Having completed our 5 wks as a honorary Zurichites (yes I made that up) I have many a tale to tell. In some ways, it's much easier to complain about the bad than it is to really paint a complete picture of the good, which was a little more subjective. Therefore, if you ask me about it you will for sure hear about the trials I had, detect hesitation it in my voice, or at least see the blank look plus raised brow on my face when you mention it to me. I can't say that I 'loved' Zurich- I just didn't. Though I'm certain my judgment is very skewed!
#1 by a language barrier – which could've been far worse, but transcended into every detail of daily life
#2 living in the city- which is a nice place to spend a weekend night, but not for my family to live
#3 the ratio of time for adjustment to comfort is too far off, and of course
#4 it just isn't my home so I didn't really know anyone there!
So before I portray my experience here as very negative, which in reality it wasn't, let me gush a little about some of the great things.
Much of our time was spent doing the same sort of things we do at home more or less.
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| A candle, a plant, some handmade artwork and dinner cooked by mama go a long way in making a cold, stiff corporate apartment more like home. |
We weren’t on vacation there. Alex had to work (or they'd be shipping us all back on the next plane to unemploymentland), and he actually had to leave the house for it everyday, which is something this family hasn’t experienced in almost a decade! Most weekends we traveled out of Switzerland so there was actually very little family fun time in Zurich itself, other than exploring some local restaurants, which we always enjoy.
The first weekend we were there though, we toured Lake Zurich by boat which I mentioned in a previous post. We also got to attend a fest called Knabenschiessen, celebrating what translates roughly to ..wait for it…..
‘Shooting of the boys and girls’. Read about it if you’re curious, but I can assure you no children were harmed at this event, nor did I so much as see a single gun. This is an event that people come far and wide to attend – a huge festival, and we happened to be lucky enough to be living about a ½ block from it. What we did see though were some pretty impressive rides for a traveling gig, including a swing ride which was several stories high. A few rides, I’m quite certain would not be allowed in the U.S., such as about 40 grown adults being bounced around and thrown violently on top of each other on a giant disk. Sure, funny until someone cracks a limb! This fest however, actually was a very well maintained Swiss event. The more gentle rides than previously mentioned all looked very well cared for, but something just didn’t sit right with me as far as letting the kids go on them. So, my peeps ended up in a fun house and bumper cars when they were hoping for the upside down coaster which had been assembled just for the weekend. Clearly, some of the run-down carnival rides at home operated by questionable American carnies are much more concerning; but being my second day in the country, I wasn’t convinced that they had the same *standards of safety* as here in the states. : )
Also with Alex, one day after work, he met us and we hiked in the Wildlife Park. Picture walking through a quiet, hilly forest preserve adorned with little waterfalls and animal habitats stuck here and there. The fan favorite was the bears, who walked out just to say hi to us in very close proximity. I wish we could have spent more time there!
Once I got past the fear of getting lost out there, the kids and I started exploring during the week by ourselves. I'm quite glad that we did, because if it weren't for that we wouldn't have seen all too much of Zurich. Most of our experiences are documented in the 1,000's of photos I will eventually post ; ). I took the kids swimming in Lake Zurich, which was absolutely lovely and absolutely not what beaches are like at home. We actually walked about a mile looking for some sand and other swimmers only to eventually realize that there wasn't such a thing on that part of the lake. If you wanted to swim – turn towards the water and help yourself. This was not something I discovered without interrogating passerbys. I took some lovely photos that day which I hope to eventually have access to after some technical adjustments *sigh*. One thing I neglected to photograph was the dude who just dropped drawers in the middle of the park, dangling in the breeze for any eyes turned the wrong way while he changed out of his bathing suit. The children were astounded for lack of better words.
Further excursions required me to really know how to get around in Zurich on their fantastic transportation system (that's not sarcasm; it really is superior), which in actuality means........ (and this IS sarcasm)...... that I learned how to use googlemaps really well (they have a tram, train, walking, bus feature for there at least) and I also was able to look at the maps at the stops and figure out how I could make up an alternative route when of course, the tram does not show up for us. BTW trams not showing up is a very rare thing....and it happened to the kids and I the first time we were really out alone in the unknown...go figure. I ended up quite proud of myself that day the way I navigated around by foot, strange trams and the help of kind people.
So, the next big outing was the zoo. It was a zoo. I like zoos. I liked the zoo in Zurich. We got to see animals in different types of habitats than we had ever seen before, a little more up close and personal perhaps.
I'm glad we went. You'll see photos which will include a snake swallowing a baby chic whole and beheaded gorilla photograph photo to promote gorilla killing awareness. Sorry, I could either tell you about this in simplemind talk, or, I could describe for you in eeeeevvvveeeery..... detail.....our 4 hour zoo trip and then also present an assemblage of photos. You're welcome.
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| ,,,,and you thought YOU were havin' a bad day! |
On top of some random shopping trips, which were honestly more being in search of Swiss treats than anything, or some exploratory walks, we also saw a bunch of museums. One nice thing about Zurich is they have several FREE museums; and believe you me, when they say 'no admission charge' you jump on it, because with the cost of living there the way it is, you need a little freebie thrown at ya to keep your morale up. There was the Swiss National Museum. I know – sounds REALLY FUN doesn't it? Well, it was actually quite neat. Yep. Neat. We saw everything in Swiss history from art and currency to apparel/ shoes and furniture, 
all the way to original entire rooms dating back to the 17th century – plus even the obligatory artwork of beheaded religious martyrs (definitely no short of gruesome art in this part of the world). There was even some medieval knight armor and tools, and a cool exhibit on how watches were made. I can now appreciate why some of those Swiss watches cost like 10G.
On another day we visited both the Zoological museum attached to the University, and the Swiss Toy Museum. The zoological museum was more or less taxidermy heaven for near every species of animal known to man.
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| We want one! |
The kids LOVED that one, and I did too. There was even an unknown creature that looked like it was made up just for fun called 'The Mystery Mammoth '. We know it was real though because there was a whole book about it – and we saw the stitches up it's butt. Isn't that how everyone decides if something was once real or just pretend stuffed?
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| Who knew such a thing existed??? |
Afterwards we made our way to the Swiss Toy Museum. Again,very cool. A small little place as museums go, which I could easily have fit inside my house with much room to spare, hosted by the sweetest little old lady. On display were samples of toys made in Switzerland as far back as 1700. It boasted an amazing collection of dollhouses and trains from the late 1800's to nearly every decade up to the present, amongst other random toys. The coolest thing, of which the kids all loved, was a 'store stand' that was gorgeously hand-made especially for 2 brothers in the late 1800's. Wealthy boys I might add – the details on this were amazing! 
The final big adventure the kids and I took alone came during our last week there, sadly, as I would have loved to have done similar things if time allowed. It took me that long though, to figure out how to do things outside of the city itself via public transportation. Our grand finale adventure was a hike on the ridge of Mt. Uetliberg, one of Zurich’s local mountains. This ended up being extra cool because after the fact, we realized that we were on top of the same mountain that we could see from our balcony at home. I'll save that saga for the next entry.........and of course get the pictures together that belong with the above : )