It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Tyler and I have been sadly distracted since our return from Rome with a very sick kitty. Our sweet Willie decided to stop eating a few weeks ago and lost a massive amount of weight in a very short period of time. All his body fat (and if you’ve met him, you know that’s a lot) was directed to his liver causing it to shut down. He was diagnosed with hepatic lipidosis and has advanced stage liver disease. He spent a week in the vet hospital getting fluids and food and we are happy to report that he’s back home with us and starting to improve. It will be a long road to recovery but we’re hopeful and pleased with his progress so far. He’s starting eating a bit on his own but still requires hand/force feeding three times a day. He’s a tough cookie and hope he’s got a few more lives left; he’s only used up about 3 (that we KNOW of) so far!

In more exciting news, the season changed seemingly overnight! Last Friday it looked like this out.

This morning we woke up to this!

Zurich loves Christmas. Since there is no Thanksgiving, the holiday season has reigned unchecked for the the entire month of November. The department stores are fully stocked and decorated. There are two Christmas markets, one open air at the opera plaza and a covered one at the main train station. At the Christmas markets you’ll find food stalls of all kinds (from your typical bratwursts to American style BBQ and Himalayan food). There are also crafts and gifts stalls, a skating rink and at the train station, a giant Christmas tree decorated with Swarovski crystals. And all around the city you can find mulled wine kiosks on many street corners. I will visit the markets at night to get some pictures but here is the main shopping street, the Bahnhofstrasse the other night all lit up.

And here are some Santas outside of a sporting goods store giving out cured meats and cheese.

With the change in weather, Tyler and I are exploring some indoor activities. Last weekend we went to the wonderful Kunsthaus Museum. We went to check out a special exhibit of Spanish Surrealist painter Joan Miro. We decided while we were there to check out their permanent collection and were floored by the quality and breadth. There we saw masterworks by Picasso, Degas, Chagall, Monet, van Gogh, Pissaro, Rousseau, Munch, Mondrian, the Dutch masters and many more. Even better was the fact that there were no lines or crowds. It was mostly just us and a few starry eyed art students. At one point we found ourselves in a room with three wall sized waterlillies paintings by Monet and not another sole besides us and one girl quietly sketching in the corner. It was amazing, especially having just come from Rome where we viewed the Sistine Chapel with hundreds of other visitors being shushed and reprimanded for taking photos by armed guards. The Kunsthaus Museum is now high on our list of places to take visiting guests! We were there for several hours and still didn’t see everything and they have special shows and collections regularly throughout the year.

Our holiday travel plans are somewhat up in the air at this time as we’re waiting to see how Willie recovers. In the meantime we’re enjoying the hush of the snow and the the beauty of the Swiss holiday season. We’re looking forward to breaking in our snowboots and taking some more hikes and exploring other trappings of the season. On Thanksgiving we have reservations for a Raclette restaurant (raclette, not fondue, being the actual Swiss national dish) and on Saturday we will entertain our first ever guests as my friend Ellie and her husband Brian are coming over for dinner. I wish everybody a wonderful Thanksgiving. It’s so hard to be away from my family on this holiday in particular and I’m missing them very much but am feeling so very thankful to be have this opportunity to experience and explore this part of the world with the love of my life.

I have been so distracted by Autumn that I have not posted in far too long. This being my first time living outside of California, I’m experiencing my first real fall complete with bursting colors and air cracking with a crystalline chill. It’s so cool, you guys! Over the past few weeks I’ve watched the leaves light themselves on fire, burn out to a dark and rusty ember and cascade to the ground. Each day I watch the subtle changes in the trees outside our windows. Tyler and I have also gone on some stunning hikes, the longest being a 5 hour romp through the wooded paths, farms, lakes and towns in the hills above the city. Here are some photos I’ve taken on hikes over the past few weeks.

As a fall treat, my friend Ellie and I decided to check out the Dolder Grand Hotel. It was recently voted the best hotel in Switzerland and happens to be within walking distance to our house. We wondered all around and checked out their impressive pop art collection and had hot cocoa on the terrace. It’s a grand hotel indeed. It reminded me a bit of the Overlook hotel from The Shining because of its grandeur and remote (seeming) location. It’s really not that remote at all (like I said, it’s practically in our backyard) but I can imagine what it will look like if we get snow. I hope there is no murderous topiary!

I’ve really been enjoying the season. We had butternut squash soup for dinner recently, there are wonderful wild mushrooms to be had at the farmer’s market, I treated myself to a fancy European lady scarf and have started wearing gloves! I know it’s not that exotic to most but this California girl having a blast.

Wow, what a busy couple of weeks we’ve had! Last weekend I was off on a British adventure (separate post on that to come) but the weekend before that Tyler and I spent getting our new apartment in livable shape. That Friday our shipment from the US arrived; 30 boxes big and small. We didn’t ship any furniture so the bulk of it was clothes, housewares and pictures. I was most excited for all my kitchen things to arrive. We had been living with one small pot, a paring knife and plastic plates and forks since we left our temporary apartment the last week of August.

My preciouses waiting to be sorted and put away!

I have been cooking up a storm ever since my goodies came! I found a store that sells Mexican food items (dried chilies, beans, masa harina, tortillas, hot sauce etc.). Last night we had enchiladas with homemade enchilada sauce. We’ve also had chicken tacos, black bean soup and chili. They don’t even sell dried beans in most of the stores here so this store has been a godsend. Mexican food is the closest to a taste of home we’ve had so far.

On Saturday we finally got it together to go and buy a real bed. We’ve been sleeping on the Ikea pull-out we bought (which, if you’re planning on visiting you’ll be happy to hear, is quite comfortable) but it was time for an upgrade. Our new bed will arrive in about 2 weeks. There are two notable weirdnesses about the beds here the first being the sizes. Swiss bed sizes are unique so none of our linens from home will fit. The other thing is they are obsessed with jersey sheets! I hate jersey sheets! If I wanted to sleep on a giant tee-shirt I’d wear a giant tee-shirt to bed! It has been nearly impossible to find nice quality cotton sheets here. And since the sizes are weird, I can’t just order some from the US or buy them in a different country when I’m visiting. Anyhow, talk about first world problems but seriously, my kingdom for a high thread count cotton sheet in Swiss bed size!

We spent all day Sunday getting those giant wardrobes erected. We now just have to get the shelves and drawers sorted and we’ll have someplace to put all the stuff we just got shipped! Tyler and I also bought a couple of new furniture pieces at our favorite thrift store (Brockenhause) to go with our fabulous red couch. We got a groovy chair and a TV stand. Now all we need is a coffee table, a small dining table, a desk for me and a bookcase or two. Things are still a mess but it’s finally coming together!

Greetings all! This post is later than I would have liked but we have had so much going on the past week I feel lucky to have a few hours this morning to sort through the madness. I write this from our new living room in Zurichberg sitting on our new red couch! This apartment was completely bare when we moved in. Having come from a fully furnished and serviced temporary place it’s been quite a shock to have to fend for ourselves. The stuff we shipped from home is sitting in Antwerp, Belgium awaiting customs clearance meaning we have a couple of weeks with nothing but what we brought on the plane. Even so, we didn’t ship any furniture so we are pretty much starting from scratch here. Swiss apartments don’t even include lighting fixtures, so we’ve been going to bed early!

First order of business was a bed to sleep on. We bought a sofa bed from Ikea to tide us over until we can decide on a permanent bed. We knew we’d need a guest bed (HINT HINT) anyway so we chose one that we wouldn’t mind sleeping on for a few weeks. Next acquisition was a pan, just one to tide us over until the kitchen stuff comes, and plastic plates and utensils.

I saw a message on the spooger message board from a woman who was selling two enormous Ikea wardrobes. Swiss apartments also don’t have closets so we jumped at the chance. No sense in buying big stuff like that new if we won’t be needing or wanting it back home. Did I mention that these things are enormous? Claire (the selling spoogler) and her family are moving into a place where they won’t fit. We got a good deal on them but she lives very far away, at the bottom of the lake, about an hours drive. Claire offered to help transport them to us in her VW camper van. Seemed so simple at the time. Neither of us knew what an ordeal we were getting ourselves into!

It was decided that Saturday would be the day they would bring the wardrobes. Saturday also happened to be the day of StreetParade, a yearly techno/rave extravaganza in which the city center is blocked off and all Europe’s club types descend to party in the streets making traffic insane.

That morning I was woken at 6:00 by an awful kicking and scratching ruckus coming from the vented door to our balcony. Ripley had tried to climb out the door but got her head stuck and was dangling from her neck! I rushed to her aid and was able to pull her free but she dug a claw into my thumb during the ordeal. It was terrifying and for about 10 minutes I was afraid she was permanently injured and would need to go to the emergency vet. However, she recovered quickly enough and after checking that she could breathe normally, drink and eat I looked to my own wound. My thumb had swollen up and was throbbing.

So, not wanting to die of an infection, we decided to check out this Swiss health care system everyone has heard so much about!

View from the clinic. They are setting up for StreetParade. You can already hear the thumping of the techno music.

We hopped a tram to Bellvue, an area right in the city center and found a pharmacy that had an attached clinic. After about a 15 minute wait I saw a very nice doctor who told me I would need to get “five shots of penicillin for 5 days”. WHAT?!!!? Turns out he meant doses and needs to brush up on his medical English terminology. Since we don’t have insurance yet, my office visit cost $150.

All this time I’m waiting for a call from Claire about when they are gonna come by with the wardrobes. When I finally talk to her she tells me they have to completely disassemble them to fit them into the van and it’s going to take two trips, one hour each way. Ok, then! She arrived by herself for the first load at around 3:30. There are at least 40 individual pieces for each wardrobe including two gigantic and delicate sliding glass doors. It took the each of us a minimum of 20 trips up three flights of stairs with narrow bends to unload. Oh, did I mention it was 90 degrees out? Three hours later Claire arrived with her husband (thank God) and we unloaded the second van full. We finished up just as the sun was setting, looked at all the parts and pieces and said “My God, what have we done?”.

One bag of many. So. Many. Screws.

Daddy showing him how to do it.

Don’t worry, there are more pieces in the hall.

Sunday we made our first attempt at assembly but had to stop because turns out we needed some tools to fix one of the pieces. Now Tyler is in Barcelona and I join him tomorrow. Wardrobe assembly will have to wait until we get back.

In the meantime we got our delivery from an awesome second hand store called Zurcher Brokenhaus (all 2nd hand stores are called brokenhauses or brokies for short). We have achieved couch! No more eating on the bed or sitting on luggage! We also got a TV so I can catch up on America’s Next Top Model. Slowly but surely things are coming together. I can’t wait to get our shipment. I’m gonna cry with joy when I am reunited with my knives!

One last bit of excitement for me. I auditioned for an joined a chorus called Vocadelic! We had our first rehearsal last night. It’s a small group of about 10 singers. Rehearsals are held in both English and German. The director is Rose Ann Dimalanta who is a fabulous musician who, get this, is from Oakland! She is married to a German man. She has played with a lot of greats including Prince (she toured with New Power Generation), Stevie Wonder, Sheila E and Tower of Power. I have yet to ask her if she knows Tina, I could be closer to my goals than eva!

Rose Ann (RAD) with Prince!

I am really excited to be working with her and to be singing again. It seems like a great group of folks; some Swiss, some ex-pats, all seemed pretty laid back (though I’m keeping my eye on one shifty lady).

So, that was this week, phew! Off to Barcelona tomorrow. Auf Wiedersehen, homies!

I had so much fun with my new friend Ellie on Friday, you guys. Ellie and I struck up a correspondence via the spoogler mailing list. She and her husband moved here from Seattle about three months ahead of us. She has been so great with sharing information about their experiences settling in here and moving with animals (they have a dog and a cat). I knew we would get along famously and I was so, so right. When we met for coffee IRL for the first time we talked for hours. She’s a super cool lady and one of the things we have in common is a love for great coffee. We decided to make a day of our fiendish natures and planned a coffee tour of Zurich. Ellie worked as an executive assistant at Starbucks for about 15 years before giving it all up to live la vie en rose and is an actual, certified coffee master! I was in good hands. We started our day at the farmers market at Burkliplatz (I have got to find the umlat in wordpress, that U has one).

Ellie bought some mint for her balcony garden.

Next we went to Spugli for some chocolate sustenance before heading to the Nespresso flagship store which is what a coffee shop for robots would look like. We taste tested three kinds of espresso there and so our coffee tour started off with a bang!

Our next stop was an Italian place called La Stanza. There we sipped cappuccino outside with some very sharp dressed business men and discussed health insurance (amongst ourselves, not the businessmen. I’m sure they were discussing Ferrari stocks).

We then walked from the city center towards the funkier neighborhood where Tyler and I have been living in Kreis 3. Along the way we stopped in some cute but frivolous boutiques selling things with birds on them as well as a great English language bookstore called Pile of Books. Next stop, a roaster called Kaffeepur. I’ve been on the hunt for a medium to light roast coffee since I’ve been here but without any luck. The roaster here told me they just don’t do it since the Swiss love their espresso. He did point me to a nice bean that was on the lighter, fruitier side of dark so I bought a bag to try at home. I should have taken a picture of this cute shop but didn’t.

Our next stop was Benzin und Koffein (Gasoline and Caffeine) just down the street which I had spied from the tram a couple of days prior. There we had some cold brewed Ice coffee that was phenomenal.

Our cold brew coffee.

I also learned from the charming barista that I had been ordering my coffee with sweat (Schweiß) instead of black (schwarz). Note to self: When ordering coffee think “may the schwarz be with you”. The barista, after having a lovely conversation with us about the lack of  an adjectival form for “sweaty” in German, told us about a specialty coffee convention/trade show that just happened to be going on in town that day! Should we go? Well, how could we not!

We bid adieu to our new pal and jumped on a tram headed for a place called Kaufleuten. We really had no idea what to expect and were surprised both by the awesome event space and the buzzy party scene! We had free coffee, danced (sort of) to Prince and Tribe Called Quest, chatted up some Swiss coffee scenesters and even got free drinks (gin and tonic made with cold brewed coffee, yum!) from a couple of hot bartenders. Score!

We ended our highly caffeinated day with a very late lunch in a charming garden restaurant the pedestrian area downtown. As we wandered down the cobble stoned streets of the Niederdorf we both remarked how lucky we were to have the opportunity to live in and explore this beautiful city. What at sweet end to a wonderful day spent in the company of a new friend.

Big news! We got an apartment! It’s the one described in my previous post. Tyler and I pick up the keys tomorrow and can start moving in. Most of our stuff is still on a boat making it’s way to us for we’ll be living bare boned until mid-September. We haven’t shipped any furniture at all so we will be starting from scratch. This weekend we went to Ikea and picked out a few pieces, a mattress store and tried out a few beds and fabulous second hand store where we found a few great pieces we’re hoping are still there when we go back this coming weekend. We’re really excited to be leaving our temporary apartment and start the real settling in phase of our journey.

We found out about the apartment on Tuesday morning. On Wednesday I went on a hike with a fellow “Spooger” (spouse of a Googler) named Tory who just arrived in Zurich last week. Tory is originally from Mill Valley but she and her husband moved here from Berkeley! Naturally we had lots to talk about on our 10 mile hike from Zurich to the top of Pfannenstiel, a small mountain on the Gold Coast of the lake. Here was our approximate route.

The Swiss love to hike and there are countless trails called “wanderwegs” up and down both sides of the lake. Most of these trails are extremely well groomed and paved with gravel so even though it rained all Tuesday night and sprinkled on us all day Wednesday, the trails were still easy to traverse without much mud or strife. On our hike we encountered cows, horses, goats, farms, orchards, a cemetery, a pond with giant breaching fish, waterfalls (both man-made and natural) and we had our lunch one of the cabin/huts built for hikers one finds along the way. It was my first foray into country life and it was all right in our backyard!

In the village of Egg.

Grave of a young boy who died just a few days after his 10th birthday.

Freaky bird face.

Cemetery mausoleum.

Natural rock tombstone.

Mountain pond.

Many people may not know this but in a addition to the titular lake, Zurich also has two rivers that run through the city. I didn’t realize this myself until I first explored the city by foot back in March. The Limmat river originates at Lake Zurich and converges with the Sihl (which comes from another lake south of the city) just north of the city center.

As a result, the city of Zurich is dotted with bridges and overpasses, each offering a unique view featuring forests, mountains, the lake and the city itself. During the recent heatwave locals could be found dining, drinking, swimming or simply dangling their feet from the many docks and riverside establishments found along these rivers. The rivers are pristine looking and the water color changes almost hourly depending on the weather. Here is a sampling of some of the river views I’ve come across in the past week.

The Sihl is the smaller of the two.

A rainy day. This was taken near the Google office.

Not my photo. I’m no creeper*. *Tina Turner stalking excepted

Needless to say, the natural and architectural beauty of Zurich make it a fantastic walking city. As is becoming our habit, Tyler and I looked at another 5 apartments on Saturday and followed up on Sunday by walking the neighborhoods of the ones we liked. This week we saw two we really liked. One was in a town called Kunstnacht whose famous residents include Jung (formerly) and Tina Turner (currently). Naturally I was interested in living there if only to better facilitate my stalking endeavors. I’m fairly certain that my plan to casually run into and befriend Ms. Turner is bulletproof. I only so far have lacked opportunity, not cunning. We had visited Kunstnacht back in March and were charmed by its quaint village feel. The apartment we viewed was a real surprise! It was actually 1/2 of a duplex and was huge. The owner’s father had been a glass smith and the house had handmade glass work throughout (stained glass dividing walls, different kinds of glass embedded in exterior walls, a creepy clown mosaic in the garage) giving it loads of unique charm. It also had a sauna and a  “Swedish stove” in the downstairs which sounded appealing for cold winter nights. There were some downsides though; Tyler’s commute would be over 45 minutes, the train ran right by the apartment and the gardener may or may not “pop-in” to use our shower periodically. Also, the village itself was quite a hike from the apartment making it not so convenient for shopping. Having been wowed by a couple city apartments with easy access to everything, the trade-offs for charm and whimsy were diminishing.

Swedish Stove

The last apartment of the day was back in Zurich proper in a neighborhood called Zurichberg, a wooded area up the hill towards the zoo and FIFA HQ (the other place we loved is in the same general area). This apartment had what I love most about Zurich; a fluid blend of old and new. It’s in an established neighborhood with grand houses and mature trees. The apartment itself was recently renovated and boasts a super modern kitchen and bath (including washer and dryer!), new windows and, being on the 4th floor, fantastic light and incredible views! Here are some pictures I took of our maybe future home.

Our new view? It was a rainy day but we could still see the lake!

One of three giant rooms.

Brand new kitchen.

We love the place and it’s moved to #1 on our list though we are still in the running for the other apartment we applied for. We’d be thrilled to get either one. Old converging with new, much like the Limmat meeting the Sihl, was the theme of the day as we revisited these apartments on Sunday. Here are a few shots from our wanderings.

They still have cigarette machines.

Public bike pumps

For the children?

Sweet shutter detail

Little boy blue

Finally, to truly embrace the old/new dynamic of Zurich, I bought myself a new Freitag bag. Freitag is a Zurich company that makes bags and clothing out of recycled materials. The flagship store is housed in stacked shipping containers.

Each piece is one of a kind and made by hand. My new tote is made from tarps and tires. It’s funky, functional, fashionable, and fabulous.

August 11

Everything is closed in Zurich on Sunday. And I mean everything, even the grocery store. People are not allowed to work, there is even an ordinance that prohibits doing yard work on Sundays. This means Saturdays are for shopping, and if you’re us, apartment hunting. This past Saturday we looked at four apartments, one of which we really liked and applied for. The others were charming in their own ways but had deal-breakers (one bedroom, busy street, poor light). After looking at apartments all morning we had lunch at the first all vegetarian restaurant in the world. Hilt, established in 1898, is a Zurich institution. It’s a buffet style restaurant and we piled our plates high with all sorts of delicious grub at one of their locations near the apartment we liked.

After lunch we decided to head to Zurich’s one and only mall. As I mentioned before, it’s been so very hot here and with no AC we needed a fan. We also needed to get a new phone for me and cell service for both us. Missions accomplished we headed home, Tyler being tasked with hiking the fan up to the apartment while I made a last trip to the market for weekend supplies (cold beer and sausage, of course).

On Sunday we decided to explore our preferred neighborhood a bit further. We have been looking for apartments in Kreis 7 and 8 (near the woody area by the zoo) and so took the tram to the last stop up the hill. Here’s one of those famous Swiss trams on a Sunday morning.

First stop on our tour was FIFA Headquarters!

Being Sunday, it was all closed but there were a number of tourists milling around and taking pictures.

We then proceeded up the hill and took one of Zurich’s many walking trails through the woods towards the Seefeld area.

On our walk we came across a few community gardens that pepper the green areas of the city. Each person gets their own little garden hut to go with their plot and many are decorated like little mountain retreats. We even saw a few scofflaws watering their vegetables on Sunday!

As we winded our way down towards the city center we found that Zurich has many little paths that cut through some of the blocks, very much like the paths of the Berkeley/Kensington hills. Up there, we were afforded many lovely views of the lake and city below.

As we neared the city the clouds above began to roll in, offering much appreciated respite from the stifling heat. Here are a few shots from our city center ambling.

As we were nearing home the skies opened up and it began to pour. It felt great but without umbrellas or jackets we hopped on a passing tram and headed for home. A great first weekend for me. I’m finally over my jet lag and it’s cooled down a bit so the cats (and me) are significantly more comfortable. Last night (Monday) we looked at one more apartment and guess what, we fell in love! We decided we liked it better than the one we had applied for on Saturday and are asking Aline to aggressively pursue it for us (which as it turns out may or may not include a little baksheesh to the current tenants to advocate for us). Wish us luck!

Friday, August 7

Greetings from Zurich! It’s been a long road but I finally made it and am reunited with Tyler and the cats. Guess what. It’s HELLA HOT here. It’s been 80+ degrees with 10000000% humidity (I think. I’m no “scientist”, mind you). Tonight thunder showers are predicted and I can’t wait.

My first day I came off an 11 hour flight and was met by Tyler and Aline (a woman who we hired to help with our relocation). My flight was delayed and Tyler and we had to hurry back to our temporary apartment so he could get to a 1:00 (that’s 13:00 on the 24 hour clock which is causing me some serious math anxiety) work meeting on time (it being his third day at the new job). As I had previously agreed, we were to look at some apartments that same afternoon after I had a change to freshen up. We also had to go and register with the Kreisburo. Zurich city is divided into different Kreis (circle in German), much like the Arrondissement of Paris. Upon arrival, new residents have 14 days to register with the appropriate district. At 3:00 we met back up with Aline and headed to what I will call the Swiss DMV. Very efficient! After registering Aline drove us to 5 different apartments in various areas of the city. By this time I had crossed over from exhausted to delirious and I think I had super powers for about an hour. We first looked at a very modern apartment in a building that had just been built (the landscaping wasn’t even in yet). We also looked at a dark, garden duplex in a very chic neighborhood built in the 1970’s. We saw two apartments in historic buildings (1700’s) with exposed beams and delightful rooftop views and finished off with an art deco or art nouveau apartment with gorgeous wall to ceiling windows overlooking a very busy intersection. While it was great to see such variety so early on, none of these were quite right for us. We ended the day with Vietnamese take-out (over $50 for the two of us, yikes!) and discussed the pros and cons of each apartment we had seen that day.

For now we remain in our temporary apartment. Tyler can walk to work and there are plenty of shops and tram lines nearby. Here is a picture of our street.

Charming isn’t it!?

Here is our front door.

And here is 1 of 4 flights of stairs we walk up every day, sometimes several times a day.

We’re getting in shape and have 4 kinds of cheese in our fridge. We’re getting Swissed!

P.S. I have not met Tina Turner yet but will keep you posted as my stalking progresses.