This year has been off to a mellow start. We have not been doing a whole lot, which is just what we need, or at least what I need. Last year was too go-go-go, so this slower pace is very welcome. We have mostly stuck close to Basel the past couple of months, just exploring the areas nearby. We have found lots of little hidden gems around Basel-Land, Lörrach, Feldberg, Mulhouse and St. Louis. Basically our surrounding towns and villages. It is nice that this consists of two other countries though. Since the snow in Feldberg has been not-so-great this season, we have only ventured to the “local mountain” a few times for some 3-year-old ski practice. So on other weekend we have had to find other attractions.
We first discovered, through a recommendation, the Mulhouse Train Museum. My son was over-the-moon happy. He loves trains and there are a lot to see at this museum, from all different eras. It was crazy just to realise that trains have been around for 200 years now! It’s also really nice experiencing things through his eyes because he just gets so excited and happy when he is seeing things he really likes and enjoys. The museum has some giant ware-house style rooms with loads of different trains that you can look at, some of which you can climb on board and others you can just look into from the viewing decks. They also do a great little train ride where they drive you around past all of the parked train cars outside, of which there are is such a huge variety.
Since discovering how happy this made him, we then also decided it was time to venture to the Swiss Transportation Museum. Luzern was probably the farthest we had travelled in a few months, and it is not even very far! I had really not expected this museum to be so huge, so we will definitely go back many times in the future, because there is a lot to see and do. I think we may go for the annual pass, because it’s a great day out that you can definitely do a few times in a year.
This museum had everything. Trains, cars, planes, helicopters, space shuttles, just so much to see and do. You can feel how happy the children are running around, bouncing off the walls in this huge museum. There are indoor and outdoor components, including being able to get on board some airplanes and trains. The hardest part was dragging my three year old away from each section to see the next section; the tantrums quickly subsided when he saw the next exciting area though. I guess being a ”boy mom” there will be a lot of cars, trains, planes and transportation-related activities in my future.
Overall it has been really nice slowing down the pace of life and doing these kinds of things. Often when we travel a lot and are always rushing around we don’t stop to discover the things right in front of us. I think COVID had also reinforced that for me because we were unable to travel very far so we explored nearby places a lot more. I think this is also why I like moving to new places, because you see a place so much more thoroughly and fully when you are living there for a long period of time.
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