Fall in Zürich

Just a few fall pics from around my apartment. This fall has not been very pretty here. There are a bunch of these trees though which turn a fun orange:



Of course I have no idea what kind of tree it is. Here we are walking in the forest to the gym. The forest isn't even trying to look nice this year. Greens, yellows, and browns:





And here are some berries that look a lot like grapes:



Here is one of many green trees on the science campus at the ETH:



I never manage to get a pic of this tree in full color with all of its leaves. It's always a brilliant yellow in the fall and since it's surrounded by ugly buildings it always stands out. It's a maple and when I grow up and have my own house I'm going to plant all maple trees to get awesome fall colors:



The real reason why I took some fall pics this year is because I love the ivy that grows on some buildings here - it turns bright red and is really pretty.











And this is my favorite tree. It's at the end of our street so I see it all the time and it changed color back in August and stayed pretty for 2 full months before dropping its leaves. It really stands out though you can't tell that from this picture.

Hiking Around Flims

Yesterday was cold but sunny so we decided to fit in one last hike for the season. It was more of a walk in the woods as we had to stay pretty low (below tree line) to avoid snow and below-freezing temperatures.

There is a gorge in Flims that was created by the Rhine river and it's supposedly the "grand canyon" of Switzerland. Well we didn't find it all that impressive or even very pretty. We actually haven't found anything about Flims as impressive or beautiful as other places in Switzerland and we've been there 3 times already. But there were a few nice views on our hike, just nothing like what we've seen on our other hikes. Maybe we've just become picky.

It started out pretty cold. We took a break for a snack and Martin warmed himself in the sun:



The forest around us was about 90% evergreen trees and those that weren't evergreen were either still green or yellow or brown but I found a little baby tree growing all by itself that was pretty! Can you see it here:



A little closer:



Really close:



Martin patiently waiting while I admire my little tree:



Here's a nice view of the gorge and some mountains in the background:



There is a gourmet restaurant up in these woods called Conn. We just sat and had a drink on the patio of it, basking in the warm sunshine. You need a reservation to be able to sit and eat on the patio (well you could sit and eat inside without a reservation but that's not much fun). Next time.

There is a really pretty, clear lake called Lag la Cauma. You can swim in it in the summer time but when it's fall it's just for admiring:







And another pretty view on our way back down to the bus stop:

Fall Balconies

I couldn't help myself, I bought some more plants for our balcony. I bought different types of heather which seems to be what people here plant in the fall. It might last all winter it seems to be a sort of evergreen. Anyway, I took some pics of it. I also took a few pics of our new woodpile on our smaller balcony. It's not the biggest woodpile ever but it'll make us a few nice fires this winter.

Hiking: Ebenalp to Wasserauen: Nick's Pictures

I stole some of Nick's pictures because he obviously was able to take lots of pictures of Martin and myself from our hike yesterday. So here are some of those.

Hiking: Ebenalp to Wasserauen

Yesterday we headed to Appenzell, in northeastern Switzerland, to do what is likely to be our last hike this season. It was cloudy and foggy the entire way to the start of the hike but once we took the cable car up to Ebenalp (~1600 meters up) we got above the clouds and enjoyed a gorgeous sunny day. The clouds were neat though so I took a lot of pictures of them:









After a grueling hour of hiking, the boys needed to refuel already so we stopped for some sausage and rösti (not me I wasn't even hungry yet we had just started!):



Here's where we had stopped to eat:



After eating we hiked along this really steep ridge. The path was narrow and rocky but thankfully there was a cable to hang onto so we wouldn't fall over and die:



This might be a better picture of it:



The clouds and fog in the valley we were heading down into:



Another refueling station, but this time for beer and hot chocolate:



Seealpsee, right before we headed back under the clouds. Beautiful little lake and valley. I was happy to be done with the steep narrow rocky snowy icy muddy part of the hike.

Exploring the Bodrum Peninsula

On our last day in Bodrum we decided to rent a private boat for the day and explore all the hidden coves along the Bodrum peninsula. Remember all those boats in the harbor? You could walk up to most of them and ask them to take you on a tour lasting anywhere from a few hours to a few days. And it was pretty cheap ($250 for an 8-hour trip) considering we got our own private boat, private tour (= quiet and relaxing since the regular tours would have 40+ people per boat), lunch, and tea and cookies included. It would have been a great thing to do with a close group of friends ... so next time we expect some friends to join us.

Turns out September/October is the low season for tourism in Bodrum so we really lucked out and there were hardly any other boats out at all the day we went out. A lot of the boats play loud party music and people on them can be quite loud and obnoxious but thankfully we only ran into a few of those such boats and as soon as they came near us our captain would take us away to someplace quiet again.

We visited 4 different areas and we swam in all of them. Martin snorkeled. The water there is incredibly clean and clear and turquoise. Here is our first stop:



This is really the only way I'll swim in the ocean - if it's clean and clear. I hate seaweed or anything brushing up against me in the ocean:



Here's Martin having a snorkel. There weren't many fish around but there were a few:



Our second stop. When we got here some wild boars (and baby boars!) ran out of the shrubs onto the beach but before we could get the camera out to get their picture somebody on another boat jumped into the water and scared them away. It was like being on safari for a second.



Martin snorkeling again. I went in too but Martin never got out and took my picture (okay he did once but it was really blurry so I'll keep it off the blog).



We had a captain and a first mate on our boat, really nice guys, and they taught us to fish for a bit with our leftover bread from lunch. The fish were too smart for us though, they managed to eat the bread off of the fishing hooks without getting caught. I was happy though I don't like fishing and having to watch fish struggle to breathe and then die.

The view looking away from the shore:



Our fourth stop (the third wasn't that great, the shore wasn't very pretty and the water was much deeper so it wasn't the gorgeous clear turquoise):



Looking out away from the shore:



Here's one of the boats with 40+ people on it. The top is all filled with pillows and places to lie out and sun yourself. It just felt weird to me to be in like a big bed area with a bunch of strangers in their speedos.



Having a read on the way back to Bodrum:



More relaxing. This boat was way too big for just the two of us, there were 9 mats for people to lie on on the front of the boat and 4 up on top plus some big comfy couches in the back of the boat by the dining area.



Heading back into Bodrum harbor ... here is the castle with somebody's yacht:



Somebody's big sailboat with Bodrum in the background:



And finally another shot of the harbor - so many boats! Seems like everybody in Turkey must keep a boat here for weekend use: