I find myself sitting here on my ninth week of quarantine in my 200 square foot studio in Zurich, finally prepared to write a blog post.
Why did it take nine weeks? How was I able to add a home office with a two monitor set up into my tiny space? These are two of the many thoughts being tossed around in my head.
Lack of motivation was apparent from the start, and mindless minutes turned to hours scrolling on my phone. Memes have been making me laugh in a way they never have before. Either my humor is getting better or worse; depending on who you talk to. Thumbing along Instagram I found this meme, “I can no longer say I can’t do things because I have no time, because during quarantine I have all this time and I’ve done nothing”. Yep, this is my life. Since I moved to Zurich and I stepped into my new role at work I have just “not had time” to write. But now I have time and I am not using it….who knew a meme could be so powerful. Powerful is a stretch but like I said it is week nine.
Productivity in quarantine is really an interesting topic. I thought I was a motivated person and would strongly say that is a key strength of mine. Well apparently I need people to see me for me to hold my self accountable to get things done. I have not been busy for the past eight weeks and what have I accomplished on a real personal development level? I created my quarantine goal list. That was a big day. I had fun nights alone with my quarantine buddy aka wine, and found songs that resonated to the place I was at in my quarantine life. For example, Look What I Found, by Lady Gaga. The opening line is “I am alone in my house”, and another is “I’m at the bottom of the bottle.” Yes Gaga, you get me.
I now count accomplishments differently, like around week five I was able to open a bottle of wine and not finish it. This was progress.
Now I am determined to prove the meme wrong, and voila a blog is born. I will transition to talk about Christmas Markets now. Please enjoy this very late post that will hopefully make everyone excited to get back out into the world and experience these markets this year! Fingers, toes, arms, legs, eyes, and everything else crossed we can leave our house by then.
My first Christmas season while living in Europe meant being slapped in the face with Christmas markets.
The way Europeans get excited for the holidays is contagious; you can’t be a Scrooge here. It doesn’t even matter if you don’t love the holidays the cheer is in the air and you can’t avoid it. Cheesy to say but it really is a magical time.
The Christmas Market season began on November 21st in Zurich and ran till December 23rd. I decided to have a few friends visit during this time and we tackled three different countries to experience all the markets. First year meant being an overachiever.
The first of my market experiences was to Cologne Germany. This was for “Friendsgiving” consisted of six of my friends. The “Friendsgiving” policy was each person had to buy a round of gluhwein, so the daily minimum was six per person. The markets in Cologne were speckled around the city and you would pop from section to section. This I found was pretty standard for all cities. At this market we also did a very holiday thing and went ice skating. Let me tell you that though the market was top notch, the ice quality and skates were not. With glugwein confidence I tried a little to hard on the ice rink and fell in a very grand type of way. The ice was so melted I basically created a tidal wave with the water that was on the ice. I couldn’t get up and had to get help from one of the ice security guard. I was so embarrassed I actually hid my face, real mature. I loved the Cologne markets. The markets around Europe and in each city all have different type of mugs. The mugs in Cologne have gnomes on them and there are 12 different ones that you can collect. I have the shoe cobbler one. This was my favorite part.
The second big one of this year was visiting the Strasbourg Christmas market, one of the most iconic ones. A major adventure for this market was just getting there due to the train strikes in France that were ongoing during this time. On our day of departure we arrived at the Zurich SBB to find out that our train was canceled and that no trains were making it to France that day. BUT we could get to Kehl which is a town that is about a 20 minute drive from Strasbourg. Since our hearts were set on the trip we didn’t think the three train and one taxi new option, versus two trains, was a problem and jumped at the opportunity to purchase the new tickets. After one train our next one was canceled,and not due to the strike but instead due to mechanical issues. This made us panic and decide to give up and get on the train back to Zurich. Sitting in our seats we decided no, we do want to go so we quickly collected our items and ran to the doors violently pressing the open buttons. The doors did not open. We sadly took our seats again. Luckily we discovered it was not a direct train, so we got off at the next stop and then go back on another train to go back to Basel. Long story short we made it to Strasbourg that night in time for dinner four trains later. To be a fly on the wall to watch the two Americans run around and try to get on and off the trains really would have been great.
The next day was filled with a boat tour and the markets. These markets had great pottery and has the most iconic Instagram market photo that everyone has probably seen. Christmas teddy bears are used as decorations and it really is just a fairy tale scene. What I loved here was the food! The mix of French and German was amazing since Strasbourg sits on the border and has lots of influences from both countries.
Last but not least is Zurich’s market. What was unique to Zurich was that the shops were more like boutique shops, versus kitchy items. Also oysters! For anyone who knows me they know I have a deep love for oysters. There were oyster stands all over they city and they were amazing.
Main flaw at all markets was no snow.
I don’t want to read your post what should I know?
- Christmas markets in Europe are magical. Visiting during this time is highly suggested.
- Germany -Cologne Markets are great for their mugs!
- France- Strasbourg is the most charming, and great food!
- Switzerland- Zurich has great oysters and better “real” shopping!
