Christmas at Zurich

There is a lot going on in Zurich for Christmas! I went for a photoshoot in Zurich last night and felt like a little kid in the candy store!

First of all, there are lots and lots and lots of lights.  That's the first thing you will notice the moment you get out of the train station.

The shower of lights.

LED lights covering the length of a few popular streets in town.

Sunset behind a large lantern.

The Singing Christmas Tree is a popular attraction in Zurich. Different chorus groups perform on the tree every night, spreading the merry mood of Christmas and attracting a crowd of spectators.

Singing Christmas Tree.

See their expressions close-up: they are really into it!

So, what do other people do? They eat, they drink (Glühwein), they dance (occasionally), and they shop (a lot). One of my favorite things to do in such occasions is to people watch.

A man window shopping.

Bikers & pedestrians.

Chocolates, yum...

Once in a while, you will catch a glimpse of the bright red Christmas Tram driven by Santa himself! Only children are allowed on board to be entertained by Santa's merry helpers.  With a fee, of course (photography is gratis, though:-)

Santa's Tram passing by.

Santa's Tram.

For the little ones, there is always the ubiquitous merry-go-arounds.

Merry-go-around. I don't know the man in the center but he makes a great focal point!

Other than all the special festivities, it's always fun to just watch the lights at the Limmat River.

Limmat River.

Watching lights (and traffic) on the bridge.

Shopping at Konstanz

Konstanz, Germany is a nice place to shop for Christmas. I went there with a friend to get a haircut in a salon tugged inside a back alley in the old town area and spent the rest of the day shopping. Because of the large number of stores with affordable, good quality items and an extra 20% vat rebate for Swiss customers, Konstanz makes a great shopping destination.

Even without the shops, Konstanz is a nice city sitting next to Lake Constance worthy of a visit for its beauty. Maybe next time I can even make it to the lake :-)

AlNatura natural food market.

Downtown shopper.

More downtown shoppers.

Merry-go-around next to a big department store.

Weekend in Dornbirn Austria

We spent the weekend in the city of Dornbirn in the western part of Austria near the Swiss border. Dornbirn is an industrial city in the Rhein Valley at the foot of Karren Mountain. It has a population of about 45,000 at this moment. It's not exactly a tourist destination - we were there for Jasmine's climbing event. While Jasmine and David were at the climbing gym, Lila and I got to spend a few hours in the city.

View from the windows of Hirschen Hotel. The hotel offered a sumptuous breakfast buffet (arguably, drowning in good food is almost as good as drowning in good views:-)

There was a tram that can take us up the mountain to get a good view of the city and valley. We decided to skip it due to the misty weather condition. There was a farmer's market in downtown with some December merriments so we checked it out. The market was small but there were a few interesting buildings in the town center.

Dornbirn downtown farmer's market.

Dornbirn downtown BBQ.

From downtown, it was but a short stroll to a popular science museum called Inatura. We found some interesting sights along the way including a tree with its autumn glory still largely intact.

Chasing pigeons outside of Kunstraum.

Dornbirn Kunstraum ("Art Space").

A strong push :-)

Inatura is known for its interactive, hands on science exhibitions for the kids. Lila was mesmerized by the experiments involving the motions of various objects as well as a machine that created a mini tornado using water vapors. She was not very impressed by the taxidermy scattered throughout the museum, especially those concerning animal babies. "So sad", she said. I found it hard to disagree with her!

A lynx display.

A family checking out the lynx (well, at least the toddler was:-)

Watching a "tornado" in the making.

Calling out to the pigeons.

Christmas Bazaar

Every student in the kids' school participated in making and selling of items for the Christmas Bazaar - candles, bracelets, wallets, holiday cards, etc. They have worked on that for weeks.  And tonight they sold items directly to the villagers.  It's a good practical use of their developing social and math skills! 

The proceeds will go to a school in India. A teacher here visited the school in the past and they are planning to set up some kind of exchange program with them. It was an interesting event and it definitely helps promote the true spirit of Christmas!

Jasmine is selling handmade items at the Christmas Bazaar with her classmates.

Lila's 1st grade class selling items they made in the Christmas Bazaar.

An Afternoon in the Zoo

The zoo is a fun place to spend an overcast afternoon. With an easy train ride to Zurich followed by tram #7, we got to the Zurich Zoo in an hour.

Since the zoo prides itself in its King Penguins, there are penguin sculptures standing right inside the entrance. Up close, they don't look exactly real but it's sometimes tricky for people to tell from the photos (did I get you on this one? :)

Lila having fun with the penguin sculptures.

It takes only a few more steps to see the real penguins living in the zoo. They are a bunch of proud and magnificent creatures!

A proud one.

A cuddly one.

A group walking away: aren't they cute (and, dare I say it behind their back, a bit comical:-)?

Next, we check out the big animals. Here are a few caught on film. We didn't have time to check out the elephants in the elephant park. Since overcast days are the norm here in winter, we will have plenty of opportunities to check them out in the future!

Two young, frolicking snow leopards.

The mother was keeping a watchful eye for her three cubs.

A majestic lion.