Red Bull Flying Day

During the summer months there is always lots of stuff to do and see in Zurich, and this was one of them. Red Bull Flying Day which involved 50 teams from all over Switzerland making their own flying machines. They then dress up. give themselves a strange name and before taking off have a dance performance which is all part of the points given on the day.

It was a lovely day not too hot, it was very busy and we got there around 3.30pm. We walked around to find a spot to watch but not so easy to find. We started off in an area just next to where the whole thing was happening. When we looked up we could see the teams taking off and then watch as more often than not the planes just smashed straight into the water.

After a while we went to get some food and then watched from a scream how they all fell into the lake or how some actually flew! One team got a Swiss record (I believe) for flying 55.5m before crashing into the lake.

All in all it was great fun, lots of families with children were there and you could also just sit and bring your own food and drink too if you wanted.

Rote Fabrik

Saturday afternoon saw Alessio and myself at the Rote Fabrik (Red Factory) I parked the car a bit away and walked there by the lake. There is a new walkway over the lake from the area where the Restaurant Seerose is situated. It means you can walk from there all the way to Zurich by the lake, it will be a nice walk to do.

In the meanwhile we wondered around the Rote Fabrik, Alessio played at the playground and we looked at all the street art. There is a restaurant called Ziegel oh LAC, we had a look inside and it looks alright, but we didn`t eat anything.

Photo of the Week - Sunset!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings all had big storms! Really, really loud thunder on one of the evenings, but before the storm started on Sunday I was treated to a lovely sunset! It is a shame that there are many buildings around here as it would have been such a fantastic sight!

A Visit to the Greifensee!

Fantastic view of Mountains

Heron in the reeds!

Granny with Alessio

While my parents were visiting we did a lovely walk part of the way around the Griefensee. To walk around the lake is 18km which would take roughly 4.5 hours. A bit too much for us, although it would be a great walk!

I drove and we parked very near to the lake at Niederuster from there we walked around to the other side to Maur.

The walk was very pleasant, we walked around a nature protected area for many birds. In fact we saw quite a few storks and some herons. There is a observation station for those people who are more into bird-watching. Since it was Good Friday there were plenty of people walking, jogging and of course on the lake.

Sort of halfway around our walk there is kiosk selling some sandwiches and soup, but we decided to carry on until we reached Maur. We were really in need of a sit down and some yummy food, before we caught a boat back to Niederuster.

That was certainly enough walking for us that day, back to the car and home!

Castle Ruins near to Wädenswil

Back in January we did a trip with the kids from my class to visit the old castle ruins in Wädenswil. Our theme during that month was castles, kings, knights and queens so a visit to this place was just what we needed.

As you can see from the photos it was a super cold day, but all the kids were warmly dressed and ready for an outing. It took a while to get there but once at the ruins we walked around and explored all over, the kids liked to climb up high the best.

We brought lunch with us, once finished the kids were able to run around and play for a while. These ruins were once the largest in the whole of Kanton Zurich, I could not find out much about it online. I did find another post about this place on another blog www.the familyframe.blogspot.ch if you fancy reading it.

We also visited Rapperswil Castle too which I will post another time!

Turnip Parade Richterswil 2014

The famous annual Räbeliechtli (turnip) parade took place in Richterswil on 8th November and it was as usual very busy. This was only the second time I have seen it and it was a mild november day too.

The effort put into making these floats is amazing, just the thought of having to carve hundreds and hundreds of turnips is enough to make to run the other way. And it is not just the floats and the school kids all the buildings, shops and flats have to be decorated too!

The end result is quite stunning once the lights are put out and it is completely dark, it is well worth coming to see this at least one time.

And of course there was lots of stalls of food and drink to keep the hunger fangs away, I had my first Glühwein of the season. Still got lots of time for more, maybe even today in Zurich!