To market, to market

DF arrived (again!) just in time for the Christmas Markets.

It seems that the small townships in the area have markets on different weekends - usually Friday to Sunday - and this weekend was our turn.


But first we had to go to into Zürich to see what was happening there, as we'd read that the markets were on in Niederdorf, or the old town.







We never made it to the old town, though, because we went on a bit of a detour, which took us past the singing Christmas Tree (which was kind of quiet since we'd just missed the day's performance).

And unfortunately it had started to rain (see, I can say 'unfortunately' now that I'm in Europe and not the Sunburnt Country), so we huddled around tables under umbrellas while the Waffeln Woman mixed Waffeln mix and cooked them fresh on the spot. (We actually had to wait a good 20 mins for the last waffle because she'd mixed the wrong amounts of sugar and flour into the mix. Or at least I think that's what she said.)

There were still a good number of people standing around drinking mulled wine, or Gluhwein, despite the weather.

As the temperature plunged, though, we decided to head home and leave our 'home'-town markets for another night.

PS. Naturally, I couldn't resist taking a few shots as we trekked past on the way home...

Boot on other foot

Saturday really began on Monday, when DH and I sat down and with great ceremony filled out our postal votes. (Which way would it swing? Could we really wait until Saturday to find out?)

The Real Saturday began with DH and the Hausfrau glued to the computer, streaming radio and (eventually) ABC TV.

Presently, however, Life in Switzerland intervened: I had to go and find DD some snow boots before her feet froze and fell off, and Real Saturdays are the only weekend shopping days, since everything is closed on Real Sundays.

So off we set, leaving DH still glued to the computer, not knowing if we'd return to a Liberal or Labor government. I had my mobile phone at the ready.

We passed our friend Sheepish on the way, which of course made me think of elections even more, since in the recent Swiss election there had been a campaign involving sheep.

Please, let me explain.

The Swiss People's Party (SVP) came up with the idea of using the image of a black sheep to represent their view that Ausslanders (foreigners) with criminal records should not be allowed to stay in Switzerland. Unfortunately marrying the 'black' concept with the 'we don't want you to stay' concept was wading waist-high into racist territory. And, regardless of what they might say (and they claim they're not racist), pictures speak louder than words.

I guess any press is good press come election time, but I must add that the mug-shot bill-board posters of SVP candidates around the time of the election could be seen not infrequently with extra 'decoration' from the public. (Read: Hitler moustaches and devil horns.)

Not only that, but one weekend some protestors had set up a kind of patting-pen on the Bahnhofstrasse, in which were a number of white and black sheep, living in harmony, one presumes.

Back on track, though: Did we find a pair of boots for DD?

Yes, we did. Not only that, but as she was replacing one old pair of (I could say jackboots, but that would be silly) boots with new black ones, DH called with the news.

Out with the old, and in with the new.

(Now where have I heard that before? I should be a speech writer.)