A day with the ladies

The first Saturday of September, I accompanied friends from church to visit Zurich. Our friend Jessi moved to Geneva after living in Zurich for a couple of years. She is an expert on the city and planned the whole trip for us all to enjoy.

We met up early in the morning at various train stations for a 2 1/2 ride to Zurich. Unfortunately, we ended up in the very first car of the train because it had the most open seats so that we could all sit together. We found out a little too late that the reason why the car was so empty is because the first car is one of the jerkiest of the whole train. About 45 minutes into our trip, I was overcome with serious motion sickness and fought off the urge to vomit the rest of the way.

I made it in one piece and was so relieved to step out into cool, fresh air. Although I spent much of the day trying to shake off the yucky feeling, it was a fun, relaxing day.

Alma and Laura and the bottom of Bahnhofstrasse (major shopping street) with Bahnhofplatz (plaza) and Hauptbahnhof (train station) in the background

Walking up Bahnhoffstrasse

Bahnhoffstrasse was lined with these really cool painted pots that were to be auctioned off. I couldn't help taking lots of pictures of all of the different ones for Marge and Allie, the two painters in my life.

Harmony, Alma and Jennie with Fraumunster in the background

We stopped on Bahnhoffstrasse to eat lunch on the top floor of Jelmoli, a famous department store

After lunch we stopped into the famous Confeserie Sprungli to sample and buy chocolates. In their window they had towers of different flavored...

...macaroons. Here are the pistachio flavored ones.

This man was dipping oranges and chocolate cookies into this chocolate fountain for people to sample and boy was it delicious

Before some of the group headed out on a boat trip around the lake, we took some time to check out a local flea market

The majority of the group headed out on an hour boat tour around Lake Zurich. Already trying to overcome my sickness from the train, I passed on the trip as did a couple others.

After I saw these gorgeous pictures, I realized that maybe I had made a bad choice...

...but my stomach thanked me and I did a little sightseeing of my own

Fraumunster (Women's Minster)

Grossmunster (Great Minster)

The twin towers of Grossmunster

The Limmat River with St. Peter's Kirche in the background. St. Peter's has the largest clock face in Europe.

Aimee, Laura and Christina-the 3 goofballs that missed the boat ride

The group reunited for a picture in front of Zurichsee (Lake Zurich)

All over Zurich they had these cool little fountains with streams of water that you could fill your water bottle up with...I'm just not sure how clean the water in the middle was

Jessi took us to a place that is famous for its bratwurst for a mid-afternoon snack

Mmmmm, sausage

Alma, Harmony, Laura and Jennie

Jessi, Sarah, Christina and Shirlee

More sightseeing...

Zurich has quite an amazing public transportation system. It was so easy to get around...with Jessi's instructions of course.

Jessi took us to a really great Italian place for dinner. Every one's pasta looked so yummy but unfortunately my stomach still wasn't cooperating with me. After dinner, we headed back to the train station for an evening ride back home. Fortunately, we ended up in the back of the train and the ride home went a lot more smoothly.

Our friend Shirlee is amazing at digital scrapbooking. She put together this page which perfectly sums up our whole trip. Thanks Shirlee for sharing and thanks to Jessi for putting together such a fun day.