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!

Niederweningen

We are staying in Niederweningen, a little village to the northwest of Zurich. This will be our home base for the year. In the past twenty years, we have visited Niederweningen at least every two years. Many year ago, when I was still living in Arizona, I wrote a little article about the village after one of my first visits. Since then, we had lived here for short periods of time. However, this will be the first time that we will live here for an entire year.

Niederweningen

Surprise At The Airport!

We had a nightmarish situation in the airport today. The airline didn't like the hamster cage and Tanzi, the hamster that Jasmine has lovingly cared for since her babyhood, had to stay behind. We are incredibly grateful for two friends who came to our rescue – one came from Boulder all the way to pick up Tanzi and the other to take care of Tanzi for the next two months before David's return trip. Also grateful for the DIA employee who watched over Tanzi for the rest of his shift while we rushed to catch the flight. What a unpleasant surprise on the first day of our adventure but glad that it turned out OK.

Jasmine has a deep bond with her hamster Tanzi.

Last Day In Boulder

We are almost done with packing for the move. Unfortunately we have to leave quite a few things behind, including this darling cheetah made specially for Lila for her birthday, thanks to our friend Jacquie McKenna and http://www.zimbutrading.com/.  It's simply impossible to squeeze in one more thing! We're already missing our home, the mountains and our friends - luckily we will be able to meet some of them in Switzerland. We are looking forward to the year long adventure in Europe!

Lila with her darling cheetah on her birthday.