the new normal

Isn't it interesting how quickly unique and different become normal? I made my first trip to Switzerland just about this time last year. Everything was new, everything. All at once. Bam! We spent entire evenings recapping everything we had seen and done and everything we had put on our list to do and see next time. We were so distracted by all this newness that we barely noticed we were sitting on the kitchen floor eating out of plastic bowls and drinking out of plastic cups.

Since that first weekend Zürich has gone from new to almost normal. It feels so normal now that I forget to share it with you, and that's why I'm sharing our recent trip to Colmar, it's new, for me and for you, and it reminded me with its Disney Land-esq quaintness, that everything I see in this little slice of the world that we live in is different and unique, even when it begins to feel normal.

Zach's great-grandfather was from Colmar, so it has been on our to-visit list every since we moved to Zurich, but somehow we get distracted with other trips and weekend activities and we never quite make it there. We almost didn't make it last Saturday. Swayed by the changing leaves we almost headed South into the Mountains, but then we made a last minute decision and zipped across the Swiss-French border for a lunch date in Colmar.

I have to give credit to Zach for the last two photos. The one of me is a bit out of focus, but I love the lighting and the look on my face reminds me that just because things feel a bit more normal now doesn't mean that they aren't unique. And I love the second picture because it the pastels remind me of Easter and spring just as we are begin to grapple with with dark afternoons and snow (still cannot believe it snowed on the East Coast this past weekend, before Halloween, wow).

We've come to love traveling outside of Switzerland for the simple reason that the minute we cross the border to France, Italy, Germany, everything is just so damn cheap. This restaurant is advertising a three course meal for 11 euros. That is basically free in Zurich terms.

We were on our way to the train station when we spotted these waffles being made. We had to have one, obviously.

In all honesty I found Colmar a bit tooooo cute. It was so cute that it felt fake, like a blown up version of the little villages seen by children as they ride in little row boats through 'It's A Small World' at Disney World (which admittedly was one of my favorite rides when I was little). Can't you just imagine people popping out of these windows, dressed in period pieces, and singing?

Sorry about my little absence from blogging. I know some of you were curious/worried as to where I went. All is well. Things have been busy. I started working on a little architecture project that kept me away from cooking and photographing last week. Perhaps I'll share it with you in an upcoming post...