Tuerlersee, Uetliberg, and Raclette

 In the morning we went to Tuerlersee, which is a protected area, and we walked the circumference of the lake. It took us about an hour. The lake was alive with birds and ducks, and there were even blackberries to snack on.There are signs all over Switzerland, it seems every block or less, saying Wanderwege, with  yellow signs which identify the destination. This path was well signed with these yellow arrows. This week is a school vacation in Switzerland, and many people were out walking and hiking and jogging along these trails. It seems you can get everywhere in SW either on foot on one of these trails, or by bus. The roads don't seem crowded with cars, which is just as well, as the roads are narrow and so winding that there is no space to pass. This is a link to some pictures of the lake.

http://www.raonline.ch/pages/ch/gal/chpanomi05A02.html


http://www.zuerich.com/de/besucher/Erleben/Natur/Uetliberg.html
 Another strenuous climb, this one up a mountain near the village. It was all up, and the sign said it should take 1 hour and 10 minutes, and sure enough, in spite of panting, and stopping numerous times to catch our breath, we made it to the top. The view was unbelievable, as you can see if you click on the link above.
Zurich was spread out at our feet, with the lake beside it. But in the distance you could also see the unbelivable view of the white capped mountains, which seem to hover above the hills. We could see the village, Wettsweil, where we started, far below us on the opposite side of the mountain.  The descent was a lot longer in distance, but much gentler. There is a train that will take you almost all the way to the top, and I saw mothers pushing strollers to the top from the train. Switzerland is dense in terms of villages and cities. The villages in this area are only a km or 2 apart, but there are cows grazing on every piece of farmland, and everything is still green. Even the forests are groomed in this neat and orderly country.

Our reward for our strenuous activities today was dinner of raclette. Maria has a tabletop raclette maker, which is a grill with small pans below the broiler, and a rectangular pan above. We place slices of raclette cheese in the pans below, and mushrooms in the pan above. The melted cheese was poured over boiled potatoes, and it was all delicious, and fun to cook.

Maria and Josef live in a kind of co-op, and tomorrow is a lunch for people who live here, and tomorrow Maria and a friend are the cooks. Food makes the world go round.

This is a link to raclette as served in restaurants.
http://fxcuisine.com/Default.asp?language=2&Display=184&resolution=high

enjoy!