24 hours in...

Since I am taking the month off, I have promised many of you that I would be a more active blogger and give the many details of our trip to Zurich.

At the Newark Airport

First off, let me set the stage of how we got here.  Carl decided that he wanted to focus his orthopaedic practice on hip preservation.  As an up and coming subspecialty, there are few surgeons that are proficient which makes it hard to find training.  Luckily, he was offered to spend time with two very knowledgeable surgeons.  Carl finished his residency at Hamot on Thursday, and packed the cars, pups, baby and all of our wine and drove it all down to Nashville.  We were quite a sight to see, as we lugged my car behind, and had our large English Mastiff George hanging out the back.  It doesn’t seem real that we have really left Erie forever, probably because most of our stuff is still there.  Carl’s co-resident, Kelly, is moving in for the summer and will be watching over our (unsold) home and the stuff inside.

Out front of our hotel

We arrived in Nashville close to midnight, and my wonderful in-laws, Michael and Melanie, couldn’t have been more accommodating as we trampled their home with dogs, wine, baby items and our excess clothes.  36 hours later we were on a flight to Newark and then to Zurich.  Jack was wonderful during our travels.  He sang on the drive to Nashville, played on the plane ride from Nashville to Newark, and slept from Newark to Zurich. 

From the plane, you could see the snow covered alps and the beautiful greenery below.  Unlike most aerials that show a mix of brown and green patchwork squares of land even in beautiful places like Italy, Zurich is picturesque even from the air. 

The view of Limmat River. You can see the snow covered Alps if you look in the back

Arriving in Zurich, we were taken back by how many trees and undeveloped forest areas there are.  The Limmat river runs through Zurich, and almost everything and everyone spends their time on the river.

Carl and a sleeping Jack walking along a boardwalk back to the hotel

Again those Alps surprise me every time I look at them!

The only downfall of Zurich that I can find thus far is the expense.  Leaving the taxi, sticker shock set in as my husband handed over 85 CHF (swiss francs) for our 20 min drive~the equivalent of $100! Needless to say, Jack and I will be walking into town to buy a monthly rail pass today.  

There is a ferris wheel in the middle of the city. It gives me a sense of direction

We started our first day by dropping off our luggage, and heading to a local café.  Without a smart phone and a German dictionary, we were a little out of our element as our waitress didn’t speak a word of English and us, not a word of German.  There were pastries on most tables, and for the life of me, I tried to ask for one.  Thank goodness cappuccino is a universal word throughout most languages.  Finally, she comprehended bread, and cheese, and were given a nice little plate of 3 croissants, cheese, and marmalade.  Whoo…we made it through our first meal!  As some  others were departing, one gentleman stopped by our table to explain that they use the honor system in Switzerland and you just pick the pastries off the table.  Although nice in theory, I would have had no idea how to tell them what I had eaten!

Enjoying the local foods

Honesty, cleanliness, and efficiency are the three words that I would use to describe the people of Switzerland.  All trains have timing that run to the exact second and are ALWAYS on time.  There is NO garbage anywhere, and everything is always spotless. Furthermore, I lost my laptop on the way from the airport to hotel, and I awoke this morning to finding it happily sitting at the front desk awaiting me!  As expected, the people are multilingual, and almost everyone (expect that first waitress) speaks English.    However, Carl and I find it odd that most of the waiters we met first spoke to us in German, and let us go through lengths to figure out the menu in German before then letting on that they spoke PERFECT English.  I think they just got a kick out of us. 

Us at our first dinner in Zurich

Surprisingly, the city is filled with babies.  I swear there are more babies than adults.  Children fill the streets, and you are overwhelmed by the number of strollers.  For such an expensive city, I am surprised by the number of children.  The actual city of Zurich, District 10 as I now call it because of the train service, is actually probably the size of the city of Sarasota.  It is quite small and you can walk from one end to the other.  There are beautiful shops everywhere…Jimmy Choo, Gucci…you name it, they have it!

Jack is full, and sleepy after dinner.  He always puts those two fingers in his mouth when he is ready for bed.

 It is about 70 here now, at 10:44 am.  Carl is at his first day of work, and Jack is taking a snooze.  So far, the time change has not caused him too many problems. Breakfast is included at our hotel, and Jack feasted on lots of cheeses, honeydew melon (a new discovery), apricot yogurt, and this yogurt/cereal which he adores.

Ice cream for dessert...the boy has gotten his second wind!

We move into our apartment tomorrow, which is a little out of the city but the train should make traveling in and out easy.  So far, so good!

Look Mom I can stand all by myself.  We will be lowering the crib from now on.