Steve Gilson Photography: Winter in Baden Switzerland

Blogging Hiatus!
Well it appears that it has now been over a year since I have filled in the World Wide Web on my various exploits and adventures. Now it is time to play "catch-up"! The winds have changed in the past year bringing me to a new and exciting chapter in my life. I am currently living in Switzerland...the wonderful land of Chocolate, Cheese, Really Big Mountains and a language that nobody besides the Swiss understand. I have now been here for 43 days and with a beginners German language course under my belt I can now say! " Ich heisse Steve und ich komme aus den USA. Ich mag Ski und gut essen. Möchtest du für ein Bier gehest? Which is NOT Swiss German but a common ground between High German. One of my favorite "Swiss-isms" is the usage of "li" at the end of words to make them cute - or sometimes - just more Swiss! For example: Müüsli, Spätzli, Schätzli or are a few I just made up "there are no rules...I can do what I want" Brustli, Katzli, Bierli, Fettli. The town I have been living in with my lovely lady Sandra is named Baden. It sits on the banks of the Limmat river which runs North out of Lake Zurich and eventually into the Rhine. The name "Baden" refers to a mineral hot springs, which has been known at least as far back as the Roman Era. The weather here has been pretty grey and rainy throughout most of the winter, with about 6 days of snow and maybe a total of 10 days of sunshine. I find myself staying inside more than usual having little motivation to go out in the wet, foggy, chilled to the bone outside world. However, once motivating there are a number of things to do and see including rock climbing, hiking in the forest 100m from my door, coffee shops, biking trails and of course Zurich is only 20min away. Check out how cute and cozy Baden is at Christmas with snow.