We have discovered some really great things to do both inside Zurich & outside this past weekend. Firstly, we had our first guests over for dinner & we played Catan (one of our friends, a newbie, won) which was great because now he is hooked and wants to play again and again and...! Heyoh. Then we were invited to go to a comedy club on Satruday night. We were kind of whatever to it, but decided it was something we wouldn't initiate on our own, so we should just do it. So, we did. And we had a really great time. My face literally ached from all the laughing!, and we didn't even get some of the jokes because one of the comedians was British & one Scottish, so some of there language is bloody this, nicked that (it means stole, we finally figured it out from the context)....so that was super great and we are so amused with our Russian friend, Elena who invited us to the comedy club. Every time we go out with her she asks us how we are feeling about Zurich, if we think we may stay longer, etc. etc. (she loves us i think & doesn't want us to leave ever)
Okay, so today we went to Areuse Gorge & Neuchatel as you can see by our photos. First, the alarm went off way too early & then 10 minutes later Joe got back in bed & was like Heyoh, it's daylight savings, we get another 45 minutes of sleep, so that was a great way to start a day, right?! It's about 2 hours outside of Zurich but it was completely worth the trek. The weather was brisk but bright & it just smelled like fall and crunchy leaves and we got to say "Bonjour" to everyone we passed along the trail. And it was stunningly beautiful. Mossy rocks & trees, rushing water, falling leaves, a perfect day to experience the dichotomy of autumn, the dying to create anew. Tonight it was dark before 6, the kind of long darkness that made me realize we will be too cold & drawn into ourselves soon to be able to enjoy hikes like we did today, but we will discover new joys then, like "the best, yet most expensive, hot chocolate in zurich," or eating roasted chestnuts while watching our breathe crystallize, or turning the heat up high in our apartment and making it feel like we are wrapped up in a lovely scarf.
Today was my favorite Switzerland trip we have made so far (not really fair to compare hiking along a gorge to oktoberfest, but even then I am pretty sure I still pick today). Everything was right in our world (minus the vending machine that nicked our 2 francs & did not dispense the snickers we desired). Even the town we walked around after our hike, Neuchatel, seemed to be vibrantly alive, people all sitting, walking, laying, snuggling (if you can call what the European teens do in public here that....) by the lake. Children's go carts & merry go rounds set up and little tykes in various states of joy swirling & screaming. We helped some delightful little French Nana's carry their walkers up some steps. We knew they were asking for our help but clearly don't understand French so I just said in English, "I know you need our help, but I just don't know what you are saying," and cute Nana number 2 responded in perfect English, "if you could just carry our walkers up the stairs?" Well, sure know that we know what you want us to do, of course. And then she corrected my pronunciation when she asked where we were from & I said "we live in Zurich." She said, "oh Zurichhhhhh" (perhaps simply adding hhh's does not really convey the level of difficulty that pronuncing Zurich in this fashion entails, oh well.) But they were truly lovely, and so was our day. Hopefully fall is bringing a little bit of beauty to all your respective worlds out there.
2 comments:
Hey pretty sure that across the pond nicked means to get arrested.
sidenote: I love your blog so much I purchased a new ipod so that i can check it (your plog not my ipod)on the go. It also tells me how dismall it is in Zurich weatherwise.
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