Sunshine, at last

Enjoying Zurich

Well we've had four straight days of chilly temperatures but beautiful blue skies and no rain.  We owe it all to our friends Samantha and Jeff who visited us this past weekend from the UK.  It was an amazing weekend.  We met them in Zurich Friday afternoon and spent a few hours strolling around the city.  It was a gorgeous day.  I had not been to Zurich on a nice day so really enjoyed walking along the Limmat and window shopping with the sun shining.  As the sun started to set and it got much colder we headed back to our village and had some dinner.  It was Samantha's birthday this weekend so her two wishes were to go sledding and to eat Italian.

Pre-accident sledding

On Saturday we loaded up the rental car and headed south of Lucerne to a little town called Dallenwill where one of Erik's coworkers recommended was good for sledding.  And it was but by the time we got there, got Alison in her snowsuit, ate lunch and walked to the sled rental place - they were out of sleds.  Luckily we saw someone returning two a few minutes later. We let Samantha and Jeff do the sledding as Alison had been out in the snow for a couple of hours by now and frankly we were exhausted from chasing her around.  Erik and I opted for some hot chocolate in the warm restaurant while we waited for our friends to fulfill their sledding needs.  About an hour later our friends survived their sledding but not without a minor injury.  Samantha ran into a snowman - one that had been sitting around for a while so the bottom half was hard ice and she ended up hurting her wrist.  We were told sledding was a bit dangerous as there is very little control and no brakes.  She is having her wrist looked at today so hopefully it is nothing too serious. Saturday night we ordered Asian takeout from a local take-away place and retired fairly early, tired from our adventures.

The whole gang on Pilatus

On Sunday we had a nice pancake breakfast and headed up to Pilatus - a beautiful area high in the mountains close to Lucerne.  The cable car ride takes almost 30 minutes to the top with the last five minutes being one of the scariest and most spectacular views ever.  I was weary of what we were getting into.  We stopped on the 2nd level and it was bitter cold, the kind you really don't want to be out in for very long.  But once we made it to the top I was happy to find out they had a nice indoor observation deck.  It was really beautiful and again with the sun shining it was quite toasty inside.  I let the others walk to the top for pictures while Ali and I stayed warm inside.  We all did eventually venture outside and I was surprised at how lovely it was in the sun.  There were even people lounging in the sunshine.  The views were just spectacular.

Very scary cable car ride to top of Pilatus

Since Sunday was Samantha's birthday, I arranged for a babysitter and Erik made reservations at a nice Italian restaurant in Baden - or at least he thought he made reservations.  When we arrived at the restaurant it was closed - as it always is on Sunday.  I was a little suspicious when Erik said he made reservations for Sunday night as everything is usually closed on Sundays and Mondays.  I wish I would have questioned it a bit more as we ended up at the only restaurant open on Sundays here in Switzerland - a British pub - something our friends from the UK could eat at any day they wish.  Anyway we had a decent meal (as good as British pub food can be) before heading back to our apartment for some ice cream and American TV shows.

On Monday Erik had to work but it was still sunny out.  Freezing cold but sunshine, I am pretty sure it didn't get above 30 degrees yesterday.  Since Samantha and Jeff had not seen any of Lenzburg we strolled through our little downtown area only to find all the stores closed on Monday.  We did stumble across an Italian restaurant that appeared to be open for lunch.  Before lunch though we strolled up to the castle for a closer look.  Erik and I go there quite frequently but I have never pushed the stroller up to the castle as Erik is usually carrying Alison in the backpack - whew that was a workout.   Lunch at our little Italian restaurant was quite tasty so all was not lost in Samantha's quest for Italian.  Plus Erik and I have a nice restaurant to recommend next time we have visitors. We then hung around the apartment until it was time for them to catch the train and their flight back to London.  Again we had such a great time.

Ali was very well behaved this whole weekend.  I think she really enjoys interacting with other people and doing fun outdoor activities.  Her only real meltdown was when we put on her snowsuit for the first time on Saturday.  Nothing could console her and it took two of us roughly ten minutes to suit her up.  Luckily on Sunday it didn't take nearly as much time which resulted in much less crying.  She did great napping in the car both days and was apparently an angel for the babysitter.

Today is Tuesday and it appears from the weather report our last day of sunshine for a while.  I will enjoy it as much as we can seeing as it again won't be above 30 degrees today.  No big plans this week but am starting to count down the days to my much anticipated trip back to the US in February.

Our lunch view from Pilatus

Pilatus

The boys

People out 'sunning' at top of Pilatus

Samantha and Jeff at Pilatus

The Girls sunning on Pilatus

Ali wanting her own 'sun' chair

Ali being a ham with Daddy

Ali enjoying some hot cocoa

The Gator boys and the little one

Dallenwill - our sledding spot

Ali enjoying the cable car ride

The Warm family on Pilatus