Welcome to Wander We Go. I’m Alex.
I write about life in Zürich, travels throughout Europe, and musings on both.
It’s those unassuming cities that surprise you the most, isn’t it? Our weekend trip to Catania and Taormina caught me completely off-guard, in the best way possible. Sicily had been flying low on my radar, but these two little towns on the rock at the tip of the Italian boot certainly pack a cultural punch.
If you’ve been reading my blog, you know by now that I love living in Zurich. But not everything is perfect. I wrote last week about the five things the world can learn from Switzerland. So now, here are five things I think Switzerland can learn from the world. The Yin and Yang, all of which contribute to the uniqueness of Swiss life.
A bit unexpectedly, I’ve fallen in love with the Swiss way of life. I say unexpectedly because while I knew there would be things I would enjoy (mountains and cheese and chocolate), I didn’t know much else about Swiss lifestyle or culture. The Swiss do plenty of things well, but in the past 8 months, I’ve noticed five things they do exceptionally well.
In a country like Italy where the city competition is truly fierce, I came to really appreciate Milan. It feels like an authentically Italian, no-BS working city, gritty and filled with contrasts, contemporary and up-and-coming, with undeniably great food and superbly cool style.
And isn’t winter characterized as that long drawn-out season, leisurely, sluggishly, ever so gradually slouching toward spring? So I’m embracing it, the slow gracefulness, the languid pace. I’m reminded to stop and pause, to take in my surroundings a bit more consciously.
Since you are supposed to write what you know, and write what you like to read, and I really enjoy reading book recs from others - I’ve decided to start my own series of book reviews. So now, instead of shoving the books I loved into the arms of the nearest human (aka my husband), I can shove them into the world of the internet instead.
Summer afternoons, it seems the shades of blue are undecided, too lovely for nature to choose just one. The sky and the sun compromise, picking a new blue each day: turquoise, robin’s egg, canary, the deepest of navy, the lightest of aquamarine, sometimes a solid hue, mostly blended, always radiant. It shimmers and it beckons. Coyly, almost suggestively.
The first class was rough. Actually, rough is putting it lightly. The first class was a train-wreck. Even though I’d been in Zurich for six months - and I’m embarrassed to admit this - I hadn’t picked up any bit of the language at all. Not Swiss German, and definitely not hochdeutsch.
We are peeling back the layers of this city, debunking myth after Swiss myth. One of the greatest discoveries? Zurich, this big little buttoned-up city, has more than meets the eye. In fact, it is pretty cool!
