Today is my birthday....the big 3-0.....I'm 30! Can you believe it?! I always thought that it would feel different but it doesn't at all! Though he didn't mean it the way it came out, my former host dad said that it was nice to have a middle aged person in the house...talk about a major shot first thing in the morning! 
I woke this morning early....not to go to work but instead to pretty myself for going into the city of Zurich for the day. My former host mum and dad took me out for a coffee on a hill somewhere and that hill was one overlooking the lake and the city of Zurich at a very special place...The Dolder Grand Hotel! This is a very special hotel which is over 100 years old (and, as a very cool side note, it is featured in the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die). During my stint living here in Switzerland, my host mum worked with this hotel during their extensive renovations so it was cool to finally see the place she talked about so regularly! While enjoying our coffees, one of my host mum's friends at the hotel organized a little cake so beautiful decorated for my birthday to be sent to our table. I've attached a picture and, yes, it was a yummy as it looks!
After our relaxing break I headed down the hill into the city for the day and I wandered around seeing all the places I have missed so much. I got my lunch to go and ate it by the lake as I watched the boats and the swans and the clouds float by...it was ideal!! Afterward I made my way to the Bahnhofstrasse (a rather long, mostly more expensive than I can afford, shopping street) and went into some of my favorite shops for some birthday presents to myself! 
I rode around on trams and trains for a bit just soaking up the atmosphere and then returned in mid afternoon to my former host family's house outside the city.
I rode around on trams and trains for a bit just soaking up the atmosphere and then returned in mid afternoon to my former host family's house outside the city.The plan for dinner was very special...fondue! A friend, Martina, came over to join my host mum, the girls and I for dinner. First there was the obligatory exercise of finding the birthday tray (which I did very successfully and quickly this time, I might add!) and on it were several presents (handmade jewelry from Girl Aged 8, two bottles of Swiss wine-one red, one white- and a really cool case for my glasses that I'd wanted for a while and kept putting off buying....
Finally the fondue...a lot of cheese. Cheese...maybe my favorite thing on this earth! I was in heaven!! After dinner I was surprised with one of my host mum's original cake display ideas. It was brownie cake in the shape of the Grosse Mythen (a mountain I hiked near here...), complete with Swiss flag on top, a teeny tiny picnic basket with small wine bottle and glasses along a pathway of cookies which lined a bowl of green jello (all mean to symbolize my love for sitting by the lake with friends drinking wine...), 
and finally at the end the girls had fun putting different smurfs on the display to add their special touch on some other of my favorite things (talking on the phone, blogging, and sledding down the mountain....).
and finally at the end the girls had fun putting different smurfs on the display to add their special touch on some other of my favorite things (talking on the phone, blogging, and sledding down the mountain....). It was a wonderful day and night filled with great surprises and happy times. I could not have asked for a better way to spend my birthday! I've attached a few pictures, I hope you enjoy them!
Going to bed now as I'm quite tired (must be the old age setting in.....)!
LuLu
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