A Gray Day by Bahnof Stadelhofen

In front of the smaller train station, Bahnof Stadelhofen, there is a bike area (not covered), a fountain, some benches, a small outdoor cafe and some other stuff. We were taking the S-Bahn to the burbs for some shopping and I stopped to get a pic of the fountain.

Megna's Swiss German lesson for the day: The S in Stadelhofen is pronounced more like sch than esse. Maybe that is true in German too, I dunno. I just go by what the announcer says on the train.

McDonalds - Now With Fossils

The pregnant lady was hungry so we stopped by the McDonalds in Uster to pick up a quick bite before heading back to Zurich. The stairs up to the second floor had a display case containing a variety of dinosaur stuff and amongst that was a fossilized Apatosaurus skull.

The plaque states a bunch of stuff in German including the origins of the fossil - Como Bluff, Wyoming. I guess dinosaur fossils are cheap.

Storing Bikes at the Train Stations

Bikes are everywhere around Zurich and most of them are never locked up. So what does one do with their bicycle if they are taking the train, either the local S-bahn or the longer international trains? Leave them at the train station of course! The train stations all generally have covered bike racks where bicyclists can park and take the trains solo. The bike parking pictured above is at Uster bahnof, a 10 minute S-bahn ride from Zurich HB (hauptbahnof).

Each train also has a small area where bicyclists can board with their bikes if they choose.

Zurich is really a bike-friendly area!

Bonding Over Chaos

S had some problems making friends with the kids in the neighborhood because they speak Swiss German and she speaks English. A couple of days ago, we heard a couple of the neighbor girls outside our door giggling uncontrollably so I suggested S go out to see what they were doing.

Obviously, they were dropping stuffed animals in a bag from our floor over the railing to the basement floor. S decided to take out a couple of her stuffed animals and join in the fun. The girls seemed to have a ton of fun and spent a couple of hours running up and down the stairs.