Halfway up

On Tuesday morning we woke up and found the entire country covered in clouds and drizzle. Sadly, the forecast also said it would be the best day of the week. So we headed to Luzern. If the weather worsened we could take a ferry ride and go to the transport museum again. If it got better we could go to one of the nearby mountains. 

We started out by going to old town via the bridge, with a short stop to feed the swans. Usually I don't let the kids feed the birds, but it seemed okay this once. They were with their Grandpa, who is an expert in swan feeding. He has trained many over the years to eat out of his hand. 

T throwing bread as hard as he can

T runs ahead with Grandpa and L not far behind.

Checking out the view.

Oh, no! What happened to T and L? Were they run down by tourists? Or did they collapse of exhaustion? Is L pulling one of her strikes where she refuses to move?

The infinite parade (part 2)

 We waited a long time for the parade to arrive. It started at 3:00 and we didn't see it until well after 3:30. But meanwhile we saw bands and floats on their way to the starting line-up. Most of them were playing, and there were tons and tons of them. The parade starts at Burkliplatz, but they were all headed in the opposite direction, meaning the line stretched all the way to the train station.

Finally the parade arrived, and what happened then amazed Grandpa, even though he had predicted it. The parade, more than halfway through its route ran into its own tail - the bands, etc, still lining up forty-five minutes after the parade started and a mile from its beginning. They came face to face at the intersection next to us, each turning to their right. So we were able to see the beginning and the end of the parade at the same time. Or so we thought! More and more bands arrived. None of us could believe it. When we had to leave at 4:30 they were still arriving! We walked up to Coop by the station to get Grandma and Grandpa some dinner and saw groups lining up that were new to us, so there might have been another street filtering into the parade, too. 

Here is a map which might explain it better. Green is the parade route. Yellow is our location. Red shows where groups came from - it shows Limmatstrasse, but that was only until the parade officially started at 3:00. The red up by the station shows where we ran into the additional groups.

infinite parade map

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.

Sleepy vacation

Spring vacation has been sleepy for the girls. It seems like every day they are sleeping in very late. I've been letting them, since they seem to need it. Also, next week is going to be very busy with their grandparents visiting. Once it is noon it's too late to go anywhere big, so R has been working hard to finish some school projects. 

S and I went out together on Thursday. That is the day that most of the consignment shops are open, and she and R need clothes. But we had some bad luck in that department. First we went to a bakery I had heard about (Backbar on Seestrasse). It was awesome and S really loved their raspberry lassi. Then we headed to the first consignment shop, passing this enormous wisteria along the way. When we got to the consignment shop, a once a week sale in the community center, we found only a yoga class. After a long conversation in German and Swiss German we learned that the shop was closed over school vacation. So I will go back in a couple of weeks with the littles. If the weather is good I can walk from Stadelhofen rather than wait for the low entry tram and there is a really nice playground there that they are going to love. Combine that with the awesome bakery and the possibility of checking out the Chinese garden, too, (or the Botanical) and it's a day.

The Easter Bunny

The Easter Bunny came to the apartment! He made a special trip on Sunday night. It was no trouble, he wrote, because he lives in Aarau (where the carrot market is held.)

T's chocolate bunny riding a motorcycle.

Baskets, and a note from the Swiss Easter Bunny, Pascal.

T and L model their school bags.

Tardis earrings for R. If only we could decide where to have her ears pierced.

A dozen eggs! (if you count the chicks)