I woke up this morning....

...and realized I live in Switzerland!!! This is the first snow from my apartment.

Zurich!

This past weekend I had the opportunity to go to Zurich with my ten closest friends. I experienced one of the most beautiful train rides I have ever been on. The train from Lugano to Zurich basically runs up the center of the country--through the alps, the lake region, and finally to Swiss-German speaking territory.


The first thing my friends and I tried to do was find our hotel. A guy on the train told us we were staying just on the outskirts of the red light district. This made us very nervous, however it turned out to be a very nice Comfort Inn--clean, cheap, and a good free breakfast.

After finding the hotel we made our way to the center of town to find sausage and beer. Fortunately, Zurich has a heavy German influence, so we were able to satisfy the sausage/beer craving. I also experienced rustii for the first time. All rustii is is hash browns, but it sounds cool to say I tried rustii :). After dinner we found a bar that was playing live music, which is a rarity in Lugano, so we thoroughly enjoyed that. A funny thing happened at the bar. I happened to overhear someone say Red Sox. It turns out the guy is from Boston, and he is visiting a friend he went to MIT. What a small world!

Our first full day in Zurich (Saturday), we did a lot of sightseeing. Our first stop was the Grossmunster. This cathedral has the most amazing views of the city from all sides. It also has beautiful stained glass windows.

The next stop was the Fraumunster. This 13th century church was by far my favorite place to see in Zurich. It has six stained glass windows by Marc Chagall. He was commissioned in the 60's to create the windows. They are absolutely stunning in person. My pictures definitely don't do them justice.

After the Fraumunster we made a quick stop to St. Peter's. This church is said to have one of the largest clock faces in Europe (8.5 meters in diameter). It's big, but I don't think it can be the biggest--what about Big Ben??

The afternoon was filled with window shopping. I didn't actually buy anything because Switzerland in general is insanely expensive and Zurich is no exception. That evening we went to a restaurant called Neumarket for dinner. The food was good and the atmosphere was great. It wasn't too cold outside, so we sat on the covered patio. The weather in general was gorgeous all weekend.

On Sunday a few of us rented bikes and rode to our friend Pete's rugby game. We missed the game by five minutes, but it was great to ride bikes! After the rugby game we rode through some neighborhoods to the lake called Zurichsee. It was a great day to ride bikes and just look at the scenery. We stopped for a sausage at lunch time, which is so good you cannot believe it. They serve the sausages wrapped in paper, and instead of a bun they give you a hunk of really good bread.

After bike riding all day we were ready to head back down to Lugano. We were all pretty tired and wanted to sleep and relax on the train. I even spent 13.90CHF for a Self magazine. Fortunately, the entire train was filled with German, Swiss, and Italian teenagers......Needless to say it wasn't the most relaxing train ride I've ever been, although it was still beautiful. Well, enjoy the pictures!!
S.

Eric and John trying to find our hotel

Me and John at Reinfelder Bierhalle on our first night

The Fraumunster (green steeple) and St. Peter's (see the clock) from the Limmat River

From the left--Eric, Blair, Emily, Clarla, Tim, and John

Me and Blair

View of the Fraumunster and St. Peter's from the Grossmunster tower
View of Zurichsee from the Grossmunster

At the top of the Grossmunster

Zurichsee with the Alps from the Grossmunster

The interior of the Fraumunster

Chagall windows at the Fraumunster (sorry I couldn't turn the picture)

The Grossmunster (I went to the top of the tower on the right)

Dinner at Neumarket on Saturday--from the left going around the table--Lizzie, Blair, Allyson, Eric, John, Tim, Emily, Allie, and Carla

Late to Pete's rugby game--Pete, Allie, Emily, and Carla--the bike riders :)

Zurichsee from my bike

Me and the Zurichsee!

This guy was balancing these rocks on the edge of the lake...pretty cool

Welcome to the Embassy...erh, the classroom...

I wanted to give you a glimpse of what my classroom and school look like. An interesting fact about the building is that it used to be the British Ambassador's home. This explains why the basement where we have the cafeteria (cantina) is a wine cellar, and why I have a chandelier and fireplace in my classroom. The building is called Hadsall and it houses grades 3-6. The top two levels are high school boy dormitories, which creates an interesting dynamic as they are wandering in and out of the building during the day. Enjoy the photos!
S.

The Palestra--this is the tent they have set up to hold music and assemblies. They are not allowed to build a permanent building on the property, so this is the solution. It is freezing in there!

Next to the Palestra is the jungle gym. Around the corner are swings and a see-saw. Whatever happened to see-saws in the States? Those things are great!

This is the view of Lago di Lugano from the playground.

This is the front of Hadsall and the window to my classroom. See the chandelier?? The blacktop for recess is also in front of this window, which can make my room very noisy.

The inside of my classroom--We have Macs in the classroom and PCs in the teachers' room. Yet another thing that doesn't quite make sense at the school.

More of the classroom--notice the ceiling?

Aahh, the fireplace...

My white, I mean blackboard. I am the only classroom in the entire school with one.

And finally, the Chandelier!!

The (almost) Perfect Day in Paradise

It all started out as a simple road trip to Locarno and Ascona, lakeside towns on Lago Maggiore in Switzerland. Allie, Carla, and I drove Allie's car and arrived in Locarno with little incident. Then, when leaving Locarno to go to Ascona, the car died....it just stopped in the middle of the street. Carla and I had to push it into a parking space. After numerous phone calls, conversations with the tourist board, and a conversation with Jerry, our French mechanic, we managed to call TSC-basically AAA in Switzerland. As it turns out, the night before Allie had our friend Massimo fill her car with gas. Apparently it's a big deal if you put non-diesel gas in a diesel car. Our friendly Swiss mechanic had to pump all the gas out of the car and then we had to fill it up with the correct kind of gas (for 77 Swiss franc!). We missed going to an island botanical garden, but we did make it to Ascona, which is one of the most romantic places I've ever been. Enjoy the pictures!
S.

Allie and Carla on the boardwalk in Locarno

The boardwalk in Locarno is lined with beautiful flowers. Apparently the town is known in the landscape world.

A church that overlooks Lago Maggiore in Locarno

Our sad car and our cute Swiss mechanic...we managed to fix the car with a combination of Italian, French, and English.

Notice the abbreviation for the bus system...hehe :)

The grand piazza in Locarno....a picture of where we ate lunch.

Lago Maggiore from Locarno

Me and Allie

I bought a small painting from this guy in Ascona...he was from Napoli.

The town of Ascona on Lago Maggiore

There was an art exhibit with sculptures like this throughout Ascona...pretty cool!

The boardwalk in Ascona

Our view at dinner....belissima!

Pictures!!

Mount San Salvatore from the lake

San Abbodino, the local Catholic church

The view from my apartment (see the Alps in the back!)

My apartment building--you can see my balcony (the first one from the bottom)

My commute to work--yeah, the view is just awful!!

Me and my roomie Carla (that's Lake Lugano in the background)

Celebrating the end of the first week at the IP (The Irish Pub...yes, there is even one here)

A view of Lake Como from the lido

Gandria, a very cute little town I hiked on the lake

Me and the ES gals (and Mike) eating gelati before a boat tour of the lake