On Thursday, we needed something to keep Amelia from going to sleep in the middle of the day. The best way to fight jet lag is just to start following the new timetable as quickly as possible. It needed to be something exciting and preferably outside where there were no beds! We decided on the Glass Factory in Hergiswil, just south of Luzern. Our friends, Jenna, Lexi, and Mia, also came along. (Truth be told, it was their idea!)
The first part of the factory discusses the history of glass making and this glass factory in particular. The really nice thing is that if you have a group of 2 or more people, they will do it all in English for you! There was another American family who had gotten there ahead of us and had ordered the tour in English. So we just walked right in and joined them. At the end of the history lesson, which is more exciting than it sounds, you come to a balcony overlooking the actual glass furnace. You are allowed to sit and watch the glass blowers for as long as you wish, and you can even try your hand at blowing your own glass bubble to take home. We did not do this, because, quite frankly, I am pretty sure it would have broken before we even finished buckling our seatbelts for the ride home. :) But when the kids are a bit older, I would love to have them each make one and then hang them together somewhere in the house.
When we finally tired of watching the liquid glass get molded into shape, we headed outside for lunch on the lake. It was a bit warm, and that water looked awfully tempting to most of us. But we made do with getting sprayed by the fountain instead.
After lunch we headed over to the hands on section of the museum. They have lots of different musical instruments you can play that are all made out of glass, there were funny lenses to look through that distorted everything you saw, and there was even a little theater with the story of the Frog prince. That was really nice because it was air conditioned in that room! We took our time and let the kids play with as much as they wanted for as long as they wanted, after all, the idea was to stay there for as much of the day as possible. When everyone had finally had enough of the indoors, we headed outside to the playground.
This playground is so much fun, Nicholas requested we come back a second time during vacation just to play at the playground. They have this huge maze/slide thing set up that you can put your glass marbles on (10 for 5 Francs at a convenient nearby vending machine) and watch them slide all the way down to a little pool at the end where you can then fish them back out and start all over.
There is a giant sand box, complete with provided sand toys and a nearby water spigot for rinsing off the sand from little feet and hands.
They have sit-and-spins, rocking horses, and a great tree for climbing. There is also a giant dragon, complete with hand and feet holds, you can climb up. The girls named him Norbert.
Of course, no visit to the glass factory is complete without a stop in the factory store! They have so many beautiful vases, plates, even Christmas tree decorations. The kids did really well, looking with their eyes and not their hands. It is amazing all the different shaped objects they can make with glass.
We left just as it started to sprinkle, and by the time we got home it was really coming down hard. But we had had perfect weather for our outing, and Amelia was able to stay awake until normal bedtime. Hurray!