drove into that lot and found it completely gone. Trees had been planted. There was one little spot where 2 cars could park but that has since changed because now there is a construction dumpster in that spot:)

There are at least 3 of these temporary stoplights along this road and the road that joins it at the roundabout. This construction has been going on for at least a year and a half or more. In that time, some parts of the road have been dug up at least 3 times. It is all within a 1/2 mile radius.

It is so crazy that it has become quite comical to me except for the days I can't find a parking space:) I just always have pictured Switzerland as a place that is always peaceful and efficient. I have been proven that it is just like the rest of the world and they have their own problems too.

Ciao Lugano

Sunday morning we decided to wake up early. We were worried about the traffic going thru the Gotthard tunnel. The previous weekend had waits up to 5 hours because it is only one lane in each direction and many people were ending their holidays in Italy. I guess it has been put to a vote to build another tunnel but has been continuously voted down. We were fortunate and it took us an extra 10 minutes.

The one nice thing about all the rainfall was it made all the waterfalls bigger! It was gorgeous and they were everywhere.

The peaks even had snow!

The drive was very pretty. We went back thru the mountains around Interlaken. It was much more scenic. However, it was also a bit curvier.

We finally saw some blue sky.

The sunshine and blue sky didn't last long but it was a fun drive home.

Neuchatel had horrible rain while we were gone but it did clear up Sunday afternoon. It was a fun trip and another place to add to our adventures.

Just a quick note - on Jason's ride home from work yesterday it was 5 degrees Celsius and sleeting rain. It looks like Autumn is right around the corner!

Lugano (Saturday)

Saturday morning we had slept in. I think it helped that it was a bit dark outside and it looked like rain. We decided to walk around the downtown area.

Lugano is surrounded by hills and that means lots of steps. We thought this was a funny picture of Devin pretending to climb all the steps. It was very steep.


We are still amazed at how many European cities have a statue of George Washingon.

The church of a former Franciscan Monastery, "Chiesa di Santa Maria degli Angioli" built in 1449.

The church contains the most famous Renaissance wall-painting in Switzerland - "Passion of Christ" by Bernardino Luini (1529) It was beautiful.

We continued our stroll thru the streets and doing some window shopping at all the designer stores. We always have fun buying something at one of the stands at the brocante (flea market). The weather just did not want to cooperate and it began to rain and never stopped.

We headed back to the pool and had it all to ourselves. I copied this picture from their webpage.

It was still pouring down rain after 3 hours. We decided to watch movies in the room. There were quite a few that we had not seen and we decided to spend the flat rate for all the movies we could watch. The boys chose "How to train your dragon" which was a very good animated movie. Then Katelyn chose "The princess and the frog" which was good too.

After the movies we were starving. So we decided to head out into the storm and run for 1 block back to the Italian restaurant. Lucas enjoyed his "smile" pleasing calzone.

Of course we had dessert and Kate's strawberries and cream was delicious.

Dinner and dessert killed 2 hours. We got back to the rooms and the kids went to bed. Jason and I stayed up and watched "Shutter Island" which was a good but crazy movie.