Our First Visitor, Rob Jawns!

We had our first Zurich visitor around mid-July, Rob!  He has been spending the summer at Grenoble, France, doing an internship at Minatec (Micro and Nanotechnology Innovation Centre).  He decided to make the long trip to Zurich for his cousin's rowing competition and to visit family in town.  Oh, and maybe spend some time with us!  

Since it was his first time here, we went for two signature Swiss items:  Sausage and Chocolate!

Rob posing for a picture.  He reluctantly complies.

For chocolate, it's off to Confiserie Sprüngli.  On the way, we walked along the famous Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich's main downtown street and home of some of the world's most expensive and exclusive shops.

A white peach tea, cafe latte and a cold glass of chocolate milk for me.   By the way, that glass of chocolate milk was 6.50 CHF (Yikes!  Rob got a nice introduction to Swiss prices quickly)

Rob's uncle was kind enough to invite us over for dinner at his fabulous home in Altstetten (Zurich Kreis 9).  We were so humbled by his family's generosity and had a wonderful evening.

The next day, we met with Rob for Sunday brunch at a new restaurant, Gran Cafee Motta!

Motta is a Milan-inspired coffee house sitting right in the middle of the Limmat River.

No meal is complete without coffee. Rob and I were supremely jealous of the cafe latte in comparison to our tiny espresso shots.  

Open-faced sandwich with roasted vegetables in a tomato sauce.

Open-faced sandwich with ham and egg.

Rob has been very patient with all of my photo taking.

We made our way to three different churches in Zurich:  St. Peter's Church, Fraumünster and Grossmünster.  

Built in 1534, St. Peter's Church apparently has the largest church clock face in Europe (8.7 meters = 28.5 feet).  Currently owned by the Swiss Reformed Church (Reformed branch of Protestantism in the 1520s).

Beautifully detailed interior.

The church organ and ceiling.

Fraumünster is built on the remains of a former abbey for women aristocrats.  We could not take pictures inside, but this building has 5 large stunning stain glass windows designed by Marc Chagall.

Grossmünster is a Romanesque and Gothic-style cathedral.  According to legend, it was founded by Charlemagne.  The twin towers are a recognized landmark in Zurich.  Photos are not allowed inside, but for a small fee, you can climb the tower and get impressive views of the city of Zurich.

To end our quick tour of Zurich, we took a water taxi back to the main train station so Rob could catch the return train to Grenoble.

Such a squat boat!  Why, you ask?

Because it travels up and down the Limmat River and has to go underneath very narrow bridges!

While it was a short trip for Rob (he arrived Saturday afternoon and left Sunday afternoon), we hope he will revisit with Xiaowen and stay a little longer!

Thanks for reading!

-Herr Cervelat

Swiss Holidays: Swiss Labor Day, Feast of the Ascension and Muttertag!!!

Tag der Arbeit (Labor Day), May 1st:

I was surprised to learn that May 1st was a holiday for the Canton of Zurich.  In fact, upon further reading, May 1st is International Workers' Day (May Day) and over 80 countries officially recognize this holiday.  The United States equivalent is celebrated on the first Monday of September, Labor Day.  

View of Bürkliplatz, which on May Day becomes a focal point for demonstrations by various socialist and communist groups.  Because of these large demonstrations, many trams and buses originating from or going through Bürkliplatz were cancelled.

As we know, holidays are treated as Sundays, so the day before, we went out to Coop and loaded up on tons of beer and sausage for a barbecue at the park in Wollishofen, (a section of Zurich north of Thalwil).  

We are ready for the picnic!  Wait until you see all the sausage we bought! (pictured below)

Public, electric grills that are regularly cleaned and maintained!  Just add meat!

We had initially bought some aluminum pans to keep our meat from directly touching the grill, but an immense amount of heat got lost on the corrugated pans (very poor heat transfer).  Even after an hour of cooking, we had barely seared one side of our sausages.  We were so fed up and hungry we threw food safety concerns to the wind, trashed the pans and placed our food directly on the grill.  Everything was cooked within minutes!  Lesson learned: don't mess with Swiss genius.

After an hour, still very under-cooked and cold...

Pork sausage in the shape of a snail from the canton of Vaud, Switzerland.

St. Galler OLMA Bratwust (very large veal sausage), similar to the sausage we had in our trip to St. Gallen.

Sausage on skewers filled with cheese, and wrapped in bacon.  The crowd favorite!

As you can see, there was no shortage of food! (And yes, as you can see from the packages, it cost quite a bit.  Meat is expensive in Switzerland).

The grill was certainly very busy that day too!  People filled the park and kept the BBQ going all afternoon.  


Auffahrt (Ascension Day), 39 days after Easter:

This holiday occurs thirty-nine days after Easter Sunday and always falls on a Thursday (also referred to as Holy Thursday).  The canton of Zurich took the day off, and as such, we decided to relax with another barbecue.   

For Labor Day, we went to Coop the day before and were prepared with grilling goodness.  Unfortunately, we were not so prepared for Ascension Day, and foolishly decided to hazard the grocery store at Zurich HB.  On Sunday and holidays, all businesses, except those that serve food or are located within the train stations are closed.  This means that the few businesses open, especially the grocery stores, are absolutely mobbed.

Ascension day was no exception.

It was packed.  The Migros at Zurich HB is significantly smaller than most grocery stores and we felt like sardines in a can. Another lesson learned.

Trekking our way back to Wollishofen, we met up at a fellow post-doc's patio and grilled some more sausage!

This would have cost us about 60 CHF.  However, they were on AKTION (means that the food is DISCOUNT and on sale) and only cost us about 30 CHF.

So.  Much.  Bacon.  Sausage.

Our host was Italian, so he broke out some delicious cibo Italiano (Italian food) to accompany our grilled meats.

Starting from the freshly baked bread on the top (courtesy of Migros), clockwise, we have olive verdi snocciolate (pitted green olives), filetti di alici all'olio di oliva (anchovy fillets in olive oil), hunks of provolone cheese from Italy, cheese filled bacon wrapped sausages, carciofini interi in olio di semi di girasole (whole artichokes in sunflower seed oil) and melanzane a filetti della Puglia (eggplant strips from Puglia, Italy).

Seriously good stuff.


(Muttertag) Mother's Day, Second Sunday in May:

Today, we decided to go out for a walk to Rüschlikon, the town next to Thalwil, and go to Park im Grüene for a light Sunday brunch!  It also happens to be one of the few places that is open on Sunday around Thalwil (aside from the Starbucks downtown).

Sponsored by Migros!

Beautiful public park with the Migros Restaurant in the back.

Amazing spread at the restaurant.

Our Sunday afternoon treat!

Migros-made croissant and creme cornet (delicious buttery vanilla cream).

A colorful (and crowded!) play-pen inside the Migros Restaurant for families.  The Swiss are very mindful of play spaces for children.

Happy Mother's Day!

-Sir Cervelat