Switzerland - Part 1

Welcome back! The last blog post was about my time in London. The next several posts will be about my adventures in Switzerland and its surrounding countries. However, we shouldn't get too far ahead of ourselves...

First, I have to show you the new mascots for the 2012 London Olympic Games:

I don't know why they went with a cyclops-like mascot, but oh, well...

I was supposed to take two short flights, to get to Zurich, including a lay-over in Frankfurt. The flight from London to Frankfurt was insane. It had some of the worst turbulence I've ever encountered. I remember one really loud "bang" and the entire plane shook. After that, the captain informed us that due to the unusual weather, we would be diverted to Stuttgart, Germany. When we reached the ground, they asked us to get off the plane. I thought that was strange. That little "bang" was actually our plane being struck by lightning! Many people were freaking out ; ) We got back onto the plane, but had to wait for several hours, for the weather around Frankfurt to clear.

Upon arrival at Frankfurt, I learned that my Zurich flight was cancelled, along with all other flights to Zurich. This intense weather system created quite a problem. If you didn't know, Frankfurt is one of the busies European hubs for flying. You should have seen the lines of people, trying to get their flights rescheduled. I was informed that I would have to take a flight the next morning - and they couldn't get my luggage for me ; ) I was taken to a local hotel for the night, where I finally managed to get some food. To give you an idea of how "quaint" this hotel was - they still used actual keys for the rooms:

Not deluxe accommodations, for sure

After a 4am taxi ride, we were off to Zurich. For breakfast, I had this awesome little snack:

I'm sure glad that it won't have any "corny" in it...

I arrived in Zurich and was able to see my daughter A, who I haven't seen face-to-face in six months. I was really excited. In addition, my wife and youngest daughter arrived an hour later and we were off to downtown Zurich!!

For lunch, my daughter wanted to surprise me with a Father's Day meal (since the previous night's dinner was cancelled). She took me to the Sternan Grill. This place is all about sausages and brautwursts. My favorites!! It felt much like the "food carts" of Austin, so I was right at home:

Even though it was overcast, we spent the rest of the day touring downtown Zurich. We stopped at the largest cathedral in the city, as I love to see the architecture and art of these magnificent churches. This was called Grossmunster (gross = large, munster = church). This is a romanesque church, with construction starting all the way back in 1090. Most of it was completed by 1230. Here are pictures from several different perspectives:

The door to this building was amazing - intricate carvings all over the entrance - you can click on this photo to enlarge it:

Here's a short video of the interior of the church - it's rather dark, as you can imagine.

We then moved across the river. My youngest daughter (L) was a real trooper. For being about seven hours off her normal schedule, she did really well:

A proud father, with his two daughters, in downtown Zurich

Where are you dragging me NOW, Dad??

There are many fresh-water fountains around the city - just for people to fill water bottles, or drink from

Twins?

We came one of the other impressive cathedrals - this one called Fraumunster (frau = woman). This is an old Gothic church that originally started as a convent (hence the name) back in 853 AD. It was founded by Emperor Ludwig, who was a grandson of Charlemagne. The current church dates from about 1250. Look at the amazing blue steeple:

The most impressive part of the interior, is a series of stained glass windows that were created by Marc Chagall (They don't allow cameras inside, so I grabbed these pictures from the website);

Not your usual cathedral stained glass!

We proceeded into the downtown area, where I made everyone go to a well-known toy store, the Franz Carl Weber:

Downtown Zurich...very patriotic

We then enjoyed some of Zurich's most-famous pastries - the Luxemburgerli from a confectuion Sprungli. These are like tiny macaroons…and so much better:

They come in a vast array of flavors. In the picture above, you see raspberry, lemon and caramel. They are amazingly light and airy - quite a treat, as they are hand-made daily.

That evening, we were pretty tired. My daughter A cooked a great dinner for us at her apartment , and we rested up for our amazing adventure the next day - three different countries in the same day!

Thanks for reading - there will be up to 6 posts about Switzerland, as we traveled all over the place.  I hope you enjoy the pictures, as this area of Europe is simple breathtaking.  See you soon!