Eggs and flowers

Spring has finally sprung! It was a long time coming, and seemed to involve an awful lot of chocolate.

I did manage to find some bunnies not made of chocolate, these towelling ones were very cute.

Giant Smarties.

The windows of the Laderli chocolate shop on Bahnhofstrasse.

White chocolate with or without strawberry? Someone must like it.

Giant coloured eggs.

Baskets full of little chocolate bunnies and chickens.

I'm not sure that's what you wanted to say. Or is it "cite your sources"?

Next up, the opulent Sprungli windows.

Bunny cake, anyone?

I like the decorated egg-cases.

Ikea were doing a brisk trade in mini orchids.

Why no, I couldn't resist. It's not doing too well - one flower bloomed then dried out, then all the buds turned yellow and fell off, but it's had one more flower since and seems to be hanging in there.

Been doing some baking too. This is a yoghurt/applesauce recipe with blueberries. Very nice but does not keep for long. (As in goes fuzzy, not necessarily that we ate them all. Even I can only get through so many at home on my own. But we have a freezer, and now a microwave.)

Presents from California and Japan, including pumpkin seeds! I may just have to try growing them, they're mini ones. After all that work I went to talking myself out of it.

At the amazing Ah Hua II off Langstrasse, the incredible dessert of pumpkin filled with two types of pudding. Just wow.

Because fence panels on the roof of a Beetle on a windy day are such a good idea.

Despite the bad weather, the plants in the garden centre had decided it was spring.

Cherry trees!

There were lots of different types, but I'm a sucker for the standard ones.

These drooping ones were a huge hit with the bumblebees.

These or the pink Nigras were my favourites. I did go back with half a mind to get one, but it was raining, the earth was waterlogged and they're not that small. The next time I went back, they were almost past full flower and even bigger than I remembered. Maybe next year. (I can see myself ending up with a pine and plum to go with my maple. Maybe one of those water features.)

The droopy Koujou no Mai.

Not sure I'd seen these before, but they were very nice.

And just by the side of the road - daffodils.

I'm off to Edinburgh for the first time tomorrow, first to go to the Genetics Society spring meeting, then David is coming over for a few days of tourism. We just catch the end of the International Science Festival, so will probably go to one or two things from that. Then I'll stay on to head down to Newcastle/Gateshead for the ITI conference. It's a bit odd to be away for so long, but looking forward to it. And when I get back, planting!

Just a few

After decided to pay for my photo hosting in order to get more control over it, I had a frustrating period where I wasn't able to use the automatic migration service, but I finally got it working over the weekend.

Just a few photos, then.

Zurich - London - Zurich

I flew out to London last weekend to attend a tutorial for my current molecular and cell biology course, and also to catch up with Bill and Austa and friends Ada and Rose.

We call him "Lucky".

Cow-themed gifts in the Migros supermarket at the airport.

I assume this is supposed to be some kind of national mascot.

It looks more like something skinned in a horror survival game.

Frey determined not to be outdone by Lindt on the chocolate rabbit front.

Not ripping off inspired by anything, honest.

Zurich Airport Duty Free, doing it wrong. It was cheaper to buy these at Coop.

At the London School of Economics! A lovely stained glass window glimpsed on my way out of the tutorial.

Ah, London. Demos had diverted all my bus choices. They seemed to be anti pretty much everything.

Relevant to my interests.

I ended up in a shop that catered to curvy ladies.

Which had a dress with something very close to the memoQ software logo.

Dinner at the inimitable Pham Sushi! 

Smithfields Market.

I'd never walked through it before, but it was a much easier way to get to Farringdon.

Purple and green ironwork and forklifts.

Out the other side.

Must... resist... correcting...

The barber's shop down the road had a good retort ("Every time you make a typo, the errorists win").

A church just visible up a side street.

Bill and I ran in to the Museum of London to see their Sherlock Holmes exhibition. The trick door at the entrance wasn't nearly as tricky as I thought, fortunately Bill wasn't over-thinking it.

That Strand Magazine! Photography was allowed for most exhibits, so long as it was without flash. The highlights for me were seeing Arthur Conan Doyle's handwriting on his manuscripts, and seeing and hearing him speak on film.

Amazing paintings of London, especially places covered in the books.

I don't think you can see the detail, but every ridge on the building was visible.

An impressive Art Deco lift.

A thorough attempt to classify every street in London as to its wealth and/or criminal tendencies.

Maison Lyons! I didn't know they had tea rooms in London.

Interesting, but ultimately disappointing chocolate on sale at Gatwick. Great advertising, but the milk one was very blah.

 Must... resist...

I initially thought this was another translation howler...

But the German has "Race Track" as well for what I assume is luggage carousel. Curious.

Quadricolor brassicas.

I raise you the Fish Finger.

The best, but most outrageously expensive hamburger I have had in Zurich. And I chose the least expensive (Swiss) one, rather than the Aberdeen Angus or Wagyu. That way lay bankruptcy. We were grabbing something to eat before going to see Chappie, which was disappointing.

It's either new, or a classic. Not both.

Everything is better in miniature - tiny orchids!

The armies of Easter.

The garden centre has decided it is spring. The farmer was out sowing things, so I'm inclined to believe it now.

We got the tabletop we needed for the last desk, so my room now has all the furniture...