This is how the girls have been sleeping, although I have been getting up in the night to find Aubrietta sprawled out halfway across the room, and I push her back over towards Kelsey. Aubrietta did start the night with her head the other direction, but she migrates in her sleep.
"Time to wake up girls, breakfast is waiting!"
As usual, Antje has laid out a beautiful breakfast, including pastry from the bakery, and tea from fresh picked herbs. Navina was already at school, preparing to celebrate her last day with a scavenger hunt field trip throughout the city of Zurich.
After breakfast the four of us ventured out on the train and Antje headed over to her papa's apartment to take him to some appointments. The girls were delighted to find free newspapers, published weekdays by the transit authority, awaiting them on the train. They love Sudoku puzzles and don't need to know Swiss German to do them.
In central Zurich we transferred to a tram headed to the Zurich Zoo. I had mixed feelings about going to a zoo, because we have such a good zoo back in Seattle, and I didn't come all the way to Europe to see the same animals I could see at any big city zoo. Zurich Zoo is one of the best in Europe, though, and both girls had been begging to go to a zoo. We were going to indulge Kelsey in the zoo in Copenhagen, but that was the day she fell and ended up in the hospital for 8 hours, so I guess I kind of owed her one.
There's Aubrietta enjoying the ride. Kelsey was sitting beside me, intent on finishing her Sudoku puzzle before we got to the zoo, missing all the interesting architecture and windowboxes overflowing with flowers along the ride.
Here we are at the zoo. See the storks in the nest above left?
The primate house was our first stop. There were plenty of babies of all species.
The primate house encouraged loitering by providing cozy wingback chairs and sofas. The Persain rug is actually painted onto the concrete floor.
We were lucky to see the rare albino Great Grey Owl. It is panting and trying to sleep in this photo, that's why it has such a strange expression on its face.
Red Panda
Snow Leopard grooming its baby...I could have watched them for hours.
Lions doing what cats do best.
These Storks weren't part of the zoo collection, but the zoo does provide inviting tree tops encouraging them to take up residence. Storks can be found all around Switzerland, and probably much of Europe.
The girls were getting hungry so we placated them with ice cream. Kelsey's is a vanilla ice cream on a stick with a gelatinous banana-flavored covering that can be "peeled." The "peel" is similar to the exterior on a Japaese mochi ice cream ball, if you've are familiar with those.
Kelsey teases a gorilla (just a poster, of course!)
Like all good European parks, there was an amazing play area.
This park allowed you to imagine yourself as just about any kind of animal, from an ant, to a spider, to a monkey, to a bird.
The girls especially loved the hanging "bird's nests."
There was a fantastic water / sand / mud area. Had I known this was here, and we had more time and an extra set of clothes with us, of course I would have let the girls "dig in."
Mud between the toes is one of childhood's best experiences.
Here's Aubrietta hurtling down the slide. It was REALLY fast, and you can see the fear on her face. Kelsey is peeking over the top, awaiting her turn.
There was a huge indoor tropical jungle, teeming with colorful birds, that could be wandered through.
There were plenty of creatures to spot if you could stand the heat and humidity long enough to linger, but we only saw birds, butterflies, bats, and chameleons.
Soon we were back on the tram to downtown to meet Antje for a walking tour of Zurich. She met us as we got off the tram in central Zurich shortly after 2pm. We went into the train station and got a quick picnic lunch from Migros Take-Away.
We went through a number of toy stores, rushing through without time to buy anything (thankfully). This store had a dragon slide which swallowed kids and deposited them down to the next level.
Antje works as a professional tour guide for the Best of Switzerland tour company, based in Zurich, so she was able to give us an expert walking tour of the city.
There were many steps to climb. Poor Daddy was really going to suffer today.
We went to Lindenhof, a park dedicated to the women of Zurich left behind to defend their city during a war in 1291. The wives, mothers, and young women dressed in men's armor to scare away approaching enemies and saved the city. Above, Antje is pointing out all the historical buildings across the Limmat river, while we sat on a bench and ate our picnic lunch.
Anjte brought her tour-guide binder so she could answer any question we might have, from when a building was constructed, to who was in power at any given time in history. It was great to get so many details and background information on all that we were seeing.
Our family in front of the fountain and statue dedicated to the women who defended the city in 1291.
After lunch we continued our walk and noticed these ornamental boot scrapers outside of most doors in the old buildings. Kelsey had to try one out.
We went down along the river, visiting more sights of historical significance, dating back to the Roman times.
Just look at those geraniums in bloom at the Hotel Strochen!
One of the most fascinating aspects of our trip to Europe has been trying to grasp the long history Europe has compared to the United States. This alleyway between buildings was excavated and revealed an archaeological treasure trove.
1800 years ago this was a Roman bath!
After the archaeologists were finished, they installed this elevated grating above the site and interpretive signage.
Switzerland has numerous wonderful features, but what tops my list (even above the chocolate!) is the abundance of drinking water fountains. Continuously running, fresh cold water is available in every neighborhood.
We stopped by the famous Teuscher chocolate shop -- this shop was built in 1647, but it has only held the Teuscher chocolate shop since 1932.
Antje insisted on buying some of these insanely expensive chocolates for us to try, and yes, I agree with the critics that this is the finest chocolate in the world. OK, maybe the free water fountains aren't my most favorite thing about Switzerland after all -- its this chocolate.
Antje took us by the restaurant her parents ran while she was growing up (since sold to an uncle and his family). She spent her teen years working here. We went inside and saw a portrait of Antje's great grandfather on the wall. What history!
Since Aubrietta's severe allergies excluded her from enjoying the chocolate at Teuscher, Antje knew just where to take her for a treat: a candy store with lots of gummy candies.
This is a different Gummy Candy store, featuring gummy bear "cakes" and "pizzas."
Here is the largest clock face in all of Europe, at St. Peter's Church. I haven't worn a watch for years, relying on my mobile phone to tell me the time. On this trip I didn't have my mobile phone, so I'd whip out my iPad instead, but most of the time when we were in a town there would be public clocks, and this one topped them all. But being on vacation is about being oblivious to time, right?
We also went into the Fraumünster Church to see the beautiful stained glass windows by Marc Chagall. No photos were allowed inside the church, so I didn't take any, but plenty of other people have, so above is an image from the internet so you can see how beautiful the windows are.
Antje's binder of information came in handy as she explained the architectural details and renovations of certain buildings. Here she tells about a 650 year old Zunfthaus zum Zimmerleuten Guild House that was destroyed by fire in 2007, and the painstaking reconstruction to make the new building look as if it had always been there.
Kesley is always on alert to find Edelweiss, her favorite flower. Here are bunches for sale at a florist shop.
At 17:00 Antje left us to go to Navina's school, where she and Navina would meet with the teaching staff for an "exit conference," summing up Navina's accomplishments during the past school year. Navina had opted to spend the afternoon at school socializing with friends one last time before summer break began for them. We decided to take the canal boat on the Limmat river, up to the end, then out into Lake Zurich, and back again.
I was happy to see the girls more interested in the scenery than their books and newspaper puzzles. I had forbidden them to bring electronic devices on this trip (my iPad was strictly for navigation, my writing, and photo uploads), but I forgot how much they love to read. I think Anjte's vibrant tour sparked their interest.
Beautiful buildings, a tram, and look down there, a man about to go swimming!
According to the newspaper, at 22 degrees (71 F) the water was warmer than the air temperature today. We saw a number of swimmers during our boat ride, even out in Lake Zurich.
Not long after boarding a new crew came on to the boat, and things got a little exciting. A young woman was having her first lessons in driving the boat, and we were along for the ride.
Here you can see her, with the instructor hovering behind, ready to take the controls (and he did several times) as she slams the boat into the dock. After a couple of rough dockings we found ourselves bracing for impact as we approached the docks. We sat through about 10 dockings and things did not get better with practice. I felt bad for her, but hopefully she eventually caught on, without taking out any docks or severely damaging the boat, and is enjoying her new profession.
Back on land we headed underground to catch our train back to Antje's.
The rules are pretty clear on the trains: No smoking, no pickpocketing, no busking, no using handsaws on the seats, and no feet up on the upholstery.
However nothing was mentioned about using the handholds as monkeybars, so with the train mostly empty, I let the girls indulge in a little swinging from the ceiling. Shhhh!
The uphill walk to Antje's was always pleasant.
The walk always took longer for me, because I kept stopping to admire gardens along the way.
Then there are the stops at every water fountain we pass.
And of course we have to stop to say "Grüezi" to all the animals along the way. It is also mandatory to say "Grüezi" to any people you pass while in Switzerland, which I think is splendid. I love it when people kindly say hello to each other instead of rushing past. Of course you don't do this on busy city streets, but when walking through a neighborhood or rural area, or on hiking trails, you greet people. I'm not sure if young people today, who are usually plugged into some electronic device, will carry on this tradition, but I insisted Aubrietta and Kelsey do it, and of course I did, too.
Back at Antje's we were worried about being late for dinner, but Antje was still on her way from picking up her father after the meeting at the school. Antje's papa joined us for a dinner of ratatouille and risotto, and again we stayed up way too late talking, and didn't get to bed until almost midnight.
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