Burning Snowman, Burger King, and a Castle....
Monday was quite a day for the city of Zurich! All the employees in the city had the day off work to celebrate the anticipation of Spring and Summer. "Sechsilute" is a festival in the middle of the city, complete with parade, costumes, flowers, and a snowman burning at the stakes to complete the ceremony. Yes. You read right....a burning snowman. When David and I first arrived, it was hard to see anything but a giant mob of people, a few mylar balloons, and what look like carnival food tents. Then, we got closer to the circle. I lifted my camera high in the air, trying to catch a peek of what was going on...but all I got was a random arm here, random tree there. So, we decided to try to walk closer to the Lake to see if there would be a better view of the parade. Well, as we were about to cross the street, the parade started up again and the police stopped the pedestrians right where we were--so we got a front row view for a little bit! The parade was absolutely adorable. The participants were all dressed in 18th-century style clothing, and were throwing whole bouquets of flowers into the crowd! I caught two bunches of roses! It was like a cleaned-up version of Mardi Gras with FLOWERS! How sophisticated.
It was actually really exciting to watch. Everyone anxiously watched the clocks, because depending on how long it takes for the fire to work it's way up to the snowman, it will decide whether the summer will be good or bad. It took 11 minutes to burn, and luckily, that means it will supposedly be a pretty good one! :) After the festival started to wind down, David and I took a little stroll around Zurich then headed home on the train (a real one again!) back to Winterthur.
The next day, we got up and went to Burger King for lunch. Yes, Burger King. David had a craving for it, and if you know me, you know I didn't oppose. It was really tasty and hit the spot. Not to mention, it was decorated like a 50s diner with an American flag in a case and everything! However...the prices weren't so American. Normally you would pay, what? About 7 or 8 dollars for a meal? ....for David and I --we paid 30 Swiss Francs!
After BK, we headed up to Kyburg where there is a REAL castle that was first mentioned back in 1027! We walked through the rooms, dungeons, kitchens, torture chambers, courtyards, and chapel. It was absolutely beautiful. The old beds were so little--the Swiss must have been pretty short back in the day. We tried on "Medieval Robes" and tried to lift old cannon balls off little platforms, but they were crazy heavy! We also climbed up one of the towers into a room where the "Iron Maiden" was kept. It was pretty creepy to see, so we didn't stay for long in that room. There were books, and shoes, and other items on display to help us visualize what that people that used to live there looked like. When you looked out the castle windows, you could see for miles. When my family visited Europe when I was 15, I didn't find the whole castle and museum thing to be very cool....maybe it means that I have grown up or something, because it is starting to become more and more interesting! :)
Monday was quite a day for the city of Zurich! All the employees in the city had the day off work to celebrate the anticipation of Spring and Summer. "Sechsilute" is a festival in the middle of the city, complete with parade, costumes, flowers, and a snowman burning at the stakes to complete the ceremony. Yes. You read right....a burning snowman. When David and I first arrived, it was hard to see anything but a giant mob of people, a few mylar balloons, and what look like carnival food tents. Then, we got closer to the circle. I lifted my camera high in the air, trying to catch a peek of what was going on...but all I got was a random arm here, random tree there. So, we decided to try to walk closer to the Lake to see if there would be a better view of the parade. Well, as we were about to cross the street, the parade started up again and the police stopped the pedestrians right where we were--so we got a front row view for a little bit! The parade was absolutely adorable. The participants were all dressed in 18th-century style clothing, and were throwing whole bouquets of flowers into the crowd! I caught two bunches of roses! It was like a cleaned-up version of Mardi Gras with FLOWERS! How sophisticated. 
It was actually really exciting to watch. Everyone anxiously watched the clocks, because depending on how long it takes for the fire to work it's way up to the snowman, it will decide whether the summer will be good or bad. It took 11 minutes to burn, and luckily, that means it will supposedly be a pretty good one! :) After the festival started to wind down, David and I took a little stroll around Zurich then headed home on the train (a real one again!) back to Winterthur. 
The next day, we got up and went to Burger King for lunch. Yes, Burger King. David had a craving for it, and if you know me, you know I didn't oppose. It was really tasty and hit the spot. Not to mention, it was decorated like a 50s diner with an American flag in a case and everything! However...the prices weren't so American. Normally you would pay, what? About 7 or 8 dollars for a meal? ....for David and I --we paid 30 Swiss Francs! 
After BK, we headed up to Kyburg where there is a REAL castle that was first mentioned back in 1027! We walked through the rooms, dungeons, kitchens, torture chambers, courtyards, and chapel. It was absolutely beautiful. The old beds were so little--the Swiss must have been pretty short back in the day. We tried on "Medieval Robes" and tried to lift old cannon balls off little platforms, but they were crazy heavy! We also climbed up one of the towers into a room where the "Iron Maiden" was kept. It was pretty creepy to see, so we didn't stay for long in that room. There were books, and shoes, and other items on display to help us visualize what that people that used to live there looked like. When you looked out the castle windows, you could see for miles. When my family visited Europe when I was 15, I didn't find the whole castle and museum thing to be very cool....maybe it means that I have grown up or something, because it is starting to become more and more interesting! :)
This is so beautiful :)
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