From PEAcocks to Yodeling and everything in between

Well, Jack is officially 11 months, and trying to get into everything.  He can stand for a few short seconds without falling, and is terribly frustrated that he is not on the move yet.  He tries to climb up everything but because he is somewhat cautious he doesn't always get to where he wants to go.  Jack has two teeth now, and is in love with chocolate mousse and Swiss pretzels (they are basically cold versions of U.S. soft pretzels). 

See my two teeth...I love pretzels

Since we got home from Paris, Jack and I have been exploring Zurich.  Late Sunday, Carl, Jack and I went on a walk and tried to find this "park" that Bee-AT had been telling us about.  After a long walk, we finally came across signs for a schwimbad.  It kind of sounded like swimming pool, and Beat mentioned that there was a pool in this park so we kept walking.  We finally wandered upon the schwimbad park, and were amazed.  It  is a community park, and there is a nominal fee but the facility is beautiful.

The outdoor baby pool...you can't see but big baby fountain under the canopy

Jack hanging out after a swim

The pirate ship is huge, and there are buckets off it that dump water out ever few minutes and fountains that spray water

Playground area

For less than the cost of a Starbucks coffee (which isn't saying much since a drip tall coffee costs $8), Jack and I can spend our day here.  There are a tremendous number of children, and Jack loves to watch them all. I didn't get any photos of the inside but there are four big pools on the inside including a big baby pool area and also a kid pool with a huge tube slide.

Outdoor restaurant serves bratwurst, chicken fingers and, of course, German and Swiss beer

The premises

Monday, Jack and I spent the day at the pool.  It was a little cloudy so we hung out outside and then swam in the inside heated pool.  Jack had a blast!

Jack loves to stick his feet out and hang them there now

Larger shot of the kid pool. There is also a lap pool to the left

Tuesday, Jack and I explored the Zurich zoo.  It is a large zoo, and many of the schoolchildren take field trips there.  One of Jack's favorite foods is peas.  As a snack, I brought a big bag of peas for him to snack on.   Jack got peas all over himself and in his stroller.  He had just spilled his peas when we happened to walk up to a crowd of people.  The peacock had just fluffed her feathers, and you could see the stunning display of colors.  I had never seen a peacock up close.  She was just wandering around the zoo.  Anyway, Jack's peas were spilling out of the stroller, and over she came to eat them!  Right next to the stroller, our lady peacock hung out.  I guess they don't call them PEAcocks for nothing!

Her feathers really are about 3 1/2 feet long

She really was exquisite

Going after some more peas!

Jack really enjoyed the zoo. His favorite animals were the monkeys and sea turtles.  I think he enjoyed them the most because they were both very active and he could get up close to them.

Jack thinking the peacock was SO funny!

The zoo does have a very Swiss feel. Flags everywhere and children with handkerchiefs over their heads

The monkeys kissing

As I had mentioned in a previous post, we have a train pass that allows us to travel very inexpensively.  With Zurich having a huge train station, you can get to amazing places within 2-3 hours train ride.  We had originally planned to tour Lyon, France, and do some wine tasting there.  Unfortunately, the wine tour guides have not been very receptive to having a baby along for the ride. Further, as we are living in Switzerland, we thought it would be fun to do something very Swiss while we are here.  Zurich is a great city but it frankly is a financial district. Although you get to see the alps from most views and everyone speaks German, you really don't feel like you are Switzerland. There are beautiful stores but everything is terribly expensive (I tried to get a pedicure and they wanted $100 and rationalized it because they cut your toenails~I settled for some pink toenail polish at the pharmacy for $6). 

At the train station there is a huge food market on Wednesdays...Beautiful breads, cheeses, yogurts, and veggies

Lots of great pastries, meats, olives...and of course beer

The dried fruit man was very nice and let us try all sorts of dried fruits...kiwi, cantaloupe, pineapple!

To live in Switzerland for five weeks, we wanted to feel like we had seen the country.  For the full experience, we have shifted our plans and decided to go to the Berner Oberland region.  We struggled with this decision but knew we had picked the right place when I called to make reservations and found out that we will be there during the Swiss National Yodeling festival!!!  I mean is there really anything more Swiss than this?????  I am BEYOND excited!!!!!!!!!!  I really think this is going to be such a neat experience.  We are going to stay in a little town called Murren.  It is high in the Swiss Alps, and after traveling by Train from Zurich to Bern, and then to Interlaken (prounced inter-locken), we then take a cogwheel train, a cable car and a small train to our little oasis!  The yodel festival only occurs every three years, and brings over 200,000 people.  Just to get a sense of what that does to this area, there are only about 3,000 people that live in Interlaken and only a few hundred in the areas we are going.  Murren is far enough away to get some quiet time away from the yodeling when necessary but close enough to stop in to watch the national competition. We leave next Friday!

You can see a crowd around this jewelry store.  The figurines along the name of the sign are  making music with bells and such.  It caused a complete stop in traffic

Some other interesting tidbits about Switzerland:
Besides having great chocolate, they have amazing yogurt here.  I am not really one that enjoys yogurt but it is incredible.  The vanilla flavored yogurt has actually pieces of vanilla bean in it.  Carl is obsessed, and literally eats it twice a day.  He had disovered muesli (a cereal, yogurt and fruit mix).  He gobbles it up and tries to feed it to Jack.  I prefer the coffee and chocolate flavor yogurts. 

Eating yogurt

For those of you that follow celebrity gossip, you would love the Kiosks here.  These are the equivalent of an American 7-11 but much smaller and located next to the supermarkets. I have never really read the national enquirer or any of those other magazines but even the most oblivious person cannot be anything but shocked when you walk into these stores.  They get the most awful embarassing naked shots of well-known celebrities and put them on the front of magazines, and they are just on display everywhere! There is no censorship whatsoever! It is kind of crazy. 

What Zurich streets look like

STILL happily eating his pretzel.  He actually missed his nap because he sat and spent over an hour with this pretzel!

Although I have never been a huge proponent of Walmart, I am honestly thinking they need one in Zurich.  The cost of everything is ridiculous.  A small package of ground beef cost me $11 yesterday, and a small bottle of water (not Evian or a brand name) costs around $6.  I frankly cannot understand how people afford to live. I know I have been in Erie for the past five years, where the cost of living is very low, but $100 for a pedicure?  These aren't even Manhattan prices. Carl tried to give me a long explanation about Switzerland being a landlocked country, and traveling through the Suez, and pirates....he was still talking and my mind had wondered to the yodeling festival....Needless to say, we are navigating the best we can and looking forward to our Swiss getaway!

The trams...I thought you should see a picture of how Jack and I commute to town each day

Still going...You think they will have pretzels in Berner Oberland?