Things you should know about Switzerland (Zürich Edition)

I've spent the last three weeks in Zürich and Switzerland, dancing the role of the fool/maid/general comedia dell'arte baroque dancer in the short comic opera "Der Handwerker als Edelmann" or "The Craftsman as a Gentleman"-- you know, one of those ha ha someone is trying to rise above their class kind of things. He's much more sympathetic than the Bourgeois Gentilhomme, though.

But I digress.

It's been actually really great. I'm staying in a beautiful house with generous hosts (no cooking! no cleaning! all the cheese you can eat!) and my very own bathroom. The audiences for the shows (9 shows! in 11 days!) have been pretty good, laughing and having a good time at the old-school gags.

I just can't overemphasize my amazement of how much food costs in Zürich---

I don't know if Jeremy really conveyed the insane expensiveness of food in his previous entry, but let me make it easy for you: a Burger King value meal costs $12.66. A plate of pasta in a restaurant: $22.

I began to lose sense of the normal. And when I say normal, well, what I am used to-- It might be completely true that with all the hidden costs of producing food that a plate of pasta should be $22. Maybe we should all get used to that and only eat out once a year. Butter churners unite!

Oh, dear, I seem to have lost the thread. Here look at some pictures of the cool stuff I saw in Winterthur and Zürich:

This "grafitti knitting" was done by a middle school class! This kind of thing (but not so spectacular) has been showing up in Cologne too-- mostly on bike racks and telephone poles.

Oh, the Easter Bunnies. So very very many chocolate easter bunnies in so many adorable and ingenious creations. I had to restrain myself from buying them to bring to the US for Easter (!!) because I was afraid they would be destroyed in transit.

outside the jeweler's

outside Winterthur City Hall

random rubber ducky congregation in the public fountain

Swiss Mister

As you may know, Sarah is working in Zurich for most of the month of March. Since she is and will be missing me so much, I decided to visit her this weekend. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a sitter for Liam for this time, so I decided to bring him along too.

As a conscientious world traveler, I try to “…do as the Romans do”, so the first thing I did when I arrived was to establish a tax collecting settlement on the shores of lake and give it the name Turicum...

Of course I am joking, that is a ridiculously literal interpretation. In reality I try to adapt to the local customs where ever I am. So the real first thing I did was to buy an apple and a crossbow, and then I headed out into the forest with Liam…

Ok, we really just met mama at the train station and had a beer:

The first day we walked around a bit, we first we needed some food, and hit the first appealing restaurant in the nähe. We went to a noodle place, and learned that Liam is crazy for Udon!, and can sometimes appear to be able use chopsticks.

we then walked the rest of the way down the hill to the lake. We walked around a while, and Liam went down for a nap. What are mama and papa to do?

It's a tough life, I know.

This is how we like our guy to wake up:

We found a playground nearby, and Liam became the abacus master

The next day we went to the zoo, Liam's favorite type of place

Hello snakes

Hello peacock

It was stork city in and around the zoo, and gave us a good opportunity to teach Liam about how he was born.

Bathtime, Liam!

But seriously, I am not sure how essential any of this information is.

Some Swiss delicassies for lunch:

They only cost an arm and two legs!

After lunch, we learned how to make electricity on a pig farm:

Hint: it involves poop

On the Monday, we took an incline to the top of a hill, and hiked

The incline lets out at this hotel.

If you ever want a $10 coffee and to feel completely out of place, this place is for you

Liam is a freak for sausage:

Liam's Karneval

Karneval is finally over! Those 6 days can really drag on if you are a no-fun poopy-pants like me. (oh heavens, Jeremy is gone and I really don't interact with many grown-ups at the moment...)

But the fact that Karneval drags on so long is what makes it so surreal-- I love it when I get on the subway with other people going to work, etc, and one or two people will be decked out in clown make-up or have butterfly wings on or somebody is wearing a pink wig and no other costume parts. The whole thing must be some kind of color theapy for gray Cologne.

Anyway, I can't tell any stories about the riotous time Liam had going back and forth through the purple spangly streamers at Jeremy's lab party because I was on the party train. Toot toot! Picutre this-- a refurbished old tram car with bar, bathrooms, tables, and, well, a hundred Ladies of a Certain Age. Dressed as Clowns. Drinking Kölsch and Schnapps. Let me tell you, 45 minutes into that ride two bathrooms were not nearly enough.

On Saturday- after Jeremy left to go to Chicago- Liam and I went to the playground. Now I thought that Saturday was one of those in-between Karneval days because the HUGE parade is on Monday. But as we played, we kept seeing groups of people walk by dressed in extravagant costumes. So I made a quick decision to run home, throw on our costumes and go see what was happening.

Oh no! Liam's deer costume was still wet! I had to think fast--- I duct-taped some of his foam letters to our jackets, put some red circles on our cheeks-- we were the Letter Clowns! Spelling is so Funny!

It turned out that Saturday was the Cologne Schools Parade. Liam and I hung out at the beginning of the route with the other little kids where it wasn't so crowded. Children came up to Liam and handed him candy.

Sunday we avoided the big parade.

Then on Monday, we went to the neighborhood parade. More kids throwing candy! That's when Liam learned "Kölle Alaaf" and "Karmelle"- two very important words to know in Cologne.

Papa is in...

and Liam would be fine living in either place.

(sidenote: Two diaper videos in a row! Those Bumgeniuses are looking pretty good, no?)

Liam the yoga guy

this is a little embarrassing because I am in my pjs... but it is too cute to keep to ourselves.

Karneval Time!

Let's go to the forest, where Diana hunts, a Bayern guy lives in his hut, and the baby deer runs free.

s

(I tried to flip this picture 5 times. I don't know what the malfunction is.)

We have 10 pictures oh im going through the streamers. After the party

no comment

Party deer.

After the lab party Mr German Guy and the baby deer met up with me for some street bratwurst.

He almost ate the whole thing! (Stupid iphoto rotation lies!!)

Hey! Do you like pictures of blurry and/or filthy children?

Somehow, it has become almost impossible to take a picture of Liam on the loose. They mostly end up like this:

He doesn't quite understand the concept that in order to SEE the pictures on the camera you have to TAKE them first.

We managed to get one Mr. Cool Hat picture:

And then I decided to make a cake! A cake for which I started to buy the ingredients, well, um, I think 2 years ago. But the important thing is that now Liam can be suitably entertained by making an unholy mess on the table with cornstarch and water while I bake an insane but pretty delicious green tea/ red bean cake roll. Best of all, the filling is totally bowl-licking good.

Liam was also trying to eat with chopsticks---( I would like to tell you that he wasn't eating his peas off a completely filthy table, but, well, the digital camera don't lie. ) I think with a little practice, he can do it! We have to get a pair of the kid-learning chopsticks that Daria had!