Gruezi!
We hope your summer has been fun and you have found some time to relax. You will notice this is a combined June and July newsletter. We know many of you have been anxiously awaiting this letter’s arrival and hope the delay did not cause too much distress. The past two months were filled with exciting adventures, including a bike tour through the Alps, a trip to the US to visit family and friends, and a new job for Chris, coupled with extremely warm weather here in Zurich!
In June, we went on a bike ride through the Alps with a group of ex-patriots and a few Swiss. We started on Sunday morning by taking a train to Einsiedeln, about one hour from Zurich. We toured the Baroque Abbey monastery and Abbey stables and then we departed on the 25km ride (about 15 miles for those of you in the US). Sara, our Swiss organizer and tour guide said the rating of the course was “easy”, which made us believe that we would have no problem with this ride. First, we rode across a bridge that extended over a lake and then enjoyed some downhill stretches. Then, we reached a point when the uphill sections became more difficult and longer. Although much sweat and energy was exerted, we ended up walking our bikes up some of these hills, and huffing and puffing as we went. It was a hot day and this was peak sun time just after 12pm. The Swiss are used to these athletic adventures, since they are usually born while biking, if it is the summer, or on skis, if it is the winter. They involve fitness into all aspects of their life (bike everywhere they want to go, ski in the winter, hike the mountains, and swim in the lakes to stay cool). Chris, on the other hand, reached a point where she thought she was going to pass out from the heat and lack of food/water. She pulled through and finished the last 10 km. Not bad for the first major bike ride in Switzerland! This group goes about once a month, so we look forward to future adventures with them. The summit of the ride was a point when they reached the top of a major hill that overlooked Lake Zurich; see the attached photos from the day.
The highlight of July was our trip back to the US to visit family and friends. We began in NYC, Chris had her last day at E & Y and we attended two weddings. They were our first Jewish weddings and learned lot of different customs. They were very fun, as everyone dances the entire night. Then, we headed to the Midwest, where we began our tour of many cities, Fargo, Cottonwood, Minneapolis, etc. We spent a little time at a couple of lakes, and mainly enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up with everything we’ve missed in the past 6 months. We attended Chris’s 10-year class reunion and saw the progress on the athletic field in Cottonwood. In Fargo, we got to see Steve’s family and even met Warren (I mean Kaden) Bond.
Chris is having a good start at her new job at PartnerRe, a reinsurance company located in Bermuda, but they have a large office on the lake in Zurich, less than one mile from our apartment. She is experiencing the Swiss traditions that occur each day – three coffee breaks per day and walks along the lake after lunch. After experienced espressos for the first time, she is looking for something a little less strong to start her mornings. The people in her group vary by age (26 to 62 – it is very common to publish the year people were born in Europe, both at E&Y and PartnerRe). This is a noticeable difference from E&Y, where everyone seemed around our age and birthdates were kept confidential. Half of the company’s employees are located in Paris; so in her second week, Chris was able to go to Paris to meet her new coworkers. Given this was her first trip to Paris, they convinced her to come a day early to show her the city. Her boss took her on a taxi tour around the city to the major sights and to dinner at a very nice restaurant with a terrace overlooking the Eiffel tower. The view was very impressive! (Steven Devereaux – I saw the Sacre Couer, the white domed cathedral on the outskirts of the city). Overall, Chris found the city to be very charming and hopes to pick up some French to make the Devereaux name proud.
The weather has been exceptionally hot here, the warmest July in 142 years!! The past four weeks have been in the upper 80s and lower 90s, which doesn’t seem that hot, but since air conditioning is not allowed in most buildings, this is quite warm. We have done our best to keep the air flowing through our apartment to keep it cool. The best way to stay cool is to swim in the lake. The lake is very clean and has a deep drop off, as it is immediately 20-30 feet deep when you jump in. You see many people take a quick dip over their lunch break, or jump from the bridges into the river that flows through the city. There are some nice lidos (swimming spots) in the rivers and on the lake. You pay a few Francs to get in and they have nice beaches, sporting equipment, sun decks, changing facilities, diving rafts, and some even have water slides.
We recently blew out our Vonage router, which means we do not have a US phone right now. We are trying to get another one shipped to us from the US soon. If you call us, we can receive voice mails. We should be fully operational again early next week.
Today is August 1st, another holiday in Switzerland. It celebrates Switzerland’s birthday, which is 765 years old! It is the oldest democracy in the world. There is suppose to be a huge fireworks display tonight, but with the heat and drought here, the canton of Zurich is threatening to cancel them.
We miss you all very much and would love to hear from you!
Love, Chris & Steve
We hope your summer has been fun and you have found some time to relax. You will notice this is a combined June and July newsletter. We know many of you have been anxiously awaiting this letter’s arrival and hope the delay did not cause too much distress. The past two months were filled with exciting adventures, including a bike tour through the Alps, a trip to the US to visit family and friends, and a new job for Chris, coupled with extremely warm weather here in Zurich!
In June, we went on a bike ride through the Alps with a group of ex-patriots and a few Swiss. We started on Sunday morning by taking a train to Einsiedeln, about one hour from Zurich. We toured the Baroque Abbey monastery and Abbey stables and then we departed on the 25km ride (about 15 miles for those of you in the US). Sara, our Swiss organizer and tour guide said the rating of the course was “easy”, which made us believe that we would have no problem with this ride. First, we rode across a bridge that extended over a lake and then enjoyed some downhill stretches. Then, we reached a point when the uphill sections became more difficult and longer. Although much sweat and energy was exerted, we ended up walking our bikes up some of these hills, and huffing and puffing as we went. It was a hot day and this was peak sun time just after 12pm. The Swiss are used to these athletic adventures, since they are usually born while biking, if it is the summer, or on skis, if it is the winter. They involve fitness into all aspects of their life (bike everywhere they want to go, ski in the winter, hike the mountains, and swim in the lakes to stay cool). Chris, on the other hand, reached a point where she thought she was going to pass out from the heat and lack of food/water. She pulled through and finished the last 10 km. Not bad for the first major bike ride in Switzerland! This group goes about once a month, so we look forward to future adventures with them. The summit of the ride was a point when they reached the top of a major hill that overlooked Lake Zurich; see the attached photos from the day.
The highlight of July was our trip back to the US to visit family and friends. We began in NYC, Chris had her last day at E & Y and we attended two weddings. They were our first Jewish weddings and learned lot of different customs. They were very fun, as everyone dances the entire night. Then, we headed to the Midwest, where we began our tour of many cities, Fargo, Cottonwood, Minneapolis, etc. We spent a little time at a couple of lakes, and mainly enjoyed seeing everyone and catching up with everything we’ve missed in the past 6 months. We attended Chris’s 10-year class reunion and saw the progress on the athletic field in Cottonwood. In Fargo, we got to see Steve’s family and even met Warren (I mean Kaden) Bond.
Chris is having a good start at her new job at PartnerRe, a reinsurance company located in Bermuda, but they have a large office on the lake in Zurich, less than one mile from our apartment. She is experiencing the Swiss traditions that occur each day – three coffee breaks per day and walks along the lake after lunch. After experienced espressos for the first time, she is looking for something a little less strong to start her mornings. The people in her group vary by age (26 to 62 – it is very common to publish the year people were born in Europe, both at E&Y and PartnerRe). This is a noticeable difference from E&Y, where everyone seemed around our age and birthdates were kept confidential. Half of the company’s employees are located in Paris; so in her second week, Chris was able to go to Paris to meet her new coworkers. Given this was her first trip to Paris, they convinced her to come a day early to show her the city. Her boss took her on a taxi tour around the city to the major sights and to dinner at a very nice restaurant with a terrace overlooking the Eiffel tower. The view was very impressive! (Steven Devereaux – I saw the Sacre Couer, the white domed cathedral on the outskirts of the city). Overall, Chris found the city to be very charming and hopes to pick up some French to make the Devereaux name proud.
The weather has been exceptionally hot here, the warmest July in 142 years!! The past four weeks have been in the upper 80s and lower 90s, which doesn’t seem that hot, but since air conditioning is not allowed in most buildings, this is quite warm. We have done our best to keep the air flowing through our apartment to keep it cool. The best way to stay cool is to swim in the lake. The lake is very clean and has a deep drop off, as it is immediately 20-30 feet deep when you jump in. You see many people take a quick dip over their lunch break, or jump from the bridges into the river that flows through the city. There are some nice lidos (swimming spots) in the rivers and on the lake. You pay a few Francs to get in and they have nice beaches, sporting equipment, sun decks, changing facilities, diving rafts, and some even have water slides.
We recently blew out our Vonage router, which means we do not have a US phone right now. We are trying to get another one shipped to us from the US soon. If you call us, we can receive voice mails. We should be fully operational again early next week.
Today is August 1st, another holiday in Switzerland. It celebrates Switzerland’s birthday, which is 765 years old! It is the oldest democracy in the world. There is suppose to be a huge fireworks display tonight, but with the heat and drought here, the canton of Zurich is threatening to cancel them.
We miss you all very much and would love to hear from you!
Love, Chris & Steve
