- I am making a Blurb book for Christmas this year of the Swiss Tour 2009 that I took with my family, and if you make a book before the 24th of November, you get 20% off... (Promocode for 20% discount is: BLURBTREAT3) so the pressure is on and my free time for blog photo editing and publishing is tight. Ps. I made this book with my brother last year for Christmas and it went down A TREAT! Highly recommend book gifts.
- We are in the thick of getting things together for the move:
- More people are coming to check out the apartment tonight. If you are looking for an apartment, conact me via email for details and come on over! I will even let you look in my fridge. :) Just so you all know, we have no obligations regarding the apartment - we have given our proper 4 months notice, so all we have to do it leave. We don't need to pay any penalties because we complied with the notice period. Actually, we are not vested at all in whether or not someone takes our apartment before we go - hence, I am so moody that we have to show the apartment for the 4th time tonight, as I am tired of the inconvenience of having to clean up everything for strangers to come through when I don't care if they take it or not! Ok... Sorry for the ranting. That is off my chest. Come on over. You can see my dirty clothes pile! :)
- Handed in the mail forwarding notice at the post...
- Figured out how to get all our pension and retirement money back.
- Filled out all the customs paperwork and ensured that we are not brining anything into Australia that we should not.
- And much more... more on all that fun stuff later. There will be a BIG POST coming soon about all the things to do before you leave Switzerland.
- Finally - to be honest - with all this leaving talk - I get a bit depressed. Don't get me wrong - we are excited to go back to Australia! But at the same time, it is a chapter closing and it doesn't get my creative juices flowing as well as they did when we had just arrived and the Swiss adventure was full of excitment and promise. . . so bear with me . . . posting will be a bit thin but I am still here... and a new blog will be up shortly!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Update! 3 Weeks until D(eparture) Day
I have been pretty lazy with the postings lately. I chalk it up to a few things -
Monday, November 2, 2009
Gemeinde Update
We had a great weekend in Alsace. More on that this week. For now, I wanted to write a quick update about the Gemeinde and how we (FINALLY!) successfully deregistered on Friday.
Actually, I called before Friday and talked to my favorite Gemeinde employee, Frau B., and asked her what it was that we were supposed to be doing - because if you recall, the last instructions we received were that I was supposed to call all the utilities again and ask exactly what form they wanted this letter in to prove that we were leaving the country....
Well, I did that. And when I asked, "What is the name of this form? As the Gemeinde tells me they have heaps and I should know the name of the form..." they (Cablecom, Assura, the Radio thingy) were all like... "There is no name... it is just a deregistration confirmation." Dandy.
So this is what I told Frau B. when I called on Wednesday, and she was like, "Um yeah just come in and get the general confirmation for 30 CHF per person and be done with it." GREAT! Where were you last Friday. "I had a day off..." Figures.
Then I asked her about the fact that now that we are deregistered and they want to take away our permits how do we get around without being thrown in jail. And she said, "Oh that is easy - we don't take your permit - we just punch holes in your permit, you can carry it around until you leave and keep it as a souvenir and if you get stuck show them the hole-y permit and your deregistration confirmation and you should be fine."
Uh... what about the "We have to take it from you NOW! You will never see it again!" that I got last week? "Um, no that is not what happens," said Frau B. GO FIGURE. Never leave me again, Frau B. NEVER!
The moral of the story is - talk to someone who knows what they are doing... because, as if by magic, when we went in on Friday, I got the same girl as last week and THIS TIME she was suddenly of the same opinion as Frau B. - giving us three original copies each of our deregistration confirmation, punching holes into our permits and handing them back and wishing us a wonderful day. Ahrrrrrrrwww... I wonder if this all would have gone easier if I had done it in English. I really do.
If only that had happened the first time, I would still picture Gemeinde Urdorf Einwohnerkontrolle as the utopia of Swiss registration... Either way, we are deregistered now. No going back. And the letters are in the mail to stop services on all our utilities and accounts.
Just a few more weeks to go...
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Also, thanks to everyone that stopped by on Saturday for the World Blog Surf Day. If you missed it, you can still surf from blog to blog - although it might not link you to the exact post from the day. And make sure you sign up to partake next time if you missed out!
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Actually, I called before Friday and talked to my favorite Gemeinde employee, Frau B., and asked her what it was that we were supposed to be doing - because if you recall, the last instructions we received were that I was supposed to call all the utilities again and ask exactly what form they wanted this letter in to prove that we were leaving the country....
Well, I did that. And when I asked, "What is the name of this form? As the Gemeinde tells me they have heaps and I should know the name of the form..." they (Cablecom, Assura, the Radio thingy) were all like... "There is no name... it is just a deregistration confirmation." Dandy.
So this is what I told Frau B. when I called on Wednesday, and she was like, "Um yeah just come in and get the general confirmation for 30 CHF per person and be done with it." GREAT! Where were you last Friday. "I had a day off..." Figures.
Then I asked her about the fact that now that we are deregistered and they want to take away our permits how do we get around without being thrown in jail. And she said, "Oh that is easy - we don't take your permit - we just punch holes in your permit, you can carry it around until you leave and keep it as a souvenir and if you get stuck show them the hole-y permit and your deregistration confirmation and you should be fine."
Uh... what about the "We have to take it from you NOW! You will never see it again!" that I got last week? "Um, no that is not what happens," said Frau B. GO FIGURE. Never leave me again, Frau B. NEVER!
The moral of the story is - talk to someone who knows what they are doing... because, as if by magic, when we went in on Friday, I got the same girl as last week and THIS TIME she was suddenly of the same opinion as Frau B. - giving us three original copies each of our deregistration confirmation, punching holes into our permits and handing them back and wishing us a wonderful day. Ahrrrrrrrwww... I wonder if this all would have gone easier if I had done it in English. I really do.
If only that had happened the first time, I would still picture Gemeinde Urdorf Einwohnerkontrolle as the utopia of Swiss registration... Either way, we are deregistered now. No going back. And the letters are in the mail to stop services on all our utilities and accounts.
Just a few more weeks to go...
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Also, thanks to everyone that stopped by on Saturday for the World Blog Surf Day. If you missed it, you can still surf from blog to blog - although it might not link you to the exact post from the day. And make sure you sign up to partake next time if you missed out!
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Saturday, October 31, 2009
Favorite Holiday in Switzerland: Christmas
Welcome The Spotted Sparrow & World Blog Surf Day Readers!
My favorite Swiss holiday has to be, without a doubt, Christmas. I am so unbelieveably bummed that we will be in Australia this year for December, so I will miss all the Christmas festivities - but that does not mean that you have to miss out on them!
Naturally, Christmas is an important religious holiday in Switzerland but most of the Swiss partake in the Christmas celebrations in one way or another. At the beginning of December, the Advent begins, in which families count down the days until Christmas, either with an Advent Calendar or an Advent candle, marking the Sunday's until Christmas with a candle for each Sunday (4 candles total). But Santa actually comes long before Christmas Eve! In Switzerland, Santa, or Samiclaus, comes on the 5th of December and kiddies that have been good get some sweets, nuts and mandarins (and probably some toys!) on the 6th. Those that have been bad get a sack full of coal from Schmutzli - the anti Santa. Otherwise, Christmas is very similar in Switzerland compared to the US or Australia - tree (check), gifts (check), lots of food (check)... but the festivities are very special and celebrated by many families.
Last year I committed the entire month of December to Swiss Christmas celebrations and the Advent count down... There is just so much to love - the Advents candles, the Apfelchuechli mit Vanillesause, the Zürich Samiklaus Swim, and the Weihnachstpyramide - but my favorite part of the Christmas festivities are the Christmas markets! Here is a list of Swiss Christmas Markets in 2009.
If you time it just right, you can probably hit up at least 4 or 5 Christmas markets, perhaps even some in Germany or France where they are also a big to do.Christmas markets tend to start at the end of November and run through Christmas Eve and sometimes the day after Christmas. Make sure you take some warm mittens and lots of money with you - as you will definitely want to sample some of the Glühwein (to keep you warm of course!) and buy some of the best handicrafts and decorations available.Fröhliche Weihnachten (in October) everyone. Start making those Christmas plans now! Before long, it will be 2010 (wowzers has time gone by!) and you will have to wait another 12 months for Christmas. :)
Now, please check out the Next blog on the World Surf Day Tour - Peterhals in Zürich...
I read this blog often, and know you will enjoy Deb's post. Thanks for stopping by Swisstoryblog and please follow me to get future updates on our adventures in Switzerland.
This post was written as part of the World Blog Surf Day. You can also follow the World Blog Surf Day on Twitter, thanks to our Twitter reporter Karen. Karen is an American expat blogger last seen in Prague. The Wall Street Journal said, "Her blog makes a fun read for anyone looking for reassurance that change can be a wonderful thing--and also for anyone interested in visiting the Czech Republic." Read Karen's Czech Republic Expat Blog-Empty Next Expat.
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Thursday, October 29, 2009
Zürich Archeological Underground Tour
The group at Lindenhof, where our tour started
with the Roman ruins underfoot.
Last Sunday, I organized a little private tour for the Swiss Expat Bloggers with Zürich Tourism. The tour was called 'Archeological Windows' and was a tour of Zürich's archaeological highlights, including the Roman remains under the Lindenhof, the old city walls, and even a medieval sewage system under the Niederdorfstrasse. Unfortunately, this tour is only run on a private basis, but everyone really seemed to enjoy going underneath the city and seeing some of the hidden jewels of Zürich's past, so I would highly recommend going on the tour if you get a chance. Here are a few of the highlights that we saw:
Medieval painting
Rosemarie, our wonderful guide that got a few extra keys to places not originally included on the tour, as we opted for the longer 3 hour tour, showed us a medieval painting in a former dance hall/entertainment hall. This painting is inside a private apartment in the Niederdorf area and was totally beautiful even today.
Exhibit with the old city walls and
interesting drawings of Zürich in medieval times
Near the city library, we entered a building that has pieces of the old city wall in the basement. It was cool to be under the city and see the hidden jems - old sewer pipes and pottery, too. There were lots of interesting drawings on display as well of how the city used to be set up - and something about deer living inside the moat. Does anyone remember what was up with the deer in this next photo?! Help! :) This deer street is now called Hirschengraben though - get it?! Deer... Hirsch!!! Nice. Anyway, we also looked at this Murerplan a lot - a medieval map of Zürich which shows all the water wheels and how Bahnhofstrasse used to be a cow path. :) (zoomed in version here)
This is just a sign I saw on the tour - the person who this is meant for will recognise it I hope. :)
Medieval Sewers
Another highlight was walking through a tiny, itty bitty door on Niederdorfstrasse, into a medieval sewer. I have to admit - the Zürich Tourism does a great job as all these secret places have great signs and information (underground that is) if you have enough time to read it all. My favorite was an informational sign for the sewer display that said, 'Even in the middle ages, the big question was, 'What do we do with our poo?''... ok it did not say that exactly, but something like that. Oh I loved it. It killed me. 
Inside the Helmhaus - only enterable by key.
We also went underneate the Helmhaus, the site of Zürich's first church which was built by Karl der Grosse on the site where two of the city's Saints, Felix and Regula, were decapitated, then walked 40 paces up a hill where they then collapsed and were later buried. You can still see a rock down there where the supposed decaptation took place under the Helmhaus! If you are a history buff like Jace, I am sure you would remember more of the details, but even for a non-history buff like me, it was a fun tour... I did not even mention or show pictures of the Roman baths under the city that we saw or the new stained glass windows open for viewing at the Grossmunster Church... both sites open full time to the public...oh there was so much more. If you also have a post about this trip, please leave me a comment to your blog so I can share your feedback!
Again, thanks to all for coming on the tour and hopefully we can arrange another for those that missed out on the first. If you are interested, leave a comment on the Swiss Expat bloggers network or here.
Archeological Windows Tour - Zürich Tourismus
Website
Private tour run by appointment in your language of choice
Maximum 20 people
+41 44 215 40 88
Also check out the write up on this tour from:
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Monday, October 26, 2009
Must See's/Do's from the Swisstory Fall/Winter Archives
Tomorrow I will have a post all about the great tour we took of Zürich yesterday that took us below the streets and through Zürich's archeological remains! Today, I thought I would feature a few articles from the archives that are relevant this time of year, as I realize that not everyone is Swisstory obsessed and reads the archives. Enjoy!
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- Wine Messe Zürich - it is on again and I highly recommend you plan a day to check out all the European wines on offer and get sloshed... er, I mean, sample them all. The event is on October 29th - November 12th this year. More info available at expovina.ch. Here my write up from last year on the Wine Messe!
- It is raclette and fondue time again! So get your cheese and heat up those burners for some tasty cheesy delights. I got my cheap fondue pot at the Brocki-Land. And stock up on fondue essentials like Fondue packets (we love Appenzeller!) and fondue seasoning at your local supermarket now.
- Ski Season is coming - save a bundle getting to the slopes with the Snow N'Rail Pass from the SBB. We used this to get to Flumserberg last year for our snowboarding lessons with the Zürich International Ski Club. Signups this year for lessons are (thank God) online. Make sure you sign-up early, because if it is anything like last year (where I had to wait in line for hours...) these spots are HOT! and will go fast. Online Sign-up for Zürich International Ski Club Lessons.
- Metzgete: I have seen the signs - so I know Metzgete time is coming soon! If you want to try something awful, er, I mean some Swiss offal, look out for the Metzgete. If offal makes your stomach churn, like it does mine, at least try some of the wild meat on offer at the moment - like venison or wild boar. These are tasty.
- Christmas is coming! And since the supermarkets don't think it is too early, I don't either - it's time to start planning your Christmas market trips. Here are some Christmas market tips from Swisstory readers of the best markets, and don't forget to check out my Christmas Advent from 2008 for some not to miss Christmas events... I am VERY upset that we are leaving just before December, when all the markets really start. Bummer. But enjoy them for me!!!
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Saturday, October 24, 2009
World Blog Surf Day - last day to sign up!
Swisstory will partake in the World Blog Surf Day on October 31st. Today is the last day to sign up if you are interested!!! Sign up for World Blog Surf Day here
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