Zurich, Switzerland

We made it to Zurich in good time and went to Markus' office at the University of Zurich (he's an Assistant Professor of Neurobiology). While he checked his e-mail, we took in the expansive view from the balcony outside his office. The greenery was soothing, but we soon found a distraction: from the balcony we spotted a fox living under the foundation slab of one of the buildings. We went down to investigate and found that two foxes had established a den, right there in the middle of the campus. It was a wonderful "close encounter," but there was a better one yet to come.

We had dinner at a restaurant on campus as we watched the sun set. As we walked back to the car, we saw a small, fuzzy shape scurry across the path. Before I finished saying "What was that?" Markus had dived into the bushes and come out holding a hedgehog. It had reflexively curled itself up into a protective ball, as hedgehogs do, so we were able to pass it from hand to hand to all have a look. We set it back on the path, and before too long he (she?) uncurled and wandered away.

We only spent one night in Zurich, at the E.'s apartment. Markus got up early the next morning to head off for his compulsory military service, and Franziska set off to work. Before long, we were out the door. We didn't get to see much of Zurich, because we went straight to the train station and off to Bern.