Zurich to Frankfurt by Train: the Technicalities

Last week, the husband was in Frankfort for work and I took the kids up to meet him and look around Frankfurt. That is in Germany, just in case you forgot. :) I will post about the trip but I am too tired to do more than post the technical details of how to get there by train.

To go by train, start at Zurich's hauptbahnhof and take one of the trains to Basel SBB. We took the TGV whose end destination was Paris and then disembarked in Basel at the main station. From there, we took an ICE (Germany's high speed line) to Frankfurt. The total trip was 4 hours - 1 hour to get to Basel and 3 to travel from Basel to Frankfurt.

A few details. We didn't reserve seats - big mistake. On the way to Frankfurt, it wasn't an issue. I was a little confused about where we could sit so I asked a guy who was checking tickets and he said that in Switzerland you could sit anywhere. Fine, dandy, fantastic.

The ride to Basel was in the middle of the day on Friday and the train wasn't crowded. We sat at a table and played Uno. The ride from Basel to Frankfurt started getting crowded but not uncomfortably so. On the way back was a different matter. The train from Frankfurt to Basel was packed. There were people sitting on the floor. We didn't reserve seats but we found enough for 3 people with baby riding in arms. But then someone had reserved S's seat. That made her cry but we found her another one. An hour or so later someone had reserved mine but that person saw me with the baby and let me sit there for one stop. Pity seat, but I'll take it. We did sit for the entire ride but I think the three of us sat in a total of 7 different seats.

Lesson learned: if it is a busy time, spend the 5 CHF and reserve a seat.

To find out about long distance trains within Switzerland or its neighboring countries, visit SBB.ch. I conveniently linked to the English portion of the site. :)

Baby Food Done the Swiss Way

Baby Boy is now 6 months old plus a little bit and has been trying out the jarred baby foods here in Switzerland. I was planning on starting slowly and just introducing simple, mashed up versions of what we eat but Baby Boy has his own plan - to eat as much food as quick as possible.

He is still nursing a ton and has gained 1 kg since I took him to be weighed a couple of weeks ago. Incidentally, there is a free service in Switzerland where you can take your baby to be weighed and have his growth measured between well baby visits. This service is provided by a nurse and she will also answer questions about parenting or whatever baby related question you have. If you are in Switzerland and want to find the local service, it is under the Muetterberatung.

So far Baby E has tried plain, mashed avocado, banana, and cooked sweet potato. All with mixed success.

There are three brands of jarred baby food that I've seen, HiPP, Holle, and the dreaded Nestle. Holle is bio (organic) and available at the pharmacy or reformhaus. It is the most expensive and at least the jarred apple and blueberries tastes terrible. HiPP and Nestle are both available at grocery stores and HiPP is mostly organic.

They have some strange baby food concoctions here. The first meats (4 month olds) are chicken or veal. Baby E looked at me like I was playing a cruel joke on him when I gave him meat. There are other mixtures that are very Swiss. Bircher muesli, risotto, spaghetti, all pre-mashed for a 6 moth old.

All those options and Baby E is sitting here chewing on his feet.

The Farmer's Market at Hauptbahnhof

Today the kids and I went to Zurich's Hauptbahnhof (Zurich's main train station) to check out the weekly farmer's market and see what was in season.

For those in the Zurich area, the farmer's market is upstairs in the huge hall every Wednesday. 

The girl, who has never voluntarily consumed a grape in her life, begged for me to buy grapes. I didn't think there was a chance of a snowball in a hot place that she would eat them but I bought them anyway. She ate a significant number of them. Win!

I also picked up some Swiss chard, an eggplant for baba ganoush, some orange carrots, purple carrots and REAL CHEDDAR CHEESE. Yes, I am yelling, that is how exciting cheddar is.

Before I move on to the cheddar, I must tell you about the brilliance of the farmer's market. The produce vendors really know how to get kids to eat new things. S doesn't eat carrots. She just doesn't. At one organic stand, the woman asked S if she wanted a carrot to eat. She seemed dubious but took it anyway and ate it. Then the woman asked her if she wanted a purple carrot! Yes, she did. So I bought both. We'll see if I can recreate the magic at home.

Now for the cheddar. Switzerland has a lot of cheese but not a lot of cheddar. I miss American cheddar - specifically Tillamook. That is unavailable here but at the farmer's market, the British Cheese Centre has a stall and sells real cheddar.

What's Going On In Here?

Tonight I made Stella's Banana Brownies because I had bananas and no baked chocolate products. This happened after big girl S went to bed and I saved some for her for tomorrow. The husband came into the kitchen to see what I was doing and commented that every time I bake something after S goes to bed, she comes into the kitchen the next morning and asks, "what is going on in here?"

The husband was puzzled. Where did she pick up that phrase? I told him that is what I say when I come in to see that she is doing something she shouldn't be doing. The husband's theory is she uses it exactly the same way but the thing that I shouldn't be doing is baking without telling her first. :) Sounds about right.

Last night she spent the night at a friend's house for the first time. She loved it and cried when I took her home. When did my baby get so big?

The Time We Almost Accidentally Crossed the Border

We were walking around Konstanz, Germany, looking for a restaurant to eat at for dinner when I looked up and saw a line of cars, the Swiss flag, and the word Zoll. I assume that means border crossing. We had almost accidentally crossed back into Switzerland from Germany on foot instead of by train. Oops.

Konstanz (Constance in English) is located on the German/Swiss border on Bodensee (Lake Constance). For the Swiss, it is a place to buy cheap German goods and for the tourists, it has a cute old town complete with medieval  city wall and lake. The city is big enough that I will want to map out where we go first.

Oh, and if you order a doner kebab for lunch, you will get a vinegar-flavored coleslaw on it. All for under 4 Euros. Yum.

Stella's Banana Brownies

A wonderful woman and mom named Stella gave me this recipe, oh two years ago? It is my go-to recipe when I just must have brownies and now I am sharing it with you, all 5 of my readers. :)

Once you get the hang of the recipe, it can be whipped up in 5-10 minutes and in the oven to cook. Upshot is yummy brownies within an hour.

Stella's Banana Brownies

¼ C butter
¼ C bananas, mashed (I use 2 bananas)
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
½ c all-purpose flour
6 T cocoa
¼ t baking powder
1/8 t salt

Melt the butter in the microwave or on the stove and put it in a large mixing bowl. Add the mashed bananas and stir. Then add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Be careful about adding the eggs if the butter is still hot because it might slightly cook the eggs. I will not tell you how I know that.

In a separate bowl or very large measuring cup, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Then dump it all into the wet ingredients and mix well.

Pour into a (greased) 9x9 pan and bake on 350 for 30-35 minutes or until a knife or toothpick comes out clean. I usually skip the greasing the pan step but these also don't usually last long enough for other people to see them.

To add a minute amount of nutrition I use whole wheat flour instead of white and I think that turns out fine.

Yum!

My Kid Has Heart

Today my 5 year old had her third soccer football practice ever. We show up and the only kids on her team that made it are two boys that are at least a year older who also have more experience with the game. They ran some drills, practice passing and kicking and other fundamentals and the boys clearly had an experience advantage over her.

My big girl really played hard though. And besides a purple Hello Kitty hair tie, she was dressed entirely in pink. I loved watching her run after the ball to kick it in the goal and afterward when I asked her how she thought she did, she told me. She said, "I was great today."

I couldn't have been prouder of her.

Long Time, No Post

School is out for the summer and then S starts up with second year kindergarten in 5 weeks. I could see the look of joy on the forest kindergarten teacher's face when I wished her a happy vacay. lol

Summer break here is only 5 weeks and they spread the rest of break around the school year so kids have plenty of down time. Good for the kids but not so good for the mom. This is just one of Switzerland's many sexist policies designed at keeping moms at home where they belong. A friend was telling me that she was applying for jobs and the employer didn't want to hire a PT employee, which BTW is very common here, but at the same time didn't think she could take care of her school age kids properly and work.

In a lot of ways, it is still the 1950s in Switzerland.

Go Germany!

Germany won their World Cup game against England and Zurich celebrated. One of the ways that Zurich celebrates sports victories is by driving through the tram stop, Bellevue, honking and waving flags.

There was a party atmosphere down on the waterfront. Sidewalk cafes were packed and tvs were on everywhere. I didn't know whether the Swiss would be rooting for the Germans but they were.

And Germany pulled it out, 4-1 against England. I saw the first two goals and at least the first one, I felt bad for England's goalie.

About half the people I know here are German thanks to the Schengen Agreement and they are all pumped that Germany continues on. 

For Tulip: Hopp Schwiiz!