Florence - Day 1

Beautiful birthday morning. Did the compulsory trip to a coffee shop and Gelateria to kick off the day. The kids very quickly made up their minds that they weren't going to like looking at the sculptures — particularly those in their naked glory, which Bea seemed to find a little awkward and pretty pointless! We visited the Boboli Gardens, which they both said would have been better with less art and more wildlife! I find the gardens stunning so they had to put up with it! Did a few of the usual sights of Florence — Piazza della Signoria (with the replica of Michaelangelo's David), over the old bridge (Ponto Vecchio), and climbed the stairs to the top of the dome in the Duomo. The kids didn't like the frescos on the duomo ceiling either (but it's the Last Judgement, so a bit gory). We had rain in the afternoon, but didn't let it stop us getting about! Ended up having dinner in the same restaurant that Frith and I visited in 2009 when I was pregnant with Ili when I couldn't drink the wine or manage more than a salad! Made up for it this time.

View from the apartment on by b'day morning!

Pastry heaven!

Hot chocolate, was literally just that!

Boboli Gardens, and our paparazzi.

No more bare balls, please!

Bea checking his camera in the Boboli gardens.

The River Arno from the old bridge.

Piazza della Signoria.

View from the terrace.

The apartment terrace was amazing! Views over the city and right next to the duomo.

Climbing the dome of the duomo! A squash at the top!

Top of the duomo.

Ili took this one!

Ceiling fresco in the duomo.

Birthday dinner.
Ili was a bit exhausted, but she made it!

Arrived at Florence for a long weekend!

Weekend away and took the train to Florence! Easy journey via Milan — we should do this more often!! There in time for pizza and a jaunt around the back streets.

Cool apartment . . . with a roof terrace overlooking
the Duomo!

Clouds - The Prime Tower

The highest building in Zurich is currently The Prime Tower. To put it in perspective, it's only 133 meters high, while the Eiffel Tower is closer to 300 meters. But to the kids in Switzerland it's most definitely a sky scraper. At the very top on the 35th floor is a pretty cool bistro (called "Clouds") with expansive views across the city and out towards the lake, so we stopped for a snack and to take in the panorama.

Technorama

Had our first trip to the Swiss Science Center for kids today, called Technorama. It's three floors full of interactive exhibits covering mechanics, magnetism, chemistry, light, the natural world, etc. and although it was all pretty interesting stuff, it was unfortunately a case of too much to take in with too many kids running a riot and we left with our heads spinning. A few of our favourite exhibits are below, including a very pretty installation of dry ice entering water (representing comets entering the earth's atmosphere as they burn up carbon dioxide and produces energy); a replica tornado, and a giant Newton's Cradle (metal swinging ball bearings).

Thermal baths

Treated ourselves today to a few hours in the Zurich thermal baths today. Yum. The best day of the week by far.

Ice skating

Second week of the sports holiday (Frith is at a conference in Germany), and our first activity was ice skating at Dolder.

Sledging at Urnerboden

We took a trip to Urnerboden (near to where we were staying) so the kids, and big kids, could all sledge down our favourite 8 km sledge run. However, the weather today was full-on deep snow and we perhaps shouldn't have taken it on at all. It was perhaps a bit of a tell-tell sign that we were the only ones there!! Whoops. Anyhow, the top was almost white out, and coming down the snow was a bit to thick to be able to slide very fast. But it was super pretty, and we stopped to build a giant snowman and mess in the snow. All good experience! Headed back to Zurich in the evening.

Nothing to be seen from the top! Just us!!

Ready to get the hell out of here!!! Let's go . . !

Stopped for a wade in snow.

Finally at the bottom . . .

. . . for hot chocolate! These guys are tough!

Thick snow arrived, yippee!!

After a day skiing we were looking to rest our legs (and wallets) and go sledging instead. Luckily we awoke to thick snow — just what we'd ordered! Kids were happy just playing in the garden for a bit, before we dragged them higher up for a spot of sledging.

Mountain boys

This one was taken by a passing skier, hence Bea is not quite photo-ready! But thanks to Benj for managing to get a good shot of the three boys together at the top. I think it's up at Schabell (2036 m).