Pedalo on the Zürichsee

I woke up with a splitting headache that never really did go away, despite my day-long ministrations of coffee and Tylenol.  Dennis and I had tossed around ideas of going to Appenzell or Liechtenstein today, but I just couldn't build up the ambition for much of anything. Dennis, however, seemed to have enough energy and ambition for the both of us: after running up to the top of Ütilberg, he got the kids packed up to eat lunch out at an Italian restaurant that his coworkers recommended.

Unfortunately, Sunday closures got the best of us once again: although the website said the restaurant would be open today, they didn't mention that their hours didn't start until 5:30.  Dennis, starving from his run, walked off for a silent scream of frustration, while I willed my head not to explode.

Ella chose just that moment to tell me, once again, "Mom, I really don't ever  want to leave Switzerland.  Not even after Christmas.  Everything is just so amazing here." I suppose she was trying to cheer me up: she did.

We rerouted to the touristy Zeughauskeller, which we knew would be open on a Sunday: it was, and it was so packed that we ended up sharing our large round table with two other women.  Oddly, they ordered just small salads and sodas at this beer-hall style restaurant. I suppose the plates of spaghetti that the kids ordered didn't make any sense, either.  But Dennis and I, on the other hand, did it right, devoured delicious piles of sausages and pork knuckle and sauerkraut and German potato salad, and a huge mug of beer, a piece.  Even now, at 9:30 at night, I'm still not hungry for dinner.

In an attempt to burn off a little of our lunch, we walked up to the lake, where we rented one of the paddle boats that I'd been eyeing for some time.  Actually, we got something that was more like a paddle-barge, big enough to hold all five of us.

The boat was horribly constructed: the ersatz pedals were tiny blocks of wood: our feet kept slipping off them, causing our shins to hit the rails.  And the paddle wheel didn't hit the water quite right, so it took much more energy than it should have.  Dennis is of the opinion that all of this is owing to nefarious plots by the pedalo merchants, who charge rentals by the hour.  Indeed, Dennis and I had to pedal as fast as we could for the last ten minutes of our ride to get to the dock in time to avoid late charges.  And remember, that was after Dennis ran up a mountain.

But the first fifty minutes of the ride were much more pleasant: the kids took turns pedaling and steering, and as long as Alex was doing what Ella believed to be his fair share of peddling, all was right with the world. Joey desperately wanted a turn at the controls, as well, and tried his best to make it work with his tiny legs before grumbling a disgusted "Argh, I can't."

So, instead, he was in charge of waving to passing ferry boats, which Alex did his best to steer us into before Dennis wrested the controls and the peddles.   It's best not to play chicken with ferry boats.

Joey did a fine job getting the tourists
on the ferries to wave to us.

Alex also tried to steer us into the Jet d'Eau

We took our boat to the middle of the Zürichsee, and then up the coast to Mythenquai beach, a city beach that I've been wanting to take the kids to for ages, long waiting for the the right combination of sunny weather and free time.  It does look like a beach worth waiting for, with a kiddie pool set away from the lake, a long, sandy beach, and a playground.  One fine day...

After we finished our boat ride, it became apparent that Dennis and I had miscalculated and had done much too much of the work: we were tired, but the kids were bubbling with energy.  So I made them walk through the arboretum, where we stumbled upon the Zürich Voliere, a random little aviary with toucans and other exotics on display.  The bird house was just plopped there, completely unattended, with cages indoors and out.  Apparently you can board your birds there, as well, and take them there for medical treatment.

A little mechanical music box, adding to the
random wonderfulness of the Voliere

Dennis and I had been regretting, for some time, not taking thermoses of coffee with us on our boat ride: we decided to make an emergency stop at Google for some cappuccinos.  While we self-medicated, Ella and Alex played a fierce game of fußball, with Joey cheering on both sides.

Dennis was a little worried about our long walk home at that point, as it was nearing dinner, but it turned out that the kids had more than enough energy to get home.  In fact, Ella and Alex were so punchy that I ended up giving them little exercises to do while Dennis and I caught up with them: 20 lunges, 25 jumping jacks, 15 toe-touches, 30 vertical jumps. And, after they did them, they stood there, bouncing on the balls of their feet, waiting for more.

Ella put Flintstone-style legholes in the bottom
of her space ship. Cute.

It occurred to Dennis that perhaps we're making the kids a little too strong: apparently they can already outrun us, and now they have their bilingual skills.  And Alex has been developing super-sneaky skills: he's been pretending he's a ninja, you see.  This morning it took Dennis a good five minutes to find him in our little house.  We're foolishly turning them into unstoppable forces.

We harnessed that energy by getting the kids to help us clean, just a little, this evening.  We have joyfully anticipated house guests coming this week, and needed to rearrange things a little.  Particularly, we had to move about six large boxes out of Ella's room, including her alien mothership and three little robot costumes.

Alex and Joey play with the mothership one last time
before it gets drydocked in the storage room

Although I'm sure it won't be long before they're replaced with something even larger.