Should I Stay or Should I Go....

Sorry - you thought I was done for the summer - but just a few random thoughts about the little things I will come to miss when I leave "der Schweiz" for the summer...vs what I will be going back to!


Opening the doors and windows (without screens) for fresh air - and keeping them open all day
...when it gets really hot and humid, the air conditioning option is definitely a plus!

Love the cool breeze...and nothing really seems to fly in!

Remote controls to open and close windows in certain rooms (like our bedroom) that once open, close automatically if it starts to rain

...hard for anything window-related to top that!

Really good, fresh food from the grocery store that seems to cook itself
...grocery stores that stay open past 8 pm, and on Sundays...just in case!


Being able to walk to the grocery store
...being able to drive the groceries home from the grocery store!


Seeing my old pal "Fritz"
...seeing our own cat, Annie!  Although I'm pretty sure she's decided I abandoned her and left her with Patrick, so it could be a pretty cool reception...

Guess who was right outside our apartment door when I went to leave last night?

Views of the Alps
...views of NYC from just the right spot on Oak Ridge!  And of course, the infamous..."look at the Bay" when we get to Door County!

The view never gets old...but it's much better in person...hint, hint!

My iPhone 4S and my favorite app - Instagram
...my good old Droid with the BEST navigation system ever (and I think they just added Instagram for android devices...yay!)


Practicing my "Deutsch" or should I say "Schweizerdeutsch" skills everywhere I go (yeah, right)
...being able to understand MOST of the people I need to talk to (yeah, right...I am going to NJ...)


Meeting all kinds of new people (hmmm...have I really done that??)
...seeing lots of friends and family! (except of course, Steve - but he's going to be spending a lot of time away from Zurich this summer anyway, and coming to the US a few times - so how much different will it really be??)


And of course, once I get home, I can flush the toilet all night long if I want to!!! :)

It is Time....

Hard to believe, but it is already time for me to head back to New Jersey and the good ol' US of A!  Connor gets home from school next Wednesday, and Meghan's graduation festivities begin on Thursday! It will be strange to get back and have to jump right back into the swing of things.  In some ways it seems like we just arrived in Zürich, but in many ways it already seems like home.


I dont know whether I'll be blogging much during the summer...although everyone knows New Jersey is pretty exciting! However, I still have some post ideas floating around in my head so they may get typed up stateside.  Just thought I'd take this opportunity to give a little update on things around here...


Some of you may remember our little buddy "Fritz" the cat from the first floor who mysteriously disappeared around Easter weekend...   After nearly 4 weeks MIA, I am happy to report that he has returned!  Apparently he had an operation to remove a tumor, but now he's back; slimmer, trimmer and a little less sociable than he used to be.  I saw him today on my way out to the grocery store...

New litter box?  Or maybe just softer than the cement...

Speaking of neighbors, the one family in our building that we had yet to meet stopped by on Sunday with muffins for us!  They couldn't have been nicer.  The mom is a pediatrician (always nice to have a doctor in the house) and they actually lived in California for a while.  We feel very fortunate to live in a building with so many nice, friendly Swiss people!  Hopefully that will still be the case when we have our first party...although we did make it through the week of the teenage boys unscathed, so we'll keep our fingers crossed!


And speaking of Sunday, you'll never guess what we did last Sunday...we went shopping!  Yes, I know - I've told you that stores aren't open on Sundays in Zürich - but last weekend was a special event in an interesting area of the city.  Kind of like Summit's "Girls' Night Out"...but for anyone and on Saturday AND Sunday!  The area, Zürich West (Kreis 4 and 5) is your basic "other side of the tracks" area.  In reality it is actually on both sides of the tracks as it covers the area on either side of the many railroad tracks that run from Zurich's Haupbahnhof.  Throughout history the district has had a rather dark side - used initially as a waste dump and execution grounds; home first to migrant workers, then to prostitutes; and serving later as the domain of a quickly spreading drug scene.  It now features the creative talent of countless artists, architects, designers, musicians and innovative restaurants while still harboring a fair amount of the seedy side that is engrained in its past.  The world famous FREITAG store selling bags made out of recycled truck tarps and seat belts is located there in a "skyscraper" made out of old shipping containers.  That skyscraper is now dwarfed by Zürich's tallest building, Prime Tower, providing additional contrast in this intriguing and ever-changing area of the city.

FREITAG shipping container sky-scraper with Prime Tower looming behind.

Another view of Prime Tower - with some of the inventory of a second-hand
shop in the foreground.  Shop (I think the boat is just for display, but who knows?)
is located on one side of the overpass - office building on the other.
For you Mequon-ites out there - pretty obvious Jim Moriarty is not on the planning board here...
how about that for a blast from the past???

Mid-century (?) desk lamp we purchased at one of the many second-hand shops.

On the "other side" of the "other side" of the tracks...

Vacation...All I ever wanted

The Go-Gos would love it here in Zürich...seems like everyday's a vacation day!  Let's see...we arrived here on March 18...since then there have been 7 Sundays and 4 additional holidays...out of 44 total days (that's 25%!!)...yikes!  Will the grocery store EVER be open???

May 1 - Day of Work...or something like that

So, yesterday was May Day.  A day for workers' rights, so apparently there is the potential for protests against big business.  Steve was told not to wear a suit to work so as not to draw attention to his capitalist leanings...  Neither of us saw anything too crazy or scary. Just another vacation day for the Swiss masses!

Enjoying the lake - see the Alps in the distance??

Globus Department Store in the popular Bellevue area must have decided
to board up their windows for the day just in case - but left their outdoor seating area out.

A "Revolution" protest banner over billboard just down the street from the Globus store above.

Our downstairs neighbors pulled a lot of the outside shades down over their windows as well...we didn't do anything...maybe they knew something we didn't?