Grandma and Grandpa are here! (part 1)

Grandma and Grandpa arrived this morning! We met them at the airport with a box of Swiss chocolates and big plans for the day. There was a holiday to celebrate. Grandma and Grandpa were very good sports about that even though they must have been exhausted. They walked and stood around in the cold rain all day. But they did say it was a day they'll never forget.

See T running toward G and G.

First we went to the Zurich train station where we killed a little time picking up some breakfast at Migros. By the time we were done it was late enough for G and G to check into their hotel. So we all went there and ate our breakfast while Grandma unpacked a bottomless bag of goodies from America (peeps for the girls, whose Easter baskets had been burglarized by T's imaginary friend; sour patch kids; brownie mixes; hiking snacks; toy tops, which they immediately played with; and for me cleaning supplies and the one sunblock which doesn't make me break out - there was way too much to list!)

T helps Grandma unpack

S catches Grandpa stealing her cashews. Theft runs in the family.

See how much L loves her top - and she hasn't even opened it yet.

Eventually we headed out again so we could celebrate Sächsilüüte (aka Sechseläuten) which is a local holiday with two parts: a parade of the guilds celebrating the old changeover to summer working hours and the burning of the Böögg, a snowman figure who predicts summer weather according to when the explosives packed in his head go off.

I couldn't resist these Böögg cupcakes. We lost track of them, though. They are either in the hotel room or on the Limmat ferry. I have hope, since I don't see them in the ferry picture. Notice he is standing on his bonfire wood.

We took the ferry from the train station to Burkliplatz. I had hoped we could scout the situation there and find ourselves a spot so we would have time to get over to the Böögg after the parade. No such luck. The entire Bahnhofstrasse was lined with two rows of reserved seats. Adults would be able to see over the heads, but not the littles, so we walked all the way to Uraniastrasse and the bridge there for a perfect view. But before leaving Burkliplatz we got the kids cinnamon sugar crepes at a stand which had this Teddy cookie.

It was a long and hurried walk to the bridge. We went through part of old town, but G and G didn't get to see much, really. Though we did slow down to see the chocolate Bööggs. 

Finally we were there. Way too early.  I forgot to account for the time the parade would take to get to our spot when I was calculating the usual hour long stake out. Also, the crowds were not as bad as we have seen at other parades. I can think of three reasons why: 1. the weather; 2. we were at the route's farthest point from the Böögg, which burns at 6:00; and 3. a lot of the crowd that would have funneled into where we were watching seemed satisfied watching bands on their way to line up. 

Here is an elephant float on its way to the line-up. We had no idea what was to come.

Grandparents and kids go to warm up with some hot chocolate

Grandma shouldn't have worried about the littles. They were warmer than anyone, sleeping in their little greenhouse.