Zurich, Madrid, and Thanksgiving

Zurich

Zurich is one of the more popular places to visit in Switzerland, at least more so than Geneva, so we figured we should check it out. Quick facts about Zurich:

• Biggest city in Switzerland
• German speaking
• Really big banking center  
• Also on a lake

When we started looking for stuff to do though, we quickly realized there’s not a ton that we were super interested in – it’s too cold for a lot of the outdoor activities, and we’re not crazy about museums. This trip became largely food-focused, which is always fine with me.

We decided to rent a car and drive there, because 1) it was cheaper than the train, 2) we’re planning on driving to Italy for New Year’s, so figured it would be good to practice first with a shorter trip, and 3) we brought Sam with us on this trip, and he hates the train.  

Andy drove, but from what I can tell, driving here isn’t that different from driving in the US. You drive on the right side of the road, and the speed limits are roughly the same (although stated in kilometers). 

They do have some street signs that we don’t have in the US – but I’m guessing that they aren’t that crucial, because we never figured out some of them and did fine. For example, this one is all over the place, no idea what it means:

A couple observations about gas stations:

1. You can’t pay at the pump, you have to go inside to pay.
2. Gas is EXPENSIVE.
3. Every gas station we saw had a full-blown coffee bar. Nice!

Our Airbnb allowed dogs, so bringing Sam was no big deal and allowed us to save some money on dog sitting. He enjoyed the scenery on the way there, then spent most of his weekend sleeping in the apartment. 

We arrived pretty late Friday evening, so we just grabbed a quick dinner and went to bed. We started our day Saturday with breakfast here:

http://www.zumgutenglueck.ch/start-en.html

I accidentally ordered a waffle with ice cream on top (German is hard!), and it was amazing.

Next we did a city tour on a trolley – while it was informative and a good way to see the city, I don’t think I would necessarily recommend it, because it was a little long. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping, and then had drinks here:

http://www.hyatt.com/corporate/restaurants/parkhuus/de/parkhuus-home/onyx-bar-zuerich.html

And dinner here:

http://www.josef.ch/

We LOVED both of these places. The Onyx Bar in the Park Hyatt has a crazy good cocktail menu – it was a little fancy for our usual taste, but so fun for a vacation treat.

Josef offers a set menu of 7 small plates that changes every day – if you’re not a super adventurous eater, this probably sounds terrible, but Andy and I loved it. 

Sunday morning, we started with breakfast here:

http://www.cafe-henrici.ch/

And then went to the thermal baths: 

http://www.thermalbad-zuerich.ch/?chglang=en

The thermal baths have several different packages and ways to experience it, but we did the “Irish-Roman” circuit, which is comprised of 10 stations – saunas at various temperatures and cool/warm pools at various temperatures. I loved everything about this, but Andy maintains that I tricked him into doing it (he was still a very good sport). 

Our overall impression of Zurich certainly isn’t bad, but I don’t know that we would necessarily recommend it as a must-see place. If you find yourself there, I think the thermal baths are definitely worth trying, and the restaurant scene is pretty impressive. 

Madrid

Madrid, however, is a must-see place. We both agreed that this was our favorite trip so far, and we’re definitely going to be returning to Spain in the near future. The food, the culture, the architecture, the language, the PRICES of everything…we loved it all. 

We got in late Friday night, so again grabbed a quick dinner and went to bed. We started Saturday at the oldest chocolate and churros place in the city:

http://chocolateriasangines.com/

SO, so good. 

Then we headed to the Prado Museum. Madrid has several relatively famous art museums, so even though neither of us are huge art people, we thought a couple museums were worth a visit. If you're interested in European art and history, this museum houses a lot of work by Velazquez, Goya, and El Greco. From Wikipedia: 

“The Museo del Prado is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection, and unquestionably the best single collection of Spanish art. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture in 1819, it also contains important collections of other types of works. El Prado is one of the most visited sites in the world, and is considered one the greatest museums of art in the world.”

We spent about 2 hours there and very much enjoyed it. 

Next we had lunch here:

http://www.ganzcafe.com/

Delicious and reasonably priced. 

We went to the Reina Sofia museum after lunch, and it was…interesting. This museum is dedicated to modern art and is most well-known for its Dali collection and housing Picasso’s Guernica. While we did appreciate seeing these things, the rest of it was definitely wasted on us. Maybe Andy and I just aren’t sophisticated enough, but we didn’t really get it. The picture below is an actual painting in this museum:

 

Soooo yeah. There’s that. We had fun speculating at the meaning of it all, but we were done in about an hour. After the Reina Sofia, we went back to the Airbnb for a quick siesta before dinner.

Dinner Saturday night was so wonderful and so weird all at the same time. This is where we went:

http://www.restaurantemaitia.com/

Sidenote: People in Spain eat dinner incredibly late. This is because they eat 6 meals a day, the biggest of which is lunch at around 3 pm, so they aren’t really hungry for dinner until 9 or 10. I made our dinner reservations for 8:30 pm, which also happened to be the time that the restaurant opened. 

We walked into a completely empty restaurant and were greeted by the sounds of John Denver’s “Thank God I’m a Country Boy.” Both immediate red flags for what is expected to be a pretty nice restaurant in Spain, right? It actually turned out to be one of the best meals we’ve ever had. The chef came to our table and told us what she was preparing that evening; we had a choice of 4 starters, 4 entrees, and 4 desserts. We both had duck for our main course – and when she brought it out, she set our plates in front of us and proceeded to cut up our meat for us. So that was nice.

More people started coming in around 9:30, and by the time we left at 10:15 the place was packed. The food was incredible, the service was wonderful, and I highly recommend this place.

We started our day Sunday with a bike tour. The bike tour we did in Paris ended up being the highlight of the trip for us, so it seemed like a good idea to do it again in another major metropolitan European city…except it wasn’t, for several reasons. 

1. I’m not the best bike rider. I learned how to ride a bike at a somewhat late age and kind of missed the phase of life where you ride around the neighborhood with your friends. I never got a lot of practice, so I never got super comfortable. Hence, I’m a very nervous bike rider. Specifically, I have trouble (i) transitioning from a stationary state to moving, or (ii) when I have to turn the bike while moving slowly.  
2. Madrid is not a bike-friendly city. There are very few bike lanes, lots of dense packs of pedestrians, and it’s somewhat hilly.
3. It was pretty cold that day. Not unbearable for walking around, but our hands were freezing holding onto the handle bars without any gloves.

Our tour guide was great, but the overall experience was pretty stressful for me. We had to frequently stop at cross walks and stoplights, and at one point (while pedaling slowly and trying to turn simultaneously) I ran into a parked car. I may or may not have cried a little. 

After 3 hours of bike riding, we were starving and found the perfect place for lunch:

http://www.mercadodesanmiguel.es/en/

The Mercado de San Miguel is FILLED with stalls, where entrepreneurs sell their individual fare of all kinds – oysters, paella, tapas, pastries…and so many wine and vermouth choices as well. Very cool concept!

We spent the rest of the afternoon just roaming around the city. For dinner Sunday evening, we did this food tour:

https://madridfoodtour.com/tapas-history-tour-madrid/

This was our favorite part of the weekend – it was the perfect way to try several different types of Spanish food and wine, and also learn a lot of Spanish history. Our tour guide was friendly and knowledgeable, and the group was small (6 people) so it didn’t necessarily feel like a “tour”. If you’re in Madrid, definitely do this!

I stayed in Madrid until Wednesday for work, but before Andy had to fly back that Monday evening, we saw the Palacio Real and walked around Retiro Park. Both are beautiful and a nice way to spend an hour or two roaming around. 

Ceiling inside the Palacio Real

Thanksgiving

We took this past weekend off from traveling and hosted a Thanksgiving meal at our apartment for some of our new friends. I have several European coworkers who have never had Thanksgiving, and we were also joined by some American friends who decided to stay in town for the holiday. I spent Friday evening and all day Saturday cooking, and learned several fun facts about cooking in Switzerland:

1. Turkey as we know it does not exist. All I could find was turkey “escalope”, which is very thinly sliced turkey breast – it’s typically used to make a dish kind of like schnitzel. So I made turkey schnitzel for Thanksgiving.
2. Dairy products are reeeeally different. Cream cheese, sour cream, half and half, heavy cream, buttermilk – all of these have vastly different names in French that do not directly translate. I did a lot of Google research to make sure I was using the right ingredients.
3. Everything is packaged in grams, and my American recipes are obviously in ounces, cups, tablespoons, and teaspoons. There was quite a bit of math involved.

Since I usually get home from work pretty late, Andy is typically the one to make dinner for us – and I have a new found appreciation for the hassle he goes through pretty much every day. 

Turkey schnitzel and gravy, spinach artichoke casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, mac and cheese, cranberry dressing

Andy about to get down on a buttermilk pie

We had a really nice evening with our friends, talking about things we are thankful for and teaching our foreign friends about American football. It was certainly hard to be away from our families, but we enjoyed making the most of it and sharing the traditions with new friends.

 

Gruyère, Lavaux Vineyard Terraces, Nice, and Creux du Van

The past four weekends have been filled with several small trips (and one bigger one) that have been absolutely wonderful – all different and all beautiful!

Gruyère

Gruyère is a small Swiss town where gruyère cheese is made. It’s about 1.5 hours driving from where we live, so we made a day trip out of it with some of my coworkers and friends. The drive is all along Lac Leman, so very scenic and enjoyable.

Gruyère is a lovely, charming little town, but there are basically only two things to do there: tour the cheese factory and eat fondue. So we did both. It was great! 

Down the road about 15 minutes in another small town called Broc is the Cailler chocolate factory – so we toured that too. Needless to say, we were pretty sick to our stomachs by the end of the day. 

If you’re ever in Western Switzerland, these two small towns are a great way to spend a day. Here are the links to each factory:

http://www.lamaisondugruyere.ch/landing-page-en/

https://cailler.ch/en/maison-cailler/visit-us/tarifs/

Lavaux Wine Terraces

Andy and I both agreed that our day in the Lavaux wine region was our favorite day trip so far. The Terraces are about a 15 minute drive east of Lausanne, or about a 1.5 hour train ride from Geneva. From the tourism website of Switzerland, “Lavaux is the largest contiguous vineyard region in Switzerland, and its daringly constructed hillside terraces have been protected by UNESCO since 2007.” 

The square fields in the picture are surrounded and held up by rock walls - these are the "terraces."

And a little history lesson: “Although there is some evidence that vines were grown in the area in Roman times, the actual vine terraces can be traced back to the 11th century, when Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries controlled the area. It benefits from a temperate climate, but the southern aspect of the terraces with the reflection of the sun in the lake and the stone walls gives a Mediterranean character to the region. The main wine grape variety grown here is the Chasselas.”

There are two ways to see the terraces: (i) hiking, or (ii) the “Lavaux Express,” which is essentially like a children’s ride through the vineyards. http://www.lavauxexpress.ch/en/

 

We did the “Terrasses de Lavaux” hiking trail, which winds around throughout all of the vineyards and through several small towns between Saint-Saphorin and Lutry:

The whole thing is 11.7 km, or a little over 7 miles.

If you do the hike during the summer, there are several wine cellars and traditional pubs in the small towns that are open for drinks/snacks/wine tastings. So you can hike for a bit, have a snack…hike for a bit, have a glass of wine…sounds perfect, right? 

Unfortunately, we went during the fall, so the cellars are largely closed for the season. But, it was still absolutely GORGEOUS, and very much worth it. 

In the town of Rivaz toward the end of the hike (or beginning, depending on which way you start) is the Lavaux Vinorama, a tasting room for all the wines in the region. It’s open year-round with the exception of January, so it was the perfect way for us to end our hike. 

http://www.lavaux-vinorama.ch/presentation_en.php

The website says reservations are required only for groups, but I would suggest making one no matter how many people you’re with, just to make sure that you have a table. 

I HIGHLY recommend this day trip to anyone visiting near Geneva/Lausanne.

Nice

For the weekend before my birthday, Andy surprised me with a weekend getaway to the French Riviera. 

Small tangent: The fact that we’re able to go for a “weekend getaway” to the French Riviera is a blessing we do not take for granted. This season of our life has its challenges for sure, but we are so very thankful for the incredible opportunities we have while living here. Last year for my birthday, we went to dinner in Denver. And it was great! This year, we drank champagne on the coast of France, went shopping in Monaco, ate dinner on the port of Nice with a view of the yachts…there were plenty of “is this real life?” moments. My 29^th birthday will be a lifelong memory, and I’m very thankful. 

So yeah, Nice was fabulous. We moseyed around cobblestone streets and ate gelato, looked at beautiful churches, ogled the ridiculous number of Roll Royces and Bentleys outside of the Monte Carlo casino, ate delicious meals with great views…Nice was so very nice. 

For logistics, we stayed in the best Airbnb we’ve had thus far – if you’re ever planning a trip to Nice and want to try Airbnb, let me know and I will be happy to send you the link. It was clean, convenient, charming, and reasonably priced – truly the perfect arrangement. Within Nice, we just walked everywhere (it’s not a very big place). We took the bus to Monaco, which I would also recommend; it costs EUR 1.50 per person, takes about 30 minutes from Nice to Monaco, and it has a fantastic view of the ocean the whole time. We used Uber to and from the airport. 

Creux du Van

Yesterday we spent the day hiking near Neuchatel in the Creux du Van. 

Supposedly this thing was created by natural water erosion from a glacier, but it looks like a meteor hit to me. 

The hike starts and ends in a small town called Noiraigue, which is accessible by train from Neuchatel. We didn’t make the full loop this time – it’s getting dark here around 5:30 pm these days, and we weren’t sure we could make it back in time – but we did about 10 miles total. The hike up to the view is kind of intense; steady uphill pretty much the whole way. The view at the top is completely worth it though! Also, one of the great things about hikes in Switzerland is that there is usually a restaurant at the top of wherever you’re going; this one had a cute fondue place that was perfect for a rest and a snack. 

 

Next up on our travel list – Madrid!

'Merica.

We just returned to Switzerland from a really great 10-day trip back home. It was the perfect combination of fun and relaxing – we got to spend a lot of time with both of our families, visit a few friends…and my dad earned his Aggie Ring! We had a celebratory party the following weekend, and it was so special to be there. We were thankful it worked out too – my busy season is coming up at work, so I was happy we were able to squeeze it in.

I’ll be honest: coming back to Geneva this Saturday was really, really hard. We don’t know when we’re going to visit the US again, so these goodbyes to friends and family were a lot tougher. Not only that, but we SO enjoyed the 10 days of ease and convenience that is being American in America. I could come up with countless examples of what I mean, but below are a few that really stuck out to me (and in a few cases, moved me to tears):

Garbage.

SO EASY. You just throw it away. In America, we buy garbage sacks by the box – you want 200? Buy 200! Only want 50? No problem! And anything you want to put in that sack, you’re free to do so. Recycling is good and encouraged, but if you choose to throw away some paper or crumpled-up foil, it’s not a big deal (at least in Texas).

Not the case in Switzerland. Sometime in the recent past, the powers that be decided that this country needed to recycle more, and they took drastic measures to make it happen. For any garbage that we do not recycle, we are required to use specific, sanctioned garbage sacks that we purchase from the municipality. The local grocery stores keep these behind the counter, and you ask for them when you check out. A 15-liter sack (about 4 gallons…what most of us might use for the trash can at our desk) in Gland, the small town where we live, costs about 3 francs (3 dollars). Yes, that’s ONE tiny garbage bag. And yes, we still pay a garbage collection fee. If you are caught using a non-sanctioned garbage sack, you’ll be fined…and there are people who make a living digging through your “illegal” garbage sack, trying to figure out who it belongs to.

The purpose of this is obviously to encourage people to recycle as much of their garbage as possible; which is great, yay recycling! It’s just an adjustment. All recyclable material has to be separated out for their separate receptacles, which you drop off yourself, because there’s no recycling pick-up. And if you get caught recycling ANYTHING on Sunday, you’ll be fined. All of these rules mean that we have multiple stacks/bags of recyclable material around our apartment alllll the time.

So yeah, keeping up with our garbage is hard. The next time you walk the 20 steps to your garage to take out your trash in your giant kitchen garbage sack, full of anything and everything you could possibly want to throw away – think of me. Better yet, think of Andy, he takes out our trash. 

Grocery shopping.

Those of you reading this who live in Texas- I want you to pause right now, bow your head, and thank God for the blessing in your life that is HEB. While we were in Beaumont visiting the Giblins, we stopped by their HEB Plus…it’s essentially heaven. We didn’t need much, but we walked through the whole store, just in awe. The selection! The variety! I stopped in front of the coconut water section and teared up. There’s a WHOLE SECTION dedicated to coconut water. There were at least 20 different kinds to choose from. That’s insane!

As a reference point – we can’t find spinach in our local grocery store. I found this stuff, which is close:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerianella_locusta but not the same. Peanut butter is really expensive (most people don’t buy it), milk and and eggs are not refrigerated (apparently they’re ultra-pasteurized, but it still weirds me out), and there isn’t nearly as many options to choose from for any given product. Don’t get me wrong, we’re definitely eating well here – but the grocery store is a struggle.

Online banking.

I’m going to assume that pretty much all of you that are close to my age, and a lot of you who are older, pay most (if not all) of your bills online. It’s so easy, so convenient – type in your username, type in your password, type in your credit card number, click click click, done.

You probably check your bank balance on your bank’s website – username, password, you’re in. You can send other people money, set up transfers, all kinds of stuff. You might even have an app on your phone where you can do it too!

It’s not a thing here. We bank with UBS in Switzerland, and they have a system they refer to as “e-banking”, which is an incredibly generous name for it. An “e-banking kit” consists of (i) an e-banking card and (ii) an e-banking card reader. The card reader plugs into the computer, and you insert the card into the card reader, which generates a code. Type that code into the website, it generates another code to type into the card reader. Enter that code into the card reader – and it generates ANOTHER code to type into the computer. Then you’re in. So if you don’t have your card reader with you, there’s no e-banking.

When I got my first cell phone bill here, I went to the provider’s website and tried to pay it – again, not a thing. My paper bill that I had received in the mail had to be taken – wait for it – to the post office. Yep, you walk into the post office with your bill and enough cash and give it to a postal worker. He takes your cash and pays the bill.

I know what you’re thinking. “But Steph, how do you know that he’s going to pay your bill? How do you know he isn’t going to just pocket your cash?” EXCELLENT QUESTION. As far as we can tell, you don’t know. It’s a risk you take, and everyone is fine with it.

Drinking glasses.

And beverage size in general. This is serious – the Swiss drink every kind of beverage out of a shot glass. I’m not kidding.

 

The cup on the left is my water cup that I brought with me from the US. The middle cup is for coffee, and the clear cup on the right is for water. Our executive assistant walked into my office the other day and we had the following conversation:

 

EA: “Where did you get that giant cup?!”

Me: “Oh, I brought it with me from the US.”

EA: “Why so big?!”

Me: “Um, well…I guess we Americans just get thirsty…”

 

A water glass at a restaurant is the same. If you order water (“de l’eau”) at a restaurant, they’re going to bring you Evian. For free water, you have to specify that you want tap water (“carafe d’eau”). So then they’ll bring you a “carafe” of water and two glasses – but their carafe is roughly the size of a medium drink at a drive-through, and the glasses are shot glasses. Realistically, I think we could each drink about 3 carafes during a meal, but the waitresses don’t walk around with refills. I don’t understand how everyone here stays hydrated.

 

So there’s my 5 minutes of whining of the little things I miss from the US. We’re going to Gruyere this weekend to tour a cheese factory and a chocolate factory, so I guess I’ll just have to persevere and suffer through. J