The last few days in Zurich

30th Jan

Our last day in Zurich and we spend most of it packing up and loading the car. We go out for a Bratwurst lunch by the lake and walk back down the Bahnhofstrasse (the main shopping street) one last time on this visit.

We almost finish all the packing up before dinner and are aiming to leave Zurich by 9am tomorrow morning.

We have had an amazing time here and we will return. Switzerland is a beautiful country with so much to see and do.  

29th Jan

We met our friend Michele for lunch, sadly Stephan can't make it, but we enjoy a lovely meal in a restaurant we had not visited before.

After saying our goodbyes we make our way back to the apartment and spontaneously decide to change and catch the train up the Uetliberg for one last walk. There is still snow on a lot of the mountain and walking down is quite treacherous in places, so much so we walk through the trees rather than on the path in places. At least there we had the tree trunks to hold onto!

In the evening Richard met a friend for a farewell drink, Rosie started sorting out the apartment.

28th Jan

We are off to meet a retired colleague of Richard's and his wife. I first met them many years ago when Richard was here in the early days with the bank. They took us to Rapperswil which is another old town close to the Zurich See. It was quite a cold grey day so we had a walk around and a lovely Thai lunch. 

After lunch they took us to an Orchid exhibition at a garden centre, where there were some beautiful specimens. 

26th - 27th January

27th Jan

Waking up this morning we remembered we hadn't yet visited the Zoo! so off we went. The day was a bit grey but only the hippo's were indoors and so we didn't see them. The penguins and the penguin march were not too be missed as you can see from the attached 

video.

There is a huge rain forest area which was also not to be missed and all so close to the city.

Some of the more unusual creatures we saw were yellow and blue frogs - both poisonous but beautiful to look at.

As you can see one of the gorillas was not looking too happy but this may have been due to a baby gorilla being close by.

Also attached is an unusual duck, we certainly haven't seen one like this in Guernsey!

 

26th Jan

A morning of housekeeping (though not cleaning), Richard dealt with emails and Rosie updated the blog before catching up with the Sunday paper.

After lunch we headed off for the cinema to watch Changeling. What a film! this is based on a true story and is very powerful. Neither of us can believe what the LA police form did 80 years ago. Angelina Joli deserves an award for this film.

After the film we met a friend for a farewell drink.

23rd - 25th January

25th Jan

Again we are up in good time to make the most of the promised sunny day ahead. We start with an hours walk near the airport (and plane spotting). Then we drive north towards the Rhine river and end up at Stein am Rhein for lunch. It was only 20 miles from the apartment to the

German border and we didn't take the most direct route, so we are very close to Germany. Stein am Rhein is a truly beautiful town, as you can see the majority of buildings have amazing paintings on them.

From here we carry on along the Rhine popping 

      in and out of Germany to Konstanz. We stopped on the way by to take in the views and look at the partly frozen Zeller See. The duck was sitting on a sliver of ice but in the second photo you can also see how far out the water was still frozen.

It was still lovely and clear when we arrived back in Zurich and this last photo was taken from our balcony. 

24th Jan

It is a lovely clear morning and we go out to walk the planet walk on the Uetliberg. This is a walk along the ridge of the mountain and we have been waiting for a clear day to do it. As you can see the alps were clear on Saturday. We missed out a couple of planets and joined the route after after Earth, as we walked to the top and the walk goes around a lower level. At the end of the walk we caught the cable car down to Adliswil and then a train back to the city.

After lunch we went to the cinema to watc

h "Slumdog Millionaire" a very good film based on the book Q&A by Vikas Swarup which Rosie had read with her book club.

23rd Jan

A wet start to the day - not something we are used to! We take the car to a volvo garage to check something out, all is ok. Richard is meeting former colleagues for lunch so Rosie has a quiet couple of hours.

After lunch we venture out (in the rain) to the clock museum which is quite fascinating. It is a private collection of some very old pieces, some dating back hundreds of years. Some are so big and unattractive and some so ornate we feel they would just be dust collectors!

We then walk back down the Bahnhofstrasse and stop to buy Rosie a new pair of walking shoes. The current ones have certainly walked some miles over the past few years but will not last for when we get to do a long walk in France (probably not this year!).

A very wet and windy evening so we were pleased we were in tonight.

20th -22nd January

22nd Jan

We are up in good time and set off for St Gallen, what a lovely day, the sun is shining and

once we get a little higher there is lots of snow. The scenery is beautiful and we can see the alps. This is an area we have not really looked at

before but we are instantly taken with it. 

The snow covered town of St Gallen is a really town to walk around and the cathedral is a must see, it has the most amazing paintings and carvings. We spend quite a while absorbing

everything. The cathedral also has an huge ornate organ, we can only imagine the sounds that resound from it.

21st Jan

We went out in the car to Afoltern about half an hour away. There was still a lot of snow on the west side of the city and beyond. On the way back we stopped at Albis for a walk, as you can see it was lovely and very refreshing and the sun was appearing over the mountains.

In the afternoon we made the most of the day and caught a train up the Uetliberg.

Today we walked down a new route - part of it was the toboggan run so quite steep but as the snow on the lower parts had melted and what was left was ice there was no-one tobogganing!

All this fresh air is keeping us young! 

20th Jan

Richard had an early meeting with a former colleague and Rosie used the time to catch up on housekeeping both general and computer.

After lunch we caught a tram to the other side of the city to search out a couple of shops, sadly this was all in vain as they did not have what we were looking for. It was a dull drizzly afternoon so we decided to head back and spend the rest of the day reading. 

January continued

19th Jan

Shopping at the Letzi shopping centre this morning.  Amongst our purchases was a "mongolian pot" and we were pleased we hadn't bought it previously as it was now reduced by 25%. 

After lunch we went to the cinema to see "Revolutionary Road' another very good film. It is great having so many cinemas so close and with such a choice of new films.

A quiet evening catching up with emails and watching TV.

18th Jan

Another relaxing morning reading before we catch a train to Langnau (about 20mins) to walk back along the river. We hadn't realised just how much snow there was in this area, so the path was very icy in places. I am pleased to say we did not succumb to the ice and stayed on our

 feet the whole way! We cut short the walk after an hour and a half as it started to rain quite heavily and we decided to catch the train back for the last part of the walk. Parts of the river were still frozen, the ice in places being several inches deep.

17th Jan

An easy morning after our late night. As we had to buy an "extra" travel ticket to get to Winterthur and it was valid for 24hrs we took advantage and returned to 

Winterthur to have a look around. It was a very cold morning there with a biting wind. It

 is a very compact city with most of it being traffic free, so it was easy to walk around. Like so many Swiss cities there were some beautiful buildings. We will have to come back in the summer.

On returning to Zurich we make use of our additional ticket and take the red tram out of the city (just for the ride!) and afterwards we take a train on a route we haven't yet been on. Back to the apartment to chill.

16th Jan

A quiet morning reading (we will miss these days when we return to work) and an afternoon walk near the lake, we caught a tram to Wollishofen and walked back along the lake. We have usually walked the other way so this made a nice change.

We caught a train to Winterthur to meet some friends for dinner. We had a lovely evening and arrived back in Zurich about midnight and watched TV for a while making it a late night.

Into 2009

15th Jan

Richard's former colleague Berni came to our apartment and we then drove north to another retired colleague Ueli. After coffee and croissants Ueli took us for a tour of the area ending at the Rhine falls. Here 600,00 litres of water fall every second - quite a lot of water! Even here some of the falls were frozen. We had a lovely lunch in a restaurant over looking the falls before continuing our tour of the area. 

In the evening we met another former colleague and went to a very Swiss bar for drinks and a Swiss snack - something like a pizza but with a very light base.

14th Jan

It looks like a bright sunny day ahead, this makes a welcome change as it has been quite grey and very cold all year so far. We decide to have an outdoors day today and after breakfast catch a tram to the Kaferberg to walk in the forest. As you can see it was lovely.

Whilst walking we heard and then found a woodpecker and further on 3 deer ran across our path. It was so tranquil and amazing to see the wildlife at such close quarters.

After lunch back at our apartment we go out again, this time down by the lake and we walked to the Zurichhorn. By this time it was getting cooler

so we caught a tram back.

13th Jan

We are up early today as we are going to drive to Thun

, an old town that we want to visit. We soon leave the cloudy skies behind and find beautiful sunshine in the mountains, although the car thermometer records temperatur

es as low as -13! Insi

de the car it is lovely and warm with heated seats! (for Rosie). There are lots of very old buildings in Thun including the castle which dates back to the 12th Century.

Unfortunately in January it is only open on Sundays so we could not look around it. 

From Thun we drive on to Spiez, a lakeside village and then on to Interlaken 

where we walked around the town before heading towards Brienz and back to Zurich.

We hope you like some of the views from our journey back to Zurich.

12th Jan

We have discovered that Mondays are reduced price days at all cinemas in Zurich. There are a few films that we would like to see and we go and watch "Australia" this afternoon. A long film but worth going to see. We go to see the early afternoon showing and by the time we come out there is some late afternoon sunshine and although still cold we walk back to the apartment.

11th Jan

We drive out to the back of the airport to go for a walk, there are so many walking paths all over Switzerland we could walk a different one each day. By the airport the cloud base is very low and so not many people are out. We head off, Richard enjoys the planes flying low overhead as they come in to land - they suddenly appear

from nowhere as the clouds are so thick! We return to the car after walking for an hour feeling very refreshed.

After lunch the sun comes out and mad as we are we go out for another walk. We never tire of the scenery here, it is like the sea the mountains can look different every day. In the evening we go to an organ recital, there has been a week of recitals and tonight is the last night. The weeks recitals have been held in a church in a suburb of Zurich. The church is very ornate inside, so much beautiful wood. The recital was excellent and two pieces was accompanied by a string orchestra, all members being young students. 

10th Jan

A day spent in and around the city, there is always something to do or see.

9th Jan

We go out to take some photo's of the frozen fountains, some of which have actually stopped flowing. Even parts of the rivers are frozen. 

8th Jan

We spend the morning reading and relaxing before going out in the afternoon. We certainly need our thick jumpers to go out but the air is so refreshing even when it is so cold.

7th Jan

A quiet day and only a short walk today before going out for dinner again! Today we went to some friends Richard met a lived near to 3 years ago. Terry is Australian and Lona from Mumbai and they have 2 lovely children (6& 8). Lona cooked a lovely fish curry. We chatted a lot about travelling - they have travelled and lived in many countries and hearing about Australia was particularly interesting as one day we would like to travel around Australia. Tonight when we get back to the city we wait in a doorway for a tram as it is still so very cold. 

6th Jan

We brave the elements and go out for a walk to the Lake and in the evening we have been invited to dinner with one of Richard's former colleagues. We had a very enjoyable evening with a lovely family and their 3 teenagers. We caught a train back to Zurich and as there was not a tram for 10 minutes we walked back to the apartment. It was so cold our faces were frozen. 

3rd - 5th Jan

It is very very cold here in Zurich and we do not venture too far, but relax and spend quite a lot of time reading. We only go out for shopping and short walks, it is really too cold to be out for very long. The day time temperature stays well below freezing and it snows again. We go out for a drive but it is cold and foggy, we see very little sun even on higher ground. We do go up the Uetliberg on the train but is is too cold to walk down so we come back on the train. There is a biting cold wind which is unusual for Zurich. We put away our Christmas decorations and wonder what 2009 will bring for us.

2nd Jan

We went to see our friends in Oberageri as Andrew had not seen them and really wanted to see Marc and Laura. All the men ended up playing indoor hockey.

We return to Zurich mid afternoon and then it is time to get a train to the airport as Andrew and David have to go back to Guernsey. We are all a bit sad - Rosie particularly - we have all had a good time.

We return to a very "quiet and empty" apartment.

1st Jan 2009

Happy New Year

A quiet start to the New Year after a late night. All boys went out for a walk in a snow covered forest and enjoyed the fresh air, leaving Rosie to rest her leg as instructed by Andrew (too much walking down steep mountains)

Dave our visitor returned to London in the evening and we had a quiet family evening.

The last few days of 2008

31st December

We all go out to a typical Swiss pub for lunch and have a quiet afternoon. It started snowing by 5pm and it got heavier and heavier. We have a lovely meal at home in the evening before going out to celebrate the New Year in the snow although it has warmed up (still well below freezing) slightly and walking in the snow is not the easiest.

Sadly the fireworks which are usually amazing were disappointing due to the weather conditions and we all return to the apartment at 1am to celebrate the UK New Year, so we had two New Years!

30th December

Andrews mate Dave arrives from London on the early flight to spend a few days in Zurich with us. A very relaxing day.

29th December

Time to leave Grindelwald but not before we are stopped in our car by a Guernsey man! He recognised the Guernsey number plate - well who wouldn't? it does stand out a bit in Europe - and we had a chat. 

We make the journey back to Zurich and the apartment. We venture out for some food shopping and just chill out for the rest of the day. It is much colder in the city now and there is evidence that they have had snow whilst we were in Grindelwald.

26th - 28th December

We continued to enjoy our stay at The Parkhotel Schoenegg, Richard, Andrew & David skied each day whilst Rosie walked in the mountains. We were all impressed with the hotel, it was a lovely family run business and nothing was too much trouble. We will return. We met lots of very interesting people. It is such a small world,  one man from Somerset was a retired teacher who had taught a family friend of mine and another lady from Suffolk knew an English family living in Zurich who Richard had met in 2005.