settling in

It has been an exciting weekend! D and I turned in a lease for a new apartment in the old part of town, a small cobblestone block away from this view (which I snagged from Google images; it is certainly not this green now). We'll be moving in around February 1.

To celebrate, we went out for Italian in our current neighborhood.  It had been snowing all day, so we trudged our way through Lustnau in search of Basilikum (a fancy-looking place that had been recommended by a friend), to find only two veggie items on their menu. Lucky for our wallets, there was another little place around the corner with many more selections: Pizzeria Vesuvio. This is the kind of locals place where the waiter asks the guy at the next table to translate for these (clearly) lost tourists when they are looking for a decent wine.

Which brings me to the next bit of excitement: our German course starts tomorrow! We've registered for a six-week intensive class, which runs from 9am to 12:15pm Monday through Friday -- intense, indeed. The director of the language school told us about some of the people who were already registered when we signed up, and they are from places like Brazil and Nairobi. Needless to say, there is no English spoken in this class.

To wrap up my weekend, I decided to get some exercise and enjoy the snow, and so I strapped my trusty purple snow boots to my feet and went a-wandering.  Just to the north of us is a nature preserve (the Naturpark Schönbuch), and in the middle of the preserve is a tiny village. The hike was almost perfect -- I only wished I had some cross-country skis and that D was there to enjoy it with me (he decided to work this Sonntag - bah).

Here are my photos from this latest adventure: click here

By the way, you can find the pictures from our trip to the Swiss Alps on facebook.