Zürich is rainy and other thoughts

Hello lovelies.

Greetings from once-sunny now soaking-wet Zürich.

Normally I don't have too many problems with the weather. This Summer has been quite nice...some heat wave, low humidity, a bit of rain...but the thing is, I'm living out of a suitcase and I have been for the past 2 weeks. Due to ridiculous weight limits for inter-euro flights, I was only allowed a paltry 20 kg of luggage. This left no room for multiple cardigans or rain boots. Hell, the only close-toed shoes I have with me are my running shoes! Long pants are also underrepresented. This has to do of course with the weather while I was packing. The foreseeable future looked like HEAT WAVE.

Oh well.

While visiting the Kunsthaus yesterday (GREAT collection folks. Really. And Wednesdays are free entry. Go if you're here.) I got stuck in the rain. In leggings and birkenstocks. I was wearing a windbreaker which got the worst of it, but generally a weather-appropriate clothing FAIL. I therefore announced yesterday that should the weather again be so miserable, I would refuse to leave the house. So I'm here. Doing laundry, watching old school disney flicks and waiting for the DHL man to bring me my latest Politkovskaya book (side note: I love that woman.).

All in all, not a bad way to spend a day of vacation. The Schatz is worried that I'll be bored and cranky, but I tried to persuade him he's got nothing to worry about...unless the DHL man does not bring my book. In which case I will not be bored, just cranky.

But let me tell you a bit about Zürich.


I know I already posted an overview of the city, but now I've seen some more things, taken some better photos and generally been here a bit longer. So I feel like another post is in order. I might not have done the old girl justice before.

So. Zürich is not really that exciting. It is beautiful, clean and full of great luxury shopping if that's your thing. If you don't mind paying substantially more than you would elsewhere, Zürich is the place for you. However, being as I am, a fan of alternative funk, I'd been searching in vain since my first visit, trying to find at least a single street with a few funky hip stores doing cool things. All leads I thought I had turned out to be funky fata morganas, and I was getting discouraged. Lord knows I'd really racked up the kilometers traipsing through Zürich and searching. Finally I stumbled across a website of an exberlinerIn living in Züri and though she listed mostly things that were not anywhere off the beaten path, she mentioned a store called EINZIGART. (einzigart.ch) in the Josefstraße in Zürich. I put in on my list and did my daily wanderings which included the Haus Konstruktiv (very very cool: hauskonstruktiv.ch) and a loooong walk through Zürich's "red light district" (rather tame if you don't count the occasional junky and the ageing prostitutes). By the time I got to the Josefstr. I couldn't even remember why I wanted to be there. And I walked down the wrong end of it first--lots of neat restaurants and a lot of indian folk but no cool stores. So I walked down the more boring looking side and PRESTO, a la peanut butter sandwiches, I see the SHUALA concept store. I couldn't really believe my eyes, I went in and had a wander. It's one of those stores that's a dime-a-dozen in Berlin (spoiled, I know) featuring handmade stuff from various european grass-roots designers. (shuala.com) It's cool, but vasssstly overpriced. I bought a bag just to convince myself this wasn't another hipness mirage. I continued my meanderings and found all kinds of neat stuff, including said EinzigArt store (really, really neat stuff there folks.) and another store called something like Liliputans...it was full of the most unholy kitsch you have EVER seen. We're talking everything available in red-white polka dots, plastic flowers and childrens toys in shades of bright my eyes weren't used to. Di-vine.

I recommend walking the street from Langstraße to its end (Hafnerstr.) which is also a treat. Just around the corner is a store that blew my mind...Garten Eden, full of antiques, the odd plant and really great glassware. In the Hafnerstr. itself there are a few hip-seeming clothing stores, which I didn't bother checking out...they looked cool enough.

I can't tell you all what a relief this was to me. I felt quite guilty passing this city off as lametoast...turns out there are a few highlights after all.

The whole waterfront thing tickles me. Not the Züri See...it's nice but often very crowded with cosmetically augmented older women (botoxed face+bleached blonde extensions+silcone rack+short shorts with jiggly chicken legs = unaesthetic, sorry. I don't usually bodysnark, but if you are that gungho with the plastic surgery you kind of invite it.). I'm talking about the Limmat. It feeds into the Züri See along with the Sihl and if you walk upriver, you encounter some nice places to swim, grab a coffee and just enjoy the day. Unfortunately, due to all the rain, some have had to close. The river is getting a tad full.

There was also the Swiss Ironman here last weekend and this Sunday is apparently some kind of national holiday (hence, I believe, all the flag-action in the photos) involving fireworks. I'm almost sad to be flying out on that day.


But only almost. Really, I miss Berlin and my apartment and my friends and using the smart functions on my smartphone. Vacation is cool and all, but I kinda want to go home now.