Sunshiny Day

Hiya all y'all. Well, much has happened since I last wrote. Many people have visited and we've taken them all over the country, German-part, French-part, Italian-part. I continued with my Deutsch course and actually know a bit of German now, but there is ever so much to learn. We travelled to Denmark for Christmas and had just a wonderful time there with Lis and her family. AND-ah, for those of you who don't know, I was ultra-fortunate to find a job that I really love in Zurich at Kraft Foods. Oh, and we're going to be moving back to the apartment where we first lived when we came here on April 1. With the grand piano for Rand, yeah! More on all that to come.

Well, to start small, today was just glorious in Zurich. I don't know where those blue skies came from, but we loved them. The funny thing is, I've been enjoying my new job at Kraft and living here this winter so much, that I haven't even minded all the overcast gray days. But today was a day to get outside. We started this morning by taking the train downtown and attending sung Eucharist at St. Andrew's Anglican Church. We have been going to the Baden Catholic Church (cathedral actually, see pic on side with one of the Christmas angels suspended over all) lately, and while we enjoy the experience because of the edifying space, well, the services are entirely in German, and as I think you all know, we're not Catholic. I was also mystified at first because Communion only included the bread, not the cup. I still don't know why: the priests have the wine, but it just doesn't show up for the parishioners. So, it was a nice change to understand not only the language but the service as well. The sermon about the 40 days of temptation of Jesus was intelligent and relevant, which was a relief. And it was interesting to see them take the children up to the rail for Communion and the priest blessing them. The choir was quite good and the hymns not too tone-deaf, but of course I'll always miss the Baptist gospel hymns and really getting to SING. I think we'll probably go back, although next time we'll try the International Protestant Church which is in the French Protestant Church building, right next to St. Andrew's. All the churches with services in English seem to be in two blocks there, so that makes it easy.

After church, we headed to a cafe, Bohemia, where they have a brunch menu. Pictures of Hemingway and Che Gevara on the wall. And they actually had a menu item called American Breakfast, with, get this, 2 fried eggs, bacon, potatos with onions, an "exotic" juice and coffee/tea for around $26. Not kidding. This is living in Zurich. We didn't actually order this. Anyway, we had just gotten our coffee when Rand saw one of his colleagues from work and we invited him to join us which was lucky because he entertained us mightily. Turns out he owns a farm outside of Edinburgh where he keeps animals, mostly rare breeds, and has a petting zoo there for children. The story went on, but he appears then to also be the chairman for the Rare Breeds Society in Scotland. How wonderfully strange is the world.

After our lovely brunch (with mimosas, I forgot to mention!), we headed out into the sunshine toward the lake. The lakeside was full of people strolling, enjoying the day, and you could see all the mountains at the other end of the lake perfectly. When I first came to Switzerland, I didn't see those mountains for many months and didn't believe the picture postcards they sell with the beautiful old city, river and then these stunning snow-covered mountains at the end. But it turns out it's true! They're just covered by clouds or fog much of the year.

We could see that one of the bridges across the river was crowded with people, so we figured it was one of the ubiqitous Swiss carnivals going on. As we got closer to one of the plazas, there were all these really brightly colored indigenous people from the Andes, playing and dancing to pan flutes. They couldn't have been more out of place or un-Swiss, but it makes one smile. We went a little further and there were floats lined up to head into a big parade, and next were the Gugga bands! It was another Fasnacht parade! And here I thought Fasnacht was done because in the service, he said it was the first Sunday of Lent. I guess the parties are just too fun to stop for Lent. So we walked amongst the musicians and partiers for an hour or so, entirely enjoying the day, and getting covered in confetti. Did I mention that I love Zurich?