Bank Chocolates

On Thursday Joe & decided we would get a bank account open, in addition to some other fun errands. Opening a bank account....this shouldn't take long, right? Maybe an hour. Well, after visiting KantonalBark Zurich, Credit Suisse, KantonalBank Zurich, Credit Suisse, and about 4 hours of our life later, we have a bank account! The only real Highlight of this experience was the chocolate a kind man gave us at Credit Suisse. As we walked out of the bank, Joe opened his and said, oh my god, you have to have this and popped the other half of his in my mouth. All this back & forth suddenly seemed justifiable just to have this chocolate! We have no idea what it was, but every grocery store visit since then we have been searching for something similar. Perhaps when we work up the guts to enter the chocolate/dessert shops, we will find the delicious bank creation again!

We went to the grocery yesterday and the prices were not nearly as astronomical there as we expected. Needless to say, we are going to be eating in our crummy little temporary flat for nearly every meal!

Generally, all is going well!, of course everything is harder now, but it will certainly get easier once we are more settled & find our permanent home.

New Temporary Housing

We moved out of the hotel today, and into our short-term rental. Thoughts:

Pros:

• Good location
• Shower head / Water pressure is fantastic
• Furniture / amenities are new

Cons:

• No curtains / blinds over the windows, apparently they are coming in a few weeks.
• We are on the ground floor near the door and so we can hear it squeak every time someone enters.
• Noisy - It's 5 AM here and someone nearby is still jamming to Madonna (she is apparently coming to Zurich....) and there is construction going on at times during the day.
• Swiss beds (including ours here) apparently do not contain a sheet underneath the comforter, and without AC in the room it is either cook underneath the heavy cover or go without
• Internet seems intermittent

In the words of Bela Karoli "total ripoff"

Hello all! Hope everyone is doing well. Joe & I actually (mostly) slept through the night last night and have been going strong all day today. Joe is meeting with his new colleagues at E&Y, and I am at the only place with free WiFi in Zurich, Starbucks. But as the title notes, it is a "total ripoff." Did anyone see Bela Karoli talking about the total ripoff of American gymnastics? Well, I bet he would be just as vehement about the ripoff I am experiencing here. A tall iced caramel machaitto (made wrong, as I am fairly confident that I am drinking milk with carmel in it) was 6.80CHF. That's right my friends, $6 bucks for milk and some free internet.

We did meet our agent who will help us search for our apartment. She left us swirling with vast amounts of information, but she seems like she will be a great fit for us. Young, honest & friendly, so I think it will work out well. We are starting to get a feel for a few of the areas and walked past our temporary apartment today which is in quite a nice, central locale.

Maybe I'll decide to slurge on some milk again tomorrow...if so, maybe you'll all hear from me again.
Much love!

Ankunft in Zurich

We arrived in Zurich today (1030 AM local time, 3:30 AM Central time). The Swiss efficiency was tested on the plane by a 65 year old (or so) woman who decided that she was going to carry-on four bags, one of which contained a dog. Somehow "small" dogs are allowed on international flights, but the four bags were not tolerated. This threw the lady into a tirade, which slowed us out of O'Hare by about 15 minutes. Other than that the flight was great and the food (and free drinks) were decent.

We toured the city a bit today and are now just trying to stay awake. 6:30 PM Zurich time is our goal, which we have a decent shot of making.

Plenty of errands tomorrow, but that should give us further opportunities to explore the city and figure out the transit options.

Wir sprechen uns spaeter.

PS - Brian, yes I know how to post.. (You are going to wish that Liz takes back the helm as a majority of my posts will be boring and factual)

The Viggianos & Bielendas Bid Farewell

Chicago Time

 


So, I woke up my first morning at my parent's house to this familiar sight, a to-do list. Ah, I felt like I was in high school all over again. Sorry Mom....you had no idea your note would live in infamy. I've been having a great time with the parents, grandparents, (bosco? maybe not so much....), brother (who will probably be recovering for weeks from the bike ride Dave, Mom & I took yesterday along the lake.) Yes, yesterday was quite an adventure. We took a 12 mile ride out to the Museum of Science and Industry to see a energy efficient "green" house. Don't worry, the $450,000 price tag for the house was enough to shock me into realizing, I don't love the earth that much. After we walked around the museum, we were about to get back on the bikes and ride the 12 miles back when Mom realized she lost one of her diamond earrings. The ride home consisted of breaking everywhere we had stopped on the ride out to search for the earring. Of course, it was futile. I felt pretty dejected about the whole situation, David was concerned about his supposed bruised butt, and Mags seemed unphazed somehow. We bucked up though and had a great dinner & drinks at a restaurant by David's house that Kristin recommended (good pick K)! We wrapped up our city tour with drinks at a local pub, which Nick refused to enter (*shocking, Dad turning down booze, I know...) Finally, Mom, Dad & I got home and I asked Mom if she had looked around on the floor for her earring. Clearly, I had already assumed it was gone and retired to bed. Less than five minutes later Mom walks in to tell me she had found her earring! (What a miracle, I thought.) Should have known better - it was on her dresser, turns out she had only put one earring in her ear that morning!

Today is Joe's last day working at E&Y St. Louis, and his last day in his hometown for a while (I'm thinking of you hub). So, let's hope he treats his co-workers to one last round of "We Didn't Start the Fire" karaoke to bid them and his beautiful singing career farewell!

The Duchek's & Eckstein's Wish Us Well

Auf Wiedersehen 6436 Marquette

This week has pretty much been the most ridiculously action packed week we have been through since probably the wedding. The movers came today and packed up everything we are shipping. Megan came over and helped assist while they were packing and helped clean which was huge for me! Not to mention the phenomenal amount of time and sweat equity that Ron-ode has put into helping us get the house ready for the Woody's (our renters). We have really enjoyed spending time with old friends, best friends & family this past week, and we are looking forward to the events our parents have planned to send us off.

South Haven Fun

Nearing departure...

We have just over three weeks to pack, get the house ready for our renters, spend time with family & friends, and generally, try not to freak out too much. Joe & I just returned from a great, relaxing vacation in Michigan with the Viggiano's/Meell's/Springer's/Melka's/Ferguson's and it was a great way to chill out before the marathon of getting things done begins. I'll post some pictures of sunsets & cartwheels when I return to STL.