Renee and Stefan: November 2005

17 November 2005

Uetliberg

This past Sunday, Renee and I took a pleasant, 1-hour hike to the top of a hill near Zurich called Uetliberg. I've posted some pictures at www.stefanpharies.net/uetliberg. As you can see from the photos, the hike started out in the fog, but at the top of the observation tower at the summit, we were just barely able to peek out through the top of the fog and see the Alps! Renee and I had actually been up there in July when we came for my interview, so it was fun to see the same place in a different season.

The hike started at an area called Albisgütli, which is at the end of the number 13 tram line. After a nice hour of climbing up some relatively steep but very well maintained trails, we got to the top. At the top of the hill there are two or three restaurants, a hotel, a lookout tower, and a network of hiking and biking trails leading to other areas. (Oh, and a really cool solar system exhibit, where sizes and distances are all to scale.) Renee made an astute comment that the Swiss really enjoy being in high places - and it's clear that they enjoy hiking and being outside too. After checking out the view from the tower and enjoying some Bratwürste, we took the S10 train back down from the top straight to the Zurich Hauptbahnhof.

Uetliberg is a very popular hike, and we were not alone. In Switzerland, shops are closed (by law) on Sundays, so you are "forced" to do something other than materialistic consumption. This would normally be just fine with me, since I hate shopping anyway, but I have to admit it's been a little inconvenient these last couple weeks because there are so many move-in things we need to buy. The good news is that we've had very pleasant and relaxing Sundays in spite of needing a bedroom closet so badly. =)

The easy accessibility of Uetliberg (or anything else in Switzerland) by train is very interesting, but maybe I'll write a separate blog entry on that.

Oh, and one other relevant comment: Uetliberg is spelled that way rather than Ütliberg because the Swiss have a rule that you don't write capitals with umlauts. I am not certain, but I think this rule arose in order to accommodate typewriter keyboards on which they need to fit German as well as French and Italian diacriticals. They had room for ä, ö, and ü, but they needed to put things like é and è and à on the shift positions of those keys. (I believe on French Swiss keyboards, the characters are in the same places, but shift/unshift is reversed, so the French Swiss have to type shift to get German characters.)

posted by Stefan Pharies at 19:53

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10 November 2005

My new favorite thing - Lush!

Many of you have probably heard about Lush, but do you really know about it? They are a UK company that makes body, hair and bath products. I just discovered that we have one here in Zurich. I recommend you check them out online at www.lush.com and try something. Not only do they have good products but they:

*make their products out of organic fruits and vegetables and with the finest essential oils and safe synthetics
*do not use animal ingredients OR test on animals
*buy only from companies that test for safety without involvement of animals
*make their own products by hand, print their own labels and make their own fragrances
*don't use packaging unless absolutely necessary to preserve the product
*believe that glitter can be an accessory
*use recipes from ancient times to inspire them
*believe that bathing should be fun!

My newly acquired products are: Butterball bath bomb & Ruby Slippers bath bomb.
Future products I plan to try: Sea Vegetable soap, Ultimate Shine shampoo bar, Breath of Fresh Air toner, Black Toothgel and many more. Wee!

Even for those of you who are dedicated to the current products you use, remember: There is nothing better for your skin than limiting the amount of chemicals you put on it!
And nothing is better for our earth than not throwing things away & not putting chemicals down our drains.
Think of all the chemicals you apply to your body on a daily basis...Shampoo, conditioner, soap, perfume, lotion, eye creme, hair spray. Please be good to your bodies!

Yes, I'm considering trying to get a job there :-)

posted by Renee at 01:30

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08 November 2005

How cute is this??

Swiss things are cute. Small, smart and cute. It makes me realize that coupling aesthetics with an intelligent use of resources isn't impossible! Of course this hasn't entered American thinking yet. I'm afraid that we have a belief that anything attractive or easy to use has to be complicated and bad for the environment. I'm pleased to be learning that this isn't necessarily true.

Here are a few examples of what I mean when I say cute...

Look at the size of this yogurt container! It's as small as garlic!

Tiny aluminum foil!

What is hard to depict in this photo is that there is no metal blade to cut the aluminum foil. It's just the edge of the cardboard which has little teeth that are "sharp" when you tear it off. SMART!!

Ok, so maybe I have a little too much time on my hands at the moment. But I had to show these things off to my fellow marketing friends :-)

posted by Renee at 22:30

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06 November 2005

Moving into our new apartment

OK, it's been forever since I posted to our blog. I'm so sorry. Unfortunately, the exciting things that are worth blogging about are also the very things that keep me so busy I don't have time to blog.

I have a long list of topics, but I'll start out with our new apartment. In short, we love it! Here is a brief photo tour, starting with the living room.

The best part of the living room is the round alcove creating a wonderful reading area. The living room is very bright, with windows all around.

Here is a view through one of them. (This tree is in the yard of the church right next door.)

Here is the study. Along with the living room, it has the original parquet flooring from 1912. There is also a small deck off of the study that gets lots of sun in the afternoons.

Here's the view out of the study onto that deck.

Here is the bathroom. Our apartment is typically Swiss in that there are two rooms serving the purpose of what Americans consider a bathroom - the actual bath room (pictured here), and a separate toilet/sink room.

The kitchen is wonderful, with new appliances, a dishwasher (!), and even a convection oven. There is not nearly enough cabinet space, so we are already working on finding more furniture to put in there.

Off the kitchen is a much larger deck, with room for a table for four. Here are two views from that deck. It also has this really cool sliding, collapsible glass wall on one side (where the weather usually comes from) to shield you from the rain and wind.

Here is Renee standing in the entryway. From here you can see all of the furniture we have in the apartment (none!).

After a day and a half of sitting on the floor, we decided we couldn't stand it any longer. We trekked all over Zurich looking for some cheap folding chairs...and we only found these ugly, uncomfortable orange ones. But together with our makeshift dining table (boxes) and table cloth (packing paper), they make a fantastic dinette set!

Oh, and since the lampshade somehow didn't make into the shipment with the lamp, we had to improvise a little. Here is a detail. Yes, that is packing paper taped to the radiator, supported by a coathanger. Good thing we brought duct tape!

Here is our dining table set up for breakfast. The furnishings may be meager, but the breakfast is fit for a king and a queen! Fresh croissants from the bakery 2 blocks away.

posted by Stefan Pharies at 21:25

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02 November 2005

Uf Wiederluege Party

Just a quick note to chronicle our departure; here are a few photos from our "Bon Voyage" party. It was great to see all of you - thank you for the lovely gifts, flowers and good wishes.

Remember that we want to keep in touch! So, don't forget to send us photos and updates often!!

Love,
Renee & Stefan