Edinburgh

We recently went to Scotland for a little more than a week. I had heard from family and coworkers that it is a beautiful place to visit, and they were definitely right. We visited a handful of cities and in the coming days we will post some of our favorite photos from each place.

We started and ended our trip in Edinburgh, where we took in most of the big sites.


Edinburgh Castle


Edinburgh Castle and the grounds of St. Cuthbert Parish


The Royal Mile


Scottish Parliament


Holyrood Palace


Holyrood Abbey


Holyrood Abbey


View from Calton Hill

Beautiful Evening

This evening there was a huge rainbow across the sky. The full arc was there for about 30 minutes but the edges were visible for nearly an hour. There definitely are advantages to living on a hill when there a views like this!

Freiburg im Breisgau

We get a three-day weekend for Pentacost, so we wanted to take advantage of the extra day. We opted to go to Freiburg, which is less than two hours away. We visited the Cathedral and climbed the tower, walked to the top of the Schlossberg and climbed its observation tower, and wandered throughout the city.


Neues Rathaus


The square around the Cathedral


Historisches Kaufhaus


A beautiful street


View of the Cathedral from the Stadtpark


The Schlossberg. The observation tower is visible at the top of the mountain.


View of the Cathedral and old town from the Schlossberg's observation tower


On the Schlossberg observation tower


On the Schlossberg observation tower


The observation tower


Martinstor


View of the Schlossberg from the Cathedral Tower


In the Cathedral's Tower

Föhn in Zürich

For our anniversary, we went to dinner at a restaurant on one of the hills in Zürich. When the weather is good, there is a gorgeous view from the restaurant. On Friday evening, there was Föhn, a wind that comes down the mountains and makes the mountains look closer than they are. We had a gorgeous view while enjoying our dinner.


from a distance ...


and zoomed in

Pfannenstiel

The weather is getting nice enough for longer walks and hikes. There are many options in a short distance from our home. We opted for a walk over the weekend that began in Egg, a town about 20 minutes outside of Zürich (and where Doc lived for a few years when he was little).



From Egg we walked over the Pfannenstiel (a small mountain separating Egg from Lake Zurich).





As we began our walk downhill, we had a lovely view of Lake Zürich and the Alps in the distance.





We then took a small path the rest of the way down to the town of Meilen. I was quite surprised by all of the waterfalls along the path.





Once we reached Meilen we opted to take one of the boats back to downtown Zurich. It is great that the boats are included in the public transportation ticket.



All in all, it made for a great Sunday!

Sechseläuten Children's Parade

Today was Sechseläuten, or as Doc says, Sächsilüüte: the day the Böögg (an effigy of a snowman) is set on fire to celebrate the end of winter. The festivities began yesterday with the Children's Parade through downtown Zürich.

Today's festivities included a parade of the guilds and the burning of the Böögg atop a large bonfire while men on horses ride around the bonfire. After the church bells chime 6 pm, the bonfire is set ablaze and we wait for the Böögg, who is filled with explosives, to explode. The length of time it takes for the Böögg's head to explode will predict how nice the summer will be. This year, the Böögg exploded in just under 13 minutes (as opposed to last year's 26 minutes), so I am looking forward to a pretty nice summer.

The photos here are from the Children's Parade on Sunday. I had to settle for watching the Böögg explode on tv since the afternoon isn't a holiday in the canton where I work. Maybe next year I can go in person and take some photos.












The Böögg: the last float in the parade

Tulips, Tulips and More Tulips

I took so many tulip photos as we walked through Keukenhof. Here are my favorites.