Our Zürich Apartment

I know most of you have been waiting in anticipation for photos of our apartment here in Zürich. We had to unpack and make it look decent before I could take photos. Here are the 6 flights of stairs that I climb several times a day. The key is to don't look up and just do it. (Click on the photo to make it larger.)

This is our entry way.

Here is the kitchen. Equipped with a microwave/crisper/steamer. I think we'll just be using the microwave portion.

Here is our dining room/parlor/computer room/clothes drying area. (Funny story. Yesterday we had some of Jared's co-workers over for lunch and as one of them was climbing the stairs I realized at the last moment that our underwear was hanging out to dry from the previous day. I grabbed it all and threw them under the covers of our bed in the nick of time before the first guest finished ascending the stairs. So, I guess those many flights of stairs do come in handy;)

Bedroom with a slanted ceiling which Jared whacks is arm on occasionally.

Our extra room which I will be painting in and where our guests will be staying. I often stare out the windows in the afternoon and enjoy the views.



Our bathroom. Notice the jet tub. Yes, I am loving it. Jared not so much, he has to squat to take a shower with the hand held thingie.



I like our blue bubble toilet seat cover.



I am also intrigued by the see through sink:)

Apartment views

Bang & Olufsen is just across the street. They make really cool telephones which my parents own.

The tram stop is right outside our door. Very convenient. We are the Hagibachplatz stop on the 11.

There's downtown Zürich. We can walk there in ~25 minutes.

The fall colors are so beautiful here.

Something to do at work!

I can do this just fine. The key is write the # 6 with your hand at a slower rate than you are doing circles with your foot.

Sunday Afternoon Bells

We are surrounded by churches and those churches like to ring their bells. Sometimes all at the same time.

Ikea part 2 or 3

Today Jared and I trekked to IKEA (a 3rd time for me.) We needed a desk for our computer and I needed his muscles. We decided to stop for lunch and battle the masses for meatballs, gravy and french fries. While I was eating my french fries Jared pointed out that they matched the color of my hair.
Jared hasn't really gotten a chance to enjoy our view since it's dark when he returns from work. Of course when he found our the windows opened up wide enough for him to crawl through, he was on the roof. Thank goodness he couldn't go far since the roof was severely slanted.

Dinner with Googlers

Last night Jared and I went to dinner with some of his co-workers. The theme of the restaurant it seemed was truffles...with lots of foam. Almost everyone's dish had truffle foam.


Jared had ravioli with truffle foam. Can you see all that white stuff around the pasta, that's foam. It was delicious. After I had, of course the panna cotta and they didn't let me down. It was tasty.

IKEA via train

I remember my cousin Jake talking once about taking a trip to Ikea on the train in NYC and then lugging everything home. Well, now I sympathize. This is all the things I bought at Ikea to facilitate our apartment with utensils to cook and eat with. Also, a few organizing aids.


My new friend Jenna who will be moving out here in January is an Ikea expert and helped me find the best deals to stock my kitchen in the simplest and cheapest way.



I love how there's an escalator for you cart. These Swiss are genius, or should I say the Swedes (because Ikea is a Swedish company.)


We managed to compact everything (along with the help of Jenna's husband Jarrod) and got it home on 2 trains and up 6 flights of stairs. My back was sore from that and a later trip to the grocery store to stock the fridge. Thank goodness for a darling husband and his wonderful back rubs!

Halloween Swiss Style

For Halloween Jared and I went to a Google party. Well, we didn't dress up because I prefer to put together a homemade costume and they don't really have those resources here, that I know of. Plus, we couldn't think of anything clever to be and the Halloween shops around here were something like this, a little plain mask that covered your eyes...12 CHF. Nope not buying that. The prices got worse from there.

Anyhow, we swung by the party for a bit and chatted with some Googlers and danced a bit and got a few "non-alcoholic" beverages. The bartender called my drink, fizzy with some yummy. I told him to make me something yummy with some sparkle ohne (without) alcohol.

OK, getting to the picture, there weren't any sweets or candy at the party. So Jared and I left and went on the hunt. We stopped at the Haupt Bahnhof (Main Train Station) where the stores are open late and picked up some sweets. To my amazement, the king size Twix here comes in one long stick. I was excited about that. I do miss all of the "mini" candy that they sell in the states around Halloween. Mini Twix, mini Snickers, and best of all the mini boxes of Nerds. I used to get the 1/2 price bags of candy the day after Halloween and hop up my students on sugar for the rest of the week. Halloween just isn't the same here. As my Mother always said, "You can't go trick-or-treating unless you're dressed up." I guess that is why we didn't have luck finding the best of sweets, we weren't dressed up.