A Year in Review (2013 - 2014)

Can you believe that we have been in Switzerland for a year?  It feels like we just moved from the US a few months ago!  Time sure does fly.

We thought it would be fun to recap our year of Swiss domestic adventures.  We have a large backlog of posts, so this is also a sneak peak at posts to come.

March:

When I think back to a year ago when we first moved to Switzerland, I remember feeling very anxious.  Now, we feel more at home in Switzerland, and it could not have been possible without the many friends who have helped us in our transition.  

When we first arrived, we stayed with a fellow post-doc in Thalwil, and he and his wife were incredibly supportive.  My labmates were patient with all of my questions, and our administrative assistant did an amazing job ensuring our documents were in order.  The Swiss Ms. also found much support in the American Women's Club of Zurich.

My first bite of Switzerland, the Cervelat!  

April:

The excitement of being in Europe soon overtook our nervousness, and we eagerly explored Switzerland.  With the help of our Lonely Planet guide, we planned day trips to Lucerne, St. Gallen and Bern.

We visited the iconic "Lion of Lucerne" and took the gondola up Mt. Pilatus over Easter weekend.

The Abbey at St. Gallen, a Roman Catholic convent and UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Here, we feasted on the famous OLMA Bratwurst and visited one of earliest and most important monastic libraries in the world.

Who could forget the adorable bears at Bern?  The capital of Switzerland has a charming 15th century Old Town filled with medieval buildings along the Aare River.

The Burning of the Böögg, a towering wooden snowman, filled with firecrackers serves as an effigy of Winter.  The event typically takes place on the third Monday of every April, and the time it takes for the firecrackers to go off indicates how early summer will arrive.  For the year 2013, the burn time was a LOONG 35 minutes, indicating a late summer.

May:

I think the Boogg's prediction was correct, since the cold, cloudy weather of Winter seemed to drag on until late May to early June.  Occasionally, there were a couple days of sun, but those were few and far between.  Still, we managed to have fun, enjoy some Swiss holidays, take boat cruises and visit Appenzell and Basel.

 Swiss Labor Day (May 1st).  A rare day of sun, perfect for grilling.

Boat cruises along Lake Zurich (Note the cloudy, overcast sky).

Seeing how cheese is traditionally made in Appenzell.  The cheese is flavored with a brine of alpine herbs, giving it a unique spicy, pungent flavor.

The City Hall at Basel, where we saw the amazing accordion street performer.  We also visited the Kunstmuseum to see the Picasso exhibit and bought some Basler Läckerli to take home with us!

June:

For much of May and June, the Swiss Ms. was in the US attending meetings for work.  As such, we did not travel a great deal, but the weather did get significantly better and we took advantage of it with hikes up to Uetliberg and many picnic dinners.

We had previously visited Uetliberg in March, but it was cloudy and overcast.  In June, the weather was gorgeous and you could see the beautiful Swiss landscape.

Summer in Zurich!  Fresh vegetables in season and eating outside.

The eggs in Switzerland have such bright orange yolks.

July:

Our lab does fun group retreats twice a year, one in the summer and one in the winter.  This summer, we went to Appenzell for a full day hike up to Ebenalp.

Far removed from Zurich, we could enjoy the lush green fields and towering alps.

A view of Zurich and the Limmat River from the top of the Grossmunster.

August:

The end of an era.  Our time in Thalwil ended and we temporarily moved to our compact 13 square meter apartment.  This definitely motivated us to take more trips on the weekends to stretch our legs.

Swiss National Day (August 1st).  The Swiss celebrate this holiday with a bang and many folks purchase their own fireworks (sold from Migros and COOP) to set off just about anywhere. 

For about a month and a half, we lived in 13 square meters.  It was stressful, to say the least.

The Rhine Falls at Schaffausen, just a short hour train ride from Zurich.  The quaint medieval town has well preserved streets dating back to the 16th century, as well as the impressive fortress, Munot.

Flumserberg, a popular ski-resort in Winter, and a nice place for alpine hiking in the Summer.  We had great views and the trails were littered with wildflowers in bloom. 

September:

After many months of searching for an apartment (and being rejected close to fifty times), we finally secured a place of our own!  

The Rapperswil Beer Festival, where we tasted beers from a variety of Swiss microbreweries and had REALLY good pretzels.

 MOVING OUT OF 13 M^2.  Cue excitement.

Stein Am Rheine, another quaint Swiss town filled with cobblestone streets and houses covered in colorful frescos.

October:

In the blink of an eye, summer was over, but there was still plenty to do in the fall.  

Welcoming the cows back home after a long summer in the Alps at an Alpabfahrt festival in the small town of Elm.  Each cow wears a uniquely decorated headdress.

Konstanz, Germany, which is just across the Switzerland border and located on Lake Constance.

Celebrating the Fall Harvest with pumpkin sculptures at Jucker Farms, in Seegräben.

November:

Up until this point, many of our travels within Switzerland were limited to day trips.  For Lausanne, which was two and a half hours away, we decided we needed a full weekend.  

While in Lausanne, we visited Montreux and Château de Chillon (pictured above).  The Chateau proudly says it's the most visited historic monument in Switzerland.

Why doesn't the Schoggi Tram run year-round?

December:

Christmas is a BIG deal in Switzerland.  In fact, because Thanksgiving is not celebrated, Christmas decorations begin around mid-November and continue until December 25th.  For the Christmas lovers out there, if you need to get an early start on the holidays, think about coming to Switzerland!

The entire length of Bahnhofstrasse is covered in delicate, star-like Christmas lights.

Decorative Christmas pyramid (Weihnachtspyramide) stand selling Gluhwein (mulled wine), sausage and other hearty, warm treats.

In Zurich's main train station stands a large Swarovski crystal-covered Christmas tree.

January:

For my lab's Winter trip, we took an overnight to Riederalp, where we went snowshoeing.  I also ate fondue for the first time.  I can't believe it took me almost a year to try fondue!  The Swiss Ms. was jealous that I was having so many Swiss experiences without her.   

Pictured above is the small town of Riederalp up in the Swiss Alps, where we stayed in a rustic Swiss Chalet.

February/March:

We made sure to revisit both fondue and snow-shoeing before the end of Winter season and our first year in Switzerland came to a close.

Experiencing fondue for the first time.

Showshoeing at Melchsee-Frutt.  Feeling triumphant after we successfully hiked to the top of the mountain.

Here's to another year of adventures in Switzerland (minus looking for another apartment).

-Herr Cervelat & The Merry Swiss Ms.

Tasting the Basler Läckerli in Basel

Next up in our adventures, we went to Basel, which is located in northwest Switzerland on the  Rhine River (and also where the Swiss, German and French borders all meet!).  Basel is part of the canton of Basel-Stadt (City of Basel), which is actually a half-canton.   The other half is Basel-Landschaft (Land of Basel).  The separation occurred due to concern over the rights of people in the agricultural areas.  These concerns led to the separation of Basel-Landschalt from the city of Basel on August 26th, 1833.  

To get to Basel from Thalwil, we took our dependable Inter-Regio to Zurich HB, and then transferred to another completely new type of European train:  the Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV)!

The TGV can go faster than 200 mph (320 km/h) when on the correct tracks!  

This train goes all the way to Paris!  Definitely another place we have on our checklist.

While the train may look empty, many of these seats were reserved from Basel to Paris, which is certainly a popular destination.

A very modern cafe inside the TGV.

We arrived in a speedy 53 minutes, covering about a mile an hour to reach Basel.  Three more hours and we could've been in Paris!  (The train can run at faster speeds once it crosses into France.)

Very open and grand station.

Certainly felt like one of the larger stations we've visited.

We made our way to the Basel Münster, a cathedral situated right next to the Rhine with Romanesque and Gothic lines.  The building is made of red sandstone with colored roof tiles, and listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

The Münster towers over every other structure.

Very grand interior with an organ at the end.

As noted in earlier posts, I am always stunned and awed by the stained glass windows.

Feeling hungry, we took to Altstadt, the medieval Old Town in the heart of Basel.  At Marktplatz (marketplace), a bustling farmer's market was filled with delicious and fresh local foods, which we took full advantage of!

Tens of farmers and other producers filling the entire market square with their goods!

We could not resist the delicious looking and smelling bread!

Homemade bread filled with cheese and roasted peppers.

Green and black olive bread, filled with cheese and zucchini!

As we ate our bread, we made our way to the Rathaus (City Hall), the seat of government for the Basel-City canton.  It definitely stood out with its brilliant red facade, built with Gothic and Renaissance elements.  Here, we also saw an amazing street musician perform on his accordion!

Stunning Rathaus stands out at Marktplatz.

Interior is ornately decorated and just as vibrantly colored.

Can you name the piece he is playing?  One correct comment will be randomly chosen to receive a prize!

We continued to explore Altstadt, visiting the Spalentor city gate, (about 400 meters west of Marktplatz) one of the three gates to survive the wall's demolition.  Unfortunately, it was under renovation when we visited, so we'll have to come again when it's finished.  It was also very pleasant to stroll down the many narrow lanes to gaze on the centuries-old houses in Basel.

A gentle stroll on the historic streets between Marktplatz and Spalentor.

I think our bagpiping readers would appreciate this.  Happy Father's Day!

Since I like eating and am constantly hungry, we decided to linger at one of the many cafes in Basel for lunch.

Very happy (Ms: or creepy!) with her Latte Macchiato (typically a three layer drink, with milk on the bottom, a shot of espresso in the middle and milk foam on top).  

Me with my Cafe Lungo (Italian for long).  Similar to an espresso, but twice as much water is used to make the drink, resulting in a stretched espresso, or lungo. 

Spicy salami panini oozing with mozzarella cheese, grilled to a golden brown. 

Fortified with (more) food, we made our way to the Kunstmuseum (art museum) in Basel to see the Picasso exhibit!  We could not take any pictures in the exhibit, but it was definitely worth the trip and made me appreciate the diverse talents of this artist.  We also got admission to the rest of the museum, so we were able to look at other wonderful works of art by Monet, Cézanne, van Gogh, Renoir, and many many more.

Very much worth the visit!

After a very busy day, we decided to go back home, but not after getting some of the famous Basler Läckerli, a traditional hard spice biscuit (recipe over 700 years old!) created by local spice merchants and made with honey, hazelnuts, candied citrus peel and Kirsch (a fruity brandy, made from distilling cherries).  

Packages of this stuff go quickly!

They even have different flavors.  Extra candied lemon peels are used in this one.

Basler Läckerli! 

More adventures coming up (and quicker updates too!)

-Herr Cervelat