With Ian off at a
"stag party" in Manchester, I was left with the question of what to do with myself for a weekend alone. In the end, the solution was simple and beautiful. Why not spend it with my
family who recently moved to Zurich? (Tough life - I know.)
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| Ready for my flight out of Tegel |
We had missed them on our
last visit to
Switzerland, and after a year in the country they pretty much had the Swiss expat life down. They've already completed stints abroad in Germany and Iceland when my cousin was in the military, but had now been transferred to Zurich by his wife's company. This whole "transferred by the company deal" sounds pretty sweet with lots of amazing benefits.
Once again, I see that we are clearly doing everything wrong.
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| Flying into Zurich Switzerland |
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Adorable Family
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I was immeaditly immersed in conversation about
our family - talking about our shared history, ridiculously exaggerated Ball lore and heritage. Even better my cousin shared our grandmother's and great-grandfather's passports and travel documents in their immigration from England to California, USA. (Little did America know what they were letting in.)
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| My Grandmother's immigration card & British passport |
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| View from their balcony |
They actually live in the suburb of
Wädenswil a short (20 minute) train ride away. Picturesquely located next to the trailing lake, their 2-level flat was so Americana that I immeaditly felt at home.We caught up on family news, and then they set about impressing me with their new glorious country of residence.
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| Real Swiss cows! |
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| The grass is really that green. |
They were extremely disappointed in the cloudy weather and that I couldn't see the Apls in all their glory, but I was impressed nonetheless. I felt like a kid again as they cooked me an American-style breakfast, drove me around the breath-taking countryside, and took me on an exhilarating toboggan ride down a mountain. What's that you say?
The tin toboggan or "
Floomzer" on Flumserberg is am impressive ride. You leave the resort area of working dairy, ski shop, restaurant and hotel on a ski lift taking you up, up, up the mountain.
Like your own self-contained roller coaster, you strap into a car with a basic brake. And then - you're off.
The ride up the mountain takes about 15 minutes while the ride down is only 3-5. It was gorgeous as we soared around corners, metal screeching.
(The only caveat is that they let me go just after someone and I had to slow down multiple times so I didn't run into her. Give yourself some room so you can really fly. )
Zurich
Despite the poor weather, my family braved taking me downtown. It was pouring. Not just wet. Raining so hard it was bouncing up off the pavement and soaking our feet. We're from Seattle. We can take the rain. But this....this was something else.
We weathered (literally) the storm and walked around the city, from the
Hauptbahnhof to hopping on one of the stylish trams to the lake.
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| Hauptbahnhof |
We ducked into an Italian restaurant as a temporary respite from the downpour. As we chatted, I thought about the city. I wasn't surprised by how beautiful the city was, and felt sad all over again for the
Berlin that used to be. The narrow streets, teetering old buildings with dates from the 1400s, and cobbled walkways are the Europe Americans dream of.
I
was surprised by how cool the city was. On a rainy, dreary Sunday night, bands were playing and windows promised the quirky & unique.
The next day, we met again downtown and my cousins again impressed me
with a very Berlin-esque outdoor cafe/garden/stacked rail car site and
the shopping at
Frau Gerolds Garten.
Über hip, I was delighted by the setting and sudden burst of sunshine.
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| Frau Gerolds Garten |
We walked along toward the shopping and came across this beautiful display of umbrellas hung in an alley way with an installation of cows taking up an entire wall. Perfectly weird.
Im Viaduct offers more than 30 shops below the railway and it a beautiful architectural site all on its own. On one side there is a peaceful park with old men laying bocce and children running and playing. Shops are small and trendy and I enjoyed shopping, talking, and
taking a million pictures. My cousin enjoyed teasing me about "finding
the best angle". At the end there is a market hall with basic groceries as well as luxuries like gummy tarts, cheddar cheese(!), fruits, wines, and meats.
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| Gummi Tart |
A quick visit, it was perfect. I re-connected with family, found out more about our history, and discovered a new appreciation for the not-so-stuffy Swiss.
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| ...back to Berlin. |
More pics of
4 comments:
Family in Switzerland? Now that's my kind of hook up. Looks like such a special weekend!
Thanks for the comment @Butts! It was just too beautiful. And it's true - pretty fancy hook-up!...until I get back to Berlin and my real life.
I love Switzerland. Amazing photos and those umbrellas are so cool!!
Agree that Switzerland is pretty lovely Samantha. Now if only we could afford it.... :)
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