Daisy enjoying the views
Holly sitting on a grassy bank
Daisy saying "moo"
The Eiger (Ogre)
Zurich, with Grossmünster in the background
We took a 3-day weekend in July to explore Zurich and the Swiss Alps. Our friends from Illinois, Jesse and Susan May, live there with their dog, Lucky. Daisy had a fascinating combination of love and fear for Lucky. For example, she would reach out with a trembling hand to pet him.
Zurich was home to Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531), pastor of Grossmünster church and leader of the Reformation in Switzerland. We came to love Zurich with its dominating church building, the old city with its many flags and eateries, and the trendy modern bustle. One cute restaurant Jesse took us to was called Cake Friends, where we all shared a sort of pound cake platter with different toppings. Swiss German is nothing like German German. For one thing, the inflections and rhythm of sentences sound almost Italian. But what's more, the vocabulary is different. Our favorite example of this is "thank you." In Germany, "Vielen Dank" means thanks a lot. In the old days, people used to say "Danke viel mal." People still say this in Switzerland. But because of the French influence, there exists the charming phrase, "Merci viel mal." I guess we understood that Switzerland used many languages, but this blend of languages surprised us.
We took a day trip by train to the Alps. It was amazingly beautiful, with fresh snow on the peaks, wildflowers, and running streams down the mountainsides. Daisy learned the word "mountain" on this trip. We even saw cows with bells on their necks, and sampled some local cheese. It was a very accessible destination. With a series of trains and cable cars, we made our way to car-free towns on high cliffs that still had paved roads for wheelchairs and strollers. We had time for a great lunch, lots of pictures, and some downhill hikes before taking the train through Interlaken and Bern back to Zurich.
I will publish more pictures through Shutterfly soon!
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