Elle Takes Europe 2026 - Day 9: Elle Takes the Lead
We woke up this morning after our first great night's sleep of the trip. Both the hotels in Venice and Dublin had little to no air conditioning, so being in a cool room helped out a lot. When we booked this trip, we assumed Zurich would be one of the milder stops, but we arrived to 90+ degrees on some of the hottest days on record in Zurich. That meant we had to change our plans to more indoor activities. We woke up at 8 AM and were down at the hotel’s breakfast at 9 AM. Jenn got eggs with bacon, sausage, mushrooms, and hash browns, and I had the eggs Benedict. It was a delicious breakfast and a great way to start the day.
From breakfast, we called for a taxi, and it took a couple of tries to find one that would take Elle without a car seat. Eventually, we did, and we drove the 15 minutes to their Natural History Museum. It was perched up on the hilltop, connected to the University of Zurich. Before going into the museum, we explored around the area which overlooked the city of Zurich. Although it was hot out, it was crystal clear, and so we wanted to take it in. We continue to be so impressed with the beauty of the city.
We weren’t the only ones with the idea of bringing our kid to the Natural History Museum on such a warm day. It wasn’t packed, but it was mostly filled with families of kids around Elle’s age. We parked the stroller and let Elle explore, leading the way. It’s so fun to see her start to build some independence, even if that can test our patience at times. She didn’t necessarily gravitate to any specific animals on this visit, but she went from one to another, saying what they were and giggling at how big they were. It's the most fun I’ve seen Elle have on the trip so far, and it was a great way to spend the morning.
We took an Uber back down to the Opera House. We tried to get in and take a quick tour, but it was closed (they were setting up for a big outdoor concert). Instead, we grabbed Elle a ham sandwich and croissant at a French bakery and walked along the lake for a while, stopping in the shade whenever we had an opportunity. Elle is in love with the boats and the birds, so it made a hot walk back to our hotel far more pleasant. When we got back to the hotel, we ate the sandwich and croissant and put Elle down for a nap. I caught up on some of these posts and work while Jenn surfed her phone and also closed her eyes.
When Elle woke up, we left the room and decided to go out exploring. We didn’t necessarily have a destination in mind, but we just wanted to do some light shopping and stay out of the sun as much as we could. And that’s exactly what we did, we walked up and down Zurich’s main shopping area, hopping into a few stores to cool off before continuing on. Eventually, we made our way to Zeughauskeller for dinner. It’s a massive restaurant in a 15th-century building. Unfortunately, like most places in Zurich, they didn’t have AC, so we had to move our seats to get closer to the fans. I started off with their house beer, and Jenn had a glass of white wine. We started off with the beef tartare, and followed that up with a sausage dish for me, and a steak for Jenn. Elle had chicken nuggets, although she preferred my sausage. When we were done, we went around the corner, grabbed some ice cream, and ate it on a bench before going back to the hotel and calling it a night. We did a great job of making the best of an extremely hot day in Zurich, and we hope to replicate that again tomorrow.
