Zuirch, Switzerland

Wednesday, Day 2: Zurich 

We left Milan this morning around 11am (a little before actually) after a great breakfast in our hotel.  The drive from Soreno, Italy to Zurich was probably the most beautiful drive I have ever taken.  The 3 hour drive went by so fast... we drove around Lake Como, through 10 mile long tunnels, along cliffs, multiple waterfalls, and through some of the Swiss Alps.  That is one drive I would gladly take again!!

The kids are ready to hit the road:

We made it to our hotel in Kolton (just north of Zurich- right by the airport actually) right at 1pm.  We got into our hotel room, put our stuff away and headed out to lunch down the road.  It was great…. Aydin and I had homemade pasta and Steve had a traditional Swiss dish… a huge fried potato pancake (fantastic) and liver (not so fantastic).  We then got on the train and headed into Zurich.  We walked all around- beautiful!! 

I had to take a picture of the kids... who all were in boosters... Switzerland requires all children under 12 to ride in a booster- something Aydin has not had to do in years (before you start judging... he is already over 100 pounds and 5 feet)

Leaving Italy and entering Switzerland:

A few pics from the road:

Aydin showing that he really is a good brother... deep down! 

We finally arrived to our hotel just outside of Zurich- and it was fun for the kids to see all 5 beds being separated just enough to jump from bed to bed... and of course that is just what they did:

After lunch- we walked to the train station to wait for our ride into town:

One of the first buildings we saw coming out of the station:

The Swiss National Museum

Apparently someone needed to be reassured there are not sharks in their river:

Traffic cops:

Augustinergasse is a street in the Lindenhof quarter

Waiting for me to get my photos... looking thrilled:

We had to make a stop at a surf shop… Aydins sandals broke and it was great. He was so funny and didn't want to take his sandal off so se shuffled his way to the store- luckily for him it was in the same square they broke in.  

We stopped and got gummie bears, chocolate, and then walked to the other side of the water.

CHOCOLATE!!

Shoemaker:

The Grossmünster

The Fraumünster Church

The Grossmünster- view from the other side of the river 

Winston Chruchill's house

  Drinking fountain:

The Fraumünster Church

Another fountain: 

 St. Peter’s Church

 The kids wanted to race up the hill... 

 Liam got left behind so Steve started running with him…

We walked all around and came across a park on the hill... the Lindenhof hill. It was a win win for the kids and us... they got to play for a bit and we got to enjoy the beautiful view of Zurich.  
While Aydin and Morgan played on a giant chess board, Liam swung on the swings.... until the game was over an then they all swung. 

The view:

 The Grossmünster   

  We walked around a bit more, stopped at a little vender place… got Liam a hot dog (more like sausage) walked more… finally we heard from Mike and Rokzanne… we didn’t even see them at all today- they got into town late late (8ish) and figured we would just meet up with them in the morning. 

We ate a crappy and expensive appetizer (olives, cheese, spring rolls, coconut shrimp, and chips with dip) while Morgan and Liam shared pizza.

When our food came out... I thought it was a joke... for the amount that we were paying and the amount of food that we got... I really thought they were messing with us... and would bring out a larger plate after.... not such luck.  
We got a good portion of olives and parm cheese (top tear), the second tear was the ONE spring roll and 2 small shrimp (Aydin ate those) and then the bottom had chips with guac (I swear this was an amount that could have fed a 6 month old and still left them hungry). 
Welcome to dining in Switzerland right?!
After eating, we were all done walking and ready to head to the hotel... so that is exactly what we did. 

Pic in the train station:

We got back to the hotel around 9:20 (took the 8:55 train back)... while we were all exhausted... I had to force myself to work.

I stayed up doing homework and submitting it while everyone else around me was sleeping….  talk about boring!!!  Of course all I kept thinking was: When am I ever going to finish school?! 

I have to say, I am so thankful for the opportunity to go on vacation while attending classes... one thing that was not possible when I first started 12 years ago but I am ready to have my masters already! 


Tomorrow we will drive to the waterfall (largest in Europe) before arriving in Munich... can't wait!