Rheinfalls



15 October 2011

On a Saturday in October Chris and I drove to Schaffhausen to see the Rheinfalls. 

 Not the best weather, but it was still enjoyable!

After seeing the falls we drove to downtown Schaffhausen and walked around.

 We window shopped and drove by the IWC headquarters.

 The buildings were beautiful. 

Okay, weird men's pajamas.  I had to talk Chris out of getting them.

Sister Time

15 September, 4-5 October 2011

Way back in the middle of September my sister, Angie, and her friend, Emily, came for a 2 week trip to Europe.  I picked them up at the airport and we toured around the city.

 We rode the Polybahn up to a fantastic view of the city from the university.

 We toured the old city and had a brat on the lake.  It was such a beautiful day! 

 We had to get some macaroons from Wolenweider patisserie.  Wasabi, what?

 After taking naps we headed back out to China Garten and found a group of people who were willing to let us use one of their slacklines.  It was seriously hard, but so fun!  (Emily was the best at it)

The next morning I dropped the girls off at the car rental and they were on their way to Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia.  A couple weeks later they showed back up at the apartment with fantastic stories and experiences.  I'm just a little jealous.

 After we dropped the rental car back off, we headed to Appenzellerland to just hang out.  We were in luck because it just so happens that there was some sort of cow fair going on. 

 Okay, totally crazy... EVERY kid was smoking!  These weren't the youngest we saw and even the young girls were smoking.  It must be some sort of tradition, but it was still weird...

 I love these three pictures of Angie!

 Lots of cows...

 Awwww! 

 We found a hiking trail in Appenzell and ended up with a beautiful view. 

On our way down the hill we had to pull over and wait for a parade of cows coming back from the fair that were going back to their farm. 
We ended the night with a pizza party and I took the girls back to the airport the next afternoon. 
We had so much fun in such a short period of time.  Glad they got to come and see me!

Running around in Ireland

1 October 2011

Like anyone NEEDS a reason to go to Ireland, but I signed up for a half marathon in Galway on October 1st to give me a good reason to go! 

We flew into Dublin and spent the night there near the Temple Bar.  The next morning we took the Luas tram into downtown and walked around.

We walked to Trinity College.  The campus is beautiful and it was so fun being back in a college atmosphere. 

The real reason to go there was to see the Book of Kells.  Which is a manuscript of the first four books of the bible that were transcribed by Celtic monks around 800AD.  It is beautifully painted and intricately decorated in Celtic artwork. 

The Long Room of the library holds an incredible collection of books and manuscripts.  Not to mention the room itself is gorgeous. 

From Trinity College, we walked through St. Stephen's Green to St. Patrick's Cathedral. 

St. Patrick's

Christ Church Cathedral

I loved these colored doors and ivy. 

That afternoon we drove to Galway to get settled before the race.  We had a nice evening at a pub and turned in early.  We were awakened by a "hen party" trying to get in our room around 4am.  At least the race didn't start until 11am.  So I braved the cool 55F overcast weather and ran my first half marathon.  I beat my target time by 6 minutes!  Chris was supposed to run with me, but he had a bit of bad luck when his ankle lost a fight with some some stairs so he was out of running commission.  After the race I got cleaned up and we had a good lunch of fish and chips Then we headed for the coast to the Cliffs of Moher.

They are beautiful even in cloudy weather. 

We could see the Aran Islands, but sadly no Puffins. 

On the way back to Galway.

The next morning we took a little detour on our way back to Dublin through Athenry. 

Dominican Cathedral first built in 1241.

Athenry Castle built before 1240. 
Galway and Ireland in general were so beautiful.  I can't wait to go back and spend more time there.

Parking? For cows?

24 September 2011
Chris and I drove to the small town of Schüpfheim to watch the cows come down from the mountains.  Also know as Alpafahrt or Alpabzug.  This was a fasinating day and both of us came away with a new found love for the Swiss.   

The cows spend the summer months high in the Alps feasting freely on grassy green hillsides.  When the weather starts to change the cows are brought down from their free range banquet and are taken to their barns.  This isn't just a celebration of the cows coming home, the farmers' families are also coming down from the mountains. 

The dairy farmers wear traditional clothes and some even go barefoot.  This is a traditional procession and these gentlemen stopped and yodeled in a circle while the two with bells rocked and rang them.

Alphorn players.

The family's parade is usually headed by a boy that has seven white goats.  

Followed by the best producing Brown Swiss hefers (and the dairy farmer's daughters). 

Doesn't that bell look like it would be so annoying?  Every cow has a bell.  The best milk producers are in the front with the huge decorated bells and the flower garlands then the rest follow with moderate-size bells and the calves follow in the rear with smaller bells. 

So loud!

How does she see?

The families were coming down from different alps and going to their respective farms so they came from different directions through and out of the town. 

Love the sunflowers!

Such a beautiful setting for such an intriguing event.

Love the flags

We walked back to our car and followed a cow herd to their farm's turn-off.  What a beautiful and fun day.  The people were so nice and the whole atmosphere of the town was just so festive.  It was truly facinating!

Rigi

13 September 2011
When the Coopers left, they gave me tickets for the Lucerne area transportation (bus/boat/train).  I couldn't find anyone on such short notice to go adventuring with me so I decided to take the dog.  We hopped on a train and headed to Lucerne.  Once we were there we decided to head up the Rigi.  Chopper did really great once we were settled on the train and she loved the boat ride we took from the train station to the base of the Rigi.

View of Lucerne from the boat ride to Vitznau.

Lake Lucerne

Summit at Rigi-Kulm (5,896 feet)

It was beautiful for the first 10 minutes I was up there and then the wind really picked up and blew a whole bunch of clouds in.  This is the Zugersee.  Zug is on the left.

Lake Laurez.

We stopped and had a drink and a snack at the top.  They even brought out a water dish for Chopper.  Only in Switzerland can you be on top of a mountain and they have dog dishes for you to use. 

We didn't take the train all the way back down.  Instead we stopped at Rigi-Kaltbad and did a little exploring and hiking before taing the aerial cable car down to Weggis. 

From Weggis we took a boat back to Lucerne. 

She stayed like this nearly the entire hour boat ride back to the train station.  Then she slept the whole train ride back to Zurich.  What a fun day and adventure!  Thanks Coopers!