Grooving on a Sunday afternoon..... in Spiez

Spiez is a political community in the Kanton Bern and our Swiss home since many years. It is situated at the southern shore of the Thuner See, and compared to other places in the area like Interlaken or Grindelwald it is very quiet and almost contemplative. When we are here we use the time for trips into Switzerland, but sometimes we just prefer to stay home, walk the kiddos and just enjoy the easy life.

Summer time of course is the best of times. The air is warm and the sun is shining - but you almost never get the high and extremely humid temperatures we usually get at that time of year in the Vienna area.

The main attraction of Spiez is the castle, and you find it in the little bay area - the bay that is called "Die schönste Bucht Europas" by Swiss Tourism. The bay is lovely, and it is the view we get from the balcony of our home here.

From our windows we can watch the boats come and go that cruise the Thuner See with its 48 square kilometers on a permanent schedule. The Suisse people use them to go to and from work, the tourists for getting from one of the little towns to the next for sightseeing.

The most prominent boat is the "Blümlisalp", an old river steam boat that is more than 100 years old and today the prettiest boat on the lake. It is huge, compared to the "Stadt Thun", the other boat you see on this photo.

The kiddos love our daily walks here. There is a little path a few meters from the house that leads directly to the lake, and this is where we go walkies with them when we stay in Spiez. They enjoy their regular swim and Indy especially appreciates his fun-time with his balli.

Sometimes the game gets a little bit out of hand and then the trainer has to declare a time-out and explain the rules.

Afterwards we usually walk over to the station and watch the tourists get off the boats and get back on after a while and disappear. How strange to come here for just a view hours and never come back ever again...

We sit there like Staedler and Waldorf from the Muppet Show, and sometimes, when we really feel like partying we buy a bottle of Rivella (classic, the red bottle, it is a Suisse drink you only get here, like Almdudler in Austria).

And after all this excitement it is time for a nap in the sun....

Back home some more "lake watching". Especially on Sundays lots of boats are out, and in the meantime we have learned to recognize some of them.

Then it is time for dinner. This time it was home-made "Zürcher Geschnetzeltes".

The days are very long here in Summer, but sooner or later night is coming, the lights around the harbor are lit and much too soon it is "Good-night, Spiez".