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August 23, 2011

Elm.

This Sunday, we drove to a place called Elm which is a little over an hours drive from Zurich. I found out that that place has a kids friendly hike and made up my mind to put Antu to walk. It was also mentioned that the trail was stroller friendly so we took ours anyway. We parked at the Gondola (cable car) station and took the Gondola to go up. There was a nice play area up with trampoline, jungle gym, sand pit, swing, slide, a gold digging activity in the sand, etc.... The location was just breathtaking! The huge swing was just at the edge of the cliff and it was amazing to see the kids swing back and forth with a view to kill! One of the mountain peaks has a small hole and twice a year, when the sun sets, the light shines through this hole directly into a church, it seems! The kids had a blast in the play area but it was terribly hot. We had a sphagetti lunch at the restaurant there and started walking towards Tierliweg, the kid friendly trail.



Cows welcomed us and the noise of the cow bells were really deafening! Most of the walk was through the woods so we were nt roasted in the sun. And whenever the trees parted, the views were spectacular! The trail was too rocky to push the stroller with Antu so she was replaced with our backpack on the stroller. I guess they mean that the trail was friendly for mountain-friendly-strollers and not our "sort by price and choose the cheapest" stroller! Little Miss Antu walked the entire 1 1/2 hours without any complaint! The only reason being that there were wooden animal sculptures every 200 metres or so and that kept motivating the kids to keep walking! It was wonderful to see Ashu and Antu spotting the animals first and shouting excitedly, Ashu making me write a list of all the animals (more than 20), guessing what the next animal will be, debating if the animal was a pig or a bear(!), etc... etc... Not to mention the jokes. Like I suddenly screamed, "Look a Gorilla!" and when Ashu excitedly looked, I was pointing at her dad! She was nt thrilled, if you want to know!



I don't know whats with Hd and pushing stuff off the mountain slopes. This one time, he let his sledge go on its own and I had to hike back while he went doubles with Ashu on the second sledge! Another time, the canopy on the stroller slipped and flew down the slopes. This time, he was coming behind us with the stroller and the backpack and suddenly he says "pudi, pudi!" and what do we see? The stroller and the backpack are flying down the slope!! Thankfully, it hit a rock and stopped and he ran to get them! I was thanking the Lord that Antu was not on the stroller and at the same time rolling on the floor laughing thinking what hes going to push the next time! If ever Kamal Hassan remakes Guna, I think HD ll make a good body double for him in the last scene when he jumps off a cliff! I would love to watch that! Now thats a happy ending! Abirami, Abirami! (Sorry cant quote Guna without saying Abirami, Abirami! Can you?)



After a well deserved ice cream, we decided to go down to the car park. And thats when the adventure began. One can either take the Gondola back or rent something called Trottinett which is a Mountain Scooter and go down 5 kms. Me being me, of course I wanted to ride the Trotti while Hd and the kids took the gondola. I was riding like the wind soaking in the amazing views and wondering if I should have brought Ashu with me since the Trotti guy said we can ride with kids when I braked the front wheel instead of back and next second, I hit the gravelly ground hard on my chest. My right elbow and both my palms were totally scraped! Bloody, dusty mess I was! Shirt torn, hand bag torn! I should ve been quite a sight for sore eyes! But I managed to get up and continue the rest of the way in spite of my bloody palms. Hd who was waiting downhill armed with a camera took one look at me and was horrified! Thankfully, everything was just surface wounds and nothing deep and no broken bones. Phew.

Whats life without a little adventure, huh? So what if I could nt hold the tooth brush the next day or that I had an important school meeting to attend the next morning and shaking hands with a few people was just cruel? It was totally worth it! :)

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

indha vayasula idhu thevaiyaa;)))

just kidding...glad u had a great trip..enjoy the last few days od summer...

Bhavani

Reva said...

Boo,

Only you possible to find comedy even amidst bloody palms. And lol on your Hd being body double for Kamal.. Good to know you guys had fun.. and hope you are feeling better now.

-Reva

Neera said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Neera said...

Looks like a very beautiful place. You know its so awesome Antu walked that long. Here even though Vansh always has been a great walker, Jiya is such a spoilt sport. She hardly gets out of her stroller when we go somewhere and she is now 4 :( I am just waiting for her to get better at leaving the stroller for us to enjoy hikes. I think I'll once try doing what u did ..just take her to a place where maneuvering the "sort by price and pick the cheapest" (LOL :)) stroller is impossible. Lovely pictures too!

Anonymous said...

I absolutely *adore* your optimism - being able to take everything in your stride! (:

-shraddha

yaadayaada said...

Like this version better than the phone call version where you were cursing!! ;-)

Anonymous said...

Boo only you can do all this and blog about it. Hats off to you for being so adventurous! The swing looks beautiful!
Seetha

Aneela Z said...

A jhula and cows ? Trust you to go to the Vrindavan of Switzerland on Krishna Janmashtami

Anamika said...

The first photo made me dizzy. I admire your courage and optimism. The sissy I am, I would have never let my kid sit on the swing. He is only 3 now, but I don't think I am going to change even when I grow up.

Sorry about your hand. Hope it gets well soon.

Usha said...

Ayyoo...front brake tragedy! Mine happened in the middle of Luz in the first week of 'new' cycle ride to school. The best part was we had half-saree for uniform. Was quite a site;)
Looks like you had fun...but for the palms part! Good job Antu (and Ashu) for braving trek.

ashok said...

envy u....keep it going :)

Vidya said...

attagasam! love all the pics, the account and the tags:)

Meera said...

The swing looks pretty dangerous but the kids are sitting gingerly and enjoying the ride.
Sogams from the bike fall turns into comedy.. only you possible. Super weekend... cheers!!!

Anonymous said...

wish had been there to see a very bloody you and the sights! still holding my sides!

Anonymous said...

wow trotti sounds like a lot of fun, had been discovering the bike in google after hearing the word from your blog! :) I am an "alpine slide" addict ... waiting for a trotti day now ...
The front brake stunt reminds me of the somersaulting prax did the first day we drove our brand new bicycle from walmart all the way home! :) The moment he read your blog he was saying "see, its always confusing which side is back brake!" :))) ...

mc said...

LOL..boo. Every post of yours bring a smile. What I loved the most is "Pudi..Pudi". How did he manage letting go of both?

I'm totally like you on the adventure part - would've rode the trotti as well. Curious, what it looks like.

Art said...

ur trips always bring a smile..

take care of the bruises.. hope u get well soon :)

Sirisha said...

wow! love your blog! just started reading! i would read more to get more tips on being a SAHM! just starting out now after working for 6 straight years..fingers crossed! I hope I stick to being at home with my daughter.
This is my Blog:
http://vevisia.blogspot.com

B o o said...

Bhavani - Thats why I said that myself in the tags. before someone said it to me! ;)

Reva - the bruises healed pretty fast actually. thanks.

Neera - Thanks. Kids need an incentive to walk! Im going to scatter gummy bear next time on the trail! :D

Shraddha - Thanks.

YY - You called at the wrong time! ;)

Seetha - you mean the only idiot, dont you? :))

Aneela - ROTFLOL! trust you to come up with something like that. I told this to my mom. She was super impressed!

Anamika - thats just a photo trick. I did nt get the ground in the frame. the swing is pretty safe, I assure you! :)

B o o said...

Usha - The husband warned me that the left side is front brake. And I also nodded my head before leaving. But for a split second, took my right hand to adjust my sun glasses and Wham! I guess it was just habit.

Ashok - :)

Vidya - Danke.

Meera - Thats because the kids have more sense than me!!

etcparenting - missed you dude!

kookaburra - Prax and I must ve been twins in our previous life!!

MC - because the backpack was on the stroller!! Trotti is like the kids scooter but with big tyres.

Art - Alls well now, thanks!

Sirisha - tips from me? some of my posts will put you off SAHM, be warned! :)

DegeSMS said...

this version good from the other version.

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