Becoming Swiss.... and loving it!

This past weekend I didnt even have to cross any borders to enjoy my time off! The only bad thing about my whole weekend was that on Friday night on my way to German class a woman commited suicide at one of the stations I have to pass through to get to class. Unfortuanately I therefore didnt make it to class because of delays etc but other than that it was a perfect two days.

Friday night I met up with Manda and Lacey and we headed to the Irish Pub - Olivers Twist! Not exactly high society but we got to have a few drinks then we all headed back to my place for the night. It was to be my last weekend in Mannedorf so I made a special breakfast Saturday morning for my friends and then we headed into the city for some summer clothes shopping! I had to buy sunglasses and a new wallet so it was good to join the other trillion of people strolling the banhofstrasse and compete with the crowds!!

Saturday night I then spent at Laceys after trying my fitness in Mandas local pool! Hahahaha I struggled to swim maybe 10 laps!! Oh well. I might compete in July in a 1.2km swim across Zurichsee (the lake that runs through Zurich) so I better start practising! Sunday afternoon my girlies (Lacey and Manda) and I headed to Dielsdorf and went to climb the Regensberg! A hill (or what I would define as a mountain) near Manda's neck of the woods! It was a great little walk minus the sweltering heat!! At the top we had a fantastic view which would enable us to see mountains across the whole of Switzerland on a clearer day. We had icecream and then decided to take an alternate route down and go to Manda's town called Schofflisdorf.

Hot and tired Sunday night I had an early night after starting to pack for my Belgium trip.

We leave Friday which should be good. Thankfully I thought the ride there was 12 hours for some reason but Catherine just informed me that it is only 7 hours.... thank god!!!


Monday was a special day as The Zürich guilds and the city's people celebrated their traditional spring festival with great enthusiasm: Sechseläuten. The highpoint on Monday is the procession of the guilds (Zug der Zünfte): Over 7,000 participants in historic costumes, 500 horses, 28 music corps, as well as 50 floats and carriages form a procession - one of the biggest of its kind in Europe. The procession terminates on Sechseläuten Platz in front of the Opernhaus. In the middle of the square the effigy of the "Böögg" sits atop a bonfire. At 6 p.m. sharp, the pyre is set alight and the mounted guildsmen gallop around the leaping flames to the tune of the Sechseläuten March. Made of wadding and filled to the brink with firecrackers, the "Böögg" effigy is the symbol of winter: the faster his head catches fire and explodes, the better the summer is supposed to be.
I went with Catherine and the kids and it was great the kids loved it. The snowman took about 14 minutes to explode which was slower than last year and therefore means that the summer shall be less intense in heat!

Later on I met up with my friends and enjoyed the sunshine till about 8pm and then headed home.

This week is very busy as we prepare to move to our new house in Meilen - hahaha it is making me realise how I am never going to get all my junk home or have to pay a trillion dollars to hire a ship!

All in all though a good few days. Hiking, festivals, it really is the swiss way of life and I am really starting to enjoy it here. There is so much to see and do. Next place I want to go is a cheese town like Appenzell, Gruyere or Emmantel - the cheeses here are amazing and to go to a town that invented them would be cool for me!!

Ok well I am also suffering from some weird heat rash thing at the moment all over my arms and neck so I am going to rub the 10th litre of cream and hope it disappears by the morning, night night!!!