This is my tiny hotel room. I knew that European hotel rooms would be small, but I had expected a musty room covered with fabric. This was very clean and industrial. and cold. And there were no chairs in the room or the lobby, so it wasn't a very comfortable place to be. It took me a few days to figure out things like how to turn on the lights and hot water in the shower.
The hotel staff didn't speak English very well, nor were very helpful so I tried to figure things out on my own. I saw the cleaning woman insert the door key-card into a pocket on the wall and viola! lights. The hot water was something else. The universal sign for hot is red and blue for cold, and that worked fine for the sink, but the shower didn't seem to cooperate. The first few days involved me filling up my water bottle from the sink, and pouring it on myself while standing in the shower. Luckily my room was small enough that I could reach the sink from the shower.
Zurich isn't really a hot spot of tourism, but there was a river that ran along the length of the city with a jogging path on both sides of the bank. It was a flourish of activity and I went for a walk along it every day.
Directly across the nearest bridge from my hotel was a playground and this little zoo. It had goats, very feathery chickens and some pigs.
It seems anytime I am at an event with Middle Eastern men, at least one of them falls in love with me. I kid you not. I have had three marriage proposals after things like Embassy dinners, etc. This poor guy spent the entire week trying to woo me; fetching me water, making sure I was warm/cool enough in the class room, general staring, and trying to get me to go to lunch/dinner with him every night.
To be fair, there were only four women in the class and the other three were all married.
This is my group, the WI dairy cluster project team.
Returning from my daily stroll, I passed by a small family carrying illuminated vegetables. As i continued on I met up with the entire neighborhood out in a parade. There was a marching band, carts lit up with candles, and singing and talking. I followed along for several blocks and finally found someone to ask what the celebration was for. She couldn't explain it in English very well, but it was something to do with celebrating Fall. Similar to our Halloween but more about nature and less about goblins.
The next day as I went out for a walk I found these carved out turnips hanging from a tree. This is what the kids were walking around with! I can't imagine carving a turnips is easy!
Along that same street was a neighborhood park. On this particular day there was a hot game of bocce and some ping-pong going on.
The Saturday after our class, four of us still in town went on a guided tour. This is a scene from inside the bus.
Three of us along the banks of the lake. The fourth person wasn't actually in our class. There were two classes being held that week. This poor guy came to our class the first day, sat through the entire day, and at the end, realized he was in the wrong class.
On the tour we went outside the city and up a tram to the country side. This is me with very hairy cows in the back ground. I don't think you can see the cows.
Me on the ferry to the Gold Coast. It's called the Gold Coast because there are vineyards along the banks. During the Autumn, when the grape leaves change colour, it shimmers like gold. The tour guide also said that people call it the Gold Coast because only rich people can afford to live there. Tour guides are so funny.
Amitav and I on the ferry.
Sunday walk in the rain. There is a very cool museum in the back ground.
The museum from the other side of the river. This is about two miles down the river path from my hotel.
Mostly I ambled about and picked random streets to go up. I have no idea what I'm taking pictures of but felt pressure to show something of my trip.
This was another random street. Reminds me of Boston. And thus concludes my trip to Zurich. I did enjoy that pedestrians have the right of way, though the streets and sidewalks aren't very clearly separated so there were a few times when I didn't know where the sidewalk ended and street began. I was also struck by how many men took their children out for a walk. I saw as many men walking around with baby carriages as women. And there were lots of people on crutches. I mean, enough that I noticed how many people I saw on crutches. And it's not because there were more pedestrians and therefor I'd see more people using crutches instead of driving in cars. There are just as many pedestrians in Boston and NYC and I can think of a single time I saw anyone walking around on crutches that didn't involve a cast. This was like two or three people, of different ages, a day. It just struck me as odd.
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