Tuesday, June 10, 2008

First Weekend of Euro 2008

We had a fun and busy weekend.  

Our longtime friend A arrived on Saturday.  He was in Europe for business and had the opportunity to route himself through Zürich.  His arrival also coincided with the first weekend of the Euro 2008 Football championship.  We contemplated whether to watch the games at home or downtown in the "Fan Zone" and decided it was best to watch the games at home so LGG could play.  It was a little too overcast to go up to the Uetliberg, so we thought it might be fun to go downtown to see what was going on.  Food booths and TV viewing areas were set up all over the place.  We had a late lunch at a kebab place in the Niederdorf, stopped by Coop City to pick up souvenir chocolate, fed the ducks at Burkliplatz (if it sounds like we do that a lot, it's because it's true).  LGG had a bratwurst, we visited our favorite climbing tree in the Arboretum, and then ZDG and LGG rode the big ferris wheel.  We then went the the Sprüngli cafe at Paredeplatz for some refreshments and Luxemburgerli.  We then headed home and watched Switzerland play well against the Czech Republic, but they lost.

On Sunday Morning, our mutual Swiss friends joined us for brunch.  And they brought the Nespresso machine, so everyone had coffee.  After eating and chatting for a little while we went for a walk in the woods and then returned to have the dessert.  (LGG thought the brown part (the cake) was good but she didn't like the pink stuff (Raspberry mousse)).  Mutual Swiss friends had driven over, so they took A and his large bag into the city to drop it off at the Hauptbahnhof and we joined them shortly later.  We found them at the 01 Bar on the Limmatquai.  Beers were consumed and afterwards we continued to wander around.  At the base of the Fraumünster was a living statue busker.  LGG enjoyed chasing it around and received a lollipop for her efforts.  The final set of the French Open was being shown in many places and we stopped in a tent to watch the end of the match and have some brats and refreshment.  We walked along the canal and then back to the Hauptbahnhof to see A off.

Monday night was the first game played in Zürich.  The son of ZDG's colleagues had been chosen to accompany the players at the game, so we invited ourselves over to watch the game with mom and little sister while dad and big brother was at the game (their TV is also way bigger than ours).  We did see big brother for two seconds before the cameras moved away.  LGG had fun playing with little sister while we watched the game and chatted.  

This afternoon LGG and I wandered back downtown to feed the ducks at Burkliplatz.  I wonder if fewer people have been coming down to feed them, because they seemed a little more eager than usual.  When we sat down to have a snack, LGG learned why it's not always a good idea to sit under a tree, but fortunately it was a small bird and I had wipes with me.  

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