August 7 –
I had to work again today (two days in a row…. sacrilege!) but got to focus more on the dissemination issues rather than data compilation and storage issues from yesterday. So while I got up early to “go to the office” the family eventually got up and out for their day in the pouring rain! Yup, our brilliant summer weather from yesterday deserted us completely and we had an amazing thunderstorm last night with some of the loudest thunderclaps I’ve ever heard!
The family made their way to the Natural History Museum where they spent several hours enjoying the exhibits even though all the descriptions were in German. Gillian liked the big hands-on room with lots of problem solving puzzles which Frank wasn’t fond of due to the heat and the interesting odors emanating from some of the occupants! He liked the bird room best (which with the scent of dead birds was apparently an improvement!) Duncan liked the room with the “archaic mammals” – a room dedicated to the evolution of mammals from their historical counterparts as captured by fossils.
After a pit stop at the hotel for fresh batteries, they went in search of lunch and found a nice little place in a side arcade. For the first time, there were portion sizes that were not quite as large as they could (should?) be! They did some shopping and then picked up the theme from yesterday and continued their wandering – this time up to the old town where there were buildings from the 13th century and some they suspected were from even earlier. Afterwards they headed back to meet me since I was done with my day’s work. We wandered around some more to get our daily dose of ice cream – we found a real gelato stand today! And during our wanders we ran into the mom and cute little girl we shared a compartment with on the train on Sunday! It is now official: we can’t go anywhere without running into someone we know!
Then it was off to my friend Gabi’s house for dinner: Cheese fondue! Apparently, the Swiss don’t really eat fondue in the summer (at least not the German speaking ones I’m told!) We enjoyed much wine, cheese, more ice cream, more wine and of course single malt whiskey – of which both Gabi and Frank are fans and collectors. We discussed jazz and blues and other music and eventually needed to make our way home. Tomorrow we have another transition: Zurich.
/san/
[Pedometer: 23,779 or just over 12 miles since we’re using Frank strides again. I probably managed less than 5 miles of that… :-(]
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