Fun places like Zwingliplatz and Grossmünster Church

Thursday morning we woke up to a treat, a fresh layer of snow was covering our little valley.  

The kids were so excited to go and play in the snow.  They had brought their bum boards (sleds) and there was just enough of a hill in the backyard so they were able to play inside the fence.  I had planned to get some pictures of them, but they were ready to come inside before I could get out there.

Thankfully the day warmed up quickly and the roads were clear for us to drive.  We headed down the mountain and our first stop of the day was here:

We had driven by this store every time we came and went from our house.  We had stopped one other time, but the store has very specific hours.   I translated the days of the week, as they were in German, and we were able to make this quick stop!  

With a pile of goodies like this outside you know this place was calling my name.  

As usual with stores like this I go in first to see if it is a good place for the kids or not.

This was definitely a grown ups only store. 

They didn't have many small items, but the ones they did have were a lot of fun.  

At this point I was wishing we had more room in the car.

This pitcher and basin set was the first thing to catch my eye.  I ended up going home with a similar set, only it was white with blue.

I kind of regret not bringing this beauty home. 

The owner of the store was busy working on a piece of furniture further back in the store.  She didn't speak a word of english or french, but with a piece of paper to write on and some hand signals we were able to work out a deal. 

And I got to leave with a couple of new treasures.  

From my antiquing adventure we headed back to Zurich and the zoo.  We had called their lost and found and they had Jon's jacket!  They lady laughed at the relief when we called.  They did charge him a 5 franc fee to get his jacket back.  If you look closely on this tram you can see it says Zoo.  

I thought this "scaffolding" was hilarious if not entirely safe.

Our next stop was Zwingliplatz and Grossmünster church.   Huldrych Zwingli was a major force in the Protestant Reformation starting in the 1520's. 

Before this visit I was not familiar with all that Zwingli had done to help reform the church or the role that Grossmünster Church had played.  It was fascinating to learn more about the roots of our faith.  Inside the church you could see the prominence of the Bible.  Unfortunately they do not allow any photos inside the church.  

We were able to take pictures as we climbed the tower all the way to the top.  

Garrett needed a little help with the stairs and then he was nervous when we got to the top.  

I can't say that I blame him, we were way up there.

It was a beautiful view of Zurich.

Some sweet tourists offered to take a family photo.

After the church we were all pretty worn out so we headed to eat lunch at an "American"  food restaurant, Papa Joe's.  It is always interesting to see what other places think is American food.  We had a yummy and expensive lunch and we were ready to keep exploring.  

Here is a shot of how close the buildings were in certain places.

This is how Malachi spent quite a bit of the vacation, I don't know what I would do with out my ergo.  

Here is our sweet Garrett, we squeezed him into Malachi's seat so that he could get in a little rest.  

From there we headed home and started packing.  It is hard to believe how quickly the week passed.  We had a good time exploring Zurich and Liechtenstein.  I don't think it would make it to the top of our list of places we recommend visiting though.  

Just one more vacation related post, the long drive home!