freitag favorites + first look
This week’s freitag favorites highlights my current favorite: our new apartment. Read more →
freitag favorites + a new flat
Happy Friday! We had an eventful week here as we decided to apply for the apartment we looked at last week. Then we waited for an answer about whether our application had been accepted. Zürich apartments are notoriously hard to get and we have had friends that submitted applications for more than 20 apartments before finding a place. We were a little worried because some places don’t love Americans, but apparently we got extra lucky again. We didn’t have to wait the few weeks we expected…We found out yesterday that we got the place and it is so exciting! Read more →
looking forward: new year, new resolutions
I’m not much into New Year’s resolutions. I’ve always tried to make a few each year, and in the end they tend to be the same year after year: good goals. Some years I make more progress than others. Then I married someone totally against making New Year’s resolutions and somehow, in admiring how it is that he can live with such unswerving determination and purpose without goals and resolutions, my own fell by the wayside. Read more →
the beauty of fall
After tomorrow, I will be just one oral exam away from finishing my current German course (B1). This means that I should probably be studying tonight, but instead I am catching up on my favorite blogs, listening to NPR (today’s Morning Edition), and contemplating how nice it will be to re-discover the joy that is regular free evenings. I already have lots of plans about how I will spend my evenings this fall, but one thing I hope to do is blog more and keep up on sharing photos from our latest adventures. So, in lieu of Deutsch lernen, let’s look back at the rest of the highlights from our October, and the best of fall, around Zürich… Read more →
summer highlights
As you can tell from my absence here, we have had an excellent summer that has flown by with hardly an opportunity to properly reflect. We have been so blessed to have spent some weeks with our friends and family exploring new sights and returning to old while back in Seattle and Portland. I loved having my parents (and Aunt Jeanne too!) here for two full weeks with plenty of time to see more of Zürich as well as head to the Engadin and Northern Italy for biking, hiking, and lazing by the pool. Read more →
seeing switzerland
Yesterday was Swiss National Day and we enjoyed a mid-week day off to sleep in, workout (Martin) and take a long run (me), watch the Olympics, and see The Dark Knight Rises. I also took some time to go through the rest of my photos from my mini-vacation around Switzerland with my parents a few weeks ago. Read more →
the most liveable city
Zurich now tops the list of Monocle’s Quality of Life ranking, an annual index of the 25 most livable cities. They put together a nice PR video for Zurich outlining the rationale for the ranking which you can view below. Read more →
swiss club championships
Here are a few photos from a Saturday a few weeks ago spent at the Swiss Club Championships in Bern. The Championships bring together athletes from clubs around Switzerland who compete in their individual events for points for each team. This year, Martin’s Leichtathletik-Club Zürich reclaimed both the men’s and women’s first prize. For me it was just another opportunity to enjoy the sunshine and play with my new camera. Read more →
freitag favorites
As most of you are not Swiss-based readers, you probably have not have heard about the latest historical preservation feat completed here in Zurich. A 120-year-old, 6,200-tonne building was moved in one piece 60 meters westward using hydraulics and railway tracks in order to save it from demolition due to the expansion of the railway line. The entire journey took 19 hours. You can see it here. I found the relocation of this building particularly interesting as I once met Martin for lunch at a restaurant called Gleis 9 on the ground floor during my first Swiss summer in 2010. Read more →
hello 31
Today I woke up a year older and (perhaps?) a year wiser. At least I can say for certain that birthdays are most fun when shared with great friends, especially when they involve relaxation by the pool and delicious food. Last year was one of the best. And as I celebrate the passage of another year, I cannot help but look back and remember what a blessing it was to be with my dearest girls for last year’s birthday/bachelorette weekend in Palm Springs. I cannot complain about my life in Switzerland, but sometimes it is just really far from home. Oh, what I would give for the ability to blink and travel like Jeannie so I could go from Tennessee to Wisconsin to California, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska and see all my favorite people. Read more →