Swiss Summer 2014

Zürich's 2014 summer weather, unfortunately, wasn't nearly as glorious as the summer of 2013.  But we didn't let that stop us from taking advantage of the precious sunshine we did get by hanging out by the lake and the Limmat river.  New this summer was a mass purchase of inflatable stand up paddle boards by almost all of our friends.  I tried it once, and being the non-sporty gal that I am wasn't a huge fan.  Kevin (and Mya...when she didn't fall in and nearly drowned) loved it, and they used it every chance they got.  Check out the pics of our summer lakeside and riverside fun...

Lakeside

Another new purchase for the summer - our very own Smokey Joe

Limmat

Although the lack of sun was slightly disappointing this summer, the World Cup more than made up for it.  We went to public viewings & bars galore to watch the games.  The atmosphere was fantastic.

USA vs Germany

This summer we also had some visitors including Sarah (my oldest friend - known her since I was 5 years old when we lived in England).  We had a blast!  We spent a day in Lucerne and took the cogwheel up to Mt. Pilatus, visited the Cailler chocolate factory, and of course relaxed by the lake.

Near the end of summer we (and Mike & Mel) bought inflatable rafts, and took them down the Limmat River.  Rain or shine we were going.  It rained & was a tad chilly, but was so much fun!  Of course we were the only ones on the river and were very entertaining to the people running on the riverbank.  My favorite part of river rafting -- puppy life jackets!  Can you take a baby on a raft?  I really want to do this again next summer!!

Another fun summertime activity we did was watch a film at the Orange Cinema (an outdoor theater set up on the lake from July -Aug).  We saw a pretty crappy movie - A Million Ways to Die in the West, but it was still cool to watch a movie on Lake Zürich.

Yet another new activity this summer was Street Parade.  It's the most attended electronic music parade in all of Europe and is absolutely nuts.  Thousands of people fill the streets to listen to tons of DJ's blasting techno and house music for all of Zürich to hear.  Our Trini London friends came to partake in the madness and of course we had a ball.  Our crew dressed up as hillbillies for the event.

A sea of people filling the streets of Zürich

The crew pregaming at Marc's

And we're off to the first stage of the day

Keeping the electronic music vibe going, we also attended an Avicii concert this summer.  Check out the fun from Avicii Friday...

The summer wasn't a complete debauchery.  Kevin and I also went on hike at Mt. Rigi.  Poor Mya puppy got an electric shock from one of the fences while checking out some sheep.  She survived, but was even more weird than usual for sometime after.