Zörcher Wein-Ausstellung

That’s wine tasting to you and me – and that’s what we did, Europe style.

So we’re finding that in Zurich there is usually some sort of event going on that lasts for a few weeks or so.  There was the Oktoberfest, now there is some carnival thing set up in that same spot, sort of weird, and for a few weeks in November they roll up (or float up in this case) about 10 big boats to Bürkliplatz which is right where the lake meets the main part of town and use them for a wine tasting exposition.

The cost was 20 CHF to get in and you could purple mouth your way around the boats for as much tasting as you would like.  There must have been 200 or more booths set up doing tastings from all over Europe.  Language barrier was an issue at some, not at others.  We tasted at a booth where the guy pouring looked like Tony Bennett and only spoke Italian and kept trying to tell us…..something.   No idea but he was nice and entertaining so we stayed there a while.

You could not buy anything there but could place orders so we procured two different wines.  One was an Optima 2009 La Croix de Saint jean which according to the piece of paper that came with it is dieser jahrgangsweing besticht durch ein facettenreiches bouquet,  reife und kandierte früchte schwarzen beeren und etwas vanille - in kombination mit würzigen aromen von pfeffer und gewürznelken - eine dezente rauchnote sowie der duft von veilchen entströmen dem glas. 

So now you know.

Really enjoyed killing an afternoon here, tasted lots, ate a few crackers and then headed out for dinner.  You can check out more at www.expovina.ch

Home Again

Work took me back home to the Bay Area for the week of Halloween (I know this post is a bit late as Thanksgiving is now almost here.  Time sure does fly!).  I had two and a half days in Mountain View for a Partnerships conference and decided to stay the full week.  I must have packed in every single second I had there as I don’t think I had any down time at all.  But I got to see friends, family, visit favorite restaurants and go shopping.  It was nice to be back in our own home and to have that as an option.  Talk about being so much more comfortable than sleeping on someone’s couch.  In a strange way it felt like I was just coming home after a long vacation.  Although, Nate wasn’t there with me so that was a bit strange….it didn’t feel quite right.  But minus that, in some ways it felt like we had never left.

I packed in a full day of shopping since as we’ve mentioned before, things are super expensive here.  I wanted to take advantage of being back in the US where prices are much more reasonable.  And then I ate Mexican food about every chance I could get.  I think I managed to squeeze in at least 3 Mexican meals during the 7 nights I was at home.  I was almost getting tired of it before I left….which was perfect.  Hopefully I won’t be craving that for a while. 

And of course I worked.  I got to see my old team and friends from the SF office.  Then was down in Mountain View for the rest of the week where I did the networking thing, met new people and learned more about the Partnerships organization.  Overall it was such a good visit.  I love being in Zurich but there was just something nice about being home as well. 

And now I’m back “home” again.  It’s funny how the word home is so suitable for both SF and Zurich.  I’m a pretty lucky girl to have two places I can call my home.  

Nicole Comes to Visit

View from tower at Grossmunster Church

A few weeks ago, my cousin Nicole came to visit and what a great time we had.  It was fun showing her

around and was the first time we could be tour guides in our own city.  I must admit, I really enjoyed taking the time to be a tourist in Zurich again.  It gave me the opportunity to do some things I haven’t had the chance to do yet like go up the tower of Grossmunster church for an amazing view of the city.  Along with checking out Zurich, we made a little trip to check out the Rhine Falls near Schaffhausen.  From what we’re told, these are the largest waterfalls in Europe.  As they aren’t very tall, I’m guessing it’s due to the volume of water flowing through them.  You’re actually able to take a boat out to a rock that sits in the middle of the falls and climb to the top of that to get a pretty cool view of them from within.  And we also got to give Nicole a little taste of Oktoberfest, Zurich style.  Zurich puts on their own Oktoberfest for the whole month of October which feels very similar to the real thing but of course on a much smaller scale.  It was actually quite fun but my recommendation is if you’re going to do Oktoberfest, don’t take a 7am train the following morning.    

As we couldn’t spend her entire week just in Switzerland, we were off to Paris for the weekend.  I hadn’t been here for a while so it was fun to come back and explore it again.  We had to see all the major sights as Nicole had never been before (a trip up the Eiffel Tower was of course a must do).  It was quite cold the entire time we were there (think mid-40s) but we still enjoyed ourselves.  I mean, how can you not.  It’s Paris!  And I just love Paris. 

Overall we had a great week with Nicole and it was fun showing someone else the life we’re living over here.