Exploring Zürich. . .

We spent a day in temporary housing before our goods arrived at our new place. So we took advantage of the respite to go explore Zürich. It was great to just hop on the train and be in the city in 15 minutes. Mariah is already a real commuter -- newspaper in hand.
Here we are at Lindenhof Park overlooking the glassy Limmat River.

Where there is a fountain to be found, Anna has to play in it.

Swingy, swingy, swingy.

Look! A real American-style drinking fountain.

Mariah found the perfect fountain for her. Note her little chipped tooth. She fell and chipped it the last day we were in the Pyrenees. It will be a long wait with that chipped tooth before she gets her permanent teeth. She's still got a killer smile!

Chasing the birdies!

An alley view of the big clock tower at St. Peter's Church.

Grossmunster Cathedral. This is where Zwingli preached. Yet more Reformation history.

No, Anna. It's my turn to smell the flower.

More fountains.

Bye Bye Morges, Hello Wädenswil

We moved this week from Morges to Wädenswil (a town right on Lake Zurich, about 15 minutes outside of Zürich). Rob had to work so KaRynn and I managed the move. I am soooo thankful that KaRynn is here with us. I couldn't have done this without her. Fortunately, the movers packed up all of our stuff. But changing apartments in Switzerland is not so simple. First, you have to bring your own light fixtures. How crazy is that!!! Second, you have to leave the apartment literally as spotless as it was when you arrived -- no wear and tear allowance. (Oh, how landlords in the U.S. would love that!) For us, that meant scrubbing every speck off the walls, getting the floors replaced where there were tiny scratches and paying thousands of francs to have a cleaning company scrub the place spotless (including all the utilities, which have to be certified as working properly). Anyhow, we somehow made it!

Goodbye Morges. . .

. . .Hello Wädenswil! This is our new apartment. It's a ground floor apartment with 2 levels, 2 patios and a balcony. Much more comfortable in many ways.

Out in front -- great place for the girls to ride their bikes. Here is a view of all our neighbors' places. We thought our girls would be learning Swiss German from the kids in the neighborhood, but it turns out that most of them are English-speaking foreigners! The ones we've met seem really great!
The back view of our apartment. Ours is the lower two levels. Almost every room opens out to a patio. The kids love it! We now need lots of outdoor toys.

The view of Lake Zurich from our balcony. We're a bit further from the lake than in our previous place, and definitely up a hill. But we'll adjust. It's still Switzerland -- and that's hard to beat.
The shiny, perfectly clean floor of our apartment. Not for long!

The best part about our place is the play area with a swingset, slide, sandbox etc.

Cool slide, huh?

The Pyrenees: A Stop in Carcassonne

On August first, we set out on a vacation in the French Pyrenees, just near the border of Spain. The only downside was the 9 hour drive (which turned into a 12 hour drive). We tried to get a head start by leaving at 5am. But by 6:30am, Anna Claire got car sick and threw up all over herself and car seat. So we stopped at a rest stop and attempted to clean everything off in the freezing water. Fortunately, we made a lunch stop in Carcassonne -- the best preserved medieval fortress town in France. KaRynn, the girls and I ran in to check out the place while Rob stayed in the car (watching the bikes). Here we are overlooking the fortress.
Again, the girls found a carousel and just had to take a ride.

The Pyrenees: Waterfalls and Lakes

We're in Basque Country (well, almost)! We're in the Hautes-Pyrenees, France. We rented an apartment in the historic old town of Cauterets, an old spa town and ski resort. The accommodations were fantastic. We could walk right our door and be almost in the old town center. Here are KaRynn and the girls standing outside our apartment.

Exploring the old fountain downtown.

We hiked up the Sentier des Cascades to the Pont d'Espagne, which is surrounded by stunning waterfall views.

Mariah and her buddy, "Ka-Wynn"
Watch out. It's a long way down.

We stopped a little further up on the hike to take a dip in the river. Anna Claire and Mariah could have stayed there all day. . . throwing rocks.

A couple days later, KaRynn and I decided to continue up the trail to Lac de Gaube -- an aqua-colored freshwater lake. We had to take a cable car, then a ski lift, then hike to get there. KaRynn carried Anna on the ski lift, while I carried Mariah. I must say that, although I've been on ski lifts since I was 4 or 5 years old, this was the scariest ski lift ride I've ever taken. Mariah is so wiggly that I clung to her for dear life, fearing that she would wiggle out and fall several hundred feet to the ground. When we finally arrived at the lake, the girls stripped down for a skinny dip.

The hike was well worth it for the stunning views.

Back in town, we discovered a fantastic kids park, which the girls preferred to the stunning views! Up and down, up and down!

Wheeeee!

Look out! We're going to crash! I wonder if Anna is just mimicking the expression Daddy gets when Mommy drives.

The Pyrenees: Biking!

Of course, the real purpose of the Pyrenees trip was to get in some good biking. Rob is training for LOTOJA this year and he wanted to train on the Tour de France circuit. He wound up doing all the major climbs in the Pyrenees: Col du Tourmalet, Luz Ardiden, Hautacam, Col du Solourn, Col de Aubisque. Here is the top of Col du Tourmalet.
Rob attempted to take a picture of himself here. Unfortunately, he cut off half his face.
I rode with Rob up Luz Ardiden. For all you Lance Armstrong fans, this is what Lance was climbing in 2003 when his handlebars caught on a fan's bag and he fell -- before getting back up and blowing past everyone to win the stage. The ride is absolutely picturesque! That tiny pink speck down there is me. Rob took the photo.
Almost there, don't give up! Allez, allez, as the French say.

Okay, not a bad job for someone who is 4 months PREGO.

The Pyrenees: The Wildlife Park and Aquarium

Rob had to work quite a bit during our "vacation" so KaRynn, the girls and I headed off to some fun places to entertain ourselves while Daddy was working. We found a fabulous Wildlife Park just 20 km away. It had all sorts of "wild" animals -- and many of them wandered freely, so the girls could pet them. Here they are petting Bambi.

The deer just walked right up to them. They wanted to be petted! No fear of the deer hunter here.
Here is Anna Claire feeding the marmottes. This fuzzy animals live in the wild all over France and Switzerland.

Mariah got to feed the marmottes too. She was a little more hesitant.

The park also had several bears. They, of course, did not wander freely. Neither did the wolves. However, they weren't in a small caged area typical to zoos -- they had a huge area to roam around.

These bears were signing "me, me" as the groundskeeper threw them apples.

Mariah was fascinated by this hog. They made some kind of a connection!

More goats here too! And chickens, peacocks, geese, ducks -- you name it -- all roaming freely.

We also made a trip to an aquarium. The girls really loved finding "Nemo" and seeing the turtles and the shark.

Look mom, it's Nemo.

Mom, wake up! Look at all the fishies!