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!