rheinfall

after p&b left, i spent one day recovering then went right back to my solo traveling ways. this time off to schaffhausen to visit europe's biggest waterfall (due to width, not height). it's no niagara, but there's a viewing platform *right* next to the falls so i hung out there for a while -- glorious! all i really want in life is to live near water.

my friends!

the whirlwind trip through three countries was just fantastic, but it was even better being with friends from home! i miss you guys!

the whole week's worth of adventures would be too much for a single blog post, so i'll just mention some of the most memorable things:

• our first night, sharing a sleeper train cabin with loudly snoring korean guys. a foreshadowing of things to come?
• really, really great falafel in paris! so good we had it two days in a row.
• everything is closed in europe in august!
• i can't get enough of chocolate crêpes and gelato! if you know how extremist i can be about some things, well, yeah -- it was gross.
  
• small treasures can be found in cheesy street markets.
• i can now order radler in five countries.
• p loves the durian bear!
• rick steves is a pretty good guide.
  
• who wants to go to venice with me in the off-season?
  

the embargo on people pictures is now being lifted. enjoy! (collage courtesy of picasa)

outta here

p & b are in town as my first visitors, so we'll be traveling around france and italy for the next week or so. woo hoo! this is especially good timing because this weekend is the zurich street parade, "the largest house and techno parade in the world." we'll be escaping just before over a million crazies descend upon this usually tame city. yow!

charming, sexy ewan is irresistible

OH MY GOODNESS!!! at the end of a long series of misadventures, i actually got a ticket for guys & dolls on saturday and saw earnest ewan from the THIRD ROW! there were moments when he and his brilliant smile were no more than 15 feet away from me... aaaaaahhhhhhhh!

curry curry

swiss food is notoriously uninteresting, so i was excited to be called to london for a short work trip. i had the BEST bhengan masala ever on wednesday night. yum!!! i found a korean restaurant on the way to the indian place, so i'm going to get some db3 today! hooray for london!

but there's some sad news too. i just found out that my great love ewan mcgregor is playing in guys and dolls right now in london! but they're sold out for the rest of my stay -- alas!!!

germany, swiss national day, and message from mom

we had a 3-day weekend last weekend so i braved the 8-hour (each way) train journey to osnabrück, germany to visit j. he was the consummate host! except that he forgot that you're supposed to let your guests beat you in chess. it was nice to hang out with a "local" (my zurich life is full of temporary ex-pats), and i enjoyed seeing j in his native habitat. i realized that my german hasn't improved at all in the last month. also, i discovered that i like radler (beer + sprite), though i still drink it at the same rate as regular beer -- last estimated to be one every five hours.

got back monday night in time for a nice swiss national day bbq on a roof. we saw lots of little fireworks shows from a distance and it reminded me of july 4 from our roof at home. i tried quorn for the first time -- not bad!

and to preclude further comments from bored fans, i will end with a quote from a birthday email from my mom (with age obscured to preserve the illusion of youth):

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I can't believe you are already XX!!! It's time to look around seriously for you know WHO."

laundry day

last friday, after passing my 3-week anniversary here, i decided it was time to attack the laundry problem. (yes, i have a LOT of underwear -- i wasn't even running out.) downstairs i went with my newly bought detergent and big blue laundry bag. there were a few german-french-italian instructions on an open flap at the bottom of the washing machine, so i tried understanding them, loaded the machine, pushed some buttons, and let it start. did i say open flap? all of a sudden, the machine was barfing large quantities of water out the front. this didn't seem quite right, but i wasn't sure, since there was a drain in the room where the water was properly headed, so it could have been some weird swiss thing. i was worried, though, and thought maybe i shouldn't have put ALL my essentials in that first load. after a few minutes, the machine gave an error code that indicated (surprise): no water. i tried again, this time attempting to close the flap. however, right behind the flap was a large open pipe, so when the spewing began again, the flap was no help in holding back the deluge. i looked around helplessly. conveniently, the instruction manuals (three versions of each) for the washer and dryer were in the room. i found the french one since i had the best chance of understanding it, and saw some pictures of a removable part that plugged the offending pipe. of course, the plug thing was sitting just to the side of the machine, right in front of me where i was sure to not see it... i screwed it in place, started the thing up again, and heard the satisfying sound of water collecting in a basin. success at last!