http://picasaweb.google.com/ctuttle/Berlin
http://picasaweb.google.com/ctuttle/Potsdam
Enjoy.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
More catching up
It was supposed to be an early night. So much for that. We're past due for updates:
Biel: http://picasaweb.google.com/ctuttle/Biel
Bern: http://picasaweb.google.com/ctuttle/Bern
Geneva: http://picasaweb.google.com/ctuttle/Geneva
Paris: le sigh.
Rothenburg (and some Fall color for your enjoyment): http://picasaweb.google.com/ctuttle/Rothenburg
Zurich, Oktober edition: http://picasaweb.google.com/ctuttle/Zurich102008
Florence: http://picasaweb.google.com/ctuttle/Firenze
Biel: http://picasaweb.google.com/ctuttle/Biel
Bern: http://picasaweb.google.com/ctuttle/Bern
Geneva: http://picasaweb.google.com/ctuttle/Geneva
Paris: le sigh.
Rothenburg (and some Fall color for your enjoyment): http://picasaweb.google.com/ctuttle/Rothenburg
Zurich, Oktober edition: http://picasaweb.google.com/ctuttle/Zurich102008
Florence: http://picasaweb.google.com/ctuttle/Firenze
Monday, October 20, 2008
Zurich in September.
Wow. Blogger sucks spectacularly at editing a list of photos with captions. This is embarrassing. Well, this is all you get for now.
ETH Zurich and nearby, as viewed from Lindenhof.
The Limmat at Night
Grossmunster
A view of the Limmat / Lake Zurich from the top of Grossmunster.
Same day, different angle. The beige building in the center with green shutters and an obscured window is where I live (on the 3rd floor).
Some street fair near Banhofstrasse
ETH Zurich and nearby, as viewed from Lindenhof.
The Limmat at Night
Grossmunster
A view of the Limmat / Lake Zurich from the top of Grossmunster.
Same day, different angle. The beige building in the center with green shutters and an obscured window is where I live (on the 3rd floor).
Some street fair near Banhofstrasse
Saturday, October 4, 2008
A night out.
This evening I arrived home with the intent of going out to have a drink and then returning home to do laundry. The latter was undoubtedly thwarted, so it seems only fitting to speak a bit about Zurich's bar scene.
Before I begin, let's talk briefly about my daily schedule. I work on a team that is split between Mountain View and Zurich. As you might expect, we meet occasionally, and due to the 9 hour time difference, I have a few nights a week (Tuesday and Thursday, as it turns out) that regularly have meetings starting at 7pm or later. This isn't a big deal, and it's quite common, judging by how it's often more difficult to find a 7pm room reservation with video conference equipment than it is to find one at 3pm.
But I digress. This evening was one of the late ones, and after speaking with the kind folk in Mountain View, I took off, leaving the office at around 8:30. As it's the second night since I've moved to my new place, and since I did not set up mail forwarding in time, I went by my previous residence to make sure there weren't any letters sitting near the mailboxes with my name on them. Having seen there were not, I went to the nearest tram stop to grab a #9, serendipitously picking up a string-tied pile of cardboard boxes on the way.*
The tram ride home was uneventful, except for a few long glances due to my pile of folded boxes. I took the opportunity to practice my German by reading a flier about some fair-like festivities that are currently happening.
Upon returning to my apartment and depositing my boxes, I decided to go out in my bobshopping shirt, which I had worn for most of the day. It is awesome, and I've been growing tired of pretending to be European.
I left my apartment and hoofed it over to Niederdorfstrasse to have a look at the night life at a few places I've previously visited. The cafe bar with the live music was looking pretty ok -- and I've yet to go there -- but it's also closest so I continued on my rounds to see what else was going on. The bar at Nachtflug was full, and it looked like the stand-next-to-a-table spaces were somewhat full, so it was pretty hopping, too. [At this point it was 9:15 or 9:30, so that's kinda to be expected.] I then headed over past the back of Nachtflug, passing CK First on the way to have a look. The bar there was empty, though all the tables were full. Moving up the hill I took a look at Corazon, one of my favorites, and while there was one remaining seat, the staff was the same, I was feeling the need for variety, so I decided against it. Instead, I headed to CK First.
The proprietor -- or at least the main bartender -- at CK First is quite friendly. Based on his accent, I suspect he's from South Africa. Either way, CK First has about a dozen tables for four and a nice, but small, bar area, and some pretty good outside seating. You show up, have a drink, munch on some cheese puffs and pretzels, and generally have a good time.
This evening I had a Falken -- a Swiss beer -- and sat down on one of the bar stools to watch the football match between AC Milan and Zurich.** I got to talking with Julian, who is from Austria, and I was eventually introduced to Simone, the girlfriend of the bartender (a student of Hotel Management. She also occasionally helps out at Cranberry, the gay bar next door), Milan (the only straight bartender next door), someone whose name I forgot (???), and Christine (friend of Simone).
Julian and I had a nice talk about living in various places, working, etc. We spoke about Thailand for a while, and he had some good suggestions about where to visit in Austria, for which I'm quite thankful. Likewise, Simone and I had a long talk about the brokenness of McDonalds and our general misunderstanding of how someone could spend 13 CHF for a value meal, especially when more than a couple nearby shops rock some 9 CHF doner kebab.
My original plan was to have a beer or two and then retire to my apartment for some hard-core laundry doing. As you might imagine, this failed. The generosity of ??? was experienced in the form of two rounds of Xuxu shots (think semi-frozen strawberry daiquiri, and you'll be in the right ballpark). This was joined by a third round of beers and a round of shots ordered by Julian, who had turned a little too friendly.
Now, I should stop here and mention Alice, the former tech lead of my project, who has recently returned to Mountain View in order to be married. In one of her how-to-be-an-expat emails, Alice mentioned the dating scene with the ominous, "It's different ... you'll see." Which is to say, my expectations are probably unrealistic. That said, I'm not sure Julian's eagerness to buy drinks or enumerate the days he's in the bar can be accounted for anything but unwanted advances.
I arrived home at 11:40 or so, took an inventory of my clothing, washed a pair of socks and boxers in the sink, and took a shower to wash off the smoke. Insofar as meeting people, I'd call it a successful evening. I'm also a big fan of CK First's very chill atmosphere, though I'll have to strategize for when I head there again.
(*) The cardboard made sleeping on a duvet on the floor about twice as comfortable.
(**) It was 0-0 when I arrived. AC Milan ended up winning 2-0.
Before I begin, let's talk briefly about my daily schedule. I work on a team that is split between Mountain View and Zurich. As you might expect, we meet occasionally, and due to the 9 hour time difference, I have a few nights a week (Tuesday and Thursday, as it turns out) that regularly have meetings starting at 7pm or later. This isn't a big deal, and it's quite common, judging by how it's often more difficult to find a 7pm room reservation with video conference equipment than it is to find one at 3pm.
But I digress. This evening was one of the late ones, and after speaking with the kind folk in Mountain View, I took off, leaving the office at around 8:30. As it's the second night since I've moved to my new place, and since I did not set up mail forwarding in time, I went by my previous residence to make sure there weren't any letters sitting near the mailboxes with my name on them. Having seen there were not, I went to the nearest tram stop to grab a #9, serendipitously picking up a string-tied pile of cardboard boxes on the way.*
The tram ride home was uneventful, except for a few long glances due to my pile of folded boxes. I took the opportunity to practice my German by reading a flier about some fair-like festivities that are currently happening.
Upon returning to my apartment and depositing my boxes, I decided to go out in my bobshopping shirt, which I had worn for most of the day. It is awesome, and I've been growing tired of pretending to be European.
I left my apartment and hoofed it over to Niederdorfstrasse to have a look at the night life at a few places I've previously visited. The cafe bar with the live music was looking pretty ok -- and I've yet to go there -- but it's also closest so I continued on my rounds to see what else was going on. The bar at Nachtflug was full, and it looked like the stand-next-to-a-table spaces were somewhat full, so it was pretty hopping, too. [At this point it was 9:15 or 9:30, so that's kinda to be expected.] I then headed over past the back of Nachtflug, passing CK First on the way to have a look. The bar there was empty, though all the tables were full. Moving up the hill I took a look at Corazon, one of my favorites, and while there was one remaining seat, the staff was the same, I was feeling the need for variety, so I decided against it. Instead, I headed to CK First.
The proprietor -- or at least the main bartender -- at CK First is quite friendly. Based on his accent, I suspect he's from South Africa. Either way, CK First has about a dozen tables for four and a nice, but small, bar area, and some pretty good outside seating. You show up, have a drink, munch on some cheese puffs and pretzels, and generally have a good time.
This evening I had a Falken -- a Swiss beer -- and sat down on one of the bar stools to watch the football match between AC Milan and Zurich.** I got to talking with Julian, who is from Austria, and I was eventually introduced to Simone, the girlfriend of the bartender (a student of Hotel Management. She also occasionally helps out at Cranberry, the gay bar next door), Milan (the only straight bartender next door), someone whose name I forgot (???), and Christine (friend of Simone).
Julian and I had a nice talk about living in various places, working, etc. We spoke about Thailand for a while, and he had some good suggestions about where to visit in Austria, for which I'm quite thankful. Likewise, Simone and I had a long talk about the brokenness of McDonalds and our general misunderstanding of how someone could spend 13 CHF for a value meal, especially when more than a couple nearby shops rock some 9 CHF doner kebab.
My original plan was to have a beer or two and then retire to my apartment for some hard-core laundry doing. As you might imagine, this failed. The generosity of ??? was experienced in the form of two rounds of Xuxu shots (think semi-frozen strawberry daiquiri, and you'll be in the right ballpark). This was joined by a third round of beers and a round of shots ordered by Julian, who had turned a little too friendly.
Now, I should stop here and mention Alice, the former tech lead of my project, who has recently returned to Mountain View in order to be married. In one of her how-to-be-an-expat emails, Alice mentioned the dating scene with the ominous, "It's different ... you'll see." Which is to say, my expectations are probably unrealistic. That said, I'm not sure Julian's eagerness to buy drinks or enumerate the days he's in the bar can be accounted for anything but unwanted advances.
I arrived home at 11:40 or so, took an inventory of my clothing, washed a pair of socks and boxers in the sink, and took a shower to wash off the smoke. Insofar as meeting people, I'd call it a successful evening. I'm also a big fan of CK First's very chill atmosphere, though I'll have to strategize for when I head there again.
(*) The cardboard made sleeping on a duvet on the floor about twice as comfortable.
(**) It was 0-0 when I arrived. AC Milan ended up winning 2-0.
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