The One Where I Almost Fainted on a Bridge

Last Sunday we decided to tackle another tourist destination around Zurich. We spent the day at Sattel Hochstuckli. In the winter, it's a ski resort. During the summer months, they've figured out a way to bring in revenue by offering toboggan runs, jumpy houses and trampolines, and Europe's longest suspension foot bridge (374 meters of FUN, FUN, FUN).

We got there on Sunday morning and took the revolving gondola up the mountain. If you know me, you know I do not appreciate it when my feet leave the earth. I don't like gondolas, airplanes, or rollercoasters. But I tried to keep my crazy under wraps because the boys thought it was the best thing ever. I've been on gondolas several times when skiing, but somehow I've never been bothered by it. Seeing the hard, rocky earth beneath me instead of snow is a little disconcerting. In the end, it was fine and it got us to the top quickly.

The kids immediately ran off to do the jumpy houses. Even Caroline got in on it. She was a little hesitant at first, but finally she got her jump on! Then we couldn't keep her off of it.

After that, Grant decided to be our tester for the toboggan run. He proclaimed it "awesome!" but then amended his statement to say that he didn't think Charlie would like it. It would be too scary. I'm pretty sure Grant just wanted all the tickets for himself. Charlie wasn't about to let that stop him. He went with Tobi and they had a good time. Grant went a second time and got the hang of it quickly.

We decided to walk across the suspension bridge and have lunch on the other side. That was a good call because I'm preeeeeety sure I would have lost my cookies on the bridge if I'd been able to. The kids were trotting along, enjoying the view. Even Caroline walked across, refusing to sit idly in the backpack. Meanwhile, I was behind everyone, almost crying, a bit panicked. Poor Tobi. We have three children, but the only one he was talking across was me. We made it and I really wished I'd packed some wine in our picnic lunch.

We took a break for lunch and then decided we should get back across the bridge as there was a storm making its way toward us. I've never walked so fast in my entire life. I was practically pushing other tourists out of the way to get across. As soon as we made it, it started lightning and raining. So I'm really glad I wasn't standing on a metal bridge between two mountains with nothing but a river beneath me when the storm approached.

We had a good family day, but I think the next time, I will forego the suspension bridge. Tobi took a few good pictures of the view from the bridge. Since I had tunnel vision for the end of the bridge, I appreciate his pictures. I hope you do too!

Cheers!

Tiffany

All pictures from the Sattel outing are posted on my Facebook page.

Easter Weekend Roundup

I know Easter was two weeks ago, but better late than never, I say . . .

Easter weekend here is a four day weekend. Tobi had Good Friday and Easter Monday off so it was a nice little family break. Luckily, I was warned by some friends and neighbors that all the stores are closed on Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. The stores were open on Saturday. It was like people were stocking up for Armageddon. But I managed to get the essentials, even though I wasn't able to secure an Easter ham. In the end, that didn't matter much because we spent the whole day sightseeing (side note: we had wurst for Easter dinner. There is an abundance of wurst in Zurich. Did I mention I'm not a fan of wurst?).

On Good Friday, we went into the city and had a picnic by the water because the weather was unbelievably beautiful. In fact, the entire weekend was sunny and in the low 70s (sorry, Europeans, I still have no idea how to calculate that into Celsius).

On Easter Sunday we decided to drive to the other side of the lake to Rapperswil. Rapperswil is a little town on the southeastern side of Lake Zurich and is a popular tourist destination. On Easter Sunday, the cafes and restaurants were open and families were visiting the castle, playing chess, and feeding the swans. Unfortunately, the castle was closed, so we could not tour the inside but we walked around outside and visited the church & cemetary.

On the way home we drove to Meilen, a town halfway up the lake, to take the car ferry back across the lake to our house. The ferry ride is no more than 10 minutes (Lake Zurich is a rather narrow lake) but the boys thought that it was lots of fun to drive onto a boat.

We continue to sightsee every weekend. I usually pack us a cooler with lunch and snacks. Tobi consults Google maps for where to turn next. We've been hiking a lot; the views are amazing. The kids like walking "in the forest," as Charlie likes to say. Thank goodness we brought the baby backpack for Caroline - she loves it too. The trails are shared by families hiking and people biking and horseback riding. It's a very nice activity for our whole family.

Next up: What I've Learned So Far in Zurich, and Legoland Deutschland for Charlie's birthday.

Cheers!

Tiffany

The One Where We Go To Italy...for a Day

The Italians have a saying, "dolce far niente," meaning, "the sweetness of doing nothing." Well, I'm married to a man who hasn't a clue how to do nothing. We are always doing something. So last week when he called me with a question, "Hey, I have a meeting next week in Milan. Want to bring the kids on the train? It's just for one night," I jumped at the idea. The kids have two weeks off for spring break. Why wouldn't I want to take them on a train to Italy, if only for one night?

Many of you know my pure adoration for everything British. Well, I'm quickly becoming an Italophile as well. Tobi and I visited Rome, Positano, and Capri on our tenth anniversary about 3 years ago, and since then I cannot get enough of Italy. Italians are just about the most friendly people I've ever encountered. They're always helpful and cheerful, with smiles on their faces. I am taking German lessons and yet I'm terrified to say one word in German, here in Zurich. I only know a tiny bit of Italian (tourist Italian, if you will, from my 10 week class, 3 years ago) but the Italians are generous with their language. They love for you to try even if you screw it up. Their eyes light up when you use a word they never thought you'd know (on this trip, I said sinistra to a woman. It means left, and she actually clapped when I said it because she didn't know the English word for left). I had so much fun using the small amount of Italian I know, and I was happy to practice it again.

We took a three and a half hour train from Zurich to Milano. Tobi immediately got in a car with his Milanese coworker to dash off to a meeting. So here I am, in front of the Stazione Centrale with 3 kids and a stroller and about 100 Euro. I was scared to move. I didn't have a map or trusty guidebook, and only a vague idea where the city center was and nary a clue where the hotel was. BUT the kids, who were cranky and tired, honed in immediately on the McDonald's across from the train station. Normally, I would never think of eating at a McDonald's in a foreign country, but I just didn't know what else to do. So three Happy Meals later, the kids were fed. I started to walk in the general direction of the hotel, but then stopped to ask someone for directions (Parla Inglese? are the 2 most important Italian words you could ever learn - because not everyone speaks English, even in the big cities). Turned out, our hotel was way too far for the kids or the stroller on bumpy, broken Milano sidewalks. Luckily, I found a taxi and we made our way to the hotel.

The hotel, while a little bit far from the city center, was very lovely. You usually don't think of boutique hotels being exactly kid-friendly, but the Enterprise Hotel was extremely accommodating and welcoming. We actually stayed in one of their apartments, which had a loft bedroom for us, and the hotel staff put 2 twin beds and a crib in the living room. It was perfect.

We spent the afternoon eating gelato, playing at a nearby park, and Charlie & Caroline both got a nap in before Tobi got back for dinner. In the evening, the five of us took a tram into the city where we viewed the Arco della Pace (Arch of Peace) and the Castello Sforzesco in the Sempione Park. We had dinner in the garden at Ristorante Quattro Mori. Luckily, I also know how to say pasta al burro (buttered noodles)! The kids thought it was the best dinner out, and we did many rounds of "Cheers!"

On Wednesday, Tobi had to work in the Milan office for the morning, so I took the kids on the tram again into the city and we toured the Cathedral of Santa Maria Nascante, the famousDuomo di Milano. Charlie, in particular, has been very interested in churches lately and so we decided we had to go in. Even though it is tough to ask two and four (and even eight) year olds to remain quiet in a place of worship, they were all extremely well behaved and we all enjoyed the beautiful stained glass windows and the "really pretty pictures" as Charlie called the centuries-old paintings.

We met Tobi back at the hotel in time to visit the gelateria again for more wonderful gelato, and then we headed to the train station to come back to Zurich. It was a short, sweet trip and a nice introduction for the kids to the wonders of Italy. I asked both boys what 3 things will now remind them of Italy. Charlie answered, "Gelato, playgrounds, and the Duomo." Grant said, "Straccitella (the chocolate chip flavor of gelato he got), motor scooters, and the Duomo." For me, I'd have to say the language, the churches, and the people.

La dolce vita, indeed.

Cheers!

Tiffany

Note on photography: all taken by me, except the picture of the tram at the top. That was taken by Grant, and as he said, it's a "perfect shot." LOL. Check my FB page for all the pics from the trip.

The One Where We Actually Move!

Hi all! This will be a bit of a brain dump because I'm so off my rocker that I'm barely able to form sentences.

We arrived yesterday morning around 11am, Zurich time. The flight was pretty uneventful. The first few minutes were abso-freaking-lutely terrifying because we had pretty horrible turbulence in the first 15 minutes of the flight. Like I was white-knuckling it as the boys were giggling and Caroline was going, "Whoa! Whooooaaaaa!" At one point, Tobi told Caroline to put her hands up like on a rollercoaster, so she did. And everyone was laughing but me. I was trying to put on a brave face, but I didn't take any Xanax for the flight because I thought I would need to be "on" for the kids. Grant immediately settled in for the movies (Jack Black in Gulliver's Travels? According to Grant, it was "awesome") and Charlie was enthralled with the snack mix and orange juice he ordered "for free!" Caroline & Tobi did about an hour of Elmo sticker book before she got a little cranky. She finally fell asleep and the boys sat together and watched movies and then both fell asleep. Tobi fell asleep and I sat there trying to just breathe. I may have slept a tiny bit but I got up a lot and walked and stretched. About an hour before the flight was over, they turned on the cabin lights & opened the shades to daylight, trying to trick our weary bodies into thinking we'd had enough nighttime. Charlie loudly proclaimed, "Hey! It's daytime now!!"

Our relocation person met us at the airport and took most of our 9 bags of luggage with her in her car. The 5 of us took two taxis to our apartment, where the movers were waiting on us to arrive to look over all the goods they'd just unloaded. They didn't just unload things, but set up nearly my entire kitchen, our living room, and the kids' rooms. They assembled the boys' new Ikea bunk beds and Caroline's new toddler bed. Tobi was very grateful to be spared these tasks.

We did a bit of exploring and the kids imediately took off for the playground. Tobi lamented our lack of view (we cannot see the lake from our apartment, even though we are very close to the shore) but our view is directly in front of the playground so I can watch the kids from the kitchen/dining room window. This is really ideal. While the kids played outside, Tobi went to the bank to get us a real live Swiss bank account. He was very happy to finally open it, as in January we were told they do not give Americans Swiss bank accounts without proof of residency.

We took a walk last evening and found a pizza place about 8 minutes from our apartment. Tobi had gnocchi (his favorite) and I had a really great pizza with proscuitto and mushrooms. Grant got buttered noodles and proclaimed them "the best ever" and Charlie got chicken fingers, which the Swiss call, "schnipple" so thank God for small favors. Caroline ate some of the noodles and a lot of french fries (with Heinz ketchup. Again, thank God - it's the little things, ya know??). Then we found a small grocery store a few minutes further away. We bought some essentials and called it a night.

Because the Swiss tradition is to buy one's lighting for one's apartment (yeah, this is WEIRD), we didn't have any lights in the apartment, save the bathrooms and stove overhead light. Thank goodness Tobi thought to pack a couple of flashlights so we made do. Today we got up and went to a store called Jumbo, which is similar to a Home Depot and bought lighting fixtures out the ying-yang. I will do a separate post on the Dragon light the boys picked for their room. Suffice it to say it's not the prettiest thing I've ever seen. Our relocation person has hired an electrician to come on Monday to install all the lighting.

Well, this is all the update I can give because it is after 11pm here and I'm beat. Tomorrow? Tiffany's first Swiss driving. So if you're in Zurich and happen to be reading this, you've been warned. We're going to try to find the school in preparation for Monday.

To be continued...

Cheers!

Tiffany

The One Where I Give a (past-due) Status Report

Hello! I'm not even going to mention how bad I am at being a blogger. But I did think you might like a little update. The picture above is of the town of Ruschlikon. Ruschlikon is the town we will live in when we move.

YES! That means we've picked an apartment! We just signed a lease on an apartment in Ruschlikon, on the west side of the lake, about 15 mins from Zurich city. You can read about the town here. I don't yet have pictures of the apartment to share with you, but I will post them as soon as we move in. The building is brand-spankin'-new. We actually saw this building when we visited Zurich in January. They were still laying flooring and putting up wall sconces when we were there. The apartment is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a living/dining/kitchen area, and a patio. Swiss law dictates that the builder must install a playground in the yard behind the building, so of course the kids are thrilled about that. The parking is in a garage beneath the building. Can I tell you how excited I am for that? Parking and going up to the apartment with groceries and kids and not having to run through the rain or snow? Heaven. Now I need a cute little cart to get the groceries up the elevator.

Tobi is working on getting our plane tickets, but it looks like we will be leaving around April 6-7. I cannot believe it's only 3 weeks away!

Hope all is well with you and yours. I promise my next update will be as soon as I have more news!

Cheers!

Tiffany

The One Where I make a Friend on Swiss Air

It's been about three weeks since I visited Zurich. So I'm already a failure at blogging because this is no longer timely. My apologies.

Tobi & I spent five days in Zurich sans children. It was nice, but hardly a vacation. We toured 4 international schools (more about that later - the good, the bad, and the wait-listed), 4 flats, spent a day in the car with the relocation person, and ate pizza twice. Yeah, pizza. Twice. In Switzerland. No, no fondue. Just pizza. Apparently the Swiss love pizza. Who knew?

For those of you who know me well, you know I'm pretty nervous flyer. Like pop-2-Xanax-and-pray-this-bird-doesn't-crash nervous. So I get on the flight, which was mostly full, and my seatmate was a man named Tom. I shared my nervousness with Tom right after he told me a charming little story about a flight that crashed because of the USB ports (as I was plugging my iPhone into a USB port). Tom is from Poland, living in Lugano, Switzerland, near the Italian border. Tom was my new best friend for the next 8 hours. We discussed organic foods, the importance (or not) of ice in drinks(!!!), but mostly the differences between America and Switzerland. My favorite was our lively discussion on the metric system vs. the American system.

Tom: How many inches in a foot?

Me: 12

Tom: Why not 13?

See why I liked him? By the time the flight landed in Zurich, I felt I'd already made a friend. So Tom, if you found your way to my blog, cheers! Thanks for helping me through the flight!

Our experiences with the Swiss people were great. Very friendly people who were also extremely helpful. Tobi asked nearly everyone if they spoke English. They all do. Even the bus drivers. We are taking German lessons, but it's nice to know that we will survive on English for a while.

The school situation was hit and miss. Two of the schools don't have space for the kids, and have healthy-sized wait lists. One school was just... well, not lovely. I'll leave it at that. And the school our children will attend is the loveliest, fairy-tale-iest of the lot. Fraulein Maria would be proud. And the hills are alive with the sound of music!

We toured apartments, but none were available for April yet. So we will continue to look. I think we will end up with a lovely 3 bedroom, 2 bath that will suit us just fine. I'll be sure and post pix when we finally do manage to snag one.

Next up: Packing (and packing, and packing) and moving. Stay tuned.

Cheers!

Tiffany

Welcome

Welcome! I decided to start a blog to chronicle this adventure we're on. I asked Grant what I should title the blog and he said, "The Field Trip." I take many of my cues from an 8 year old, and this was no exception.

Remember when you were a kid and your class went on a field trip? The excitement? The thrill of taking different transport? The anxiety over who to sit with on the bus? The nervousness over what your mom packed in your lunchbox? The field trip day was fraught with a change in circumstances, a change in routine. That's exactly what our family signed up for when we decided to take an expat package with Tobi's company to Zurich, Switzerland.

I'm hoping this blog will provide our friends and family with updates on what we're doing once we move. For now it will be a place for me to post the ridiculous/funny/scary things that await us as we navigate an international move for our family. Here's hoping you stick with me.

Cheers!