Last weekend, we went to Zurich to visit our friends Mark and Dana. We had a great time. On Friday we met Dana at the Zurich station. Then we met up with Mark and his co-workers from Google at Desperado's, a Mexican restaurant, for dinner. There were twelve of us eating in the very back of the cozy restaurant. Ann and I talked with this guy from Spain, and several other of Mark's co-workers. It was great fun.
I was suspicious about Swiss Mexican food, and rightly so. I ordered beef tacos, and what I got was similar to tacos but not quite. My plate arrived and on it were two tacos on a bed of rice. It looked OK... but what is this? They put the beef on the outside of the taco. Lumped right on the side of the shell. So instead of putting the meat in the taco, they put bean salad in the shell. My guess is that they got some discounted cookbook with a bad translation on what a taco is. Regardless of its appearance I ate it. It was alright. Not the best, but not the worst I've had. The beer helped, too. And to add to the strangeness, in the middle of our meal, the lights in the restaurant were shut off. Then some hideous birthday music blasted ... "Happy Happy Birthday ...Happy Happy Birthday ...Happy Happy Birthday ..." then out came some of the staff with a cupcake that had a sparkler planted in the middle of it. It was brought to the next table to some guy with his family who was really digging the whole experience. When the birthday guy received his cupcake, the waiter lit a firecracker. Then the lights went turned on and it was back to business as usual. It was an interesting meal to say the least. After dinner, we went to a nearby bar and had beer before taking the train back to Mark and Dana's place.
The next day, we mainly stayed indoors at the shopping mall. We had fun being mall rats and hanging out. We didn't do much of the touristy things since it was freezing outside.
Before going to dinner, we visited Mark's office at Google. He gave us the grand tour that included their various break rooms, video game rooms, library, chill out room, massage room, and many fireman's poles scattered throughout the building for quick travel between floors. The place is totally pimped out!!! Google went to great effort to make it a very very comfortable work environment. It sort of reminded me of a college atmosphere - very light hearted and fun. If I were a programmer, I would seriously consider working there. It was a really neat experience. Next time I'll take some photos.
After visiting Google, we had a fantastic dinner of fondue and wine at a small restaurant in the Hotel Villette. The owner of the restaurant, Carlos, was very entertaining. He made all sorts of jokes and was very amusing. I did most of the communicating since Carlos loved to speak Spanish. I enjoyed his jokes especially about why it was important to drink beer to promote healthy bladder function.
We didn't see much of Zurich since it was so cold out, and we didn't want to brave the weather. What we did see of Zurich was really nice. It is a much larger city than Geneva, and has a nicer atmosphere. I think this is probably because more people live AND work in Zurich as opposed to Geneva where most people are either merely visiting, on temporary assignment, or live in France and commute to work. I really enjoyed Zurich and would love to check it out more. By the way, while the majority of people speak French in Geneva, the folks in Zurich speak Swiss German and High German.
I was suspicious about Swiss Mexican food, and rightly so. I ordered beef tacos, and what I got was similar to tacos but not quite. My plate arrived and on it were two tacos on a bed of rice. It looked OK... but what is this? They put the beef on the outside of the taco. Lumped right on the side of the shell. So instead of putting the meat in the taco, they put bean salad in the shell. My guess is that they got some discounted cookbook with a bad translation on what a taco is. Regardless of its appearance I ate it. It was alright. Not the best, but not the worst I've had. The beer helped, too. And to add to the strangeness, in the middle of our meal, the lights in the restaurant were shut off. Then some hideous birthday music blasted ... "Happy Happy Birthday ...Happy Happy Birthday ...Happy Happy Birthday ..." then out came some of the staff with a cupcake that had a sparkler planted in the middle of it. It was brought to the next table to some guy with his family who was really digging the whole experience. When the birthday guy received his cupcake, the waiter lit a firecracker. Then the lights went turned on and it was back to business as usual. It was an interesting meal to say the least. After dinner, we went to a nearby bar and had beer before taking the train back to Mark and Dana's place.
The next day, we mainly stayed indoors at the shopping mall. We had fun being mall rats and hanging out. We didn't do much of the touristy things since it was freezing outside.
Before going to dinner, we visited Mark's office at Google. He gave us the grand tour that included their various break rooms, video game rooms, library, chill out room, massage room, and many fireman's poles scattered throughout the building for quick travel between floors. The place is totally pimped out!!! Google went to great effort to make it a very very comfortable work environment. It sort of reminded me of a college atmosphere - very light hearted and fun. If I were a programmer, I would seriously consider working there. It was a really neat experience. Next time I'll take some photos.
After visiting Google, we had a fantastic dinner of fondue and wine at a small restaurant in the Hotel Villette. The owner of the restaurant, Carlos, was very entertaining. He made all sorts of jokes and was very amusing. I did most of the communicating since Carlos loved to speak Spanish. I enjoyed his jokes especially about why it was important to drink beer to promote healthy bladder function.
We didn't see much of Zurich since it was so cold out, and we didn't want to brave the weather. What we did see of Zurich was really nice. It is a much larger city than Geneva, and has a nicer atmosphere. I think this is probably because more people live AND work in Zurich as opposed to Geneva where most people are either merely visiting, on temporary assignment, or live in France and commute to work. I really enjoyed Zurich and would love to check it out more. By the way, while the majority of people speak French in Geneva, the folks in Zurich speak Swiss German and High German.
