A Long and Short Goodbye to Zurich

This past weekend I flew to Zurich under the ruse of needing to help Martin clean out our apartment, but in reality as a way to finally say goodbye to Zurich (the city I have called home for the better part of 3 years) and all of my friends I have met and love over there. I had originally planned a 2 week trip in March to have a proper goodbye, but with the accelerated timeline and Martin moving to San Francisco in January, I had only 2 nights to finally close that chapter in my life.

Those 2 nights and 2 days were absolutely perfect. And while I arrived in Zurich Saturday morning with a laundry list of what I wanted to do, see and eat for one last time, I have never been more happy to leave a to do list undone, for better things.

Saturday evening all of our closest friends in Zurich came over for one last dinner party and a chance to drink the rest of the alcohol we had collected over years, including the bottle of gin Coleman, John and Martin brought on their first visit to Zurich, the vodka and kahlua from our Big Lebowski party and the margarita makings from Girls’ Fiesta Night where either Shannon or Anna had to fake drinking since they were pregnant (unfortunately they both had to dupe me at some point and so I can’t remember which one it was). With the party lasting until 3am I was slightly afraid we would run out of everything, but the supply seemed endless.

Sunday was spent packing up, cleaning the house and hanging out with the newest addition to the crew – Grace Lynn Lawry, Kim and Nick’s first child. At 2 weeks old she was already showing the athleticism of her parents, holding her head up, doing push-ups and practically scooting across the floor. She is such a strong little girl, that I even broke my cardinal rule and held her way before the 6 month mark.

And with our time in Zurich down to the last few hours, Martin and I spent our final night in Zurich as we normally spent our Sunday nights, a home cooked meal a la Breuer followed by a movie and Martin falling asleep half way through.

In the end I accomplished nothing on my list – no Khao Soi noodles at Tiffins, kebaps at Imbiss, bratwurst at Sternen, steak of Eisenhof, one last dance at Nelson’s, Christmas lights on Bahnhofstrasse, or the Globus Christmas Markets (although we did manage to have gluhwein at the Bellevue Christmas markets even though Martin had to practically drag me there). But in the end, the trip was absolutely perfect. And while we might not have an apartment in Zurich anymore, I fully intend to still visit…hopefully within the year!