On the way to the party, I stopped at the Coop (grocery store) to pick up some wine to bring to the party. At the checkout, I was carded! The legal age to buy wine here is 16, by the way. Do I look like I'm 16!? Even when I was 16, I didn't look like I was 16! I was quite amused... [I should probably clarify that I was not wearing my costume at this time; I changed at the party. If I had been wearing my costume, my guess is that being carded would have been the least of my worries.]
On Saturday I went in to work. Lame, I know, especially since the weather was nice, but I am running out of time here (I leave in less than 3 weeks!), and there is still a lot of research to be done. I am hoping to get enough experiments done that I can be writing most of the time I am back in Minnesota. Since the instrument that I use is in very high demand, sometimes it's easier to come in on the weekends, when there are fewer people around.
On Sunday I went to a vernissage/concert with Lisbeth, where one of her friends was the singer, and afterwards we took a walk along the Rhine River. The walk was quite beautiful. Fall here is definitely different from fall in Minnesota. It is much more mellow and leisurely. I think that most of my memories of scenery from this trip have a yellow and bronze glow from the fall colors. I am pretty sure that the leaves started changing a week or two after I arrived, and they are still changing now- 8 weeks later! While fall here doesn't have the joyous explosion of riotous color that fall in Minnesota has, nor a definite "peak" in color, it is definitely more enduring. I think that I like both versions, probably because I love fall!
Hike along the Rhine
Another reason that me and Switzerland get along so well is that they take Christmas really seriously here. Extremely seriously. Stores have had Christmas decor since the start of October, and grocery stores are already stocking Christmas-time foods and sweets! I have had Christmas music stuck in my head for a week now- a fact which I am choosing to blame on the Christmas enthusiasm that I see here. I'm already getting excited for Christmas, I have to admit it.
Also, related to Christmas, did you know that chestnuts are a real thing? After growing up singing "Chestnuts roasting on a open fire...," I had never even seen chestnuts or understood why you would roast them. Or sing about them, really. In the early 1900s, the US experienced some sort of chestnut blight which basically wiped out the entire population of chestnuts, explaining why they really aren't that common in the US. Here in Switzerland (and probably most of Europe), they are a fall staple and are everywhere! There are heissi maroni (roasted chestnut) stands almost anywhere you go. There are special desserts made out of maroni called vermicelli (among others). Maroni show up in many dishes- pastas, risotto, roasted alongside meat, etc. People even go on vacations to hike and hunt for maroni in the woods! Apparently we Americans just don't know what we are missing in these chestnuts! Also, for the record, apparently Christmas is a little late to be roasting fresh chestnuts. Really, who knew?
