So... You might think since this was a relaxing shabbat day by the pool there won't be much to say about the day. Well, before you start go get a snack and drink... This one's gonna be fun!
Firstly, let me start by saying that I forgot to tell you how funny it was Friday afternoon trying to get out of the parking lot in lucerne before our long drive back to Swiss holiday park hotel in Morschach. We thought we could pay with a credit card on the way out from the window in the car to the exit machine but the parking card wasn't being accepted ( we figured the word nicht meant something was wrong) so I went looking for another automatic machine to pay from. I found one and attempted to pay without understanding a word in the screen. With so many buttons to push and every word sounding like fahrt or aus I managed to have the machine accept my credit card and give back my parking ticket- apparently I payed and we were able to exit.
Before shabbat the girls danced in the lobby while a musician played at the piano bar and went to the pizza pasta restaurant for dinner. We made kiddush in the room, snacked on some of our Lindt chocolate and went to sleep.
This morning we woke up and got ready for the pool day ahead and went to breakfast where the fun began:
Ronnie tried to order sunny side up eggs but the waitress spoke back in German. All of a sudden Teta starts explaining to her what Ronnie wanted in Spanish... We all looked at her like she lost it, getting confused with all the languages. Ronnie said " ma, your speaking in Spanish." " I know," she said "she speaks Spanish also, I heard her talking to someone else in Spanish before."
Moving on to the pool the 7 of us looked like a sitcom walking around with confused looks on our faces trying to follow signs in German. We finally found something that looked like the entrance to a pool area and managed our way into an area that looked like a locker room. We VERY hesitantly and slowly walked around again trying to translate different signs. We all kind of thought we were in the men's locker room at first seeing men in bathing suits so we just kind of stood there until we started seeing women in bathing suits as well and we were equally as confused. We asked an attendant if the locker room was for men or woman and he gave us a confused look back and said "both". At this point I was sure he misunderstood our question but we moved forward nonetheless. As we made our way past the changing rooms, saunas showers and toilets we realized it really was communal and we finally spotted the pool. Hallelujah! We made it! We hoped we didn't forget anything in the room and settled in some ikea like lounge chairs. The pool was actually very cool looking- a huge indoor/ outdoor pool with lots of different areas to sit with bubbles, water sprayers, a water slide and an outdoor kids water playground. We attempted to go in the lazy river part of the pool which turned out not to be so lazy because the current was so strong it was almost possible to get out of! We were cracking up trying to decipher more German signs and had so much fun comparing them to their English and French counterparts. Apparently Swiss Germans use one very long word for every 5 English words.
Next Hannah bravely tried the water slide and reported back that it was so much fun and very slow which convinced Emma and Olivia to follow- they seemed to have enjoyed it so much I tried it myself. It definitely wasn't as slow as they described but it wasn't scary. It was very high and long though.
You will never believe what happened next- the girls actually convinced Teta to go on it!!!! It took lots of pushing and whining but she ended up going on it not once but twice!!!! When we asked Hannah if Teta liked it she imitated in a Teta accent "it was fun!" We had a blast in the pool together and tested out the cold pool, hot pool, made of the tanning beds and made other funny observations about the area like how strange and beautiful it was to be in a huge pool looking up at lush green mountain pastures hearing cow bells, watching cows graze with mountains and snow in the background. Truly a sight you see only in fairy tales. We got some ice cream, the kids kept themselves busy with mini lounge chairs and mini golf and then went back to the room to shower and rest. We checked out the sport and spiel area with gorgeous badminton courts, bowling and squash. We had a great time eating our salami purchases with strange mustard from a toothpaste looking tube from the kosher supermarket on the porch of our room and playing with yellow awnings on our porch.
In the middle of a game of hide and seek Hannah slammed her foot into the door post and got a huge gash in her big toe. We sent Emma and Olivia down to the front desk to get a band aid, a spoon and they came back saying" the lady at the front desk said she doesn't know what a band aid is and they don't know why we need a spoon, so we came back empty handed." Teta went to help them ( the spoon was for the weird cholent Teta found at the kosher supermarket) and they came up with some strangely cut bandages the lady called "plaster". Teta Emma and Olivia spent the next 10 minutes explaining to us how they cut the bandaid off a large roll of one giant bandaid. After we stopped laughing we helped Hannah clean her gash and wrap it up.
Ronnie Teta and I decided to go for a mountain stroll and found ourselves at the top of a steep gorgeous hill filled with quaint Swiss houses decorated with stereotypical flower boxes, shudders and decorative fences. The view was phenomenal. We walked out into the pasture of cow poop singing the hills are alive with the sound of music looking at the snow capped mountains, green pasture and one of the most beautiful lakes I've ever seen. The scene was so unbelievable we could not stop staring thinking it was fake. We spotted a road at the bottom overlooking the lake and decided to climb down and find that overlook and road somehow. We walked down a bunch more steep roads and eventually found a hotel so secluded and quietly pristine we assumed it was abandoned. We found a giant two person swing/ see- saw, a labyrinth and some balance beems on the way to the lookout and sat on the benches for a while enjoying the phenomenal view. I found some forest trails leading down to the river and made my way down a ways enjoying the hike. Eventually we decided we couldn't keep this secret area to ourselves and went back to get the girls to join us. We walked all the way back with them and spent even more time enjoying the view and the mountain air while they literally frolicked with glee on the hills, swings and in the maze. As we made our way back to the hotel they made up a song about the beauty of Switzerland and sang it loudly so probably the entire country could enjoy it. I will post the words of it on the next blog. We got back to the room where Aida was reading the whole time and eventually fell asleep and decided to go for another pizza /pasta dinner, ( cheese -less of course) this time ending it with a banana split. We ended shabbat, decided to put off laundry doing till tomorrow night and go to sleep! I will try to take some pictures tomorrow of the pool area and gorgeous view so you can appreciate the stories even more but of course Ronnie has a busy day planned for us tomorrow starting bright and early so we'll see....gute nacht! ( by the way Aida made it all day without even one retainer mishap! Mazal tov!)