I have been looking at the women here and marvelling at how thin they all look. Then Markus read an article in the paper that confirmed my observations: women in Switzerland are the least overweight in Europe with only 23% being overweight at all. Pretty impressive. And the men are within the top 5 thinnest in Europe, after places like Romania and Bulgaria. And they look it: it is very rare here to see anyone with a potbelly or chubby legs. I remember seeing a book in the Santa Clara library about a French diet (which of course I browsed through) that said that European women are so thin because they don't snack. Might be true here too. I have to say that there seems to be a lot less snackable food available here than I remember in Germany (where women are apparently fatter). There are many fewer bakeries here to entice passers-by with delicious smells than in either Germany or France. Most food is still purchased in one of the two grocery chains here, even bread it seems. At least in the city, there seems to be few small bakeries. People do snack in the take-away windows of the grocery stores, but it is not the same kind of selection you get elsewhere: mostly just sandwiches and loaves of bread rather than small cakes and crusty rolls. They just seem less prone to finger food here. Maybe it has to do with tidiness (clearly a thing here). Maybe they don't really want people dropping crumbs from baked goods all over.
Or maybe, women are thinner because food is so expensive here. I have more or less adjusted to the cost of shopping for groceries, but eating out is a major shock every time we do it. Why, I am not so sure, since I look at the prices as I order, but by the time the bill comes I am surprised the lunch for two and a cup of coffee comes to $50. It is spring here and every restaurant and cafe seems to have tables out on the sidewalk here. And Zuricher are busy sitting at the tables. But what I have noticed is that although people are sitting at these tables all the time, very few people are eating. Mostly people are just having a coffee or beer. My new theory about this is that it costs too much to actually eat a meal (and there are not so many snacks you can order in a restaurant here) so people satisfy their social going-out urge by having a leisurely drink in the sun. But then they probably go home for dinner.
Of course, maybe Swiss women are just thinner because they have better impulse control than me. It wouldn't take to much. I cannot seem to leave the cheese alone. Even 5 flights of stairs isn't making a noticeable impact on my reserves. And of course, my mother is here with news that "they" are now saying belly fat in your 40s is a harbinger for illness later in life. The good news never ends!
Yes, my mother and Bob are here. They arrived yesterday and are just getting settled in. So far they have been on a tour of the old town and a bit of the neighborhood. But after Timo's nap today, Nicolas is going to show them some of his favorite modes of public transportation. We know how to maximize the all-day public transportation pass! The European soccer cup starts here in a week, so we need to get out and see Zurich before the 1.5 million expected soccer fans arrive. We unwittingly chose an apartment only 2 tram stops from the main soccer stadium, so we are expecting to see a lot of fans soon. We only hope these same fans are not interested in the same sights as us (soccer--mountain tops...doesn't seem like the same crowd!)
I have one last, unrelated (or at least I don't have any official statistics on their relation...) story to tell. I have mentioned our funky neighborhood in other blogs, but it has gotten even funkier... Downstairs from our apartment in the same block is a small woodworking shop. It is a very small shop that sells the hand-made wood projects of a woman who looks to be, maybe 60 years old. For weeks her window has had a large Beaver (perhaps 3 feet high) hand carved out of a single log looking out onto the street. But the other day, the display changed. On our first pass by the exhibit, Markus commented that the things in the window looked pretty phallic. Indeed, there are about thirty variations on penises of all different wood and all different interpretation in the window. The next time we passed by, small embroidered bags had been added to the window that said "love toys". So it looks like our neighborhood artisan has extended her range (and probably marketability) from beavers to dildos. I have attached a picture for the non-believers. Never let me say that the Swiss are uptight...just thin.
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