Zurich - The Fun Times

Gluehwein at Stadelhofen Station, Zurich

So, I’ve spent two blogs explaining all my moving woes, but I also spent a lot of time socializing and having fun. It actually started as soon as I landed.

Lena met me at the airport since she had my keys, so, after dumping my luggage, we went out to explore my new local area for somewhere to eat. It was a Sunday, so some of the restaurants were closed.

We didn’t really want to be out exploring for too long in the cold. We ended up at a Mexican restaurant that had a recommendation by TripAdvisor, according to the sticker on the door. It didn’t look particularly open, but there were some people lounging about watching football. We decided against it and left the building until we noticed that it had an extension to the right decked out with plants and brightly coloured paint. We went back in and got a table.

The menu was varied – I had chicken wings and chips – and the portions were large and reasonably priced for Zurich. I would definitely go back there again.

The next day Steph arrived for a stay over, so I did my best to prepare a thank you meal for both Steph and Lena (who also must have got tired of traipsing all the way to Glattbrugg all the time), although Steph was doing her best to continue to be the one to welcome me! I cooked chicken, but failed to realize that her green pan was green because it was in a plastic green container. It wasn’t until it started to make weird cracking noises as the chicken cooked that I realized my mistake. I was mortified at ruining her beautiful pan on my very first cooking attempt. This is the one major downside of using someone else’s things – the responsibility is just huge.

I went out with Caterina for drinks later in the week (I also had a tasty soup). We were lucky to catch the opening night of Oerlikon station, which has been being upgraded for about 6 years or more. They say there are something like 80 shops but I could only see about 15; however it’s great to have places there where you can grab something to eat, pick up something from the pharmacy, buy a book… I never thought I’d still be in Switzerland to see this finalized. Having said that, there are still lots of works going on in the vicinity which will take at least another year to finish, I think. But they are getting there!

We then arranged to meet up with Steph and Nicolas in Basel. Unfortunately, Caterina got ill, so only I went in the end. I’ve already posted a photograph from that two weeks ago. It was very busy, but quieter around the cathedral, where it was really pleasant to wander round. We tasted some gluehwein, which is a must while I am in Switzerland at this time of year. In Basel they serve the gluehwein in a china winter shoe with a snowy Basel picture on it. Very cute!

The following day I went to see Mummenschanz at Theater 11 with Lena. I’d seen it before quite some years ago – it’s a bit hard to categorise. This show was called “musicians of silence” so there was no music but people dressed in funny shapes which somehow gain personality as they move about the darkened stage. There were lots of children in the audience who added to it considerably with their “oohs” and “aahs”.

Thursday was the work Christmas party – the theme was “round the world” so I went in Egyptian attire. I thought the food was really excellent – a nice duo of soups to start with, then beef, and a buffet of desserts. I thought it was taking place in the Kunsthaus, so was really surprised when the bus took us to the Dolder!

On Friday, I went out for lunch with Peter from work – now that I don’t sit in my usual corner as I’m hot-desking, we don’t get much of a chance to catch up. So, this was our opportunity. We’d waited for a few days in the hope that Caterina would get better, but she was still off work.

Pam came over to visit from Friday, so Hye-Youn, Pam, Candice, and I had quite a bit planned – on Friday, champagne tasting followed by queuing and finally getting into the Clouds bar/restaurant in the Prime Tower to take in some spectacular views of Zurich whilst eating. Then I finally got round to visiting the Zurich Christmas markets with Pam on Saturday – only in Zurich can you find a tree in public display decorated with Swarowski crystals (last week’s blog photo). It is quite spectacular. It was good to see the Christmas market after a few years’ break, since I saw some stalls that I hadn’t seen before.

Following that, I went with Hye-Youn to a free 20-minute concert in the opera house, which was part of the open-doors events for advent. And then on Sunday we all went for brunch at the Dolder. I’m sure I must have blogged about that before.

So, if anyone is feeling aggrieved that they didn’t see me, it really wasn’t intentional. I was just chock-full busy for most of the time. My next stay in Zurich will be for longer (all going to plan), so I hope to see everyone then.