Christmas at Zurich

There is a lot going on in Zurich for Christmas! I went for a photoshoot in Zurich last night and felt like a little kid in the candy store!

First of all, there are lots and lots and lots of lights.  That's the first thing you will notice the moment you get out of the train station.

The shower of lights.

LED lights covering the length of a few popular streets in town.

Sunset behind a large lantern.

The Singing Christmas Tree is a popular attraction in Zurich. Different chorus groups perform on the tree every night, spreading the merry mood of Christmas and attracting a crowd of spectators.

Singing Christmas Tree.

See their expressions close-up: they are really into it!

So, what do other people do? They eat, they drink (Glühwein), they dance (occasionally), and they shop (a lot). One of my favorite things to do in such occasions is to people watch.

A man window shopping.

Bikers & pedestrians.

Chocolates, yum...

Once in a while, you will catch a glimpse of the bright red Christmas Tram driven by Santa himself! Only children are allowed on board to be entertained by Santa's merry helpers.  With a fee, of course (photography is gratis, though:-)

Santa's Tram passing by.

Santa's Tram.

For the little ones, there is always the ubiquitous merry-go-arounds.

Merry-go-around. I don't know the man in the center but he makes a great focal point!

Other than all the special festivities, it's always fun to just watch the lights at the Limmat River.

Limmat River.

Watching lights (and traffic) on the bridge.

Shopping at Konstanz

Konstanz, Germany is a nice place to shop for Christmas. I went there with a friend to get a haircut in a salon tugged inside a back alley in the old town area and spent the rest of the day shopping. Because of the large number of stores with affordable, good quality items and an extra 20% vat rebate for Swiss customers, Konstanz makes a great shopping destination.

Even without the shops, Konstanz is a nice city sitting next to Lake Constance worthy of a visit for its beauty. Maybe next time I can even make it to the lake :-)

AlNatura natural food market.

Downtown shopper.

More downtown shoppers.

Merry-go-around next to a big department store.

Weekend in Dornbirn Austria

We spent the weekend in the city of Dornbirn in the western part of Austria near the Swiss border. Dornbirn is an industrial city in the Rhein Valley at the foot of Karren Mountain. It has a population of about 45,000 at this moment. It's not exactly a tourist destination - we were there for Jasmine's climbing event. While Jasmine and David were at the climbing gym, Lila and I got to spend a few hours in the city.

View from the windows of Hirschen Hotel. The hotel offered a sumptuous breakfast buffet (arguably, drowning in good food is almost as good as drowning in good views:-)

There was a tram that can take us up the mountain to get a good view of the city and valley. We decided to skip it due to the misty weather condition. There was a farmer's market in downtown with some December merriments so we checked it out. The market was small but there were a few interesting buildings in the town center.

Dornbirn downtown farmer's market.

Dornbirn downtown BBQ.

From downtown, it was but a short stroll to a popular science museum called Inatura. We found some interesting sights along the way including a tree with its autumn glory still largely intact.

Chasing pigeons outside of Kunstraum.

Dornbirn Kunstraum ("Art Space").

A strong push :-)

Inatura is known for its interactive, hands on science exhibitions for the kids. Lila was mesmerized by the experiments involving the motions of various objects as well as a machine that created a mini tornado using water vapors. She was not very impressed by the taxidermy scattered throughout the museum, especially those concerning animal babies. "So sad", she said. I found it hard to disagree with her!

A lynx display.

A family checking out the lynx (well, at least the toddler was:-)

Watching a "tornado" in the making.

Calling out to the pigeons.

Christmas Bazaar

Every student in the kids' school participated in making and selling of items for the Christmas Bazaar - candles, bracelets, wallets, holiday cards, etc. They have worked on that for weeks.  And tonight they sold items directly to the villagers.  It's a good practical use of their developing social and math skills! 

The proceeds will go to a school in India. A teacher here visited the school in the past and they are planning to set up some kind of exchange program with them. It was an interesting event and it definitely helps promote the true spirit of Christmas!

Jasmine is selling handmade items at the Christmas Bazaar with her classmates.

Lila's 1st grade class selling items they made in the Christmas Bazaar.

An Afternoon in the Zoo

The zoo is a fun place to spend an overcast afternoon. With an easy train ride to Zurich followed by tram #7, we got to the Zurich Zoo in an hour.

Since the zoo prides itself in its King Penguins, there are penguin sculptures standing right inside the entrance. Up close, they don't look exactly real but it's sometimes tricky for people to tell from the photos (did I get you on this one? :)

Lila having fun with the penguin sculptures.

It takes only a few more steps to see the real penguins living in the zoo. They are a bunch of proud and magnificent creatures!

A proud one.

A cuddly one.

A group walking away: aren't they cute (and, dare I say it behind their back, a bit comical:-)?

Next, we check out the big animals. Here are a few caught on film. We didn't have time to check out the elephants in the elephant park. Since overcast days are the norm here in winter, we will have plenty of opportunities to check them out in the future!

Two young, frolicking snow leopards.

The mother was keeping a watchful eye for her three cubs.

A majestic lion. 

Zukunftstag

Today Jasmine participated in the Swiss national Zukunftstag ("future day") in Bern University of Applied Sciences. She made a printed circuit board that functioned as a thermometer and was very excited about it!

On Zukunftstag, many Swiss companies and organizations open up their doors to 5-7th graders so the kids can get a glimpse of different career options. It's somewhat similar to the "Take Your Kids to Work Day" in the US, but the focus here is to get the kids exposed to fields that are not traditionally associated with their genders.  Initially it was only for girls but had since evolved to include both genders.

I wish there were similar programs in the US.  Maybe there would be more female engineers then!

Jasmine made this PCB board in Zukunftstag.

Räbeliechtliumzug in Niederweningen

It was the annual Räbeliechtliumzug in Niederweningen. During the day, K-2 kids carved turnips and turned them into small candle-lit lanterns with the help of older kids. After the dark, the kids made an hour long parade in the village carrying their lanterns. Many villagers turned out to greet them along the way. It was very dark and there was an overwhelming sense of peace and magic when the kids walked down the country road in pairs, singing traditional songs in Swiss German.  One of the songs is "Rääbeliechtli, wo gahsch hii?"

It's such a nice tradition to grow up with!  Instead of Thanksgiving, the Swiss have Rääbeliechtli!  David did the same parades when he was little so we're glad that the kids get to experience it too.

More photos here: http://goo.gl/v3G7yh

Räbeliechtliumzug in Niederweningen - autumn walk with candle lights.

Niederhorn Paragliders

We visited Interlaken region today.  We drove past a number of beautiful lakes along the way.  We took a tram up to Niederhorn to have a panoramic view of the entire region - Jungfrau, Eiger were all in clear view at the top.  It was a bright, warm autumn day and many paragliders took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and flew all over the valley with snow capped mountains in the background.  They looked so graceful, carefree and happy!

View of paragliders at Niederhorn.

A Week in Corsica (9/1 - 9/6)

I spent the past week in Corsica. With no phone and no internet, it was such a blessing! I'm very grateful to my friends for hosting me in their ancestral home in the small village of Piana. Corsica is blessed with unspoiled beauty, brilliant sunshine, delicate cuisine, intriguing history, and friendly people. The island will always have a special place in my heart.  

Here is a sunset photo at Les Calanche de Piana, a UNESCO site near Piana. More photos from Corsica can be found here. My friends' house (with a large lot and mature fruit trees) is available for rent. Almost all the photos were taken near the house including one taken from my balcony! Contact me if you are interested.

Corsica Sunset at Piana.

Zürich Zoo

Zoo day! The zoo is expanding to give animals more space to roam. The current main attraction is the new elephant park. The Masoala Rainforest exhibit is also pretty interesting. It educates visitors and helps raise a third of the long term conservation fund for Masoala National Park in Madagascar.

Elephants in Zürich Zoo's giant elephant park.

Pink Umbrella

We may not have furniture yet, but we have enough umbrellas for everybody. They're more important than furniture at this time of the year! 

Happy in the rain after watching
"How to Train Your Dragon 2" (3D) in Baden.

Curry Rice

It was nice to have a warm dinner in our condo after spending a day at Niederweningen's pool structure - it was a sunny day, yay!

Tasty curry rice!  The induction cooktop cooked the Jasmine rice exactly right.

After Sunset

After the golden hour of Niederweningen, I went out for a little run. Even though it was almost dark, I managed to take a few pictures with a hint of the glorious sunset. For some reason, I like to take sunset pictures at this particular spot. The tree reminds me of a Russian painting - gloomy yet undefeated.

After the sunset.

Measured In Steps

Went out for a run this evening and found out that everything can be measured in steps here. The closest ATM machine: 80 steps from our condo. Our favorite cafe & ice cream shop: 80. Our favorite bakery: 200. Grocery store: 280. Kids' school: 280. Grandparents' home: 300. Train station: 300. Bus station: 1,000. Living in the heart of a small village in Switzerland is like living in the downtown area of a big city. Yes, the options are more limited but the convenience is hard to beat. No wonder so many people who grew up here chose to stay.

Walking home from the bus stop.

The First Dinner

We had our first real dinner at the condo today, which was the culmination of several days of effort in setting up the condo. It would not have been possible without the help and generosity of extended family and friends. Now we feel definitely more settled in. With a few additional chairs, we may even be able to host soon!

The first meal at the condo.

Girl On Bus

Rain...rain...rain. I did spend an exceptional day with Jasmine in Baden, but there weren't many photo opportunities until I saw this girl on the PostBus from Baden.

Girl on the Postbus from Baden.

A Walk In The Rain

There's nothing like a walk in the rain to remind me of how beautiful the village is. We were all wet but happy - stopping by a village cafe for a coffee/ice cream and freshly made plum tart definitely helped!

A walk in the rain.

Furniture Shopping

We just spent a long day furniture shopping...found a store called "TopTip" that's just like "Room & Board" in San Francisco and got most of the furniture we needed there. Price was very reasonable and they had a lot of simple and contemporary options. One thing that surprised me was that there were no closets for bedrooms (seems pretty common here) so for each bedroom we had to shop for dressers or standalone closets with built-in hanging rods and shelves. Other than that, it was pretty similar to furniture shopping in the US.

Shopping Day!

The First Day

We have just moved in and already got our first visitors from the US! The daughter is now having a sleepover with Jasmine after spending a sunny (and hot) day in Niederweningen Schwimmbad - all kids (and adults) loved it!

We are staying in a first floor condo surrounded by other buildings, houses, etc. I.e. there isn't much of a view to speak of. Luckily, there's a lot of greenery surrounding the condo (lawns, bushes, etc) so it feels bright and open. The condo is contemporary and is built with pretty high quality. If we try hard enough, we even get a peek of the mountains from the front porch and some of the bedrooms.

A funny episode: Early this morning, I was still in my pajamas when I suddenly noticed a tall man standing in the living room! The living room was still void of furniture so his presence was pretty prominent. What a shock! Apparently he was one of the workers who needed access to the building and found our patio door conveniently unlocked so just walked right in. I guess they aren't used to having people live here yet.

We have no toys yet but are not short of empty space for kids to run in!