Skip to main content

Twinkle twinkle

All over Zurich the fairy lights and Christmas trees have gone up. It makes so much more sense to have this kind of thing in Europe where in the long evenings, the twinkling lights emit such warmth and comfort.

Tonight after work, we caught the tram to the old city and wandered around, being enchanted by the Chrismas lights in front of or draped on every building and many of the large trees in the city centre. Everything that could vaguely be defined as a city square has a decorated Christmas tree with twinkling lights and baubles. And then there are the feature lights that have been erected on buildings in the Alstadt and over doors and arches tasteful fir boughs twined with red ribbon and bows. Oooh aaah!

The Christmas markets have started appearing and I think we are just going to be children again and go window shopping on Friday night and generally get into the Christmas spirit. Friday night does not seem to be after-work drinking night like it is in Oz - the main shopping street was more or less deserted by 7.30pm. Richard said they were all off skiing - which is a possibility.

Anyway I have decided that our "wintergarden" in the new apartment is the perfect spot for some twinklers and that we should have a curtain of twinkling lights to welcome guests - the ones that aren't going to visit because we have no friends yet. Aaaahhhhhh!

On the topic of friends - it's a good thing being forced to depend totally on your best friend. There is absolutely no point in being cross with each other because then you really have no other friends to turn to if things go wrong! So by and large we get along better together than we've ever done. Except when he cooks my socks and knickers on the heated towel rail! But what the heck - there's more socks and knickers to be had but not necessarily more friends. And hey, he's at least trying to be a good househusband. I get dinner on the table every night and the grocery shopping done when the stores run out. Which is every few days because typically kitchens here are pretty small.

Tschuus! (you can't say this word - you have to sing it)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Just deserts

In case there is any question of beauty being reserved for alps and snow and shades of grey, blue and white, take a look at the Australian desert scene and don't for a moment imagine these shots are unusual. Probably the most pictures I took on any trip was on the one we made to Alice Springs, Uluru, Katherine Gorge and Kakadu where desert featured more than any other landscape. Of course a lot of alpine landscapes are desert landscapes but it is very hard to find a photo gallery of just deserts in Switzerland.

Avignon: a forever memory

At last a train ride in France that was up to scratch : on time, we got a seat and a place for our luggage and we arrived in good order. We travelled through countryside that reminded me a little of parts of Spain - I should not have been surprise d.   After all, Southern France is part of the general Mediterranean experience .   The metal detectors at the entrance to Avignon station should make tourists feel more comfortable if only they were not a reminder of potential evils. Outside t here w as just one taxi parked in the rank and that appeared to be taken. A fter making us wait 10 minutes at which time we called the taxi number only to find no-one in, t he taxi suddenly became free and took us to the hotel. It was just too far to walk there - though not nearly as far as the taxi journey seemed to suggest. ( That was the worst experience we had in Avignon – yes, it's one place on our   so - happy- we- went- there list.)   Old city centr es ...

Rose of the South: Toulouse 

So much to say about Toulouse I hardly know where to start so I will begin as we leave the airport in a taxi driven by a good old-fashioned French taxi driver who was courteous and careful and made us feel good to be in France.    On the short drive from the airport to the city, Richard reminded me that Toulouse is the home of Airbu s and space travel in France. We missed the world's biggest gathering of astronauts who have been in space (300) by a week - well we didn't know it was happening till we got here and I am not sure we would have benefited from it in any way anyway .   The best things going for our apartment in Toulouse were a washing machine and its location – right at the mouth of a Metro station and on the square at the back of the Capitole which is the main square of Toulouse. Part of a very traditional French city building, the communal areas were shabby and dark and the "garden" of the promised garden view, a grey stone courtyard surrou...