Cheap Switzerland!

'Cheap' and 'Switzerland' are two words, you rarely see in the same sentence without a ‘not’ hovering around somewhere. One could say this is in fact an example of an oxymoron.

Yes, there are things in Switzerland which are cheaper here than in the UK, please see list below (not exhaustive, I’m sure, but these are the things I’ve come across since July):

1.       Ear plugs

2.       Glasses (if you have ‘normal’ problem-eyes)

4.       Electricity

5.       Travel cards

Ear plugs:

Since university, I’ve been using ear plugs and I guess I’ve become addicted to them. As I don’t feel this is an addiction that has taken over my life, I’m not worried about any side-effects showing up in 10 years’ time. Hence I keep buying new ones on a regular basis. (Having tried various kinds, I’ve come to the conclusion that the ones that work best for me are the yellow foam ones with blunt – not round – edges.) They sell for around £3.50 (=CHF5.88) in the UK for three pairs and in Switzerland I pay around CHF2.99 for three pairs – almost half price!

Glasses:

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased three pairs of prescriptive glasses. As you can see from the pictures below, they are colour variations of the same frame. 

The colours are: Black, brown and red.

The frames were CHF19.50 each and the total per frame with a prescription of r: 3.25 and l: 2.00 was CHF111 (the eye test cost CHF20). So the total costs of my three pairs of glasses ended up being: CHF353 = GBP240. In the past when I’ve gone for the ‘buy one get (the cheapest) one free’ in Specsavers or other places, I’ve always ended up only using one of the pairs. This time around, I was determined to not let that happen and with three identical frames, I’m happy to confirm that I swap colours several times a week.

Electricity:

Having spent some time today doing calculations in order to establish how much we pay for 1 kWh here compared to the UK, we ended up with the following result (yes, we know how to have a good time!):

Switzerland: 

1 kWh: CHF0.14 = GBP0.10

UK: 

1 kWh: GBP0.20 = CHF0.30 

Even though we have a dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer, electric stove as well as more gadgets than two people necessarily need, the fact that we pay 50% less per kWh means that even with the above running regularly, we don't spend more money in total per month, than we would have done in the UK without these machines.

Travel cards:

My monthly travel card, which lets me use trains, busses, trams – and even a ferry on Lake Zurich (the short route but still very picturesque) in all of Zurich as well as all the way to Zug (25 miles), where I work, costs CHF248 (GBP168). I’ve just looked at First Great Western’s website, and the monthly travel card from Moreton-in-Marsh to Oxford (30 miles), which is what I’ve been using for years, before I left the UK, is now: GBP218.50. This includes the train journey only. No ferries, no busses. But probably still lots of delays and cancellations! (I'm SO not missing the general chaos of public transport in the UK!)

I am fully aware that most things in Switzerland ARE more expensive than in the UK (or even Denmark), but the quality and taste of for example fruit and vegetables as well as the service one gets and general standard of living are much higher as well.

This doesn’t mean I don’t miss living in the UK, though. Luckily I get a daily dosage of Britishness at work as most of my colleagues are ex-pats like myself. And I've started watching Coronation Street again...

Lots of love,

Karen x

Project: Learn to Cook

Things need to change in the Rosinger-household which involves me starting to cook on a higher level than the current one. Which is pretty non-existent. I have happily been chopping an astounding selection of vegetables (incl. three different types of tomatoes), adding feta either in crumbled or cubed form and sprinkling this colourful concoction with lime for the past two weeks which is a little bit like cooking. In raw form. And without the danger of burning anything (other than when I boil an egg!). But I would like to add a little bit of 'danger' into the mix. 

Yes, it's ridiculous that I haven't moved on and into the kitchen properly, but I just seem to freeze every time I look at a recipe, count the number of ingredients, techniques, pots & pans involved, and don't get me started on the whole timing-part of cooking. I am aware of the irony of me working as an assistant where I am interrupted on a hourly basis whilst doing one thing, then being asked to do another and in the middle of that job, having someone call me with a query about something totally different that now has to take priority. I should be able to handle juggling more than three ingredients, knives, at least two hobs and an oven without going into a minor meltdown and have Paul rescue me and bring me to safety away from bobbling sauces (the wrong kind of bubbles), too generous helpings of chilli, broken pepper mills (where one part falls into the tomato sauce) by kindly (and expertly) taking over. 

So, dear audience, I kindly ask, beg even, for your help, as this situation has to change. And ideally before Stefan turns up in July. My last day in the office is Friday 21 June and I hope to feel well enough to produce dinner for Paul when he gets back from work, say, at least three times a week during that time. Thus, if you know of any simple recipes which you think might be at my level, please email them to me and I'll try them out. I'll even take pictures of the finished result as proof (well, it won't prove that I actually cooked it, you'd just have to believe me...). 

By simple I mean:

Not too many ingredients;

Not too many techniques;

Not too many pots and pans;

No fish;

Not too many things that need to be done at different times.

The recipes can be in English or Danish. 

I look forward to hearing from you!

Lots of love,

Karen x

Swiss Privacy Laws (look, I can do heavy titles!)

The privacy laws in Switzerland seem to be less strict here compared to the UK: The other day we received a letter from the Concierge service that comes with the building (not that we have our own doorman or a baldakin!) saying that it was time for the yearly window-cleaning session.

I knew our rental contract mentioned us having to clean the windows on a somewhat regular basis but thought this could be done once we moved out, or couldn't see out - whichever came first. Also, I wasn't too keen on either Paul or me trying to clean the windows on the outside, seeing we're on the 11th floor and NOT surrounded with a balcony on all sides.

We could perhaps hire that French guy who climbs buildings without any safety equipment. (Though I don’t think scaling our building with his teeth and a bucket of soapy water and a piece of cloth is enough of a challenge for him.)

Luckily, and there is a link to the privacy laws emerging, the letter told us that dates had already been set for when our windows will be cleaned, as they'll do it for us. It's apparently all part of the rent. And this is where one of the big differences between Switzerland and the UK lies: With the letter was a schedule for three floors stating when the cleaners will be in which flats. How big the respective flats are including flat numbers and everyone's first and last names!

I actually like this relaxed attitude to personal information (to a certain degree, I hasten to add), perhaps because it’s the same in Denmark.

After the cleaning of the windows, we might be able to see mountains from our balcony again!

I don’t have any pictures to illustrate this entry, so I’ll suggest you close your eyes and picture your favourite dessert in double size waiting to be devoured by you. (Mine is currently merengue with vanilla ice cream (must include real vanilla from a vanilla pod!) with a separate helping of warm chocolate sauce on the side. As enjoyed twice in Lyon during our recent three day visit there.)

Rumour: Spring’s here!

Lots of love,

Karen x

Uetliberg

This Sunday the sun was finally shining after weeks of lovely white snow but not so lovely grey skies. Hence we decided to go for a walk. Initially, the route was quite simple: From our flat in Oerlikon to Zurich City. A walk of about 7 km that takes just over an hour. (I don't walk fast, particularly not in hiking boots.)

This time around, the walk was interrupted halfway, as Paul wanted to change the route as he was curious to explore unknown territory! Well, as I'm always up for new adventures, I followed him which was a very good idea (not least because I have no sense of direction, so had I decided to stick to the original route, I probably would have got lost) because we ended up getting these views of Zurich:

The lake can be seen in the background along with some mountains.

Please pay attention to the mountains on the right...

I was pretty happy with these views and after having been walking around this area for a while, I started to look forward to visiting Starbucks in Zurich.

Paul, however, had a different idea. He knew that we could catch a train from Zurich main station to the mountain on the right, Uetliberg, so suggested we did that. I agreed, if we could have some lunch first. He agreed, if we could go to this Italian place that we both like. So it was very easy to agree to that...

After lunch, we caught the train and once we got to the end station, the following views surrounded us:

The lake is Lake Zurich.

We live somewhere between the two dark areas in the back.

Stunning! Absolutely stunning!

I shot this video which I think catches the beauty and breathtaking views even better than the pictures:

We went for a walk along various paths and it was quite a workout as some of those paths were absolutely treacherous, so due to my condition, we did a lot of turning back, instead of trying to climb down some ice-covered wooden stairs. There was also a lot of tree-hugging involved, when we had to walk a little bit uphill. Luckily, I look graceful in most situations.

This would be a great place to return to in the spring/summer, so we'll probably take our next visitors there.

Sunday evening, Paul made pancakes. All in all a perfect end to a gorgeous day!

Lots of love,

Karen x

Spiders - oh, and Happy New Year

Where are the Swiss spiders? 

We've now been here almost six months and I have yet to come across a spider. I don't particularly love them but accept them as part of life on the same level as dust. (One can get rid of both to some extent, but they will never go away completely.) I wonder if Switzerland is too clean for spiders? Or is it simply too difficult for them to get a permit? 

Whatever the reason may be, I have actually seen arachnoid evidence of their existence here twice: Once when walking over some Roman stuff and looking at display cases describing the Roman stuff with Tina and Sarah last month; in one of the cases it seemed as if a few attempts of making a spider web had been carried out. But I'm not sure by whom as there wasn't a single spider in sight. The second time was in our flat last week. I noticed a (slightly dust-covered) string of web glinting in the sun between two Christmas cards but after a thorough examination, I failed to spot the spider that had been hard at work. As proof, please see the picture below (if you look very hard, it's visible just above the red mushroom):

I'm not complaining but do find this very curious!

I will keep you up-to-date with this situation should it change. 

Happy New Year!

Lots of love,

Karen x

Titlis, Ice Grotto and Cable Cars

Last Saturday we took the car to the town of Engelberg which is situated on the foot of the mountain Titlis.

View of a mountain (not Titlis) from the parking lot in Engelberg.

A real mountain, with real snow and real people skiing. In order to get up to the top of Titlis, we had to board three different cable cars. The first one was a bit like sitting in a first class carriage on a train (funny story: the other day I was so tired when boarding my morning train from Zurich HB to Zug, that I mistakenly found a seat in first class. I only realised when my ticket was inspected (five minutes before arriving in Zug). Hence there was a reason why the carriage was pleasantly free of crowds and the seats wider than usual. Inexplicably, could be my new haircut that makes me look kind and naïve, I wasn’t charged extra!!! Instead the friendly inspector told me where the second class carriage was), - and now back to the cable cars: the second and third ones could be compared to hanging out with sardines in a can (without all the scales and smell). I think a Japanese group of tourists were doing their own version of: How many people can we squeeze into one cable car without it tipping over? (280,972 is the correct answer.)

Once up on the top, we went a little bit mad with our cameras – please see below.

From the cable car going up (the scratches are from the window).

The black dots are people skiing.

Another one of my potentially award winning short (very short: Blink and You'll Miss it) films... 

While walking around the area, we came across an ice grotto which was cool in more than one sense of the word.

Doesn't this look like something you see on medical programmes?

When the euphoria of all this beauty literally surrounding us had faded a little bit, we decided to have something to eat and start the descend on three more cable cars, making Facebook friends with several thousand more Japanese tourists.

Due to both of us (Paul more than me, let’s be honest here) being born adventurers, we went out for a walk before changing from the first to the second cable car. And this is the view that greeted us after five minutes:

This is how I greet beauty.

When we got back to the cable car station, we boarded the second one to take us closer to our end station, but decided, after reaching the end of that journey and before getting into the last (less crowded) cubicle, that we wanted to walk the rest of the way. Our adventure genes were obviously pushing for more action.

So we did, and after a little bit of panic from my side (‘but the orange pillars we’re supposed to follow down to Engelberg, take us back to Titlis. Let’s go back to the cable car. It’s getting dark and I don’t want to be stuck in a field in the middle of nowhere in Switzerland’) we managed to find our way back to the parking lot after an hour or so of walking down very steep paths. This was a good test of my hiking boots which passed – and so did my feet: No blisters! Here are some pictures from this walk, which ended up taking us past a ski hop slope!

Cable cars.

Engelberg.

Ski slope.

The view a ski hopper sees - (I guess) with more snow.

Hope you're all well.

Love,

Karen x

Snow, Sausages and Blue Tractors

Back again.

Yesterday we went into Zurich to get me a proper (warm and ideally smart as well) winter coat and boots (smart, ideally warm) and had lunch at a very traditional Swiss restaurant: 

http://www.zeughauskeller.ch. 

Paul had been there with work earlier this week and had very excitedly told me about the decor (artillery throughout the times; on a sign in the entrance hall it said: 'No smoking, live artillery' above something that, to me, looked like grenades) and the large selection of sausages with potatoes in all shapes and forms. One of their specialities is a meter long sausage served on a wooden plank. We didn't go for that but chose a platter with a mix of six different sausages on a spit, potato salad, rösti and sauerkraut. We also had beer. This was the perfect meal on a day which started out a little bit chilly and ended up covering Zurich in snow including my uncovered head and hands. Must buy a hat next and start wearing my gloves. But mission coat and boots was succesful.

It's still snowing and absolutely gorgeous as evidenced below! 

A double-decker train, probably from the airport going to Zurich HB (central station). To the left of the 'rounded' building on the right in the back, there's an outdoor ice rink which we're going to try out soon. It won't be pretty but hopefully it'll be lots of fun. 

I'd also like to share a picture of my hiking boots:

We seem to spend a lot of time purchasing items of clothing and footwear for the outdoors and I'm now becoming rather (too?) familiar with the insides of Swiss sport shops. Of which there are many! They're actually quite fascinating and usually pretty busy. The selection of products span from snowboards, harness for climbing (must get one of those), helmets for: skiing, cycling, water-sports; sticks and pucks for icehockey; thermal underwear; tents; camping tools; gloves for all occasions etc. Work has arranged a two day skiing trip to Flims next year, so I'll need to get a skiing jacket; appropriate trousers; as well as warm underwear and socks as a minimum. I've had to dedicate a shelf (a small one, but still) to the sports clothes and shoes I've bought so far. 

Peculiarity of the week:

Add in Oerlikon train station. 

It's time to wrap up warm and go for a walk in this year's first snow! (Not sure what happened to autumn...)

Lots of love,

Karen