Spring Countryside

I think I've mentioned that we live a ways out of Zurich, such that if you walk two blocks from our house, you're in the Swiss countryside. Previously, we've gone on walks and have thought that the countryside was cute and quaint, which it was, but when spring is added, it's absolutely charming and idyllic. We took about an hour long walk yesterday, and we were astounded by the flowering trees, quaint farms, and majestic mountains in the distance.

Here's our walk in pictures:

There are some flower boxes at the top of our street with some beautiful pansies in them. In fact, there are pansies all over town, and they remind me of my Grandma Ranschau. She loves purple pansies. 

Shortly out of town (we're talking about a quarter mile here), the countryside is green and we noticed that most of the trees were in bloom, which you'll get to see in great detail below because I really think they are beautiful. :)

Carsten was amazing during the walk. Seriously, what a great kid :).

Beautiful tree.

A countryside flower box. This reminds me of my mom. I can't quite say why...

Swiss cow! So this was the only farm we passed that we actually saw the dairy cows. So I had to take a photo!

This was a fairly typical sight. Beautiful flowering tree - check. Beautiful meadow with wildflowers - check.

We started walking down a big hill and were greeted with a wonderful view of the valley and the Alps.

We walked through a horse farm. Yes, I said through. The road we were on, which was paved and slightly bigger than 1 lane, actually went through the middle of every farm in the neighborhood. And when I say middle, I mean the road typically went in between the house and the barn. Which made me feel as though I was intruding because most roads skirt the edge of a property. However, it was fun to view a bunch of different little farms.

One farm had a Swiss flag, which was a perfect photo op. SWISS ALPS! :)

The idyllic countryside.

This was one of the few fields that we saw. Most of the countryside seemed to be pasture, and this brings up a point of confusion for me. What do farms here to do earn money? Because I don't think they do a lot with cultivated fields like they do in Iowa...

At the end of our walk this was the view from our street. Can you tell what it is? It's paragliders! We see them quite frequently, and I imagine the view was amazing on a day like this.

I can honestly say that it was a very fun walk where we mostly just admired the view, and talked about the farms because, let's be honest, this Iowa girl wants to know how these farms work.