Famous last words...

They say it hardly ever snows in Zürich...except maybe in October!  We experienced an unseasonable late October snow this past weekend...seems to be the trend for us after last year's crazy Halloween snowstorm in Summit!  At least this one was just beautiful to look at...no need to call in the tree guy for multiple $1000 cleanups.  Good luck to all our friends, and in particular, Patrick and Annie, back at home in Summit during this years "Frankenstorm!"

Our good buddy, Fritz, was not too pleased with the snow...

View from our front balcony to the park across the street.

Fun at the park on Sunday!

The majestic Grossmünster.

Statue in the Old Town.

At Stadelhofen.

View of the Dolder Hotel on Monday morning from the rooftop...or almost the rooftop.

Not sure which church this is...but also from the rooftop.

The rooftop...I took the photos above from the top of the stairs!

View across the roof to Uetliberg on a sunny Monday morning!

And in honor of "Frankenstorm"...a little flashback to last years pre-Halloween snowstorm in New Jersey...

Trick or treat...

Greenbriar Drive

One of many down...

It gets cold in the house without heat for a week...

Snow has melted...but the clean-up continues!

Friendly electric company guys from Ohio...cutting down some
precarious hanging branches...no thanks to JCP&L!

Hmmm...is it something we did???

To "The Top of Europe" and Beyond!

Steve's parents, Tom and Mary, came to visit on October 4 (three days after I got back to Zürich following my two week USA trip...but who's counting?)  Time to break into tour guide mode again...keep your fingers crossed for good weather...nothing like an all-day rain to spoil a good time in our fair city!

Thursday afternoon was your basic "get adjusted" phase (with just a SMALL nap allowed by yours truly - remember the O'Hearn jet lag strategy is to push through the fatigue!!)  Friday we set out to see the sights of Zürich...thank goodness it was a beautiful day!  Short walk down to the SBB office at Stadelhofen train station to purchase some 3 day Swiss Passes for them.  These passes are a great deal if you are planning to do a lot of traveling within Switzerland (on consecutive days) and going to museums, etc. - even a better deal if there are at least two of you (15% discount...now that doesn't happen around here often!)  Just hop on the train, bus, boat, etc. and show your pass if asked...no ticket buying required!  Although we could now jump on a tram, we opted for the short walk across the lake to Bürkliplatz and the weekly Friday farmers' market.  Beautiful flowers and delicious produce...too bad we were just starting out and didn't want to carry purchases with us the rest of the day.  I can always go back next week!  A little walk on the Bahnhofstrasse - Zürich's famous shopping street, self-guided tours of two of Zürich's most famous churches - the Fraumunster with its Chagall windows, and the Grossmunster with some very unusual stained glass windows, a bite to eat outside at the famous Sprüngli, and to relax - a 1 1/2 hour boat trip around Lake Zürich!  Needless to say we took a tram back to the apartment following this afternoon's activity!  Rounding out a day of Zürich's finest included dinner at Zeughauskeller beer hall with dessert at our favorite ice cream stop, Mövenpick!  Yummm!!

Japanese lanterns at the farmers' market.

Sprüngli hot chocolate!

Tom enjoying the beautiful boat ride.

At Mövenpick - Steve would really like that poster for our kitchen.
Their logo is "The Fine Art of Swiss Ice Cream" - hence the "painting" of the scoop of ice cream...

Saturday our sights were set high...the Jungfraujoch, or "Top of Europe," to be exact!  Its not quite the actual top of Europe - just the highest point in Europe that can be reached by railway - and 2012 is the 100th year anniversary of the Jungfraubahn!!  Who on earth would build such a thing over 100 years ago you might ask...fortunately we received special "passports" as part of the centennial so I can relay a little of the history.  Apparently Adolf Guyer-Zeller, a Swiss industrial magnate, had this "audacious" idea while on a hike in 1893.  He wanted to blast a tunnel through the Eiger and Mönch mountains to construct a cogwheel railway to the Jungfrau summit, a mere 4158 meters (or 13,642 ft.) in the sky!  The Swiss thought it sounded like a great tourism idea and somehow found 100 laborers from Italy to start the work.  The first section - from Kleine Scheidegg to Eigergletscher - opened in 1898.  Rather than bore you with the rest of the details (you can see my "passport" if you come visit!), suffice it to say the next 14 years were full of lots of blasting, Guyer-Zeller's death, explosive accidents, strikes, financial problems, and a slight re-adjustment from the Jungfrau to the lower Jungfraujoch (3453 meters or 11,333 feet) as the chosen summit before the breakthrough to the final station on the 21st of February and opening of Europe's highest-altitude railway station on the 1st of August, 1912.  Just a little FYI - the Eiger mountain that they blasted through to get us to the Jungfraujoch is the home of the treacherous Eiger north face - you may have heard of a little sportswear company inspired by that side :)

We're going to those snow-covered ones in the distance!

Changing modes of transportation...

The cog-wheel train to Jungfraujoch!

I guess they were expecting some foreign tourists...

Lunch at the Top!  Can either see the snow outside or the people inside...
I decided to adjust the photo so the people would show up.

These crazy crows are everywhere outside the station.

Beauty!

I believe this Swiss cow is checking his Swiss watch...
part of the Alpine Sensation Hall opened in April 2012.

Mary and Steve on the Alpine Sensation moving walkway.

Sunday we planned on going to a place called Elm for an alpabfahrt or fall cow parade.  Many farmers send their cows up to the Alps for the summer and there is a big festival/parade when they come back in fall.  Unfortunately it was a very rainy day on Sunday so we decided not to make the 1 1/2 hour long trip to Elm to stand out in the rain to say "welcome back" to a bunch of dressed up bovine...but next year nothing will stop us!!!  Instead we went to the special 50th Anniversary (seems to be a trend...) International Mass at the English Speaking Catholic Mission.  Lots of different national dress and singing from opera (??) to African songs...and of course, a bagpiper, since Father John is Scottish!  A delicious international food fair followed with lots of yummy goodies to sustain us until dinner.  Took a trip to see the PwC office in Oerlikon in the afternoon and then to the National Museum Zurich before dinner at the oh-so-fashionable Bohemia just down the street.

The snail we found on the mat outside our apartment...
we moved it to a rock so it wouldn't get stepped on!

Zürich National Museum

Plantings growing in an old ammunitions plant turned park
near the PwC office in Oerlikon

Closer up

The PwC office building in Oerlikon.
Next time I'll get some photos of the stern looking Swiss woman
whose portraits overlook the entire building..."Back to work!!!"

Monday it's another nice day, so off to Luzern we go!  Quick 50 minute train ride from Haupbahnhof and we're in the the heart of Switzerland - a place that is said to embody the storybook image of a Swiss town with its cobblestone streets, covered bridges, frescoed houses, and snowcapped Alps looming in the distance...not to mention lots of swans, souvenir shops, a glacier garden made out of really big rocks, and an extra large lion carved into a rock!

Luzern's famous Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge) with its octagonal Wasserturm
(aka water tower) that has been used as a prison, torture chamber and archive!

Oops...I think you dropped something!

Another view of Kappelbrücke.

Hall of Mirrors in the Glacier Garden...
not sure how it all fits together, but it was fun!

Outside the Hall of Mirrors...more mirrors!

The Löwendenkmal or Lion Monument.
Reference to the bravery of the Swiss Guards who died in the
Tuileries of Paris in 1792 trying to save the life and honor
of Marie Antoinette.

Looming mountains.

Carnival just outside the train station.

On the train on the way back to Zürich, a nice young Swiss woman shared a seasonal treat with us that she had purchased at the carnival outside the train station (see above photo...)  She said it translates as stomach bread...doesn't sound too appealing, but it was a dense spicy autumnal cake-bread.  Who said the Swiss aren't friendly?  We continued with a little conversation about the difference between carnival (what I called the event going on outside the train station) vs. Carnivale (what I would call a slightly crazier event in Rio...)  She would have called the thing outside the train station a festival to eliminate any confusion :)

Tuesday was another off again, on again, rainy day.  Perfect for some last minute souvenir shopping...and of course a trip to the Lindt Sprüngli factory!  No tours given, but there is a nice factory outlet store with slightly lower prices...and a delicious smell in the air!


Wednesday it's back to O'Hare and eventually Appleton for my exhausted in-laws (at least I would think they are!)  Just a few days rest and they're off to South Bend for a little football game between nationally ranked ND and Stanford...Go Irish!!!