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.

The Abbey at St. Gallen

This weekend, we found ourselves going to the city of Saint Gallen (say: Sankt Gahlen).  Saint Gallen is also the "capital" of its eponymous canton. In classic SAT analogy format= States: USA : : Cantons: Switzerland   Switzerland currently has 26 cantons, and although we live in Thalwil (just outside of Zurich City), we are still part of the Zurich Canton.

This is where we're headed for today's adventures!

As usual, we made our way on the ever-dependable Swiss public transportation.  We first left Thalwil on the IR (Inter-Regio), then hopped onto a connecting line at Zurich HB to St. Gallen.  We took the IC (Inter-City) there and took the ICN (InterCity Neigezug) back.  These trains had restaurants inside!  Since the trip to St. Gallen is only a 90 minute journey, we decided to save the restaurant experience for a longer trip (such as to Italy or Paris!)

The restaurant car! (on the ICN)

Look how immaculate that restaurant is (on the IC).

Admiring the lush Swiss countryside.

We have arrived in St. Gallen.

After arriving at St. Gallen, we walked to the Old Town around the Abbey at St. Gallen, just a five minutes east of the train station.  As we walked around, we were struck by some of the interesting architecture of the old houses.  St. Gallen is known for its exposed timber buildings and oriel windows.  The variety was simply stunning. 

This one appears to have three different coat of arms.

The intricate woodwork on this window is overshadowed by the painting on the wall.

That's it, I want all my windows to look this nice.

As many of you know, the two of us really like trying new foods, especially those local to the region.  When is comes to Switzerland, that means bratwurst and sausages.  In St. Gallen we visited Metzgerei Gemperli, a butcher cum bratwurst stand.  Of course, the bratwurst was one of the most affordable meals we've had in Switzerland (at only 6.50 CHF).  No wonder the Swiss love their wurst! 

St. Gallen's signature "Olma bratwurst mit Bürli."  (Veal sausage with roll).

While mustard is commonly available, the locals NEVER use it their signature Olma sausages.  Thank goodness we didn't embarrass ourselves!

Of course, no Swiss meal would not be complete without chocolate and coffee.  So we walked a few blocks to the Chocolaterie for some rich, decadent Swiss hot chocolate and chocolate/espressos.

More beautiful Swiss architecture right above the cafe.

A Swiss premium 70% Cacao hot chocolate mit Rahm (whipped cream!)

Chococino mit Espresso.  Of course, both our drinks came with (more) chocolate!

Filled with sausage and chocolate, we visited the Abbey (Fürstabtei St. Gallen), a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Inside the Abbey, we explored the Stiftsbibliothek (Abbey Library), which is the oldest library collection in all of Switzerland.  The library houses many priceless books and manuscripts that were meticulously copied and illustrated by the monks during the Middle Ages.  We had to wear slippers before entering the library, and we were not allowed to take any pictures, so we don't have any to show our readers.  However, a quick google search will yield many beautiful images, and you won't be disappointed.

The Abbey!  (Yup, that's snow...cough, cough 80 degrees in Philadelphia.)

We then made our way to the twin-towered cathedral in the Abbey, which was also in the over the top baroque style.  The cathedral is slightly less ornate than the library (hard to believe) and is certainly an opulent place of worship.

Beautifully painted frescos.

Trying to capture the grandness of the cathedral.

Very extravagant confessionals.

This was followed by the more modest St. Laurenzen-Kirche, a much more subdued cathedral in a neo-Gothic style.

A view from the back.

Detailed walls with star-studded ceiling.

A view from the front.

Our cathedral viewing was now followed by exploring a bit more of St. Gallen just before we left for Thalwil.  We stumbled upon the Stadtlounge (City Lounge) just outside of Old Town in Bleicheli, the financial district of St. Gallen.  

So.  Much.  Red.

Believe it or not, this goes on for several city blocks.

Thanks for reading!

-Sir Cervelat