Best Burrito in Zürich

Phase Two of last Thursday's self-scripted solo birthday extravaganza began after I exited the Zollikon Schwimmbad, ravenous from intensive bathing. After living in Zürich for nearly four months, toiling through various Mexican-themed restaurants without alighting upon much authenticity, I'd had a sudden epiphany regarding where to finally obtain the best burrito in town. And I struck out to find it for my birthday dinner..!

I reboarded trusty Tram 11, our favorite artery (OK, only artery) into downtown and de-trammed a mere 15 minutes later, swim goggle-marks still slowly disappearing from around my puffy eyes, trotting into the southeast end of Zürich's Altstadt, or Old Town. A stroll through this area from south to north usually requires about twenty to twenty-five minutes without stopping or pausing or browsing at any shops, but driven by hunger and desire I cruised it in about ten. You see, the Old Town's "happenin'" sector, with a majority of restaurants and bars and clubs and greasy snack shops, starts further north in what's called the Niederdorfstrasse area. So that's where I headed, meanwhile reviewing my epiphany:

Longtime blog readers may remember our wonderful Kloten dinner in December with several Swiss neighbors completely unfamiliar with the words taco or burrito. We "New World" North Americans were slightly puzzled and amused, as those items in Chicago constituted a cornerstone of our diet. But since that very night until now, Steph and I (and our Chicago-Zürich friends) have spent eight weeks probing multiple restaurants in a vain attempt to discover even vaguely nostalgic representations of those exact Mexican food items.

Then suddenly the yin of that night hit me in the yang--the burrito as we know it has no place here because its chair is already taken. It was long since preempted by its mysterious older alter ego--an Old World burrito--for which I barely knew the word. Touché! It all makes perfect sense! So! ...Have you heard of a Döner Kebab?

Yes, the Döner Kebab is Turkey's European precursor to Mexico's burrito! (Before I continue, please don't request actual evidence or places or times, or reply with scientifically-backed theories regarding 4,000 years of human migration and adoption patterns of indigenous foodstuffs and animal husbandry. What I'm discussing is street vendor food, for all I know both the present-day burrito and kebab were invented in the 1970's. Your tolerance is appreciated.)

Unfortunately this Döner Kebab picture (although actually quite representative) is perhaps slightly unnerving, because face-on the Kebab appears to want to eat you instead of vice versa. The makeup is basically spiced sliced lamb or veal (never pork), stacked on a spit and roasted vertically (similar to the USA's ubiquitous Greek-American gyros stacks), wrapped in thin pita bread containing also a salad and some sauces (note I was fairly well-traveled in Europe before living here, sorry if the Döner Kebab was somehow obvious and I missed it).

Niederdorfstrasse features at least half a dozen obvious kebab shops, including the “Kebab House,” perfectly analogous to Chicago’s “Burrito House,” what more proof is necessary? After a quick scan, I picked a likely candidate and mentally rehearsed my German ordering scheme. Approaching the counter, I demanded the classic Döner Kebab (no poseur chicken kebab, although the exact meat I received was unknown), mit alles (“with everything”, which includes lettuce, tomato, onion, and a garlicky yogurt sauce) and answered Ja bitte! to the barked question Scharf?, or “hot sauce?” To drink I ordered a large can of Czech Budweiser, not to be confused with the U.S. Budweiser from the August Bush family, accused of blatantly stealing the name from the Czech brewer 100 years ago (totally different story).

Expecting the Kebab to taste mostly like a gyro in a burrito wrapper, I was pleasantly surprised to find it remarkably delicious in a brand new way. Not at all greasy or grainy like too many poor Chicago gyros (and I like a good gyro), if anything more akin to the textural balance of a well-made burrito! I’m hooked! I scarfed down the Kebab, drained the beer and to celebrate further, stopped at another favorite bar/café--the obscurely famous Café Odeon (totally different story)--on the walk back home for another grosses Bier (that means "large," not "gross").

Staggering ever-so-slightly now back to the nearby Bellevue transportation hub, I successfully ran in (not ran into) the awaiting Tram 11 to whisk me home from a birthday evening of successful discoveries, both aquatic and gastronomic.

Happy Bath Day!

So! (Germans always start big or small announcements with "So!") I celebrated my first Swiss birthday last Thursday! Very exciting. Doubtlessly you're thinking the occassion presents boundless opportunities to celebrate in a variety of Euro-special ways...and of course you're right!

First let's dispose of some administrative issues. FYI, the earth has orbited the sun more than thirty-five and less than forty times since my birth. In mathematical terms, that's:

35 ‹ r ‹ 40, where r = earth's rotations around the sun

I suppose you want to know exactly how many times it's gone around as of that particular day last Thursday? I'll politely defer. Perhaps you can ask my twin brother, as completely coincidentally some years (and amazingly again this year!) he elects to celebrate on the very same day. Can you believe it? Not very imaginative, that guy.

The only proverbial wrench was Steph being pre-booked with a late work dinner Thursday, meaning I needed to provide my own entertainment for the celebration. No problem, or Kein Problem, as we say. So. I focused on breathing all day to save energy for the evening. I decided to attack two items recently on the short list for discovery: one Activity and one Food Item.

Regarding the Activity...a tram runs directly outside our apartment, up and down the eastern hillside of Lake Zürich. Riding 8 minutes downhill we arrive downtown; 8 minutes uphill we reach the end of the line at the "city-suburb" of Zollikon. Near this final uphill stop lies the trailhead for a panoramic hike which we traversed previously, thereby also betraying the nearby location of a gigantic...Schwimmbad! Literally translated, that's "swim bath," but basically a public pool. Yet during our trek we sensed from afar some supernormal (not paranormal) aura. And since swimming was a usual element of my weekly workout routine--but I hadn't hit a pool in nearly four months since our move to Switzerland--I determined to check it out on my birthday (it's a start!).

Bidding Ciao! to Hobbes as the early evening sun waned, I caught the tram, rode until termination and then followed the well-marked walking signs (love that Swiss signage!) to the swimming establishment--das Schwimmbad Fohrbach Zollikon. I love that name, don't know why exactly. After the ritual fumbling through German with the nice reception attendant, I paid the pre-researched 8 CHF entry fee, but then she apparently inexplicably asked for another 5 Francs!? Unable to translate, I discerned it as a verdammt Ausländer ("bloody foreigner") fee. I presented 3 x 2 Franc coins, to which she returned a 5 Franc and 1 Franc coin. Hmm, let's see, 6 Francs exchanged for 6 Francs, a strange fee. Naturally, only after reaching the locker room did I realize that the large 5 Franc coin is necessary to secure a locker (the money is returned) and she was simply ensuring I had one. Nasty foreigner fee indeed.

The locker room was unexpectedly unisex--more than slightly surprising walking into a throng (not thong) of dripping, bathing-suit-clad women and moms and children and a few shell-shocked dads--but the changing stalls, showers and bathrooms were thankfully separate for Herren and Damen. I successfully navigated through the various labrynthine rooms of lockers slamming, hot-air driers drying, toilets flushing, and showers spraying without either discovering or betraying any embarassing nakedness until I actually found the pool itself.

The indoor "pool" was actually three or four or fifteen separate pools, difficult to discern--some with large looming outlines of water slides and an inordinate amount of splashing obscuring the scene, some with hanging pirate-ship-rigging rope from which kids swung and flew and possibly dueled with sabres, and perhaps one secluded pool in the back for Hugh Hefner and guests, I couldn't really tell. I locked onto a nearby pool visible with a few adults wading back and forth like frogs and took the plunge into an open lane. I swam a few laps without losing my goggles, trunks or locker key and considered it a success. Upon exiting the "exercise" pool, however, I gravitated towards the main event, towards that aura, that "I just had a feeling" element...the year-round outdoor pool.

Yes, the Schwimmbad Fohrbach outdoor pool is a marvel of Swiss engineering. It was February wintertime and nighttime and nonetheless the water is absolutely perfect bath temperature, advertised as 34°C (93°F). Peripheral light from a few upwards-pointing floodlights hazily highlights the landscaped poolside area but mostly surreally illuminates the steamy hanging atmosphere. Rows of long aluminum bars are strategically implanted near the pool walls below the water's surface, acting as makeshift lounge chairs and handholds for reclining while the warm water intermittantly bubbles forcefully up from whirlpool jets. Two nearby overhead curved faucet-type openings plunge warm water like heavy waterfalls down onto the head and neck and shoulders of their lucky recipients. Of course as the birthday boy, I spent ample time in all the pool's best locations, both above the water to appreciate the cool night air and then back into the warm whirlpools and waterfalls. Hopp Schwiiz!

Eventually excessively pruned from the water, I reluctantly retreated to the main pool and dove back into the relatively cold water for some masochistic fun before retracing my steps through various German-labeled wet and tiled and plumbed rooms to rediscover my locker. Even my newbie mistake from too much time spent the past several years in the relative luxury of club locker rooms vs. public pool areas, that is, not bringing my own towel, couldn't dampen the experience. In what I considered an ingenious maneuver, I employed a combination of the adjustable hot-air driers (admittedly, most women were using them on their hair...right then) and my absorbent cotton undershirt to achieve the same effect as a silly old-fashioned towel.

As if charmed, I even remembered to retrieve my shiny 5 Franc coin from the locker as I set out into the night for my next birthday conquest...the Döner Kebab.

Bargain Bonanza

To counterpoint the prior blog entry, lest you consider me shallow or cheap or pessimistic or perhaps simply a whiner for my newfound Zürich price sensitivity, allow me to even the score. If you're a city person--and Steph and I have indeed fashioned ourselves the past fifteen years in lifestyle and travel as city people--you perceive ample elements in every cosmopolitan city to justify its prices. After all, high prices are partially driven by demand, therefore these expensive city items must be in high demand otherwise so many people wouldn't live there and buy them.

So here's a sampling of the equation's flipside, that is, a selection of wonderfully high-value items we've already discovered merely 15 weeks abroad. We characterize these as discoveries, as in, "You'll never guess what I discovered today!" Every discovery is a major victory. In fact, due to our more liberated daytime schedule, Hobbes and I often specifically set forth discovery-hunting. Thus we constantly seek and evaluate new and different Plätze, i.e., neighborhood offerings.

As usual, I categorize "high-value" as tremendous benefit for the price, not simply inexpensive. So not even considering the gorgeous views and nearby awesome activities such as hiking and skiing, here are presented 8 introductory and purely commercial fantastic reasons to visit us in Zürich. Drumroll, please:

....CHF
1. 89.00 - Make the mice insanely jealous by riding Zürich's Fondue Tram, a two-hour evening lakeside, downtown and hillside neighborhood tour aboard a street tram while devouring your choice of authentic, famous, melted spiked Swiss mountain cheeses (one-of-a kind tour and regrettably seasonal, only Dec-Feb)

2. 25.00 - Sure, the average 25 CHF Schnitzel (meat cutlet, usually pork) abounds on every street corner, but expend the extra effort to patronize Kloten's old-school Frohsinn Restaurant for 88 Schnitzel varieties and all you can eat fresh fries. I enjoy the Holsteinschnitzel with fried egg and sardines. Fresh fries means the server brings brand new crispy hot fries to the table every few minutes until you bloatedly burp, "Nicht mehr, danke." And 100+ years of accumulated tarry cigarette odor in the walls and furniture comes free of charge.

3. 20.00 - Scarf the most fabulously authentic Thai lunch this side of Phukett at the unassuming Mishio restaurant attached to train station Bahnhof Stadelhofen. Yellow, green and red curries with fresh Thai eggplant and kaffir lime, noodle dishes, perfectly sweetened homemade lemongrass iced tea and a thick roasted hot red chili tabletop condiment. Unemployed people shouldn't eat so good!

4. 16.00 - Who cares about nosebleed seats when midweek orchestra tickets come so cheaply? We stood from our seats (not on the seats), necks craning to watch and listen to the Turkish piano equivalent of Eddie Van Halen rip up some Mozart last Wednesday evening in the lovely old Zürich concert Tonhalle.

5. 6.50 - Perhaps the best deal in town, the famed year-round outdoor grill at Vorderer Sternen at Bellevueplatz specializes in phenomenal grilled veal Bratwurst served with a browned, crusty roll and sear-your-sinuses mustard. Cold beer is mandatory, even if the air only reaches 30F degrees under the heatlamps.

6. 3.30 - Perhaps the next best deal in town, the savory ham and cheese Quiche from Steiner Bakery is outrageously delicious. It's like deep dish pizza without the distracting bread dough. Stop at their airport location on your arrival and departure. And every day for lunch. And breakfast.

7. 2.00 - The two-Franc coin feels like a quarter and there's no better use than flipping one to a street vendor in exchange for a fresh, warm salted pretzel at a well-placed Brezelkönig ("Prezel King") location or with a competitor (we affectionately call them Brezelkönigin, or "Prezel Queen"). A few additional Francs affords fresh cheese or chocolate on top or inside. I no longer fear leaving the apartment slightly hungry.

8. 0.85 - You're never more than a block and a Franc away from the near-omnipresent gipfel, a blessing indeed. Whether you like your croissants Swiss-style or Paris-style or rustic or wheaty or chocolate-filled or gigantic & crispy toasty brown or all of the above, one of these suckers always turns a bad day into a buttery better day.

So there you have it. And we're still just getting warmed up, as is the weather (sooner or later) when we anticipate dozens more bargains to bloom, mainly in the guise of beer gardens all over the city. There's no substitute for experiencing it yourself, so start cashing in those frequent flier miles and we'll leave the light on for you.

The Price is Richtig

Moving to any new location naturally requires leaps of faith in multiple areas--one can't possibly compare all the nuanced differences in living conditions, even if fairly familiar with the new location. One major factor that never goes unanalyzed, however, is cost of living. When I moved from my home/college environs of Green Bay, WI/West Lafayette, IN to the big city of Chicago fifteen years ago, of course I expected the cost of living to be higher. I still remember the shock, however, at how much higher--the price of everything from rent to a round of beer to parking tickets to car insurance seemed to increase exponentially. Yet after a while, perhaps a year or more, those Chicago prices felt "normal" and the majority of the U.S. (save expensive outliers like New York, D.C., San Francisco, etc.) became a relative bargain.

Funny how history repeats itself sometimes (always). Of course when the expatriate rumblings began in earnest nearly a year ago, we knew Zürich's cost of living was higher than Chicago's: we checked Internet reports that indexed Zürich's COL at 107.6 vs. New York's at 100.0; we hired a financial planner who employed a +30% COL adjustment; we'd toured Zürich two or three times prior and price-tested some glasses of beer and wine; Stephanie and Hyatt negotiated her Swiss salary with all those things in mind, no complaints. And remember we've experienced this adjustment once before, moving to downtown Chicago (ha!).

Well, now...upon our living here (not simply touring here) I can say the magnitude of the price increases on nearly every item has seared our brains with its intensity and the scars are still healing. We've come to truly understand that living in Europe is significantly more expensive than the bargain-priced U.S., and Zürich is expensive even by European standards--9th most expensive city in the world (in the U.S. only N.Y.C. & L.A. make the Top 50; full chart for 2007 is about 2/3 down this page.) Anytime anyone asks us about life so far in Zürich, Steph and I automatically simultaneously blurt, "Great!" and "Expensive!" (we take turns exclaiming one or the other).

OK, fine, but what does that really mean, right? As with any concept, examples illustrate better. I'm even fresh with some recent comparisons from our frenetic Chicago shopping spree (I'm omitting rent, it's probably 30% higher for 25% less space in Zürich vs. Chicago, we were prepared for that). I've formed it as a quiz, so your job is to add the units: a 'USD $' or a 'CHF' (Swiss Franc) in front of each of the following 12 comparisons. For you international financiers, the exchange rate currently favors the U.S. slightly at 1 USD : 1.1 CHF, but for purposes of this quiz, do what we do and pretend they're equal:

___0.29 per 10g of dried non-organic thyme
___2.45 per 10g of dried organic thyme

___2.00 for train ride w/ bus transfer including antiquated seats, poor signage, occasional fecal aroma, 100-decibel metal-on-metal screeching noise, no dog access and completely unreliable service
___2.00 for train ride w/ bus transfer including modern traincar construction with digital information displays, dog access (extra fare) and near-perfect on-time service at nearly every street corner every 7 minutes

___4.95 for a full lunch of BBQ pork sandwich and chips (excl. drink)
___6.50 for a double espresso (excl. food)

___1.69 per kg (~2 lb.) of dried black beans at any grocery store
___8.00 per kg of dried black beans at a super-high-end specialty store

___3.46 per dozen eggs, of unkown geographic origin (and animal)
___3.20 per four organic eggs, guaranteed to originate from a hen within 20 miles of your home, laid within the last week and individually date-stamped

___1.50 for dry cleaning a men's shirt
___11.00 for dry cleaning a men's shirt

___9.00 for average restaurant pasta or pizza offering
___25.00 for average restaurant pasta or pizza offering

___2.00 tip for a ___73.00 restaurant meal with decent service
___12.00 tip for a ___73.00 restaurant meal with decent service

___17.00 for men's haircut, excluding shampoo but including extremely valuable hot-lather, straight-razor neck shave
___60.00 for men's haircut, including shampoo

___35.00 for 30 lbs. of Eukanuba "Large-Breed" dog food
___102.00 for 33 lbs. (15kg) of Eukanuba "Large-Breed" dog food

___491.50 for a Tissot 'T-Touch' Swiss watch on a popular Internet site
___998.00 for a Tissot 'T-Touch' Swiss watch at a fancy watch & diamonds store

And finally the comparison that I believe sums it all up:

___60.00 most common Quick-Cash option from ATM
___200.00 most common Quick-Cash option from ATM

Answer Key: Look out, there were some foolers in there! All comparisons were USD first, followed by CHF, except the thyme (that's right, dried herbs are a real bargain here, you should see our pantry) and the restaurant tip (I figured you were all cheap tippers). So menu prices look a lot worse but you save a bit on the tip.

Now in fairness to the Swiss, individual items cannot always be compared apples-to-Äpfel; in Switzerland you pay for quality and nearly every product is high quality, Swiss-made (astonishingly little from China) and quite often actually locally-made; food ingredients are incredibly fresh. My new motto is, "In Switzerland, you pay more to get more (because you often don't have a choice)".

Blizzard of Activity, Pt. 2

So what transpired during our recent impromptu Chicago " home- coming"? Well, after a mere three month absence, a few perceptions had already changed. After my 11pm arrival at O'Hare, bleary-eyed and jet-lagged and staring out the cab window on the ride downtown--a trip I've taken surely over a hundred times--for some strange reason churches grabbed my attention. Not like, "Oops, I'm overdue to attend one of those," but more like, "Hey, that European church architecture suddenly seems familiar." Not one but three churches seemed to jump out during the expressway ride downtown. Since I doubt they were newly built since November, I'm assuming they've always been there but I never previously attached any significance.

The other impression upon cruising downtown Monday night was that Chicago seemed newly HUGE again! In Zürich, our 6th floor hillside apartment affords fairly wide views making the city seem reasonably expansive. But comparing that to our "modest" 27th floor view from the Hyatt Regency, overlooking the Chicago River and Wrigley and Tribune buildings, etc., instantly re-righted that perception--the area within direct gaze from the hotel room window suddenly seemed larger than the entire county of Zürich (Zürich city's population is actually about 1/10th Chicago's).

Tuesday morning 6:00am we popped uncharacteristically awake (jet-lag!) and prepared to attack the day. Eating breakfast at nearby Corner Bakery, one of our favorite café-style chains in Chicago (offering a top-tier club sandwich and good iced tea at lunch), I chose the Swiss Oatmeal (no kidding!) and a croissant to ease the transition.

My first appointment Tuesday morning was most critical--my old barber, Joe Gambino. Receiving only one Swiss haircut in three months made my recent hairdo (with beard) appear disturbingly similar to the X-Men's Wolverine character. I spent the usual $20 (including the bargain lathered neck shave) thereby saving an additional 45 CHF ($40) vs. Zürich prices. Let the spending/saving extravaganza begin!!

The next brief stop was my old Michigan Ave. Starbucks haunt (of Chicago's ~360 Starbucks outlets) for coffee. It's only mentionable because there's actually a Starbucks closer to our new Zürich apartment than to our old Roscoe Village house. See, it's only virtual ex-patriatism. But I make a point of not visiting the Kreuzplatz Starbucks and visiting the Michigan Ave. Starbucks. It's all psychological.

Next I met with my former employer, with whom the lines of communication were never really cut, with the upshot being I'll likely do some market research contract work for them in Europe. The deal should work out well for both parties and I can use the extra income to remove the garish "UNEMPLOYED" tattoo from my bicep. They graciously treated for lunch where we devoured half-pound mushroom & Swiss(!) cheese burgers, and I saved 25 CHF vs. a comparable burger at home. I departed to run the first of the week's many errands but reconvened with a larger work group that evening for beers at the infamous Billy Goat tavern. Chicago's bars & restaurants went non-smoking as of Jan 1, a huge accomplishment, but I must admit that the missing miasma of thick smoke detracted somewhat from the Goat's traditional olfactory ambience (the overwhelming greasy cheeseburger scent thankfully remains). That evening the "weather" rolled in, instantly dropping the temperature 35 degrees and depositing nearly an inch of snow and ice.

Wednesday through Friday were consumed running around (literally, still no car) to various appointments, lunches and dinners. My twin brother from Minneapolis coincidentally had business in Chicago that week (go figure!), so I luckily saw him twice including a night of margarita and Scotch drinking (yeah, I know, bad combo) until 2am. We met "Meal of the Year" friends Sasha & Moises for lunch at favorite nouveau-rustic Mexican hotspot Frontera Grill (where I had also eaten dinner the previous night, I grew impatient) and exchanged MOY stories, of course. We indulged Friday night at the always-excellent upscale Joe's Seafood, Steak & Stone Crab with an array of seafood, steak and stone crab. And we found scant time to rendezvous briefly with a few additional Chicago friends.

I'll spare the week's countless boring errand details, but I must give shout-outs (or is it "props"? my Caucasian faux-ghetto slang is rusty...) among others to Didi Computers (call Dragos if your hard drive crashes), Dell service (home from India!), Walkabout Travel Gear in wine-country Healdsburg, CA (electrical converters out the wazoo) and of course Amazon.com. The variety, pace, service levels and astounding value of U.S. commerce is simply amazing--too easy to take for granted until you miss it. The pros and cons of capitalism vs. café-culture is one of my favorite debates--I love them both--and almost certainly worthy of a separate blog entry. Huge thanks also to Steph's coworker Rashea who, without a single complaint, received what must have been 45 Internet shipments for us in four days time.

By Saturday morning, the Snow Fairy had finally given way to Chicago's real patron demigod--the Slush Fairy--and we were exhausted and loaded down from saving $1,000 by spending $3,000. We met former housemate Gayle for breakfast near the old neighborhood at Julius Meinl, a marvelous, unpretentious Vienna-style café better than most European cafés.

Our last appointment before departing for Switzerland on Saturday was easily the toughest--we returned with Gayle to our wonderful old house to see Hobbes's best Golden friend Charlie. Next trip I'll try to reverse the order, with personal visits first and business last because it sure makes leaving difficult. Dogs have an amazing ability to distill and project "human" emotion; Charles was simultaneously elated and slightly heartbroken to see us return ever so briefly, and I couldn't have said it better myself boarding the plane to return home later that afternoon.

Blizzard of Activity, Pt. 1

Hello again and apologies for an extended hiatus from blogging. Part of the problem was a dreaded hard drive crash mid-January which briefly severed my link to the English-speaking human world (necessitating my fallback to linking exclusively to the Golden Retriever world) for a week. I'm now referring to that January 18, 2008 as my personal "Black Friday," since just the evening before I was celebrating finally establishing our wireless Internet connection at home--a huge technical and mental victory--only to have my wireless Internet, computer hard drive AND espresso machine all break on Friday (unrelated incidents). A trifecta of insult, injury and injustice, no doubt.

The following week Steph & I conducted a more-or-less unexpected trip back to Chicago for a brief 4-1/2 days! Yes, we scripted our original U.S.-return plans for July but Steph attended a late January work meeting and I, after wrestling with joining her or not, ultimately cashed in some frequent-flier miles and accompanied her (not literally, as we traveled separately). Zürich lifesavers Dave and Heather graciously agreed to watch The Hairball. Upon our triumphant (of what, I'm not sure) return, we'd been gone exactly 13 weeks which somehow simultaneously felt like a lifetime and no time.

With only four weekdays to spend in Chicago and with Stephanie nearly fully booked with work lunches and dinners, we announced our trip to few friends and colleagues and actually socialized with even fewer. For everyone we connected with briefly, we would have loved to triple the conversation time and see five times the people, but it wasn't in the cards. And we felt a bit presumptious asking people to rearrange schedules with short notice on a random Tuesday or Thursday or whatever just to see us--it's only been three months and we look the same: short, thin, brown hair, etc (I've grown a light beard, Stephanie has not).

That Sunday night we each packed one mostly-empty and one completely-empty suitcase, in anticipation of returning to Switzerland with a veritable pirate's booty of inexpensive American goods, for which our list was considerably longer than Santa's during the high season. Toiletries and medicines and food items (incl. black beans and chili sauces) and home goods and electrical adaptors and computer accessories and English books on and on. Not to mention a meticulously planned strategic blueprint of activities such as depositing checks and mailing financial correspondence and shipping birthday gifts and recovering a broken hard drive and haircut appointments and dry cleaning and on and on. Now you may be thinking (somewhat smarmily), "What, they don't have banks and post offices and barbers and dry cleaners in Switzerland?" To which the answer is yes, of course they do, if you enjoy paying triple for everything and/or feeling like a monolingual fool conducting simple transactions and then departing uncertain if you actually got what you needed. Ordering schnitzel and coffee we do in Zürich; certified mailings of notarized stock-certficate transfers we do in Chicago. For the gray area between, we leaned towards Chicago on this trip.

Of course half the challenge was simply showing up. Stephanie flew direct on a paid Swiss Air ticket; I connected through JFK on an American Airlines award ticket (read: free). She left the Zürich apartment two hours after me Monday AM and arrived at the Hyatt Regency Chicago in time to unpack, attend a work dinner and sleep for two hours before I arrived at midnight, fresh from a six-hour delay/layover that extended my 15-hour itinerary to 21 hours (yes, I could have reached Bangkok in that time). To make matters worse, I have no international-enabled cell phone and thus no communication method besides email and her hotel Internet connection wasn't working. She was on the phone with American asking, "Have you seen my husband?" when I dragged in. Oh well, no one said flying 4,000 miles for free was easy.

So how did it feel to be back? Honestly, a bit puzzling. The first two days in Chicago felt like Zürich was home and Chicago was foreign; the second two days felt more like Chicago was home again, just in time to depart. Zürich felt weird the first day back but then normal again on Day 2 after eating a flaky croissant with some unpasteurized oozy goat cheese. Overall, it was all slightly unsettling. There must be a psychological benefit to just staying put for a while.

I'll provide a brief descripition of our Chicago activities next blog, but first I must extend kudos to the Midwestern winter weather for making our transition to Switzerland that much easier. After sweating in wool coat/scarf/hat through a high of 49F on Tuesday afternoon, the temperature plummeted with a sudden onslaught of rain, freezing rain, snow and ice to a high of 13F on Wednesday (that's a 36 degree difference for non-mathematicians). The sidewalks transformed from merely slightly damp to sporting a half-inch of snow and treacherous ice during the time we ate dinner on Tuesday night. Snow continued intermittantly but usually in sideways, eyeball-stinging gusts Tuesday night through Friday, ultimately depositing nearly a foot. The weather in Zürich has been just a touch, shall we say, uh, milder this winter, with average highs in the mid-30's to mid-40's and some occasional drizzle. I'd never thought I'd say it, but even after 30+ years each for Steph and me living in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Chicago--grizzled, windchill-hardened, scaly-skinned Midwest Eskimos--one's blood thins rather quickly. It wasn't that we couldn't handle the weather, but my usual sadistic glee at tolerating it seems to have vanished. Thanks, Chicago!

OK, more trip details to follow...