Zurich Street Parade 2012

Good news!  People in Zurich CAN party.  Apparently only once a year though.

They have an annual event here called the Street Parade.  They had six stages set up throughout the city and 28 "Love Mobiles" that paraded through the city throughout the day.  It was basically a massive rave.  It was really quite a sight.  I'll let the pictures do the talking:

they estimate that 950k people attended

check out the love buses

one of the stages

love bus up close

that guy must have been HOT

go vols!!!

this was an especially popular love bus

color of the day = NEON!

In other news, for the folks who are sitting around wishing for more pictures of Sophie, check these out!

Have a great week!  Come visit!!!

Barcelona - Where bras and bikini tops are optional!

That's my proposed new slogan for the Barcelona Tourism Industry.  For anyone wondering, it's true that European women don't wear tops at the beach.  At least in Barcelona...  And no, I don't have pictures.  Pervs  :)

I do, of course, have plenty of other pictures.

We really enjoyed Barcelona.  It was nice and sunny and warm.  We also enjoyed that there were people out and about well into the night.  Switzerland lacks a certain "social" atmosphere to it and I think after visiting Barcelona we realized how much we miss that.  It was great to be able to walk around, have some drinks, have dinner a bit later in the evening and talk to other people.  The waiters talk to you, the other patrons talk to you - so nice.  It was also nice to finally be in a country where one of us understood the language.  Hooray for being able to communicate!  I'm tempted to travel in only Spanish and English speaking countries from now on.

Naturally, we checked out the Sagrada de Familia.  We also checked out a park and a bunch of other buildings designed by architect Antoni Gaudi.  Gaudi be one gaudy dude.  Nerk nerk.  Admit it, you laughed.

The thing I enjoyed the best was a bike tour we did.  While out walking Sophie one morning (while I was still sleeping) Andre found a guy who offered e-bike tours of Barcelona.  We decided to do the 3 hour night tour that started at 8pm.  It was fantastic.  The tour guide was really knowledgeable about the city and was able to show us all the touristy stuff and take us through some of the more local neighborhoods.  He even had us try a drink called Orxata.  It's delicious.  Anyway, should you ever find yourselves in Barcelona, I really highly recommend that you do the e-bike tour.

And now, for the pictures!  A few highlights and the rest included in albums below.

Sophie is ready for her bike tour!

Sagrada Familia

Casa Mila (or La Pedrera)

the beach at sunset

some really old Roman columns

Chimneys on the top of Palau Guell

bwuhahahahaha!

Photos from our trip:

Barcelona - Aug 2 - 5

Movies, Paddle Boating and Hooters, oh my!

It was quite the eventful week here in Zurich.  After German class on Wednesday, I met Andre at the train station and we headed over to the Zurichhorn for a showing of Men in Black III.  They set up this huge screen by the lake and have restaurants and adult beverages all available throughout the movie.    Alas, we didn't realize that the majority of the seats would be reserved so once we arrived, we were limited to some pretty up close and personal seats.  The movie doesn't start until sundown which is close to 10:00pm around these parts so it was way past our bedtime by the time we got home.  We still had a great time and we're totally going back to see Sherlock Holmes in a couple of weeks!

The view before the screen was raised.  At about 9pm.

On Thursday, I went out for a few drinks with some co-workers to celebrate (or mourn) our friend Andy's return to the US.  Somehow or another, I ended up on a paddle boat in the middle of lake Zurich.  The best part -- there were other people doing the paddling so I was able to hang out in the back and take pictures.  Score!

Today was a big day.  Check out what we found in Zurich!

We had nachos, wings and curly fries  :)

And finally, for the haters...

Proof that I do work.  Occasionally anyway...

Have a great week!  We'll be in Barcelona if anyone needs us.  Bwuhahahahahahaha!

Paris Take 2

The highs and lows of our weekend in Paris:

High - Checking in on Friday and being upgraded to a Junior Suite!  Sweeeet!  :)

Low - Waking up Saturday morning and stubbing my toe so hard against the doorstop that I think I broke it.

Bitch.

High - Saturday was Bastille Day!

We realized it was Bastille Day when jets started flying overhead.

We chose to sit in a cafe eating crepes during the parade.
We saw the parade on t.v. and then 5 minutes later, the real thing came by on the side street.

Low - We totally didn't pay attention to time on Sunday and ended up missing our train home.

Sophie & I waiting on our new train.

High - The only seats left on the next train home were first class.  :)

I think the entire trip was a high for Sophie!  The waiters at the various restaurants gave her water and ham and then on Sunday she got her very own hot dog!

YUM!

Sophie *might* be spoiled.....

Living the good life.  Wind in her hair + Eiffel Tower in the background.

In other news, I got a haircut!!!  My first one since December.  I know it's ridiculous but I've been terrified to go get my haircut here.  What if they don't speak English and they cut off all of my hair!?!??!  I find a nice salon run by two ladies from South Africa who speak perfect English.  Thank goodness.  

Coming up soon:  

Wednesday - Men in Black III on a ginormous movie screen above the Zurich lake!

Aug 1 - Aug 5 - BARCELONA!!!

6 Months!

Can you believe we have been here for six months already??

Some things we've learned:

Lesson #1:  No one works the first week of January.  Therefore, it's not the best time to start a new job.

Notausgang = Emergency Exit

Zurich is expensive.  I don't think I ever had a $100 bill in the US.  Here, a $100 bill is chump change.  You want $200 from the ATM?  The ATM gives you 2 $100 bills.  You want to buy a water for 4 francs, go ahead, pay with a $100, kein problem!  Or even better, buy beer or wine with that 4 francs!

When a plumber says he will show up between 7:30am and 8:30am, he will show up at 7:29am.

The reason everyone is so punctual?  They plan months in advance.  The first two months I was here, I kept getting left behind for meetings because the invitations had been sent more than 2 months before.

Work Celebrations are totally backwards:
1.  When someone has a birthday at work, they are responsible for bringing treats for the entire group.
2.  When someone is promoted at work, they are responsible for paying for the group to celebrate.
3.  When someone leaves, they are responsible for coordinating their own going away party.
Totally weird.

Everyone wears suits to work.  All the time.  And it's hot.  Without air conditioning.

Contrary to what everyone told me, not everyone here speaks English.  Yes, you can live here without learning German but you can't read anything and you can't communicate with most people who don't work in a typical business environment.

There's no such thing as a 3-ring binder.  The binders here have 2 rings.

People here have an excellent knowledge of geography.  Of course, that may just me with the lack of geography knowledge....

I would never judge the English language skills of the people here but there are a few words that drive me nuts:
category = ca-tag-o-ree
idea = idear
agenda = a-geh-nda
deferred = dee-ferred
information and children = informations and childrens

Six months down!  18 months to go.  Come visit!!!

mmmmmmm Shokolade!

We went to Lindt yesterday and learned all about how to make fancy chocolate.  I'm still mildly nauseous from eating so much chocolate.  It might be a few days  before I actually eat the chocolate we made.  Andre on the other hand has already made a sizable dent in his chocolate....

For those wondering - No - those white outfits did NOT stay white!  See picture...

When we arrived, they made us dress like this:

 

Then they started playing music and opened the doors to the chocolate making room.  We all looked around for Oompa Loompas!  I'm pretty sure that's the closest we'll ever get to a real life Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory!

We started by filling some pre-made chocolate shells with a champagne ganache.  I think it was a wise idea for the Lindt folks to pre-make the chocolate shells given how much trouble we had simply following directions and filling them appropriately.

Andre testing the filling

fill Andre fill!

They went into the cooler for a while and then step 2 was to plug the filling in with more chocolate!

After those set for a bit, we got to dunk these suckers into vats of chocolate and then either cross-hatch or finish them off with powdered sugar.

Andre, Greg & Jess playing in the chocolate & powdered sugar

YUM!!

While these delicious treats were in the cooler, we got to decorate some pralines.

Before

Andre in decorating mode

Melanie's decorated pralines

Andre's decorated pralines - notice a few are missing....

It's no wonder the Swiss don't like foreigners....

Will, Greg & Andre

The next English class will be held in August.  Who wants to come visit?!?!

Holy Hotcakes!

Today, I can't decide where I'd rather be:

Uster (without air conditioning):


or

Charlotte (with air conditioning):



I definitely know where I'd rather be on Sunday!!