Halloween Weekend.

Last weekend was Halloween weekend, which is not a huge holiday here in Switzerland. However, there are enough of us Americans here that we had a quorum for a party on Friday evening. Costumes were mandatory. Of course, finding a costume in a foreign country where everything is freakishly expensive is rather a challenge. First of all, I didn't bring many clothes along for just three months, so I was already limited in what color palette I could choose. Second of all, I had no idea where to find a crafty store in which I could obtain supplies for whatever wondrous costume I could imagine. Third, I didn't really want to spend money for a Halloween costume, since I'm really not that enthusiastic about Halloween. Hence, I worked with what I had and decided to dress up as the Minneapolis landmark Spoonbridge and Cherry. (Props to my roommate Kara for the inspiration on this one- she dressed up as this last year, with much more success, I might add.) I wore a pink fleece hat, fixed a brown pipe cleaner "cherry stem" to the top of my hat, and then taped a spoon to my hat. I also had a "Do not climb on the sculpture" sign, which I taped to myself. Super classy, all in all.

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?

Alex and Aurore's Visit.

This past weekend I had a pair of visitors: Alex and Aurore! They are friends from France who I met in Minnesota- I used to work with Aurore at the University of Minnesota. Aurore lives in Strasbourg, which is about 2.5 hours away, and Alex is in Grenoble, which is more like 5 or 6 hours away. In fact, because of the strikes in France, the trains weren't running, so Alex had an even longer journey. He had to drive a few hours to Geneva (in Switzerland) before he could catch a train to meet Aurore and I in Zürich!

They came in late and later on Friday evening, so we slept in on Saturday and had a late brunch before getting in the car (Aurore drove from Strasbourg) and heading to Stein am Rhein, which is a cute little town close to the Rhine Falls. We walked around the town and along the river for a while, and also purchased the necessary supplies for fondue, which I can now make quite skillfully, if I do say so myself.

Scenes from Stein am Rhein

We then crossed the border into Germany and visited the border town of Konstanz. The town was SUPER busy- all of the parking garages had absolutely no spaces open! This is a result of the high prices in Switzerland; many people go across the border to Germany to shop for groceries and other things on the weekends, usually saving quite a bit of money in the process. Probably half of the cars we saw in Konstanz had Swiss license plates! We wandered around the town and down to the lake, and we took a beautiful walk along the lake right at sunset before heading back home and having cheese fondue for dinner.

Scenes from Konstanz

Hello, man wearing a WISCONSIN SWEATSHIRT.

The weather took a significant turn for the worse on Sunday and Monday: both days were rainy, windy and about 40 F and sometimes sleeting, which is not conducive to walking outside and seeing Zürich, which was our plan. Both days we walked around Zürich: touring ETH (where I work), visiting the Fraumünster and the Grossmünster, wandering around the old streets, enjoying a coffee in Starbucks (my first time since I've been here!), admiring the view from Lindenhof, walking the Bahnhofstrasse, strolling by the Zürichsee, seeing the Niederdorf neighborhood, meeting our friend Sarah for tapas, etc. In general we could walk for an hour or two outside before retreating to somewhere warm for a while, but still managed to have a nice time together, despite the dismal weather.

Scenes from Zürich

View from the conference room in my building. Usually you can see the snow-covered Alps.

Grossmünster.

Fraumünster.

Walking by the lake.

View from Lindenhof.

Of course, it has been nothing but sunny since they left, but what can you do? It was a fun visit, and I'm looking forward to more, since we are relatively close to each other!

Rhine Falls and Graubünden.

I think it is high time for some catch-up blogging!

During the second half of Anne's visit to Switzerland, her dad came to spend a few days (he was traveling with his sister in Germany), so they were able to go on some day trips around Zürich and Switzerland while I was at work, and then we met up for dinner sometimes.

For Anne's last day, we went to Schaffhausen to see the Rhine Falls in the afternoon. The Rhine Falls are the largest waterfalls in Europe. The day was gray, but we were still pretty lucky, because it didn't rain. The waterfalls are quite large, and the water is a really pretty dark aqua. It was nice to walk around the falls and the town and to enjoy the fall colors and the waterfalls with Anne and her dad.

The falls from the top.

That weekend, I took the train to Lisbeth and Franz's mountain house in Cunter (in Graubünden) to visit Lisbeth for the weekend. The area is really beautiful- perched on the side of a valley with really great views of the mountains. Of course, the weather was not super great- it was raining/snowing most of the weekend. The snow didn't stay where we were, but the snow line was only about 200 or 300 m above us! I also came down with a bad cold, so it was actually nice to stay inside by the fire and sleep a lot. On Sunday, we did get out for a walk before I went back to Zürich.

Fall colors on the walk.

Snow on the mountains above us.

Last week was really busy at work, with lots of meetings, but I think that progress is being made. This past weekend, my good friends Alex and Aurore came to visit me from France, and we had some fun adventures- expect another update soon!