Downtown Zürich

The kids and I decided it was high time for a Major Expedition, and so we packed up our granola bars and headed out the door after a late breakfast. Ella had a classmate at school who had actually spent two years in Zurich, and she had told Ella all about how great it was here.  In particular, she told Ella about a toy store in downtown Zurich that had a slide from the top story all the way to the bottom (which contained a reading room...yay, books!)  That seemed as good a destination as any.

The bus system is incredibly extensive, and, therefore, incredibly confusing. (I’m hopeless.) But the route from our house to downtown couldn't be simpler: hop on the number 9 bus and ride it six minutes to downtown. And so that's just what we did.

At the exit from the bus is the Sprüngli store, one of the most famous confectionaries in Switzerland (and, I suppose, that means quite a lot in the land of chocolate).  They're famous for tiny little macaroons that they make, they're called luxemburgerli, and they're about the size of my thumbprint. And, if I was reading the prices correctly, each one costs over a dollar.  But they're beautiful to behold, in about two dozen different flavors and every color of the rainbow, and the kids had a wonderful time pressing their nose against the glass and dreaming about which ones they'd get if they were millionaires.  They had a little take-away menu, too, that Alex pocketed and poured over every time we paused this afternoons.  He’s planning on saving up his allowance for a strawberry one.

Outside Fraümuster

We meandered slowly (okay, we got lost, but only for a block or two) toward the toy store, and passed the Fraumünster abbey.  Ella was stunned by the outside ("I think this is the most fancy, elegant building I've ever seen!") so I found the visitors entrance, gave the kids a quick review on church behavior, and took the little ones in.  I'm relieved to say that they really liked it--it bodes well for touring the zillion magnificent churches of Europe.  The had never seen such a large pipe organ, and they were really interested in the stained glass (it was a sunny day) and they liked trying to figure out what the pictures were.  The chapel, I was surprised to see, had stained glass windows by Chagall.  Ella liked the pink one, Alex, the yellow.

As you can see, Joey insisted on his shopping cart once again--he loves it there, and probably loves the many surprised looks and bursts of laughter and rapid-fire German banter he provokes. How I wish I could respond in some other way than shrugging as smiling stupidly.  Apparently he's the first little toddler here who's ever thought of riding in a shopping cart...or I'm the first mommy who was unashamed enough to allow it.  I'm tempted to forget getting him a stroller, though, and let him continue...it's so much fun seeing everyone's faces.  But it's a little too wobbly to be safe...I think poor Joey might have to get some new wheels soon.

Between the church and the toy store we stopped at one of the city's many public drinking fountains--it was the first one the kids had noticed, and they were really excited to try it.

Oops

So the toy store turned out not to be the one Ella's little friend had mentioned, but it was pretty spectacular nonetheless.  We stayed for a good long time, looking, especially in the board game section.  Of course they had many games we'd never seen, and the kids asked me to read descriptions of them all.  And then, bless their hearts, they made plans to go home and make their own versions of the games.   (Which, after dinner, is exactly what they did.)

Window-shopping

The toy store was very close to the river Sihl, and we spent a while sitting on the river bank, watching two enormous (Alex-sized, we think) white swans, who must have been hoping for a snack.  Inspired, Ella told Alex the story of Swan Lake, bare bones, at least.  Joey just stared and stared at them--of the three children, he's the one who loves animals the most, and we only were able to leave when the swans left.  We stayed so long that Ella drifted off with her book to read.

I took the kids for a quick trip to the grocery store, but even after all that they weren't ready to go home, so we walked back up to that trusty park of ours.  Joey fell asleep in his shopping cart on our way home, so he had plenty of energy by the time we got to the playground.  We didn't make it home until 4:30...phew!

Dennis came home from work with a tv (Ella: "Oh, thank you, Dad, so very much" Alex: "Dad's a hero!") but we're still trying to figure out how to hook everything up,  Dennis is scratching his head over that, in turns with calling the bank about our mortgage.  Just silly stuff, filling up our evening.