Zurich, Switzerland

Not only did we get to spend Easter weekend in beautiful (but expensive!) Zurich, Switzerland, but we also got to see my best friend from high school and her family!  Heather and Jack and baby Reagan live in Geneva, so we met somewhere near the middle (or the nearest big city anyway) and got to spend some time with them.

We all arrived Friday afternoon but it was rainy and dreary so we just decided to get some beer and bourbon and hang out in the hotel suite.  The kids played and Nat had a blast babysitting baby Reagan.

 Drinking and goofing off with one of my oldest friends in the world! 

For dinner we went to a yummy little pizza/doner place and then down to the bar after all of the kids were in bed!  Prost!  The Swiss beer, Feldschlösschen, was quite tasty!  

The next morning, we hopped on the tram (which was conveniently RIGHT outside of our hotel - yes, we stayed in a hotel this time) and went toward the Old Town area.  We got off at the main train station and not far from there, as we headed down the Bahnhofstraße, we spotted a Claire's.  A few weeks ago in Regensberg, we tried to go to Claire's to get Natalie's ears pierced but they were too busy.  So why not in Zurich!?  She was super brave, didn't cry and even asked when it was over, "Did you do it yet?"

Back on the Bahnhofstraße, we spotted the latest in men's Easter fashions.

As well as the next company Todd wants to work for, Buttholz Schalung.  This must be a joke, right??  Nope.  They're legit.  They make shuttering panels and shuttering beams.

Next we walked over to the Munzplatz. I love the pretty, colorful buildings and shutters on this road! I can't wait for more flower boxes to come out.

 I titled this one, "Grant 'I-just-want-to-run-through-the-streets-of-Zurich' Bailey!"  Action shots are the coolest.  He is VERY excited to start track next week!

The next stop was St. Peter's church.  The clock face on the tower is the largest clock face in all of Europe!  Believe it or not, there's a clock on each side and each of them is over 28 feet wide. Pretty cool!  

The inside was interesting.  It's a Protestant church, so I wasn't used to seeing the layout and the lack of an impressive looking alter.  But it was pretty, nonetheless.

My favorite part? PURSE HOOKS on the back of the chairs!  (It's the little things in my life.)

Next we continued to make our way down to the lake, stopping by this bizarre short door.  I'm going to start hastagging #shortdoorsofEurope.  I mean, I know my husband is tall, but geez... this is crazy!

The Fraumünster is one of four main churches of Zurich (of which we've already seen St. Peter's).  It was founded in 853 (!!!) by Louis the German (Charlemagne's grandson) for his daughter Hildegard.  All of the buildings were destroyed in 1898, on purpose to make way for the Stadthaus.  You aren't allowed to take pictures of the inside, unfortunately.

So the ceiling is really pretty on the inside (take my word for it), but as we made our way up to the front of the church, I noticed in the very front, were these tall stained glass windows.  I'm looking at them thinking, "Wow, those really look like the work of Chagall."  But surely, no... he wouldn't have stained glass in a church.  But when I looked at the "Past and Present" plaque outside the church, guess what I saw!

The windows are the work of Marc Chagall!  Boom!  I couldn't have been more proud of my really random art knowledge!  (Thanks Sara, for teaching me about him on our trip to Paris!)

The Zeughauskeller was where we stopped for lunch!  It was built in 1487 (and as they like to say, "even before Columbus had discovered America!")

 

This is the placemat with a little history of the Zeughauskeller.  I love it when things are in English!

 Look at these three cuties at the Zeughauskeller! 

There was a big covered plate of bread on the table and Grant was crying for it.  Of course, ewwww... who knows how many people have touched that!  So Yori sticks a knife in it to cut it and it was hard as a rock!  It was so funny and Grant was so disappointed.  Overall though, the meal and the beer were excellent!  We had eaten a huge (free) breakfast at the hotel, so I just had the goulash and a plate of Rösti (kind of like hash browns, a Swiss food!)  Yum!

Switzerland isn't a cheap country.  In fact, it's so expensive that I don't see us going back there a whole lot, unfortunately!  However, if you have expensive tastes, you must visit... I particularly liked THIS jewelry set I saw in one window. Buy me THAT!  (But come on!  Sapphire is my birthstone!)

We finally made our way down to Lake Zurich (which I must have called Lake Geneva a MILLION times, because our friends live in Geneva!) It was SO beautiful.  The day was sunny and warm, but the air off of the water was a bit cool.  You can see the Alps in the background.

Grant was saying hello to some friendly swans on Lake Zurich.

They have a real working clock made out of flowers down by the lake!

We went over to the Bürkliplatz for some more great views of Lake Zurich and the Alps.

This is the statue of Ganymed, the boy of Zeus.  Here, he is pleading with his father (the eagle) to take him to Mount Olympus.  I think my kids make a fine Ganymed and Zeus!

Reagan had a blast playing with Nat and Grant all weekend.  Here they are playing chase around the tree.
 

Across the street, the kids spotted this Ferris wheel.  Which means no matter how much it costs, we have to ride it.

I mean, who can say no to that goofy face!?  Up, up and away!

The views were outstanding though.  Here is a view looking to the northeast toward the Old Town.

After the Ferris wheel ride, we walked across the Quaibrücke to the Old Town area. 

But not before someone wanted some kisses on the bridge!

And not before Grant decided he had to go to the bathroom, and the only one we knew of was back at the Bürkliplatz.  So I took him back there, and we saw this guy playing his horn with his little cows.  Grant gave him a couple of coins and he gave Grant a little toot-a-loo back at him!  I half expected him to yell, "RIIIIICO-LA!"

I know I mentioned it above, but Zurich is very expensive.  Mostly because people have the money there.  Hello there, Lambourghini!

Walking into the Old Town, I spotted a building I liked.  This Bäckeri is from 1626!  You know, just six years after the Pilgrims landed on Cape Cod.  Flowers and shadows and funny short doors, galore.

In case this hill was too much for you, they built some stairs.  And you get to admire some really pretty graffiti painting on the wall.

The beautiful (and huge) Grossmünster church.  Another of the four major churches of Zurich, it's a Protestant church that was, some believe, commissioned by Charlemagne.  However, they didn't start work on it until around 1100. The two towers were built in the late 1400s, but were destroyed by a fire and rebuilt in the late 1700s.  People on the bottom for scale.

In the Grossmünster, where once again, photos aren't allowed, you can pay a few Euros (or Swiss Francs) to climb the stairs of the tower.  This was, by far, the most narrow of windy stairs that I have ever climbed thus far in Europe!  Grant, who is all of 6 years old and 50 pounds is see above and he takes up almost the width of the stairway.

But of course, the views from the top were outstanding.  Look at those Alps!  And Lake Zurich!  This tower is on a hill and is so high that it puts the Ferris wheel to shame (bottom right above).

We were very lucky to witness a live reenactment of the Passion of the Christ, as it was the day before Easter.  You can see the actor portraying Jesus in the very center of the picture above.

More views, looking north into Zurich.

Continuing our walk through the Old Town, we stumbled upon the Ass Bar.  Yes, we are insanely immature!

I like this funky building.  Bright colors, interesting lines and pretty green flower boxes.

Ok, ok... we have been walking for long enough.  It's time to sit down, enjoy the sun and some chocolate gelato!  I think he's enjoying this a little too much!  What a mess!

Or perhaps Todd is enjoying his coffee gelato a bit too much!  Even Yori is scared to sit next to him!

We saw this sign outside of the Oliver Twist British Pub.  Beer!  Because no fun story EVER started with WATER!

So of course, we had to stop in.  The best part of this place?  In an ancient city, THIS is Zurich's oldest pub.  And it was founded in 1970!

One way to keep kids quiet in a pub?  Watch Paw Patrol on a phone!

We finished up the day with a little Mexican (ha!) food - the worlds most expensive tacos - before heading back to the hotel.  I couldn't quite capture how pretty it was down by the river in the evening (the lights kept blurring) but it was really nice.

I didn't take a lot of pictures on Sunday, but we found an English speaking Catholic church in the southern part of the Old Town and attended Easter mass, met Heather, Jack and Reagan for a late lunch and then went home!  Happy Easter, everyone!

Regensburg, Germany

We have a TON of trips coming up in the next two months, but Todd has been out of town (went back to the US for some training) and I was itching to do some exploring.  So we decided to hit up the well preserved medieval city of Regensburg, Germany, only about an hour and 15 minutes from home.  Our first stop, oddly was H&M at the mall in Regensburg, ha ha.  Obviously we didn't take any pictures of that but we got some needed clothes for the kids (Easter dress included).  

Regensburg is a UNESCO World Heritage site, due to it's cultural influence on the world as an important shipping location.  It's situated at the confluence of the Danube, Regen, and Naab rivers making it an important center of trade, especially during the Middle Ages. In English, the city is commonly known as Ratisbon.   Some famous former residents of Regensburg include Johannes Kepler, Oskar Schindler, and Pope Benedict XVI (although he actually lived in a suburb of Regensburg and not directly in the city limits, but he did teach at the University of Regensburg!)

We knew we wanted to eat lunch at the world famous (and oldest!) sausage kitchen, or the Wirstküche.  So we headed in that direction and passed the beautiful Regensburg Cathedral.  Todd and I both thought (separately) that it kind of reminded us of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, especially the spires.  

 Behold!  The Historical Wurstküche!

But first, we must EAT!  Mmmm!  Sausages with sauerkraut and pumpernickel bread at the Wurstküche!  The Wurstküche has been here since at least the mid 1100s, and some believe it's the oldest continuously running restaurant in the world.  Outside, it only serves plates of sausages with sauerkraut. There's a bowl of pumpernickel bread on the table and you can serve yourself, however... honesty is the policy here, so when you go to pay your bill, let them know honestly how many of those tasty rolls you ate!  Oh and don't forget to try the sweet and spicy mustard that goes along with the sausages. 

 The sun was shining and although it was chilly and breezy down by the river, we wanted to eat outside anyway.  When in Rome!

There was a cute little mallard duck who walked around begging for food.  SO funny!

Looking down the Danube.

 Grant wanted to pretend like he was touching the duck.  Silly goose!

We decided that even though half of the historic Stone Bridge was under construction, we would still walk across it.  The Stone Bridge originated in the 12th century, although a wooden bridge had been built by Charlemagne roughly 100 meters downstream of the current Stone Bridge location.  Naturally, due to flooding, the wooden bridge was frequently destroyed, so eventually in the mid 1100s, the new Stone Bridge was built.  Some thought it should be the 8th Wonder of the World.  It's still Germany's oldest stone bridge.

Once you cross the bridge on the north side of the Danube, you see this lovely row of pretty pastel buildings!

As we were going to make our way back across the Stone Bridge, Todd made the kids stop and take this cute picture.  I love the Regensburg Cathedral in the background.

Just at the gate at the south side of the Stone Bridge, under the clock tower, there is a UNESCO World Heritage Museum.  GO SEE THIS!  It's not very big, but it's very interactive and gives a fantastic history of the city, of which it's all in English!  The kids really enjoyed it too. Above, we see Grant checking out one of the pinnacles from the transept gable of the Regensburg Cathedral that dates back to the 1500s!

Next we wanted to hit up the Cathedral, but you can barely make out at the far end of this street above, there's a massive painting of David and Goliath! 

The Regensburg Cathedral is very impressive on the inside.  The stained glass is unreal.  It seems more like a mosaic and the pieces are smaller than usual for stained glass.   Most of the stained glass is from the 12 and 1300s, although the church itself was completed in 1520.  It was a bit dark in there and kind of hard to get pictures without a flash, so this was really the only decent one we got.

Afterward, it was time to continue our stroll, do some more shopping and get some eis!

We found an eis gelato place and got some yummy ice cream.  Natalie had lemon, Grant had chocolate and Todd and I both got mango!  Mango gelato is my new obsession.

 I couldn't find anything about this cute paw print in the ground in Regensburg.  But in order to show off Grant's sweet new shoes, we had to get a picture of this!

Daddy walking around a tree near the Alte Kapelle (or the Old Chapel) in front of a half timber house while the kids are being silly.

When we first walked into the Alte Kapelle, the lights were all off.  They don't allow you into the actual church, so you have to see everything and take pictures from behind the iron gates.  But this one is a real beauty with lots of frescoes and gold.  Some say this is the oldest church in Bavaria, as there has been a church on this location since the 700s. As with most churches in Europe, there's a history of redesign and redecoration, as well as reconstruction due to fire and war.

Beautiful ceiling frescoes from the 18th century and gold.  Lots and lots of gold.

Checking out the pretty iron gate in the north nave.

Suddenly a group of elderly tourists came in and viola!  The lights came on!  Sweet!

 

On our way to our next stop, we saw the Weissbrauhaus.  It dates back to 1620, and we love that date, since that is the year the pilgrims landed in Plymouth Harbor!

 

We wanted to walk up the tower at the Trinity Evangelical Lutheran church, but it was closed for renovation.  As in, the whole church was! But we were able to see this great view of the Regensburg Cathedral on the way.

Space man on fire walking down the street.  Framed on the outside of someone's home.  I looked this up and it's a Jack Crossing picture.  It's called "6th Avenue" and the artist describes it as this:  "An unused piece of artwork I pitched years ago and subsequently sold as a limited edition print in 2011." 

We walked by this insanely weird store that reminded me of this flea market that I went to in Paris with my friend Sara in 2013. So, once again, we feature Todd's latest obsession.  Creepy doll heads...

  

Remember when we saw these in Bamberg?  I've been looking for them in every city I've been too since!  These are Solperstein's, to commemorate those who were deported from their homes during the Nazi regime.

Time to head home after a long day in Regensburg.  But not before checking out the trains!

Wait, what kind of place is this!?!

Parkstein, Germany

The sun was shining this morning, and although it was a bit chilly, when the sun shines in Germany this time of year, you GO OUTSIDE.  Because I think I've seen the sun approximately 5 times in the last month.  I'm pretty sure this is the Seattle of Europe because it is ALWAYS gray and rainy here.  We never get a lot of rain... just rain.  All. The. Time.

So we tried to find something quickly we could do for a couple of hours to get outside.  We decided to head out to Parkstein, Germany, about a half hour away to check out an inactive volcano with a church built on top of it!

There's a little parking area right at the base, and it isn't hard to get to at all.  The basalt formations that make up the mountain are unbelievable.  More on those in a minute (but you can see them quite well in the picture above).

Time to hike to the top!  Lots of stairs but not to strenuous.

There's also the remains of an old castle up at the top near the church.  It was thought to have been originally owned by King Conrad II and was built somewhere around 1000 AD.  There's not much left to it, but at least you're allowed to climb all over it.

Beautiful mosaic stations of the cross surround the ruins of the castle.

View facing east from the top near the church, approximately 600 meters above sea level.  Saint Mary's Mountain Church was closed, and I was disappointed as I had seen pictures in other blogs and really wanted to go in! 

But the cross showing Jesus flanked by Mary and Mary Magdalene is stunning.  It's very life like! 

There's a new-ish "throne" chair carved out of the base of a tree right next to the church.  I'm not sure why this is here, but I enjoyed pretending I was the queen with my little princess and prince next to me.

This was cool... because you are so high up, you can see pretty far away on a clear day. This handy little map shows which direction you want to look to find your city!

The Parksteiner Geopath provided a lot of information about the types of minerals you could find and have found within the volcano.  It was touchy feely too. You could touch the mineral both in it's raw state as well as in it's manufactured and finished state.  (Todd was holding Grant up here in this picture!)

Proof that the sun was actually shining today.

The basalt formations are shaped with between 5-7 sides.  Personally, they kind of look like a wave hitting a wall and being forced upward.  They were formed by the volcano about 24 million years ago. (!!!)

A cutie hiking up for a closer look of the basalt formations.  I think they look like the Baratheon throne from Game of Thrones ha ha ha!

Naturally.  The clowns.