A few days around Zurich

Hello again, All!

Tomorrow I will fly to Prague to meet up with my friend Sara (also a former Au Pair) and her boyfriend for a 4 day stay in that lovely city! For now, a report of the last two days:

The day after my birthday, March 30th, I did nothing for most of the day but to sit around the house and read my book. It is a fantastic thing that I can make this statement: The book I started the day I arrived was nearly 700 pages and I finished it in 6 days! I haven't had the free time (or maybe I've just lacked the drive) to read like that in quite a long time. It's nice to find yourself so lost in a story that you lose track of time and become completely absorbed!

That same day, in the afternoon, I took a tour of the airport with the kids and my former host dad. The tour was all in German but I caught a lot of the highlights.....we were whisked around the airport buildings by bus and were able to see several planes take off. Also, we were shown the extensive amounts of equipment they have on site for ice/snow events, the prison for people waiting for deportation (wish I had taken a picture of that...) and also the large hangers where they work on planes that need extensive maintenance, among other things.....I'm attaching some pictures so you can see a few things like I did....

The next day I decided to head into the city. The weather was just gorgeous and I wanted to see the panorma view of the alps from the top of the Uetliberg (the hill overlooking the city). I had a bus connection through the airport train station and I took a moment to pick up my favorite sandwich from the bakery there. When I got to the top the view was just stunning. I sat on a bench eating my ham, egg and cheese sandwich and enjoyed the sunshine and the sparkle off the mountains and the lake below. From there I decided on a walk along the ridge to Felsenegg where there is a cable car to take me below to a train back to the main station. I've done that walk probably half a dozen times but I never remember the last bit being as uphill as it is. The weather turned half way through my hour and a half walk and by the time I made it to the cable car I was soaked through a more than a little bit chilly! Never the less, the views were wonderful and the walk was invigorating.

I made my way back into Zurich city and found a cafe (ok, I admit: it was Starbucks....but it was the one where I'd meet my friends practically ever Wednesday so it is a bit of a special place to me!) and ordered a latte and read (I started another book...) for an hour to knock the chill off and dry out a bit. It was time well spent.

By the time I made my way out again the raining was only a slight drizzle and the wind had died down a bit. I decided for indoor shopping and went over to Sihlcity (a really nice shopping area which could be compared to a small US mall) and did a bit of browsing to waste time for about an hour and a half.

The reason for the time wasting was that I met a friend in the city around 7ish. He and I took a short train ride to Baden to meet up with another friend for drinks and catching up. It was such an eventful night seeing them again (plus we ran into another guy I'd known when living here) and finding out what everyone has done for the last 2+ years.

I barely made the last train back to Zurich to catch my last bus of the night but I guess I still have some of the old skill left since I made all of those connections, in the end. I even had time for a quick chat to Caramelita (who the girls have named and I'm fairly positive is not in fact female at all....) the cat. My host mum once called him/her the mayor of Oberruti and I think she must be right because that cat is everywhere all the time and no one seems to know who it belongs to...

And now I leave you with a few pictures from the last days as I head off to bed to read more of my book.....

LuLu