We have now been in Zurich nearly 3 weeks and have to say we are enjoying it more and more as every day goes by. This is a fantastic city and though we are in temporary digs in the city of only 38sq m we are enjoying being able to walk to most places in the city that we want to go. Adele being a cook is keen to cook at home but we are finding that the "close quarters" is a little limiting and she is coming around to my way of thinking that eating out occasionally is not so bad! The occassional "take-away" is also becoming popular, something we learnt from our Manhattan muse.
The staff car - R350 Mercedes is great if not a triffle thirsty and a little daunting in the "little" city, however we are making the most of it and looking forward to travelling further afield once we are settled in and found more permanent lodgings.
When we arrived on 30/12 there was still traces of the pre-Christmas snow falls but we are pleased to say that the weather since has been fantastic and we are wondering why we were so concerned about feeling the cold! The weather forcast is more snow before the end of the week, so we may have to eat our words. The snow tyres may come into their own after all!
During our first fews days of orientation we stumbled across the Dolder Hotel which is supposedly THE best hotel in Zurich, we will have to report our own judgement in due course!
Our first few days (with the family still on holiday) was an orientation of the city and popular family addresses with the family PA. Needless to say we have become quite dependant on our TomTom even though the R350 has its own satnav!
We are living downtown, quite close to the Hauptbahnhof (Main train station) and commute about 15 mins to work, which is located on the hill above the city. This was the view on our first day and being winter there is plenty of pollution around but believe me when the weather is clear the view is sensational, especially at night!
On our first weekend off, when drove around Zurichsee (Lake Zurich) to try and find our bearings. The lake shore is quite built up and the real estate "OTT".
The wealth in Zurich is evident everywhere you look, even though totally understated! I have seen more Porsche's here in the last three weeks than I have ever seen before. The boss has a Carrera 911 which I drove back from service the other day, but I don't expect to get behind the wheel that often.
We are enjoying the interaction with the young family of four, and I think they are slowly getting to know that we are "real" people. They have a very busy agenda and do not have a lot of "free-time" between school, kindergarten, music lessons, sports lessons, gym lessons, chess lessons etc,etc! Paddy obviously has quite a role to play in transportation!
We travelled to the Rhine Falls yesterday, which is quite spectacular even though a little fog detracted fom the spectacle!
I said before that the weather has been fantastic and the last two days have been unbelievable. You still need a jacket and scarf at night but yesterday I even saw a local in shorts and T-shirt!!
The language is not TOO much of a problem, but we acknowledged earlier there will be frustrations at times. 70% of the population speak English and most people are very understanding, and as long you try your best they are most helpful. Flying the Kiwi flag also makes them more receptive!
Trying to assimulate into local cultures is proving easier than expected, especially when food is involved! It appears that Swiss bakers have a different bread they bake for every "event", holiday or festival. The bread pictured was to celebrate the arrival of the 3 kings into Bethlehem!
Our first week at work (with the family) was a little daunting (as expected) to start with, but by the end of the week we think we may have gained their confidence. Time will tell and we are looking forward to cementing our place in this fantastic city. We are in no way ready to accept visitors, and the next few weeks will see us feverously searching for a suitable apartment which hopefully will give us enough space to have a spare bed.........? Watch this space, we will eventually be looking for as many visitors as we can get, to show the delights of Zurich!
It is a small village on the Rhine, but the locals call it a "city". There is one main street with many of the painted facades dating back centuries.
Quite magical really, and even though the sun was out the temperature struggled to get above freezing!
