Photo of the Week - Grossmünster Church

This was taken last Saturday as I wandered around Zürich waiting to meet up with a friend. I was using different settings on the camera to see which you was best to use for getting good night photos. Anyway this is the Grossmünster Church, which is one of the three major churches in Zürich. It is a protestant church, near the river Limmat building began around 1100.

Legend has that it was founded by Charlemagne, whose horse fell to its knees at the tombs of Felix and Regula, patron saints of Zürich. Anyway enough history for a friday, it did look especially lovely with teh moon in the background!

Happy Christmas!

Christmas Cheer from Zurich!

I can hardly believe how fast the time has flown by since the beginning of december, it just feels like I was just in Munich! Tomorrow is my last day at work and the Christmas concert by the children, so I guess it will be a stressful but fun day! Friday Alessio and I go to Scotland, which is always great to see my parents, sister and family and other family members! Alessio is very excited to see his cousins Jamie and Liam!

Zurich is looking as always very festive, full of lovely lights, fanastic Christmas trees,  great window decorations and of course the Christmas markets. I have hardly seen any of the markets this year, basically the one at the main station, which is the largest indoor Christmas market in Europe. It was always really busy but I went twice and had my usual Glühwein.

A trip to the Lindt chocolate factory to keep the folk back home happy has been done and dusted,  the factory itself looks very festive. There are many places to buy Christmas trees alround the city, of course this year we do not have one, but next year we will!

So it is back to the packing and wrapping for a bit!

Allianz Arena - Part Home of Bayern Munich

During the trip to Munich, we decided to do a tour of the Allianz Arena which is home to Bayern Munich and TSV 1860 Munich. On first appearance we all thought it looked like a giant spaceship, it looked really impressive.

The stadium was design by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and it has a capacity of nearly 70,000 people. The tour was in English and we found out lots of facts and information about the stadium and the two teams. The stadium lights up into three different colours depending on who is playing, red for Bayern, blue for TSV and white for the German National team. Since we were there during the day we did not see it lit up, but have seen pictures and it looks amazing.

There is photo with the big green flap, apparently this stadium is the only one that has it, this is where the players come onto the pitch and leave. It was very, very expensive to be made. We went to the room where both managers talk to journalists before the match and to see where the players get ready for the match.

The tour lasts just one hour and costs only 10 euro, we all thought it was very good and our guide was good too. Everything was interesting and the sheer size of it was quite amazing and to then go and see it filled to capacity would be truly a great experince. I have never seen a football match live, but maybe when I go to Scotland we will try to go to one. Alessio loves football so he would love it.

It is definitely worth a visit, even if you are not a big fan of football. I bought Alessio a Bayern Munich football which he loves.

Sunset in Germany

I have to say I am a big fan of seeing the sun set or rise, and when if possible to take photos. Uusually on my way to work I see some great views and often think to myself if only I could just stop the car and take some photos, but I never do.

So when on the return trip to Zurich two weekends ago from Munich I got the opportunity to do so, I grabbed my camera and snapped away. Thank God I was not driving ( no I am not that crazy), although it is not so easy to take photos in a moving car and through glass.

The colours were just spectacular and so strong, it was really a delight to see and it made an great ending to a fab weekend away.

Hope you like them too!

Bächlihof, Another Pumpkin Exhibition

During the Halloween week, we went to visit Bächlihof with the kids from my work, as many know this is just like Jucker farm except it is smaller.

The exhibition was about dinosaurs and we walked around each one getting the kids to see if they could recognize them. The last time I was here, was also with the kids from my work about 3 years ago and it has changed somewhat. Now there is also a biggish haystack and a wooden climbing frame, plus some small cars and tractors to drive around.

The restaurant is also bigger, there is a shop to buy their products and of course not to mention lots of different types of pumpkins. We bought a pumpkin to carve and then smaller ones for decorating our tables. The children had lots of fun, luckily it was not too cold or raining.

The place is very near to Rapperswil, you go to the station Blumenau, then it is a short walk to the venue. There are car spaces but too many, so may be best to take public transport. In January to April they are having a Straw Festival, so Alessio and I be there to check it out come the time.

Munich That Christmas Feeling!

Last weekend I went to Munich with a friend Arlene, we went from Friday to Sunday afternoon. Lucky for us the sun was shining the whole time, as we enjoyed walking around Munich. On the Friday evening we visited our friend Janet who has a lovely little baby girl called Alina, we had dinner and caught up on all the news, another friend was there too, Heidi who lives in Paris.

Saturday we met up with another friend Claire and wandered around parts of Munich, after meeting up we walked to the English garden and to the Chinese Tower where there is also a Christmas market to see.

I was looking forward to have some Glühwein (mulled wine) and ended up having 3 mugs. The good thing about drinking Glühwein is comes in cool mugs that you can keep, we ended up going to the stalls with the coolest mugs. This tradition does not happen in Zurich you drink out of a paper cup or plastic one.

As you can imagine it was extremely busy in the city centre, the shop windows were decorated very nicely. I did not buy anthing, but it was nice to look around at the shop windows. Of course seeing the Christmas lights when it got dark was lovely, I think that is the best part of a Christmas market.

The weekend went so fast, as these things tend to do, we both had a great time and it was lovely to catch up on our friends.