Stuttgart, Germany

On Sunday Jared and I headed to Stuttgart, Germany to pick up a visa for him. (It's a long story that I rather not get into.) We decided to go and stay for a night. Here's the train station in Zürich. Similar to Grand Central where you wait for your train to show on the board which platform it will be leaving from. Except at Grand Central and Penn Station they show it 10 mins. before and when it pops up everyone all of a sudden runs to the platform knocking everyone in sight just so you can get a seat. It's pretty hilarious. They're a bit more courteous here in CH.

Jared is preparing for a relaxing 2hr 45 min ride through the countryside.

So am I. We were complete with dinner and snacks.

Jared quickly fell asleep. Isn't he so freakin' cute?

While I wrote in my journal, (a Sunday ritual.)

Here is the Swiss Consulate. Not too impressive. Just a small room.





I wanted to go down the tiny elevator which we barely fit in with our backpacks on. We are happy to get Jared's visa.













I love silhouette shots.













Here is a church that we passed by a few times while walking around, I love the windows and Jared mentioned that it's probably a spiral staircase.








Stuttgart is home to the Mercedes-Benz museum. Unfortunately we didn't get to go.

While we were waiting 3 hrs for the Swiss Consulate to put a sticker in Jared's passport we wondered around and found a nice park with giant chess pieces. So we played game. I don't have to tell you won.

Moroni on top of an LDS temple? Nope, just a deer.

To our delight a fellow Stanford ward member, Angie, was living not too far from Stuttgart for a while and came to meet us. She speaks fluent German so that was helpful when we wanted to order some lunch...a got old German wienerschnitzel.












Jared got a curry one. We thought it would be a curry flavored sausage, but they just put curry powder and ketchup on top. HA HA! He still liked it.

SCRABBLE

Jared and I have been addicted to Scrabble lately. It's always been a favorite along with Boggle. We've been playing each other online. However, in our temporary housing the connection can sometimes be slow. So, I searched high and low yesterday for a cheap scrabble game. Only to find when we started playing that it's a German Scrabble game, meaning some letters are of different values than the American version. Plus they have an ä and ü. We thought it would be a great idea to get out and play Scrabble on the tram. So we hopped on the #9 and rode it to the end and back while getting in a full game last night.



Doesn't Jared look super mischeivious?










We're having fun.




Playing on the train.













Who's gonna win? Well, Jared did. By 1 point. That's only because I told him about the rule where who ever has letters left they have to subtract them from his score. Then he was determined to get rid of all his letters so I had to subtract my points. Well, when this guy is determined to do something, he accomplishes it. I wish I never mentioned that rule.

Hair Conscious

OK so you all know that I am a natural blonde. Never dyed my hair. I prided myself on such healthy natural hair. Yup, until this summer when I got the "bright" idea to go dark. Why do I have to be so spontaneous and try new things that are permanent? I keep asking myself this question. Well I get bored. As an artist we like change.

Natural

Dye Job #1

After a couple of months I got bored again and decided (at the last minute) that I wanted to go back to blonde. So I went back to the hairdresser the day before we left California and he stripped my hair and tried to go back. Well it didn't really work. I hated it. It just isn't a good color for my complexion.

Attempt #1 to go back to natural

When I got here I browsed the hair dye section of the local supermarket. With the help of two knowledgeable woman and one translator we devised a plan. I tried it out on a hidden section of my hair and it turned out ok. Well then I tried my whole head.....dying your own hair is HARD and tedious.

Bleach Part 1

Bleach Part 2

Here's where I toned it. I guess I need to try a darker color. Anyhow, Jared's pretty excited about it and I don't feel like dealing with it until next week. I'm digging it for a while. I promise I'm not trying to look like you Amanda (the ultimate and best looking platinum blonde.)

The story is not over. It will be continued. I thought about resorting to shaving my head but then thought, winter is coming and that might be too cold. I would appreciate any of your dye horror stories and moral support.

Lifesaver

I got hit with a nasty cold this week and at the suggestion of a new friend here I went out and bought some NeoCitran. You mix the powder with hot water and drink. It has a lemon/honey taste and makes you feel better the next day. It's amazing:)

Jared's new...

Yesterday Jared got a haircut from a guy who didn't really speak English. He parted his hair to the side, (hee hee) and "did amazing things with the blow dryer," according to Jared.

He also got a winter coat. He looks so slick in it. You should have seen how handsome he was wearing it to church today.

We found this little café that serves delicious HoCho (Hot Chocolate) recommended by my new friend Tanya. I love whipped cream (homemade of course.) Well, this cream was packed on and almost butter.

Friday Night Dinner

Friday night we went out to a Swiss restaurant with some new friends of ours who both work for Google. They're from the Seattle area. Good thing they spoke German or else we'd be ordering something random...kind of like what Jared did. He ordered a plate of sizzling meat (unlike him since he's practically vegetarian) not really knowing exactly what it was. He is adventurous when it comes to food. I love that about him.

Can someone say NEWLYWEDS!!!! We're totally in love:)

McDonalds? No McPaperland

This is our local stationary store. I happened upon it one day because it's right next to the Post Office that I visited. It's like any other ordinary paper store accept it has a weird section with lots of pink. I averted my eyes of that section because I'm not too wild about the color. It wasn't an intense fuchsia or magenta. It was a hideous shee shee princess pink. Blech!

Smiling Mannequin???

I pass by this mannequin often on my way to the store. What weirds me out about her is that she's smiling. You don't come across this very often. She sits in the window of an Indian fabric store. Maybe she's thinking, I'm not remotely Indian but am dressed like one so I'm just going to go along with it and pretend I'm happy with my mistaken identity.

Food for thought

The mayo here comes in a tube, like toothpaste. (I got the WeightWatchers brand because it was the cheapest.)


I'm addicted to bubbly water now. (It's one way I'm assimilating into the culture here.)

Jared and I went out to dinner last Friday and I had panna cotta. I loved how they served it in this jar. (I bet Aunt Elizabeth is jealous.)

This is always the case, I order sweet and Jared orders CHOCOLATE!

Farmers market Zürich style

Yesterday morning I walked downtown and hit up the farmers market. Now in California we were very spoiled with fresh fruits and vegetables year around. Especially when I had a Farmer's Market a block from our apartment every Thursday. Well Zürich has a very nice one with lots of yummy fruits and vegetable and pastries...for a price though. Lots of the people only spoke Swiss-German, plus they pick out things for you. So I kind of just had to point and show with my hands how much I wanted. It was pretty amusing to them I bet.

Tonight I am making a soup out of all the things I bought. Squash, champagne mushrooms, green onions, red peppers, and I threw in some tomato paste, cream, cayenne pepper, basil, garlic, rosemary and water. I sated he vegetable and had to microwave the squash to soften it up since I don't have an oven in this apt. Right now the soup is stewing and we'll see what the taste tester thinks when he gets home from work. The goat cheese will go in the salad with pears, cranberries, some nuts that I roasted the other day and spinach:)

Mushrooms

Cheese (I got some goat cheese. How did I know it was goat cheese? There was a picture of a goat on the packaging.)

FLOWERS!!!!!!

Sunday afternoon bliss

On Sunday Jared and I like to relax. We come home from church and take a nap, and eat. Then we usually take a walk. This past Sunday we took a walk down to the west shore of the lake and read. Well, I read and he listened to a book on tape.

Map of our life...literally

Jared made a map of where we live now, and where we're going to live as of November 1st. Also, the 2 Google offices. Our new place is still within walking distance from downtown Zürich. We'll have a view of the Lake and the city. We are very excited.

Saturday Adventures!

On Saturday we had a few ours in the morning for a mini hike. We hopped on a train and took it to Uetliberg. Here's a happy shot of Jared.

I don't know why I'm laughing. Probably because Jared said something funny. He's always making me laugh.

Uetliberg is the "Top of Zürich."

It was a bit of a hazy morning. This is a view of Zürich and the lake.

We climbed up several stairs of a tower and here's the restaurant below.

The trees were such a bright green.

Later we went to go view some apartments. Between apartment viewing appointments Jared and I wondered around the city because it was such a beautiful fall day.

Swiss pride!

This one's for my brother Sam:)

I just can't get enough of Aqua and Yellow!
All the houses are just so beautiful and full of lots of character. This is located in one of the side alleys off the main Zürich area.
This is located near our new apartment. It is placed in a garden of someone's house that we can't get into:(

Walking around Zürich

Zürich is so beautiful and I am enjoying walking around and exploring all of the different areas.

These are two opposite shots of the lake. The first is actually the river looking north towards downtown.


Here is a shot of the lake standing on the bridge that crosses over the river that feeds in Lake Zürich.









I love these little side streets and alley ways off the main street downtown. They have lots of cute shops.













The colors right now are so beautiful.







I want a house some day with a little nook in then corner like this with windows where I can paint.





I like this roof.

Music on my blog

I've entered a poll on the right sidebar. Should I keep the music on my blog? It's starting to drive me nuts, every time I post and check out my blog and see if it looks right, all of this music. Please vote and be honest:)

Rollerskate dance

On Sunday Jared and I saw some people "dance" rollerskating. I thought it was something that was just done int he 80's.

New friends and beautiful paintings

Today I went to Kunsthaus to see the latest exhibit. They were showing Félix Vallotton. It was an amazing exhibit. His portraits of himself and of the woman were amazing. The way he captured a true woman's form. He also had paintings that told stories with subtle lighting and objects placesd discretely throughout the painting.

I also met three Spooglers (spouses of Googlers.) It was a lot of fun to chat and relate stories and hear about the countries they are from, Hungary, Germany. There was one woman who is Italian and grew up in Brazil and has lived in NYC for the past 10 yrs. We instantly connected because I LOVE NYC!










Here is one of my favorite paintings that was in the exhibit.

Sunday Excursion

On Sunday after sleeping in until 11am we got dressed and decided to walk around the city. Jared showed me of some places that he remembered when he was here in March. It was a beautiful sunny day:)

[P.S. There will be a million shots of Jared and I like this before we're 84 yrs old, the with us together and my arm outstretched. Maybe I'll do a montage one day when we're 50.]

This is the pedestrian bridge that Jared crosses on the way to work every day. I run up and down the stairs this morning to work off the chocolate that I ate last night...and just now. Good thing I have a lot of errands to do now which will involved lots of walking.

A church that we went inside.

A beautiful Agapantha blue building.

I love the different colored shudders.

Here's a Cadillac from New Mexico...in Zürich. It must be a pain to find parking.

An "Old Inn" that is indeed old.

Jared made some friends on our walk;)

Pastries.

That look like mini hamburgers.

I packed us some lunches and we sat along the East side of the lake to eat them. It was a beautiful view of the city.

Jared made another friend:)


And some more. He is very lovable.

Before we came to Switzerland I told Jared that I was determined to find a Merry-Go-Round. (They are my favorite.) Well the 3rd day we were here we stumbled upon one. Jared promised to bring me back:)

5,000 Miles for Dean

Dean, I put the 5,000 miles song on for you!

Trip to the mall!

On Saturday Jared and I trekked to the local mall, Sihlcity. Mall in Europe you say? Yup, they have malls here. A bit sleeker and very nice! We needed to get a fan for Jared which he is used to sleeping to at night. We also picked up some groceries and other various things. But, first we walked downtown to pick up mobile phones and yearly tram passes.

Here are the stairs. I love the way they're laid out.

The mall has cool chairs all over the place.

Outside Jared tried one out.

We walked by H&M, yup it's within walking distance of our place. It seems that I'll fit in here. At least with the mannequins. The world has caught on to my Aquayellow.

Small hike

In the evening on Saturday we hiked up a hill to see a view of Zürich. It was a beautiful evening with the light hitting the city.

Playground

Around the other side of the hill we found some SEESAWS! I love seesaws. We also went on the swings.

The Tram

Here is what a Tram looks like in Zürich.

Signs on the Tram. (and my interpretation)

No smoking.

Always have money.

No singing while playing the guitar.

Never saw your chair in half.

Please do not wear shoes with sharp claws on the bottom.

Hallo Zürich!

Here are some darling apartments near the place we are temporarily staying. Aren't they just so beautiful and full of character? I have fallen in love with every little bit of Zürich so far. Except for the smoking. I think I might have lung cancer by the end of our stay here.

Here's the studio we are temporarily staying in until we find a place to stay. I kind of like the painting on the wall.

Here's our sleek kitchen! The refrigerator is small and must be stocked for Jared who eats all the time. (Who knows how he keeps his figure.) So I must shop ever other day. It's the European way.

I LOVE the tub. It's so deep.

Um...would you know what this all meant on a microwave if you saw it? Well those manuals for electronics come a several languages for a reason. That is so a certain pair who move to Switzerland and don't know the language yet can figure out how to use it without blowing up the apartment;)

Stop over in München (Munich)

I saw this little man all over the Munich airport. I wonder where he was running to?

good bye South Carolina

Jared and I flew out of the Charlotte, NC airport on Wednesday. It was about 1.5 to 2 hrs from where his family lives so we rented a car and drove up. I caught a plane taking off.

I'm trying to catch a quick nap before we take off in the nice rocking chairs that the airport provides.

Downtown Charlotte, NC.

Jared's dad loves books on tape. Jared downloaded a few books to listen to on the trip. I had my Anna Karenina. It'll last a while since it's nearly 900 pages.

Wild Kids

When the kids are too obnoxious or bad they get throw in the pool like Krista was on Sunday:)



Josh is a monkey. He climbs on everything, up everywhere. He's gecko like. He's a spider.

Here he is doing his Jean-Claude Van Damme impression.

Okra Festival in S.C.

Saturday morning Jared got up to run the "Dam Run" which is a 10k run across the dam which dams up Lake Murray, the lake Jared's family lives on. The race started off the Okra Festival in Irmo, SC. Of course Jared finished 1st in his age group and 4th overall with a 6 min avg. pace. His words the night before, "I really haven't run that much lately, I hope I do ok." As we all roll our eyes knowing he'll whip everyone's butts anyway.

Some of us headed over to watch the parade with lots of lulls between floats and dancers. This is one of the highlights, a giant Okra man.



Here's Krista thinking, "I'm too old for this."













Genean kept having to chase Oa around the place.





Here's the artsy-fartsy lady and he whimsical garden art.








Jared and sweet little Oa.



When I asked Jared and Krista how they liked their fried Okra, this was their response.










This guy is dressed just right for the Okra festival.

Bon Voyage

Here is Jared riding one of Google's bikes back from the gym on one of his last days at Google Mountain View.


On our last night in Hayward my mother had our wedding cake made for us again since everyone raved about it and we really never got any accept for that one bite that we really don't remember how it tasted. There was a lot going on that day.

Barneys S.F.

The other day my mother and I headed to S.F. to play. One of our stops was at the new Barneys that just opened up the previous week. I loved the mannequins. They have such great color.





































I love how this rack is made of penny's.










Mom bought this stylish belt.














I really liked this coat/rain jacket piece but saw that it was ~$500. So I took a shot and will try making one during my "Year of creativity in Zürich."

I have an addiction....

I'm addicted to Facebook. Here's how to quit. I don't think I'll do that though.