My parents arrived in Zurich today- just in time to celebrate my birthday :) They caught a red eye flight and arrived at about 9:30 am and were surprisingly perky. We made it back to the apartment for a short rest and then we decided to hit the town. Once outside, I saw the sun peek through the clouds (a rare occurrence lately) so we decided to shift gears from "casual exploration of the city" to "hardcore hiking." Well, hardcore hiking for us. We quickly ran back to the apartment, put on our hiking clothes, packed a bag and headed for the train to Uetliberg mountain (hill). We bought our passes, hopped on the right train (indicated by the huge words painted on the side: Uetliberg Mountain), and prepared ourselves for the view... only for the train to stop halfway there and return back to the main station. We were not the only ones confused- we met a family of Connecticut tourists who were also trying to find Uetliberg. After looking at the signs, we realized that only every other train goes all the way to the top. Tricky. So, after some laughter and discussion of our CT friends' so far disastrous European trip, we made it back to the station and tried again. Success for round two. Phew. I was more confident of my tour guide skills after arrival (Nate and I hiked up and around Uetliberg yesterday, sorry, no post about that. But, it was great and I had plans to go on the same scenic trail). We made our way up the tower viewpoint for an awesome and somewhat cloudy view of Zurich.
Next on our list was a two hour hike through rolling hills with beautiful views to a cable car to take us back to civilization. Notice the dark ominous clouds in the background. Did they stop us? Of course not! We braved the weather and started our journey. Maybe we should have reconsidered as the thunder rumbled 5 minutes into the hike. But no, we are adventurous athletes who laugh in the face of inclement weather. Plus, we were decked out in our matching LL Bean rain coats and ready for anything. One of the bonuses of hiking on dreary Monday afternoon is the lack of other hikers. We met almost no one on the trail. And after it started raining a hour into the hike, we met zero hikers. Despite the rain, it was a fun and scenic hike. Our timing was perfect as we arrived minutes before the cable car departed. We had the whole gondola to ourselves!
Nate met us at the apartment with birthday flowers and spread of desserts to round out my birthday experience! I made some tasty food and we relaxed for the rest of the night.
Best birthday ever!!! (Although, I do seem to say this every year...)
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