Day Six - Rapperswil and Hurden

 Today Ceci and Verena were both in school so Mary had the day off. It was rainy in the morning, but seemed to be clearing up, so we decided to take the train to Rapperswil for lunch. Malorie had some appointments and things to do, so Mary and I were on our own.

Waiting for our train at the station

Cobblestone streets, quintessential old Swiss town, complete with castle.

View from the castle. Malorie's new house will be on that island in the middle of the lake.

There are some deer that live in this fenced in area near the castle.

Mary said this reminded her of Howl's moving castle, and made her want to live in an apartment above a flower shop where she would work. Of course she wants a balcony full of plants.

Staring competition.

Flower garden - smelled amazing!

We walked all over the city and explored lots of shops. Mary purchased a few things to bring back home for her and her friends.

Our lunch - Mary tried gnocchi and I had a bacon and mushroom salad.

This little guy flew in right next to Mary's head and almost landed on our table! He kept hanging around looking for handouts, and we did see him actually landing on other tables in the restaurant.

Finished with a lemon ice cream!

We sat on a bench near the lake and watched birds for awhile. There are some really cool diving birds and lots of baby birds too. We played a game called Battle of Polytopia on Mary's phone - it's like a virtual board game and kind of reminds me of Settlers of Catan. 

We took the train home again and Malorie picked up the girls from school. Time for Mary to babysit! Malorie sent her on a walk with the girls to a nearby playground that they frequently visit. She assured Mary that Ceci and Verena knew the way and had been there lots of times so they wouldn't get lost. 

While they were gone, Malorie and I drove to Hurden to check out their new house. It's very much a mess of a constructions site, but you can tell it's going to be stunning when it's completed. Here's some photos I took.

Mechanical room - there's a lot going on here!

This will be the main living room - here's Malorie looking out a giant sliding glass door in a wall of windows facing the lake - the view is definitely the best part!

This will be the front door - love the stone they chose for the outside of the house!

Inside looking from the second floor down into the living room. There are no stairs installed yet so we had to climb scaffolding to get up here. 

View of the side of the house - the dug out area is going to be a swimming pool.

Most of the materials and heavy equipment have to arrive here by boat. They are using a temporary floating platform to hold it all. This will eventually be a private dock and boathouse and beach - can't wait to come back and swim in the lake and enjoy this amazing view!

More of the lake view

We got back to the house and it was time for me to put in a day's work - it's kind of weird living in two time zones. I have a day in Zurich time first, and then immediately after a work day in Eastern Standard time.

Mary and the girls came back home shortly after we got returned, and immediately we could tell something was amiss. Ceci was especially upset. Turns out there is a private playground that they usually walk past on the way to the regular public playground, and Ceci and Verena have always wanted to go in there. So they told Mary that THAT one was the usual playground and they went in and played! Mary said there were no signs indicating it was private, but after they had already been there for over an hour, someone came outside and told them it was private. But this person could only speak German, so Mary had no clue what they were saying. Ceci understands German though, and told Mary it was a private playground so they left and came home - awkward! Ceci was devastated and so worried that she had gotten Mary in trouble and she would have to go to jail - poor thing! 

Ate dinner, finished working, went to bed - another full day in Switzerland in the books!