Swiss National Museum

This afternoon we took the train into downtown and went to the "Swiss National Museum," which sits right next door to the Zurich Train Station. The building makes an impression on you even before you set foot through the doors. The museum was built in 1898 and was made to resemble a medieval castle. Nowadays the museum houses the cultural history of Switzerland and Europe, from the stone age all the way to present day. You're not allowed to take pictures inside the museum, so I had to grab some off of the internet so you could get an idea of what's inside. But anyway, despite all the displays of art and European history the kids actually enjoyed themselves. They seemed genuinely interested in many of the displays. Ben especially liked all the medieval weapons and armor. Anyway, it was a pretty cool museum. Definitely worth checking out.

Rapperswil, Switzerland

Yesterday we spent the afternoon in Rapperswil, which is a small town about 20 minutes south of us. Rapperswil (pronounced Rappersville) is a town at the very end of Lake Zurich. We walked around the main city center and explored some of the old streets. The highlight in town is of course "Rapperswil Castle," (referred to in Swiss German as "Schloss Rapperswil.") The structure dates back to about the 1200's. (You can read more about it here.) These days the castle is open to the public, and is also a museum. It was very cloudy so we couldn't see the mountains, but we'll try again on a clear day. Anyway, the kids thought it was pretty cool to walk through a real castle. Megan kept asking me where the Princess lives. We really enjoyed Rapperswil. It's got an authentic "old Europe" feel to it and it's right down the road from us. Pretty cool.

Konstanz, Germany

Today we took a day trip an hour north to the town of Konstanz in Germany. Konstanz lies on the border of Switzerland and southwestern Germany on the shores of Lake Constance. (Look for the area in red on the map below.)


A lot of Swiss drive north to this area to take advantage of the discounted shopping (thanks to the Euro shopping in Germany is a lot more affordable than it is in Switzerland.) Interestingly enough we happened to arrive today during "Fasnachtstermine sum Herunterladen," which is basically a European form of Mardi Gras (our area celebrates it too.) Anyway, the festival made an ordinary visit a lot more interesting. The town was pretty cool I thought. I loved walking down the tight streets underneath all the streamers, and the kids got a kick out of all the costumes. My favorite thing was probably looking at all the fresco paintings on several of the buildings facades. Anyway, today was our first trip to another country from Zurich. It was so strange to think we could just drive an hour and be in a different country, but that's what it's like over here. We're enjoying the experiences.