Adventures in Zurich: A Leisurely Saturday Afternoon

Yesterday Gina and I, along with some of our lab mates, decided to explore the flea market at Burkliplatz, which lies at the beginning of the North end of Lake Zurich. We had a great time. We arrived at the market a little before noon and wandered through the different stalls, looking at all sorts of interesting bric-a-brac. The most interesting thing about what was being sold, at least to me, was that little of could be easily purchased in the United States. Unlike the flea markets at home, none of what was being sold appeared to be broken Walmart product. The place was overflowing with antiques, old hand tools, and unique, handmade toys. As we walked through the stalls we were encouraged to examine, try on, turn on, and open everything from nikon cameras to some sweet looking daggers- the weaponry was extra intriguing because I'm in the middle of game of thrones. Thanks Steve. Gina gently restrained me from trying to wear a WWII Japanese dive helmet- mint condition- and then one of our co-workers told us about a chocolate shop down the way.

So with Gina, who is much more interested in chocolate than historic artifacts these days leading the way, we wove a path through the labrynth of old town and into a place straight out of Willy Wanka's chocolate factory. This place had a lot of sweets. We each found a sample to try and then made our escape, trying not to get squished by truffle crazed tourists along the way.

And then we found the giant chess boards. And like many things here they are on top of a castle. It was like being at Hogwarts and the park in Searching for Bobby Fischer at the same time. It was fantastic.There were three humongous boards, two of which were being played on by really old German (In think) guys who were all yelling at one another, but the third was open... And so Ariani, a PhD student in our lab and I began a game. For a period of time it was perfect; closely contested, marked by advances and retreats, attacks and counter attacks, feints, fakes, thrusts and parries. As the game wore on I slowly and inexorably began to march down the board, designing a final brilliant stratagem to end the matter. But then the girls watching declared they were hot and bored so we had to leave.

Today has been a lot of fun as well. It is our one year anniversary and we enjoyed spending it together. We went for a long walk in the forest in the morning and enjoyed a slow afternoon reading, cooking, and skyping with family. Tomorrow work begins again but we had a great weekend and hope you guys did as well.