Out and about

I thought I had posted this here, but I think I only posted it somewhere else. Giant inflatable Lindt bunny in the local shopping centre.

The big news is that we have booked the movers and cleaners. We will be moving on June 23, and - drum roll - moving into our new place instead of temporary accommodation. Very grateful to the managers of the current place for letting us extend yet again, which means we'll still be here during my exams. I was dreading having to move out to somewhere as yet undefined before and after them.

We've been enjoying walking down by the river when the weather is in any way good - strange that we didn't do it every day, but that's what leaving a place does, it makes you appreciate it. You can just about make out a heron in the two pics below - by the bank in the first one and stood on the rock poised to strike in the second. I keep forgetting that the camera doesn't see things as up close as I do.

Queen London. Britain is still cool, it seems.

Ad for Swiss caramels, featuring a buff man with a calf chewing his pocket. Not sure how I'm supposed to respond. The slogan translates as "hard or soft?" which doesn't help. Himself's office has the soft ones and he assures me they're the dairy version of crack cocaine.

We headed out by the river again today, picking up some fresh eggs on the way. No duck eggs this time, unfortunately. But we did see two sunbathing lizards, as well as a finch singing its tiny heart out.

When we were nearly back, we noticed the "Imbiss offen" sign on a little patch of unused land that is currently hosting some crates doubling as little allotment gardens. Himself decided we should support the locals so we went in and bought some overpriced Coke Zero and apple juice with fizzy water, but worth it to sit in the sun and enjoy the view.

Bunnies and bears and bratwurst, oh my

Studying has begun. Himself kindly used the colour printer at work for these wonderful charts from Compound Interest which are now up on the wall in the spare room/office.

After a hectic week, we treated ourselves to dinner out on Thursday at one of our favourite places, Nagasui. It's not far from the pet shop where we often stop to look at the rabbits in the front window, and there was an adorably lop-sided one there this time.

Friday was a classic bank holiday downpour, so we stayed in and caught up on various things that had backed up during a hectic previous few weeks. Sunday looked like the best day of the four, so we headed out to our local wildlife park to see what the wildlife was up to. I had a delicious wild pig bratwurst (hard not to photograph the logo of something with all the advertising around). 

Just as we were finishing up, some of the keepers/rangers came along and threw huge cylindrical blocks of ice with food frozen inside into the bear enclosure, sparking serious interest and some fighting among the two adults and three cubs. One adult eventually picked one up and headed off to a secluded corner (behind the concrete wall) while the other continued to be bothered by the cubs.

The park is also fundraising to build a "House for Mouse & Co." which has started construction.

Beautiful views crossing the bridge to the other part of the park (with elk, buffalo, foxes and Prezwalski's horses).

And from the top of the hill inside the park, you can even see the mountains in the distance.

And on the way out, a beautiful wood-tiled building that looks like it's part of the park - the buffalo are in next to it anyway.

Spring has sprung

Some more signs of spring - bulbs on sale in the local supermarket.

 And some slightly healthier eggs.

An antique Ford on my way back from my walk along the river.

Calzone creature!

Some sweet Cailler gift boxes.

Of bunnies and Buicks

More Easter nonsense and tat at Migros!

Because Kitty is the symbol of Easter! On yer bike.

Cutesy bunny clothes pegs.

Felt bunny shapes.

Felt chickens!

The weather is even better than last week, so I went walking by the river again and spotted this beauty.

There were quite a few old cars around today - not sure why. There are classic car shows on every now and again.

I even picked up a tiny hitch-hiker! It looked like a ladybird, but with a very dark shell.

Out and about

Some subtle reminders that Easter is the next big holiday, and that it's all about chocolate rabbits.

Great if you a) want to spend 60 Swiss Francs, and b) make a child scared of rabbits for life.

Chocolate rabbits and eggs as far as the eye could see.

It's enough to make you diabetic.

March of the Lindt bunnies. (Or a primitive cubic array of bunnies, as I keep seeing them now that I'm revising chemistry.)

I'm not sure "secret police" is really something children aspire to.

Horse chips!

We made it out of the house and down to Fribourg on the Sunday, mainly to meet up with Dawn & Simon. This beautiful stork sculpture was in front of the town's famous funicular. Which was closed, and had a toilet inside the front door. Hmm.

View down towards the old town. My calves are still recovering from the steps.

The walking route around the town - apart from the steep drop at the funicular, it's all very pleasant.

Spring seems to be here, and I've been trying to get out for a walk every day. This was taken crossing the bridge at Leimbach - there's no zoom on the phone, which I keep forgetting, but that's an articulated lorry with an open top having wood chips spat into it by a tree chipper that also has a grabbing arm to feed itself trees. The lorry drove off just as I got to it.

Switzerland is fairly relaxed about health and safety. The lorry driver and wood chipper operator didn't seem to care that children were walking off the path and going around them.

The ridiculously large self-feeding wood chipper.

And plenty more where that came from.

And temptation this week at Tchibo in the form of baking goods - sorely tempted by the big gugelhof tin and set of tiny silicon ones...

I got notification of my exam centre yesterday. Yes, I knew we were 2/3 of the way through the courses, but it was still a shock. I started revising the chemistry course (my weakest one) yesterday and am pleasantly surprised at how much I remember. It's still going to be a so-called challenge to demonstrate nine months of learning in just three hours... none of the course work done during the year counts, unfortunately. (Although you have to get a minimum mark to be allowed to take the exam.) And having three exams in two days (chemistry am, analytical science pm, cell biology next am) doesn't help either. At least next year it should be a bit more spread out!