Playing in Zurich

There was rain in the forecast for today, so we decided not to plan another hiking trip but instead to head into Zurich to see the big city. First up was the Swiss National Museum.

Exterior of the museum

Malorie (black coat), Mary (purple), Joey (blue), and Lily (just her head) heading into the museum 

Ancient Roman sarcophagus with inscription in memorial of a two year old girl

Copy of the oldest completely preserved bread - over 5500 years old!

None of my other pictures from inside the museum came out very well, but there was a nice exhibit with lots of things from Ancient Rome, a really neat and interactive exhibit of the archaeology of Switzerland, lots of cool things from Europe in the Renaissance, and lots more. Afterwards we walked around a little and bought ourselves some lunch.

Filling up at a city fountain after the museum

We love the fountain all over Europe!

For lunch we tried a German style of hot dog. Instead of slicing the bun in half, one end is cut off and a hole is punched in and condiments and the hot dog are placed inside

Sampling cheese at a market

Then we went to visit the Zurich Toy Museum. It was a very tiny museum (one room plus a loft), and when we first walked in and saw the rows of glass cases filled with old toys I didn't think the kids would enjoy it much. However, the gentleman working there was super nice, and kept bringing things out for the kids to see and touch, pointing out interesting things in the displays, and encouraging us to play with and enjoy the museum. There was a little corner of really neat toys for kids to play with which we enjoyed, plus all of the things the museum worker kept bringing out. He really made the visit so much fun for us - I wish I would have gotten his name.

All of us squished into the tiniest elevator ever to get up to the museum (I'm wearing Katie in a baby carrier)

Enjoying the toys in the play corner

There was a really neat toy market stand built in 1880 for two Swiss boys, Jürg and Alex Stockar.

At first I told the kids not to touch it, as it was very old, but the museum guy told us to go ahead and play with it!

All the little drawers were filled with tiny little foods for the market, which Mary promptly emptied out and reorganized. Katie "helped" too

When I asked Katie what she was doing, she said, "I'm making!" She set the pan down and held out her hand to stop me from touching it saying "Don't touch! It's hot!" - in just the same way I do when I put a hot pan on the table, haha!

The museum guy got out this remote and let the kids control the electric train in the display case

He told us this was the oldest toy in the museum. It's supposed to be chickens pecking at their food. Here's a video of Joey working a newer model that was in the toy area.

The whole loft was filled with space themed toys (including lots of Star Wars!). Lily really liked this astronaut costume.

The one in the red shorts is a Bild Lilli doll, originally released in Germany and the predecessor of the Barbie doll that would later be released in the United States.

Old wooden toys I thought were interesting

The kids did this museum scavenger hunt and each earned a free toy

Mary chose this Pokemon one

Joey got a Playmobil knight figure

Lily found a new LPS toy

Katie got a puppy finger puppet

Next up was a visit to Zurich's largest toy store - Franz Carl Weber. There were four floors of toys to look at, and a big dragon slide the kids could use to go from one floor to another!

Katie watching some kind of show in German with creepy puppets

Kid sized loft where you could read or play with toys

That picture on the wall is the largest jigsaw puzzle I've ever seen - 32,000 pieces!

Yours for just 349 Swiss francs (about $360).
In terms of dollars spent per hour of entertainment, maybe not a bad deal!
But I have no idea where such a puzzle could be assembled in the average home.

This toy double stroller costs more than my actual double stroller.

It was raining when we left the toy store and headed for the train station, but the kids were so excited to finally use their new umbrellas! I picked these up for just $1 each at the Dollar Tree before we left Wisconsin. I had been wondering whether it was worth it to haul around five umbrellas on our trip to Europe. Answer: yes, definitely worth it!