Zurich: Day 2

  Well... we crashed so hard last night, everyone slept well and we actually got up and out pretty early today. Breakfast was bread, cheese, and prosciutto we had bought at the grocery store. And ultra-luckily (since a lot of places are closed on Sunday) we used the personal espresso maker in the apartment... it was _really_ good and a life saver.

  Here's Cindy, Bailley, and Madison in the kitchen before we head out. 

  So we head down to the lake to actually see it in the daylight. It's really pretty with all the mountains surrounding it. There are lots of boats, but that wind was cold so I'm not sure I'll be able to get anyone to agree to a boat tour :)

   We walked down the lake and crossed the river to get to Bahnhofstrasse... one of the most expensive streets in the world. It was a great walk and it was the perfect day to do it... by that I mean Sunday when all the shops were closed. Most places you couldn't even see prices, but we did spy some 20,000 CHF watches and an ink pen that was almost 1,000 CHF.

  Luckily I found a way to pay for those glitzy watches and have enough leftover to pay for the vacation... what?!?... not real? Dang it... I guess I will be going back to work next week.

   We walked all the way through that part of the town and then crossed the river to hit a fondue restaurant on the way back. There are so many beautiful steeples and clocktowers down all these small, typical European, cobblestone streets. This may be my favorite picture so far... the Limmat River with the iconic bridge and buildings as a backdrop.

   We found it, it was open, and we were NOT denied like at the fondue chalet. Restaurant Swiss Chuchi Zurich made some top five fondue lists I've read, so I figure big blue cows must be the marker to find when searching for food.

  And it did not disappoint. Raclette with bacon, stuffed chicken and rosti, a traditional fondue, and a house specialty fondue. We did Texas proud on this one... we tore it up. Oh yeah... then Bailley and Madison split an apple strudel. At that point we *had* to start walking back or we were all going to fall asleep at the table.
  We came back and took a short break before heading back out to the little holiday market area. We all just grabbed something small to eat and walked around and looked at different booths again.

   Madison and Bailley admiring what _will_ be their ice rink. It's not open yet. It feels brutally cold to a Texan, but I guess it's not _really_ that cold.

   Abigail and Cindy with part of the little holiday market as a backdrop.

   At night everyone is drinking this hot, spiced wine: glühwein rot. Yeah... on a cold night... that's about right for sure.

  Right outside the grocery store, between the little mulled wine stand and the holiday market was this cute little park with a pretty fountain. I think that's the big difference in the US versus these old European cities... its not necessarily the buildings and places but the spaces in between those. I know they've been doing it way longer, but there are just layers and layers of art and beauty.
  Well... pretty solid day two. I'm fixing to break into some local beers I got at the grocery store so I had better sign off. Tomorrow I think we are going to learn the tram system and start exploring a little further out. We may also take a day trip out of Zurich... we probably need to look at the weather and pick a day for that. Fun fun... more tomorrow.

Jim

Zurich: Day 1

  Well... time to get the vacation machine back in gear... this year we decided to go to Switzerland and Austria.

  Here are all the girls waiting on the plan to London.

 I couldn't sleep on the flight over... but it did enable me to catch this nice snap of the sunrise while crossing the Atlantic.

  Success! We made it through one long flight, 2 crosswind landings, and one crosswind take-off to reach Zurich. First hurdle was to navigate the train system to get to the apartment we rented. Luckily Madison had slept on the long flight, so she did the heavy lifting there.
  We found the apartment, got in OK, and got settled. And for the last little bit of gas we had in our tanks', we went to the grocery to get snacks and breakfast items. After stashing those in the apartment, we headed back out to grab some dinner and explore a little.

   Our apartment is just off Lake Zurich, so we walked down toward the lake first.

  We then walked toward the Zurich Opera House and stumbled on a large holiday market... with so many shops with so many different things. We looked at hand tooled rulers and pencil sharpeners, to hot spiced wine, to ... well... you name it. So after looking a while, we all wanted to eat. Hey, look... a fondue chalet (now that's just a good pair of words in my book). Switzerland... fondue... perfect. Well, the little holiday market, temporary chalet for fondue required reservations! Haha... oh well. Now a top fondue restaurant is on our list to be sure to hit now.

  A great first day with so much traveling. Everyone is crashing, so wrapping this up so I can too.

Jim

New York: Day 3

   We got up early, we actually did, and walked to Bryant Park for ice skating.

   It was a beautiful little park with little holiday shops all around the rink and a big Christmas tree.

   We then walked to the subway and took it to the end of Manhattan, South Ferry. We are just starting to navigate the subway well. It's great to get around, but our biggest complaint is the conductor announcements sound _much_ different than on the tube in London.

   We took the Staten Island Ferry over to Staten Island, past Ellis Island and past the Statue of Liberty.

   Here's a great shot of lower Manhattan from Staten Island behind Cindy and the girls.

   On our walk to grab some lunch, we also got a nice view of the Brooklyn Bridge.

   Well, going to start slowing down now... an early day tomorrow to catch our flight to go see relatives.

New York: Day 2

  Well, got a little bit of a late start on a gray rainy day. We walked to Macy's but it didn't open for another hour. So, we did what anyone would do in the cold and rain... Walk 5 miles around the city :)

  Made our way past the Empire State Building. They really build this town straight up. 

  Then we walked past Madison Ave to Park Ave to go by the Chrysler Building.

  On our way back to Macy's we also hit Grand Central Terminal. Wow, what a beautiful station. This rivaled the pretty stations in Europe and England.

  Then back to Macy's, one whole city block and 8 stories tall. _Not_ my idea of a fun time, but I made it through. 

  After Macy's, we finally decided to try and navigate the subway... it was for a good cause: getting to Little Italy. We had lunch at Lombardi's, the first pizzeria in the US. It also makes most of the top pizza lists.

  We had done so good on time that we had one more thing we wanted to try and get to. We took the subway back then bought train tickets to Hoboken, NJ. We got on the train right before it left. We got to Hoboken then made the short walk to Carlo's Bakery. There we stood in the line to _get_ to the line to go in. Looked hopeless, but we did make it in and bought some treats.

    We took the train back to Manhattan and walked back to the hotel to eat some desserts and get our tickets... for the Broadeay show, Aladdin.

  Great show! We had a great time but are really tired after such a busy day. Last day tomorrow... 

New York: Day 1

Our first glimpse of Gotham... Bam!

We dropped our bags at the hotel and walked toward the Carnegie Deli for a quick bite... passing Time Square. Oh the humanity... who knew New York was so crowded? Haha

And David Letterman's studio.

Finally made it to Carnegie Deli. Where our quick bite turned into almost an hour wait... but we all agreed the wait was worth it. Man what a pile of food we devoured.

We passed Carnegie Hall and then walked around Central Park for a bit.

We then made our way past Radio City Music Hall to Rockefeller Center. Saw the big Christmas tree, check. Crushed by 50,000 people, double check.

We even got a glimpse of the Empire State Building on our long walk back to the hotel.

Good thing we walked and burned those 400 calories, because we had 5,000 calories of Carnegie Deli cheesecake waiting on us. 

Well... We will see what we can hit tomorrow.

Travel Day and Last Day: Brussels to Oberwesel Germany

   Well... the day started well enough, but turned into a combination of The Amazing Race and The Griswold's Family Vacation.  We all got up and got packed in Brussels to walk and be at the train station by 6am.  So far so good.  But the tickets we bought the night before (since the international rail office would not be open that early) got left in the apartment.  So... we are standing on a street in Brussels at 5:30am with no tickets and the apartment keys locked inside.

   We go ahead and walk to the station.  One rail service is open, so we purchase more tickets.  The earliest departure is 7:28am, but it has a change in trains... change that, change in stations and trains... what could go wrong there.

   Here are the girls and Cindy waiting for the train to Cologne, Germany.  First day everyone agreed that it was really cold.

   We get to Cologne, but late due to our initial train being delayed.  We take a train to the other station across the Rhine to catch the train from Cologne to Frankfurt... but no luck, it had left.  And it seems in the shining efficiency of German engineering, the train station has no people.  We finally found someone and found a different train to Frankfurt.  OK, so back to the main station to catch that one.  Here's the girls with Cindy about to board our new train.  Whew... we get to the Frankfurt airport where we had a car rental.

   The last small road to Oberwesel couldn't of looked more picturesque and medieval.

   And we made it! Castle Schoenburg where we will stay our last night.   Below are a few good pictures from our look around the castle.

   Here are eight words I thought I'd never string together... the wind off the Rhine is very cold.  You can see the actually town of Oberwesel below the castle.

    Dinner was a full four course affair.

    Then and early morning drive along the Rhine and then autobahn to the airport.

   The last day is always odd and contemplative for me, I always think it's weird... I woke up in a far away place (a castle in Germany in this case) and went to bed in our house.  Any way... we are back home.  It was a most excellent trip.  Hopefully we have a few more of these before the kids leave the house.