Saturday, September 19, 2009

The flea market at Burkliplatz (Zurich)

Just back from the Saturday flea market at Burkliplatz, in search of English language books. I read on the interwebz that fiction was generally available at the flea market for a few SFr each so I thought it was worth a try. So glad I left the kid at home because I never would have found anything with her being all over the place.

My haul? Four books that I probably wouldn't have bought otherwise for a grand total of SFr 3. I bought:

Agatha Christie: At Bertram's Hotel
The Nanny Diaries

The other books were too awful to buy. There were two books about people being persecuted by oppressive governments, one trashy romance novel and something that was so worthless, it has completely slipped my mind.

Maybe I came too late and all the English books were snapped up by early birds at 6 AM.

Still no camera. :(

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Review: McDonalds at Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland

S and I went shoe shopping at lunch time, a magical time in a 4 year old's life. Get them food for fear of a meltdown. She has been rather fussy about eating lately so I thought, hey, let's check out McDonalds.

We went to the McDonalds near the main train station, Bahnhofstrasse. Walk in and the menu looks different and a little difficult to decipher. S decided on a nugget Happy Meal, which, according to the menu, was SFr 6.90. (The exchange rate, after fees is about 1 to 1) o_O OK. I bought a grilled chicken snack wrap meal with a Coca Cola and fries and the total came to SFr 20.20. Hmm. Pretty expensive meal.

S decided she wanted to sit on the second floor, so upstairs we went and the only seating we saw was at a communal table with a few teenagers. They didn't seem annoyed that a mom and 4 year old sat with them but I don't speak German, so what do I know?

The nugget Happy Meal was about what you'd expect - 4 nuggets, fries and an apple juice box. The snack wrap meal. Well. The snack wrap was bigger than the ones in the US and they used real produce. The lettuce was actually a spring mix with arugula and the tomato tasted like tomato. (I am allergic to tomatoes and forgot to ask for no tomatoes. Oops)

I also got a free commemorative Coca Cola glass - made with real glass, not plastic.

To get into the bathroom, you needed a code. There was 1 code for both the men's and the women's room but only the mens room opened with the code. Most of the women left but I couldn't leave with a child that had to pee. Nope, bad idea. So we used the men's room when it was empty and boy was this guy surprised when he walked in and S was washing her hands. I probably broke some Swiss law right there. Oh well, when a small kid has to pee, you take them. Period.