Zurich, Switzerland

October 9 - 11, 2015

Zurich is a global center for banking and finance situated in central Switzerland.  While Zurich has the largest population, airport, and main train station, the capital of Switzerland is Bern.  More people travel through the train station than the total population of the city. The city has been permanently inhabited since the Roman times for 2,000 years, but there is evidence of human habitation from 6,400 years ago. The most notable church of Zurich is the Grossmunster built in the 12th century with twin towers.  In the early 1500s a sect of the Protestant Reformation was led from the church by Ulrich Zwingli.  Inside is a stone sculpture of Charlemagne.  Some of the windows aren’t made of glass, but instead very thin slices of geode stones.  Church of Our Lady Fraumunster has a slender blue spire that is very easy to spot in Zurich’s skyline.  The last church we saw is the St. Peter Church which has the largest clock face in Europe. The clock face measures 8.7m in diameter. There are five bells dating from 1880 in the tower – the largest of which weighs over six tons without its clapper. Some of its foundation walls are from the 9th century. We went on a day trip into the countryside to Lucerne. It site on the coast of Lake Lucerne. The Lion Monument is a beautiful carving into the face of a stone cliff that is dedicated to the Swiss Body-Guards of Louis XVI of France who fell during the French Revolution.  This was on August 10th, 1792 at the royal palace at the Tuileries in Paris. We also were able to walk across the Chapel Bridge.  This bridge was first mentioned in text in 1367 as part of the city’s fortifications.  The 111 gables were painted in the 17th and 18th century.  A fire in August of 1993 destroyed all but 47 of the paintings. Our main stop was Mt. Pilatus, which is 7,000 feet above sea level where we could see 73 alpine peaks from the peak.  Our visit had a significant amount of cloud cover that we went through while riding the cable cars.  It was very stunning to see the peaks looking like islands among the clouds. Going back down the mountain we went on the world’s steepest cogwheel railway with an average of a 40% slope. The guy who planned building that was very ambitious!

Month 15

Owen is enjoying his increased mobility.  Now he can "organize" the apartment even faster.  His favorite toys are soda cans, the dust pan, our pots and pans, and books. He has all four of the 1st molars and loves to use them eating cheese, apricots, goldfish crackers, graham crackers, more cheese, turkey, beef, and noodles.  He loves his chow.  His eye color seems to still be up in the air.  Around the pupil is a brown ring and then the rest is grey/green/blue.  One of his favorite activities is watching people (just like his mom). A milestone of this month is that he had his first haircut.   He didn't cry at all and just wanted to watch the barber.  For $6 it was a great deal! The barber had experience with kids so he was very patient with Owen moving around.  Owen is adding in more travel miles with our cruise up in the Baltic Sea.  His favorite toy there was the mini bar and all the little bottles perfect for kid-size. This month also had his regular checkup.  He weighed in at 22 pounds which is the 18%.  However, his height is the 80% with being 32" tall.  Then his head measurement is right on track in the 59%.  Head circumference is important to track if it is a steady growth.

Last time in the jumper, it's been longer, but I 

wanted a picture of him in it before I put it away. 

He wasn't too thrilled to be stationary.

Pole dancing in Cadiz.

This is just an example of Owen's occasional tantrums.

 He didn't cry at all.

 But he did give the barber a few stare downs.

Before the shearing.

Just like dad. One in each hand.

We did an emergency drill and Owen found 

his life jacket to be very comfortable.

Crawling the stairs was his favorite activity.

Hittin' the mini bar

Seville, Spain - Alcazar

October 3, 2015

Located in the heart of Seville is the Royal Alcázar.  It sits directly next to the Cathedral. The Alcázar is the oldest Royal Palace still in use in Europe.  The palace in use is just the upper floors, so all the lower floors and gardens are open to the public. The origins of the palace is from the XI century. With all the civilizations and cultures that have moved through Seville, this Royal Alcázar has been used as the capital.  Being such a remarkable example of mudéjar architectural style, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.  The mudéjar architectural style is the mixture of Spanish and Moorish construction.  The gardens are also very beautiful with fountains and a wonderful diversity of plants.  Being around that much greenery is a welcome respite with a vast majority of the city being paved. There is a little cafe in the gardens and there are two peacocks that go around to the tables as if they were pigeons or squirrels.  One wouldn't imagine a peacock as a scavenger type of animal. This past season of the HBO show Game of Thrones used the Alcázar as one of their set for the palace of Dorne, one of their main sets. The movie Kingdom of Heaven with Orlando Bloom also used the center courtyard as the Court of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1962, the Alcázar was used as a set for the movie Lawrence of Arabia.