Not all of Switzerland is beautiful

I took a couple pictures today of the graffiti and construction near the building where Elisabet and I go to German classes.  I was going to take a photo of the building itself because the first day we went it was entirely covered in graffiti and looked like a place you would want to avoid.  They have since painted it over with a more attractive red, but it's hard to hide that the building itself is near the train tracks and some huge electrical station.  We have so many pictures of the amazing countryside, I thought it was important to see the grittier side to Zürich.  

There was a huge hail and rain storm today so I took a couple pictures of that.

Hanna's 7th Birthday

Today was Hanna's birthday!  After a breakfast of pancakes and hot chocolate, we waited for her teacher and some classmates to come and fetch her for school in the birthday wagon.  They walked down the Hirzenbachweg to our apartment complex and fitted her with a golden cape for her ride to school.  The teacher picked some of Hanna's closest friends to come pick her up.  The reflectors you see the children wearing are required for Kindergartners when they walk to and from school or on field trips.  Hanna also got to bring a treat to share with the children so we made a chocolate bundt cake.  

For our family party the kids decorated vanilla cupcakes with chocolate frosting and smarties and sprinkles.  

HOT

I know most of you have already seen hot weather, but yesterday and today were our first days of 80s.  Today it was 31 degrees C (at least) and I read in the paper that last year it didn't get this hot until June 21.  As far as I can tell, no one has air-conditioning, so we have to be careful and keep all the shades down and windows closed during the hottest part of the day.  The sun just set at 9:08 pm and I'm opening up the windows now for some fresh air.  It seems to cool off well most nights, so that helps!  When we took the tram to and from dance class this afternoon we had one new tram (A/C and very comfortable) and one old tram (no A/C).  They open up the windows on the old trams, but it still gets pretty steamy!  Hanna got to spend the day on a trip with her class to the river.  She came home sweaty and with a beat-red face.  Tomorrow is her birthday so she is very excited.  

Montbovon

This weekend we ventured out of our comfort zone and rented a car to travel to the canton of Fribourg in the French region, requiring navigating through the cities and mountains of Switzerland.  It was a long weekend for Travis and the kids because of "ascension day" on Thursday.  The Swiss take their religious holidays seriously and schools, stores, restaurants and most workplaces are closed.  We left mid-morning on Friday and drove to Bern and then south to Fribourg where the spoken language and posted signs switches over from German to French.  On one side of the river the exit signs read "Ausgang" and on the other side they were "Sortie".  From Fribourg we drove further south through Gruyeres to a small village called Montbovon.  We stayed up a narrow, winding road at a small farm called La Combaz D'Amont owned by Jean-Marc and Nikki Mantel.  They had bought the farm 30 years before, neither having been farmers, and now have 5 milking cows, 4 calves (one brand new), 2 lambs, and cats, a rabbit and dog (they raise and sell Bernese mountain dogs).  In the winter they both teach ski lessons at the nearby town, Chateaux D'Oex and run a cafe.  Nikki was originally from the UK, but had lived in Switzerland since she was 7, so she was fluent in both English and French.  

When we arrived, Jean-Marc was mowing the hay field with a hand mower and gathering it up in his small truck to bring to the barn.  While he was out in the field, one of the cows came running down the road and into the barn.  She was the newest member of the milking herd and was often pushed around and bullied by the others.  So she had broken through the fence and headed for home.  Instead of barbed wire fences, they use movable electric fences and rotate the grazing cattle depending on the available grasses.  Many of the cows in the valley had bells around their necks so they could be found, even if they were high up in the mountains during the summer.  When they are not quite old enough for milking, they drive them up to graze higher pastures where they get to spend the warmer months.  We actually got to see this on Saturday morning as some neighbors moved 30 or so young cows, bells ringing as they walked, up the narrow road towards the village of Allieres.  Leif's favorite part of staying on the farm was helping out with the milking at 6 am and 6 pm.  He went up to the field to help Jean-Marc or Nikki bring the cows down to the barn, supervised as they milked, and then helped them return to the field when they were finished.  Leif kept the youngest cow going in the right direction as she tended to hang back and not want to get too close to the others.

We took a short hike through the fields, which you can see in the photos of the girls with flowers and everyone standing near the cows.  The constant ringing of the bells is quite musical and soothing.  The kids enjoyed playing in the yard by the farm which included a swing-set, sandbox, and a riding tractor and atv.  

Saturday we hiked up a trail to a mountain called Col de Jamon and saw lots of spring wildflowers, including wild narcissus.  As we hiked up in elevation we got to see the earlier spring flowers that were finished blooming down in the valley.  At the top of the hike there was a cafe- turns out you can drive to the top from the other side.  We sat on the deck and had ice cream and cold drinks (it was a hot weekend).   We could see into France and look out over Lake Geneva (or Lac Léman in french) from the top as well.  We finished our hike in time for the evening milking and then ate dinner with Jean-Marc and Nikki.  They served us a nice Swiss meal which included lots of locally made or grown ingredients.  In the mornings we had fresh bread from a nearby bakery, locally made yogurt and cheese (possibly from their cows), home made jelly, and Birchermuesli- the traditional Swiss cereal of oats soaked in milk and then mixed with yogurt, apples, raisins, and fruit.  

Sunday we packed up and took the scenic way home to Zürich.  We first drove south through the town of Chateau D'Oex and then past Gstaad.  Much of our drive went though some of the great ski areas of Switzerland.  The higher mountains are still covered with lots of snow and the lower ones have huge waterfalls gushing with runoff.  The mountain valleys were beautiful- green and lush with small farms and traditional Swiss chalets.  We passed the lakes at Spiez and Interlakken, stopped to have lunch along the lake at an Italian restaurant.  This was quite funny because the menu was in French and English, the waiters were all speaking Italian amongst themselves, and most of the customers were speaking German.  From Interlakken we drove north up a very windy, curvy mountain pass and then down the other side past Luzern and it's lake.  We passed through our first tunnel which split into two different directions and were amazed that the tour buses can maneuver on the narrow roads.  We decided that they must build tunnels for fun in Switzerland- we saw several in progress and drove through at least 10 to get back home.  After Luzern is Zug and it's lake and then finally the Zürichsee and the city of Zürich.  Go to google maps to see how many lakes we drove by- now the only major lake we haven't seen is Lac de Neuchâtel!

Bern

The kids and I spent the weekend exploring Bern while Travis attended and spoke at an MRI conference.  The inter-city train to Bern travels there in less than 1 hour, making it a quick trip to the Bernese Oberland region of Switzerland.  Bern is the Bundesstadt (the capital) of the country where the Federal Council and Parliamentary offices are located.  The official language in Bern is German, but a slightly different dialect than is spoken in Zürich.... I must be learning some German because I could actually tell it was different, even though I still couldn't understand what they were saying.  

Saturday we walked to the center city (medieval and a UNESCO world heritage site) and visited the cathedral called the Münster.  It was an amazing, ornate church with intricate details on the stain-glass windows and ceilings.  We decided to climb up the clock tower, which turned out to be a tight spiral staircase going up 254 steps to the main platform and then 90 more steps to the top viewing area.  The tower itself is 100m (384 ft) high!  It was a spectacular view to look down on the city buildings, the Aare river, and the mountains in the distance.  From multiple places in the city, you can see some of the tallest mountains in Switzerland, Jungfrau, Mönch, and Eiger, which are 3900-4100 m (over 13,000 ft).  We were all quite winded by the time we reached the top platform, not to mention slightly dizzy from the height.  I'm not often bothered by heights, but the widow slits in the walls - not really big enough to slip through, but still at least 6 inches wide, were making me very nervous.  Elisabet claimed she was never going to climb it again.  

While looking for lunch, we stopped to watch the clock strike 12 at the Zytglogge, a famous clock tower with moving puppets and a carousel.  Then we found a fountain in the city square with a cycling water display.  This proved to be way too tempting for all children who ventured by on the 60 degree sunny afternoon, and soon there were hoards of them, stripped to their underwear, shrieking and running through the spraying jets of water.  

Sunday morning we visited the Einstein museum and learned how he formulated his theory of relativity while working in Bern at the patent office.  Soon afterward he moved to Zürich to become a professor at the University (ETH) and then on to Prague, Zürich again, Berlin, and finally to the US.  The museum also included a sobering exhibit of WWII and the concentration camps with footage from Stalingrad, the invasion of the Pacific, and Normandy, and of prisoners in the camps and the mass graves in Poland and Germany.  They had these movies playing behind a barrier so you could choose not to view them- they were definitely the most graphic images I have seen of the fighting and the concentration camps.

After the museum we hiked down to the river level- much of the city is built on some very steep hills.  We watched a group of people come over the falls in a flat bottom boat.  We couldn't decide if they were an orienteering group or military.  For those of you interested in cars, we saw a Weissman Roadster, a hand crafted car with a BMW engine (and according to Aaron there are only a few thousand out on the roads).  It was unique looking enough that many people were veering out of their way to take a closer look.  

Since it was an even warmer day than the previous one, the kids begged to return to the square and spent another hour or so getting soaked in the fountains.  This time even a few adults tried it out (clothed of course).

Mother's Day hike and more.....

After a pancake breakfast-in-bed (thanks to Leif and Travis), we packed up for a hike along a ridge to the north and west of Zürich city.  We took a train to the town of Regensdorf and a bus up the hill to the town of Regensberg- after some uncertain studying of the map and schedule.  The hike started on the eastern edge of the ridgeline and you can see the photos of the views from the town of Regensberg, a beautiful classic looking Swiss town.  The first part of the hike was wide and a gradual climb up but slow going as the kids were not as enthusiastic about the hiking plan as we were.  Elisabet mentioned she was hungry about every 3 minutes and was fed a steady stream of gummi bärli until we distracted her with counting slugs and butterflies along the trail.  We got up to 15 slugs before they were sidetracked by a restaurant with ice cream.  This is something we've encountered before where we are hiking along in a seemingly wild and remote forest and then there is a restaurant.  Not sure how they got the food up there, but it was a perfect pit stop before we tackled the rocky, steep section of the trail.  We hesitated at the signpost with two choices to Baden (our endpoint).  One way was marked "Gratweg, Vorsicht" or 'ridge trail, caution' but they both gave the same hiking time.  We decided to take the ridge trail after another family with children happily hiked by us in that direction.  They weren't kidding when they said "caution", it quickly became rocky and steep with a drop-off to both sides of the trail.  Meanwhile the trail was only about 6 inches wide.  The kids scrambled along the rocks, at times even climbing along the rock face with their feet in a crack.  Travis and I took turns spotting Elisabet who was gamely doing her best to maneuver the trail.  I took some photos, but it is difficult to get the perspective of the slope- it was grassy and tree covered, but incredibly steep.  Once we were through the most difficult section, it still took us another hour to hike down to Baden.  And it was very rocky and uneven hiking.  All of us had weary legs by the end- but Elisabet was only carried for a short time by Travis.  We made it home to see Kate waiting by our door (we were a little later than we planned), just returned on the plane from Germany.  We ate pizza- homemade (what was I thinking?) and salad for dinner and then had chocolate cake to celebrate her birthday.  

There are a few random car photos in the mix for Aaron.  Also a picture of the Freitag store in Zürich that Leif and I visited on Saturday.  It was constructed of train/shipping containers and houses their wares of recycled bags and totes.  They take used truck tarpaulins and cut them out to make messenger bags and use old seat belts for the straps.  I picked out a red and white one for myself for mother's day.  Now I will really look like I belong here!

spring photos

Here are some photos of our neighborhood, nearby farms and the bikes we got over the weekend.  We got Hanna and Leif's bikes at a flea market. Elisabet scored with a brand new one from Migros and she is thrilled with its colors.  Travis borrowed a bike from a co-worker so I was able to take it around a nearby lake, Greifensee.  The trail is beautiful with views of mountains in the distance, occasionally winding through some small villages and farms.  

The car photos are for Aaron.  I need a picture of some of the Fiats- the new face of Chrysler?