Impressions Genevoises

A few weeks ago, I spent a wonderful couple of days in Geneva. I must say that, ever since I saw it for the first time, I always love when I go back and visit the city. The reasons are several: I enjoy speaking French and understanding the random conversations taking place all around me; people are cold but friendly, and this reminds me of a more laid back and sleepy version of Paris; finally, when I go there I somehow feel relaxed and on vacation.

This time I met a friend from school in the States, and we caught up with each other’s lives, dreams, directions, and recent happenings. We had a coffee by the lake, then excellent Vietnamese food at Cho Lon (Rue de Zurich, 43). As everyone knows, I love food and I always enjoy trying new recipes and discovering new ways to spoil my senses. However, of all the possible world cuisines, Vietnamese was never on top of my list, albeit I have a deep love for noodles (particularly egg noodles, rice noodles are ok); it’s not that I dislike it, on the contrary: what I want to say is that, whenever I happened to go to a Vietnamese restaurant, I generally liked it, but it’s not the type of food I would look for nor crave. Perhaps the best way to describe my relationship with Vietnamese food is that I am neutral to it.

I was in for a surprise: as I sat in front of an outstanding bowl of pho, I realized that I had really missed Vietnamese food. After years of Vietnamese food overload in California (and thanks to the culinary skills of very capable friends with Vietnamese heritage) I had not had it ever since I moved to Switzerland, and it never occurred to me I’d miss it. Craving Korean food - perhaps. Craving Japanese food - for sure. But Vietnamese food…My taste buds and brain thought differently though, and I highly, highly recommend the place if you ever visit Geneva.

My friend and I walked around and saw all the United Nations buildings, and I even got the “insider tour” – for me, an economist with a focus in international institutions and business who originally picked her college major with the idea of becoming a diplomat, it was like heaven. It was excellent to share personal impressions about our experiences in Switzerland, which are different, but at the same time there is a sort of fil rouge.

Later I said goodbye to my friend, and headed for a walk in the old part of Geneva, which I did not know: a cobweb of quiet cobblestone streets, a two-faced heart of Catholicism and Reformation. Somehow, I couldn’t help but think that Geneva is the perfect place to have a coffee, go to the hairdresser, buy cute jewelry and lingerie, bon bons, and rose-scented products. Funny enough, to this day only two other places in the whole world give me this feeling, which is a mixture of decadent paresse and uninterrupted intellectual stimulation: Paris and New Orleans. It was nice to find the same sensations in Geneva.

I wish I’d had more time to wander around, and also go shopping more seriously in the new part of town, but I had to go back to Gare Cornavin to catch my train back to Zurich. I said au revoir to Geneva, and hopped on the train accompanied by pleasant thoughts of the weekend, as well as the perspective of upcoming fun in Zurich. Little did I know that I was in for a shocking surprise in Zurich too!

Destiny is cruel – sometimes you meet wonderful people and never see them again even though you would die to, and some other times you meet people who pierce your heart ruthlessly, whom you hope, for your own sake, never to meet again and not reopen the wounds, and you bump into them months later, on a random evening, as you exit the Hauptbanhof, cross the street, and turn right on your way to the grocery store. Natürlich…

Graubünden Adventures

Last weekend we went to Laax (canton of Graubünden) with a few friends and coworkers for a pleasant ski weekend. I must say that it was my first weekend ever since I got back to Zurich, and while I wouldn't have minded to be home a bit (!), I greatly, greatly enjoyed the time spent with friends as well as the majestic landscape. Not so much being sore after a day of skiing, when I hadn't worn my skis for about three years...

We left Zurich on Friday afternoon, and, already at the Hauptbanhof, I lost my travelling companions! Here's how it happened: it was entirely my fault, because I decided to stop for a cigarette before getting on the train, and we agreed to meet on the train on the way to Chur. Natürlich, we got separated: the train was very full and we didn't see each other, but talked on the phone and agreed we'd meet on the platform or on the bus Chur-Laax. From the time the train arrived to the bus leaving time, there was exactly a 6-minute time span, so we had to run. Of course, not knowing exactly where I was supposed to go, I ran on the opposite direction to where the bus stop was, and ended up missing the bus! No big deal, because I had plenty of time to get to Laax before dinner time, but it was already dark, I had never been there, and somehow I had to explain to my German-only speaking bus driver to please tell me which stop I had to get off at to get to the hotel. I know it doesn't sound like a huge deal, except that, as I said, it was pitch black outside, and the stops were quite far one from the other, in the middle of nowhere. I thought it would suck if I got off at the wrong stop, with no one around, and even if there was any soul around, they probably wouldn't speak any English. Worst case scenario, I thought, I'll find someone who speaks Italian or French, which shouldn't be too hard, or just guess my way through the labyrinth of understanding/speaking Swiss German...Well, to cut a long story short, I was able to somehow successfully communicate with the bus driver in some mixture of undefined language, met a couple of nice Rumantsch-speaking old ladies on the bus (the Rumantsch sounds a bit like the spoken dialect of my neck of the wood in Northern Italy), and made it successfully to the hotel. Moral of the story: cigarettes are bad for you, hehehe...

The first night we had dinner and then went dancing and it was a lot of fun, but I left quite early (1:30am) because I really wanted to ski the next day. On Saturday morning, we wake up and there is a very nasty snow storm coming down, we can barely see anything for the fog, but of course we are not deterred, and armed with skis, ski boots, helmets, and goggles, we head up the mountain for a day of fun. Let me tell you that I hadn't skied in more or less three years  - and the last time I was in Tahoe on a very easy slope, so nothing comparable to the intensity of skiing in these slopes, on top of the very bad snow condition and snow storm - and because I was in Italy in the past few months, I didn't really go to the gym, so I was both out of practice and out of shape. I had fun and it was good to be back in the snow, but I took it easy and at the end of the day I was as tired as I could be.

In the evening, taken by snow trucks, we went up the mountain and went to an outstanding restaurant, Grandis Startgels where, after an aperitif, we had a four-hour dinner. The chef, who spoke Italian and is awesome, delighted us with an avocado mousse with shrimps, cranberry sauce, pumpkin chips, meat roti, salad, green risotto with fish, a selection of cheeses and jams, three types of desserts, coffee, and the unforgettable main course: polenta enriched with cheese and cooked directly on the burning fire, and four types of fire-roasted meats: lamb, chicken, filet, and deer. All accompanied by cascades of excellent red wine. I was in Heaven. I never wanted to leave again. Actually, I want to go back and "hide" there for a few days, hiking, reading, and eating, assuming they let me. Needless to say, I did not go out that night, but straight to bed after dinner...I was done.

The next morning, some people left early, but the day was sunny and beautiful, and perfect conditions for skiing. Except that I was so sore I couldn't even dream of wearing my skis, so instead I had breakfast and then went on a hike around the mountains with my friend. We walked all the way to Flims, where we had a nice hot chocolate and I tried for the first time Capuns. Delicious.

Then, we made it back to Zurich later that afternoon. I must admit I really liked Laax and Flims, and canton Graubünden in general: people are super nice, they speak Italian, and they definitely know how to cook! Added bonus, the landscape is breathtaking.

Räbeliechtlizum

After a quite relaxing day, last night I met up with my friend to go attend the parade in Richterswil for Räbeliechtli (sorry, link in German or French only). My friend was telling me it's quite a traditional event in the German-speaking part of Switzerland: basically, people carve out and decorate turnips, and then add little lights in them - sort of like what people in the US do for Halloween with pumpkins, although the underlying reason to celebrate is much different than that. In Richterswil the whole city participates to the event by turning off all the lights and putting out decorated and lit turnips, so it is actually quite nice to see.

We saw the parade, then walked around and ate many traditional goodies, such as sausages, schoggi praetzeli, raebe suppe, and lots and lots of gluehwine. We laughed, enjoyed the festivities, and bought some decorations, and we could just feel in the air that the country is already getting ready to wink at Christmas. I had a wonderful and relaxing time, not to mention the fact that I thought it was really interesting to get to know yet another side of Switzerland.

Afterwards, we ended the evening with a couple of glasses of good Spanish wine at D-Vino (very cool choice of name I think: "di vino" in Italian means "of wine", but "divino", one word, means "divine") where we met and conversed with some interesting personalities...

But that is another story...

Fondue

I finally made it back to Zurich for a few days, and I must say that it feels good to be home. I am quite excited at the thought of staying up to write until the early hours of the morning, sitting on my couch under a blanket, then sleeping in and just spending a couple of days without schedule. To be honest, I do have a few things planned, but they are very relaxing and loose evening plans, and I left both weekend days purposefully empty to just do what I feel.

I was invited to spend a pleasant evening in the company of good friends, sharing wine, lots of laughs, and fondue. I had had fondue before - not in Switzerland though - but I must say that this time was quite different: various cheeses mixed with wine and seasonings, coupled with kirsch liquor and crunchy bread made for an excellent meal, but it was the special, relaxed atmosphere that really melted away the stress of a few very full weeks. The wine, meats, and sweets blended together with amazing conversation, touching all corners of the world and bringing our minds to unexplored places.

I experienced the essence of Swiss hospitality: a combination of tradition, relationships, and warmth, the perfect balance between old and modern, and a breath-taking view of the lake and the lights of Zurich. With my eyes glancing at the past and my feet walking decisively on the path to the future, tonight I happily welcome the pleasant feelings and the challenges of my new life in Switzerland.

Zurich at Four

Throughout the day, Zurich is a bustling city: at 6 in the morning, the colors and the flavors of the open market in Helvetiaplatz fill the air, along with the voices of vendors and passers-by who stop at every stall to pick up an apple, a freshly-baked croissant, or flowers. There are several Italian vendors, and among them my favorite cheese shop selling buffalo mozzarella and burrata.

At 8am, everyone is running to catch a tram or a train to get to work in suit and tie or fancy heels, or running in jeans to the gym to get a little exercise before starting a long work day. Bankers, consultants, construction workers, store owners, a diverse sample of humanity crosses each other's path in the city's paved streets.

At 11am, moms with their strollers and little old ladies walk about and head to the park or the grocery store, and the occasional student sprints with his bike and his iPod while challenging the traffic. People from office buildings pour outside with a coffee and a cigarette for a break.

Any given evening of the week, from about 5pm until later, people fill bars and cafes for a little apero before dinner, laughing and meeting new people, and just enjoying themselves. If the weather is pleasant, as this September has been, people will even sit outside and enjoy the last bits of summer that they can get, while the leaves on the trees start to turn yellow and fall down. Then, the dinner and post-dinner-drinks crowd replaces them and continues the party. One thing that amazed me ever since my first day in Zurich was that people go out every single night of the week, work or not. It seems to me that Zurchers enjoy life.

However, recently and unexpectedly, I discovered my favorite time of the day in Zurich. At 4 in the morning, when the air is crisp and the sky starts getting pink, in anticipation of the sunrise. When the streets are quiet, except for the occasional person cuddled up in her coat, eyes fixed on the ground, either coming home after a wild night, or leaving to start the day, and the smell of freshly baked bread coming from the bakeries, still closed but already alive, captures your senses every few steps.

The moment when you know you really should go home, because in a couple of hours you have to wake up, but instead you keep walking and enjoying the magic atmosphere, trying to ignore the passing of time, and artificially prolonging the night.

The moment when, between light and dark, you create everlasting memories.

The moment when, as I was told, you expect the unpredictable and allow your heart to listen to life's whispers.

Tourist in Zurich

A few weeks ago, I took a couple of days off work and spent some good time with my brother and his girlfriend, who came to visit me and see Zurich for the first time. It was a very delightful couple of days, followed by two days at our parents' home, and we had the chance to talk a lot and catch up with each others' lives. It might sound like an obvious thing to say, but I dearly love them both. They are intelligent, down-to-earth individuals, people with whom you can actually have a conversation ranging from soccer to philosophy, movies, art, etc. Did I say that I love them???

Anyway, I picked them up at the train station, and we went home briefly, then off to discover the city. We were extremely lucky because it was a gorgeous day, and we went on a tour of the downtown area, including Banhofstrasse, Paradeplatz, the Zurichsee, the Limmatquai, the Fraumunster with those gorgeous, gorgeous Chagall windows - I am very partial to Chagall, everywhere I go I look for his works, as it warms my heart like few others. Then, at a leisurely pace, we headed outside of Zurich to catch a cable-car that took us all the way up to Felsenegg, a cool place in the mountains where you can enjoy a superb view of the city. We walked around, took pictures, enjoyed the sun, and then we had some amazing desserts at the restaurant. We went back by boat across the lake, and then had a short ride through the Gold Coast to get to downtown Zurich again.

In the evening, we went and had a majestic and humongous dinner at Zeughauskeller, a place recommended by a coworker for some typical Swiss food. I honestly thought it would be more of a touristy place, given the location, but I was pleasantly surprised because there were all kinds of people, local and non local alike. Also, they had a very large selection of foods and drinks to accommodate any dietary restrictions, individual taste, etc. and their special beer was to die for! We were pleased. Afterwards, we headed for a stroll in Niederdorf, one of the oldest parts of town, full of cool little stores, art galleries, and plenty of bars and cafes - a true favorite of mine. When I want to think and sort of wander around on my own, I go there and take random turns on the narrow streets and hills, and I always find some very cool places I've never seen before.

The following day, we were not so lucky, because it was raining and cold. After I paid a visit to the gym (yes, I felt bad for the amazing St. Galler Bratwurst I'd eaten the night before, hehehe), we took it easy for a bit, then headed to eat lunch at Lily's - Stomach Supply, an outstanding Asian restaurant with foods from different countries that I had discovered while in Basel - this is the "sister" restaurant. Since the weather was nasty, even though it kept changing and giving us the illusion that it would warm up and improve for good - which it didn't - we decided to stay indoors and went to check out the India!India! festival at the Hauptbanhof. We then strolled more through Niederdorf on our way to the movie theater in Bellevue, where, after a nice tea, we watched "Inception" - I will just say that while my heart hated it (no passion, no feelings, no emotions), my brain was highly intrigued and captivated, over and over again.

Here our "tourists in Zurich" adventure ended, and we headed back to the train station to catch a train that would take us south, to our parents' home, for a weekend of fun. And off we went to another adventure...

Swiss Traveling - Basel

Over the past month or so, I have taken the chance to travel around Switzerland a little bit, both to discover new places and to spend time with family and dear friends.

Two weekends ago I went to Basel to visit two special girlfriends of mine whom I have known for quite a few years. We met in Italy several years ago, as they were classmates of my ex boyfriend and pursuing their masters degree in the university where I studied in Milan. As it often happens, the boyfriend was gone, but the friends stayed! We kept in touch over the years and saw each other in different corners of the world, and now that we all live in Switzerland, I thought it would be nice to catch up, all the while visiting Basel where I had never been.

I took off on Saturday late morning, and after a very short 40-minute train ride, I got to Basel. The weather was wonderful, so I joyfully walked out of the train station and made my way towards the center of the city. I had my Lonely Planet Switzerland guide with me, to be sure not to miss any important spots. I am fascinated with traveling solo and discovering new places, and I am insanely fascinated by travel guides, because I always find out about so many interesting and random facts!

I walked around the older part of the city, which has a very distinct medieval flavor, visited several churches, walked along the Rhine river, and explored some interesting corners. 
A fun fact that happened to me while I was walking around, and which is not captured by the photos. After stopping for a coffee at Fumare Non Fumare (literally "To Smoke or Not To Smoke", my eternal life dilemma) and getting a wonderful planner as a gift at Bookbinders Design - which, by the way, will easily become one of my favorite stores because they have a few in Zurich as well - I was thinking that I probably should buy something for my friend, who was hosting a great party that evening and was nice enough to invite me to stay at her place. As I was walking, I saw a bright yellow stand on the street selling cheeses, salamis, sausages, olives, etc. and I thought I'd seen that before, so it dawned on me that they were the same people that I find every Tuesday and Friday morning at the open market in Helvetiaplatz in Zurich, two blocks from where I live. Sure enough, I asked them and it was them!!! They are from Calabria, in Southern Italy, and their stuff is sinfully tasty, so I bought two types of sausages, testun al barolo*, and giant olives. Never mind finding out later that my host doesn't eat pork, but that's another story...she was happy with the cheese and olives though, and I think the rest of the guests, sauf the vegetarians, enjoyed. They even gave me a good deal, and I told them I'll sure be back to their stand once in Zurich. Delicious.

Anyway, after the shopping, I met with my friend, and we had a wonderful time catching up with each other's lives, then headed home in anticipation of a great party. I met lots of interesting people that night, and I am so happy I got to also catch up with my other girlfriend! The following day, we slept in, had a very fun and weird breakfast with coffee, coke, hummus, crackers, and biscotti, lots of talking, and then in the afternoon we met with the people from the party the night before for a swim in the Rhine. I should say it wasn't technically a swim, because the current was so strong that all you had to do was float, and make sure to swim your way far from the bridges and towards the shore whenever you wanted to get out. Following was a very relaxing time eating, drinking, getting in the water again, and, in my case, napping and meeting new people by the shore in a beautiful, sunny weather.

I finally made my way back to Zurich later that night. I had a lovely, lovely time, and I was completely relaxed. I can't wait to see my girlfriends again here in Zurich - they owe me a visit now, and we tentatively made plans for October!

*Testun al Barolo is a semi-firm mixed milk cheese from the Piedmont region of Italy. It ages for a minimum period of four months in small oak barrel under the residues of the Nebbiolo grapes, the grape to make Barolo wine.