In Switzerland!

Hi everyone,
We made it to Zurich today and are up and running with email. Our initial experiences and thoughts.....

Kids are jet-lagged despite our attempts to get them on Zurich time (see walk note below). It's 10:30pm here. Maya just woke up and is ready to party. Uh-oh, Russell just got up, too.

Sticker shock: A half liter of water in the Frankfurt airport costs $6US. I went to the grocery store across the street from our apartment to buy ridiculously small packages of milk, yogurt, eggs, cheese, one zucchini, pasta, and pasta sauce, and the bill came to $72. However, the yogurt and cheese were fabulous!

The country is beautiful. Russell noted its cleanliness during the taxi ride to our apartment. We took a little walk to the playground across the river. It is a delightful park with a water play area and tree house complete with easy rope ladders and bridges for toddlers and jet-lagged older kids. The park shares space with what looks like a preschool. The Swiss have it way over Ohlone - the PRESCHOOL has a farm. They have 4 goats, several rabbits and guinea pigs, and a gardening area with lots of toddler-sized wheelbarrows in primary colors.

This apartment is right out of Dwell magazine. The building was a pottery factory 100 years ago. It now houses offices and apartments alike with no particular segregation in the building. Tram lines run in front of the building (Russell wants me to note that they are on the right side of the street and not in the median) and there is a bar/cafe/bookstore with outdoor seating on the streetfront. Susan, one of the neighbors I may meet at the annual apartment-house garage sale this weekend, is rumored to teach yoga in her flat upstairs and to the right of ours. Our loft sits at the back of the building, along the Limmat River. I'll be listening to the sound of the river current outside our window for the next seven weeks. I hope it won't drive me crazy. Right now, it's very soothing. Maybe I'm just exhausted....

We're thinking about blogging during this trip. I hope to figure that out soon. Thanks for all your well-wishes and support.



-Sylvia