After 6+ apartment viewings and 3 applications, we finally were accepted for an apartment. Of course, it was choice #3 out of the 3 applications, but we don’t really have any objections to it. It’s got 2 bedrooms AND 2 bathrooms and a really nice outdoor patio, along with its own washer/dryer in the basement. The agency for choice #2 is inquiring into our references and other information on our application, so the chance that we’ll get accepted for that one is pretty high. It’s 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, and freshly renovated. They will put in a w/d hookup if we provide the appliances. We’ll have to decide early next week which one we’ll take. Choice #3 isn’t available until 2 August, and Choice #2 is available 1 July.

Once we sign a lease, then we’ve got to figure out the furniture situation, because we have nothing. We spent Saturday riding around town to see the different furniture store options. Because Switzerland is so environmentally conscious, the Brockenhaus (second-hand store) is very popular here. We went to the largest, most well-known one here in Zürich. It was 3 stories and was filled with really old, mostly out of style stuff, but we found a few interesting items to photograph at least. I’m not sure what that large piece of furniture is, but it was quite ornate. Do not miss the taxidermy sitting on top of it!

We rode bikes to Möbel Factory, Home24, and Sofa Company, which are all in or near the city center. Then we biked out about 7km to go to Conforama. The last picture is of a bunch of little gardens that we rode past. I’ve seen a few of them along the Limmat, but this was a large patch filled with them out in the western part of the city. It prompted me to do a little Googling to find out more about them. They are called Familiengartens or allotment gardens. There is a Swiss gardening association, and they make all the rules regarding the leasing of the gardens, how they are tended, and the activities involved. Apparently they are very popular with immigrants, thus the different country flags that are flying on the garden plots. Each garden area has a little wooden shed, and most of them have solar panels for electricity. During the summer people invite their friends to their garden and they have barbecues and social gatherings. The gardens are pretty uniformly beautiful, filled with both vegetables, fruits, and flowers, and pesticide free. Such a cool concept that’s apparently been around forever.

The other major news of the week is that we got our biometrics done. We had an appointment at the Migrationsamt, which involved a photograph, fingerprinting, and a signature. This was part 2 of the registration with the city, and we thought we were done with all of that. But we also received a letter this week (all in German) that basically says they forgot to ask us for our FBI clearance reports and we have until a date in early July to get the reports to them. Once we do that, hopefully we’ll be done with registration and they’ll switch our visas from a 3 month to a 1 year with possible extension.

It was a very busy week, and I am tired from all of the walking and biking. I’d love to be able to stay up and watch my baseball team in the College World Series tonight, but it starts at 1am Zürich time and that’s just not happening.

Prost! And gute Nacht!