Europe 2013-Day 16

September 16th – Zurich, Toronto

Weather – overcast and warm.

After a leisurely breakfast in the hotel restaurant, Margaret-Ann and John completed their packing, checked out of the hotel and caught a cab to the central train station for the short (10 minute) ride to Zurich’s Kloten Airport.

They departed Zurich on their British Airways flight at 1:15 p.m. and touched down at London’s Heathrow Airport at 2:15 p.m. (2 hour flight). After a two hour and forty-five minute layover, they departed on their connecting British Airways flight at 5:00 p.m. and landed at Toronto’s Pearson airport at 7:30 p.m. (seven and a half hour flight – with crying children most of the way!). Margaret-Ann and John cleared customs by 8:00 p.m. and Meredith, their daughter, picked them up and had them in the front door of their house in Brampton by 8:30 p.m.

After 16 days away, it was nice to return home; but both Margaret-Ann and John agree that this trip was one very excellent adventure!!!

Thanks for reading through the blog postings of this trip. Margaret-Ann and John hope you have enjoyed it. Keep checking this bog site for their future adventures.

Europe 2013-Day15

September 6th – Zurich

Weather – sunny and hot.

What a wonderful final full day for Margaret-Ann and John’s vacation! The weather was again spectacular -- sunny blue skies with temperatures in the high twenties.

After breakfast with Christina, Edith and Sepp, they  crossed the Limmat River and spent the morning strolling through the western half of the old town. They stopped for drinks at an outdoor restaurant on the Bauschänzli overlooking Lake Zurich and the Alps and walked up and down the Bahnhofstrasse looking for bargains (Margaret-Ann, with a little encouragement from Christina and Edith, bought two more pairs of shoes).

For lunch Sepp led the group to the Zeughauskeller, just off the Bahnhofstrasse, for some traditional Zurich fare. John had "Kalbsgeschnetzeltes nach Zürcher Art" – thinly sliced pan fried veal and mushrooms in a creamy white wine sauce served with Rösti (Swiss styled hash brown potatoes) – delicious!

The group made their way back to the hotel late in the afternoon where Margaret-Ann and John bid a sad farewell to Christina, Edith and Sepp who left to return home to Germany.

On their own again, Margaret-Ann and John decided to relax for the rest of the day. Margaret-Ann went to the nearby grocery store and picked up cheese, crackers, fruit and yogurt for dinner,and John had a shower and quickly fell asleep for two hours.

After dinner in their room, Margaret-Ann and John packed for the trip to the airport the following morning.

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Europe 2013-Day 14

September 5th – Zurich, Konstanz, Zurich

Weather – sunny and hot.

Margaret-Ann and John took an early morning (8:37) train from Zurich and met Sepp and two of his younger sisters, Christina and Edith (all three, John’s cousins) at 9:54 in Konstanz, Germany -- on the west shore of the Bodensee (Lake Constance). It was a bit of a reunion for Margaret-Ann and John, since just a few weeks earlier Christina and Edith had visited them in Brampton – see the August posting on this blog of “German Visitors – 2013”.

The group spent the rest of the morning walking through the very picturesque old town area with Sepp pointing out many interesting details – his son, Matthias, had spent four years at the University here and Sepp and his wife, Sigrid, have and continue to come here often from Höfen, their home in the Black Forest. Of particular note were the Kaiserbrunnen (Imperial Fountain), the Schnetztor gateway, the Rheintor (Rhine Gateway) and Pulverturm (Powder Tower), and the saucy Imperia harbour statue by Peter Lenk.

For lunch they dined on the patio of a restaurant overlooking the harbour, after which Sepp drove the group back to the Plattenhof Hotel in Zurich (Cristina, Edith, and Sepp checked into the same hotel).

After a short rest the group left the hotel and strolled through the old town area on the east side of the Limmat River before returning for a late dinner on the patio of the Italian Restaurant Sento (attached to the Plattenhof Hotel) -- a wonderful end to a wonderful day.

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