weather, this is unacceptable.

It just half-hailed, or possibly corn-snowed, for a good half hour. Seriously, what's with this heinous weather? Is it not enough, already, that we've had one of the coldest, grayest, latest, worst springs on record? Do you not know that it's almost June? I'm like a delicate little summer flower...I need sunshine and warmth to thrive, for crying out loud, and you're not giving me either. I just read this article and almost cried. Why can this not happen just a little sooner? If it doesn't get warm-ish and at least marginally more sunny outside, I'm fairly certain that I will actually become part of my couch. Mike will have to bring me food and drink and occasionally vacuum the cat hair from my fabric surface. This weather is giving me zero motivation to get active, or even to get out of bed in the morning, really. BLEH, I say.

In other news, the place that I'm currently freezing in is our brand new loft-y apartment, ta-daaaahhh!. Ok, it's not brand new, but it's new to us, and that's something, right? The building itself was built somewhere in the early 1900s and was some sort of factory for a while, then got converted to lofts and really amazing office spaces, and now has protected monument status. (I like that last bit.) We had to work fairly hard to find, and then to get into, this place...we probably visited 20 apartments over the last several months, and just didn't see anything we were really sold on, until we saw this same model of apartment in the same building, but a floor lower, back in February. Sadly, they rejected our first application (yep, that's a thing here...the market is so competitive that they can take whomever they darn well please), but we somehow managed to weasel our way into the next apartment that opened up in the building (which was incredibly surprising in how quickly that happened), so...hooray! And all that. And now, to the photos.

Dining area.

Dining and kitchen, which is just one giant island and a wall o' cabinets.

View from dining to the guest "room" at the other end. And ping pong in the middle, heh heh. 

Guest "room," consisting of two wardrobes and a bookshelf. Certainly not as cat-proof as the actual bedroom we had in the old place, but hey...if you come visit, it's still a free bed in Zürich.

Our wee bedroom, in which the door clears the end of the bed by no more than two inches. (The hideous, half-mirrored wardrobe comes courtesy of the previous tenant, who bought the appropriate furniture to fill this place, then realized the odds of him finding another apartment that could hold it all were nil. So yaaay, more [mostly useful] furniture for us, but booo, most of it's ugly. Except the couch of which I am becoming a part.)

Here's Mike's favorite part: the roof terrace. We don't have a balcony anymore, but we do have access to the 800-square-meter party pad on the roof. From which you can actually see the Alps on a clear day. (Not that we have those here, mind you.)

Ok, so we had a few, very brief moments of clear-enough weather earlier this week.* Look how pretty. 

We also have a fantastic view of the Uetliberg tower and hotel from here (far right, top of the hill), which is where they shoot off some pretty good fireworks throughout the year (woooooo! fireworks! wooo!).

There's a narrow green-roof-type space between the floor of the terrace and the railing around it, which is obviously not planted with anything on purpose, but has sprung up with all sorts of little succulents and a few pretty flowers. These fall somewhere in the onion family.

Dianthus, maybe? Growing on our roof! 

Love the exterior. 

And that's what's happening in our neck of the woods. I really just wanted to rant about the weather, but I promised you new apartment info, so I figured I should deliver at least that. Enjoy your holiday weekend, US-dwellers, and I'll post again the next time something worthy arises. (With this weather, don't hold your collective breaths...)

*Twenty minutes later, it poured rain for an hour.

finally.

Our little apartment is starting to feel more home-y, and it's nice. Last night, Mike got the projector set up so that we can watch movies, and what's funny is that the screen we were using at home in Denver--it looked SO massive there!--looks absolutely tiny on the wall we have for it here. So. We are now watching movies on the wall itself, so as to maximize viewing space. It's pretty ridiculous, but pretty fun.

In other news: yesterday, we ordered a loveseat from Ikea, as well as a wardrobe (so I can stop storing my clothes in suitcases!), an ironing board (so I can finally hem the curtains!), a microwave (to reheat our leftovers!), and miscellaneous other odds and ends for the kitchen. Mike also hung the light fixture in our room, so we're two-fifths of the way there, as far as light fixtures are concerned. (Who knew that the Swiss usually rent their apartments WITHOUT light fixtures...?)

Also yesterday, we had lunch at Dieci, a FANTASTIC little Italian place across the street from Ikea. Mike had a pizza piccante (with actual spicy salami, no less), and I had some delicious ricotta ravioli with tomatoes, olive oil, crispy sage, and parmesan. Delicious. We even got to speak a little Italian, which was fun, but I actually found it a bit tricky to get my brain to switch over from attempting to think in German all the time. (Haben sie pizza? Ich möchte ravioli, bitte.)

And now, a new feature, for your entertainment pleasure. What I'm reading, at the moment:

South: the story of Shackleton's 1914-1917 expedition [Kindle Edition]

Sir Ernest Shackleton’s first-hand account of his party's attempt to make the first shore-to-shore crossing of the Antarctic continent by way of the Pole. The edition I'm reading also includes the story of the Aurora, another ship involved in the expedition, as well as the story of the concurrent overland supply expeditions.                                       

HOLY SMOKES, what a story! The descriptions of life on the boat, ice conditions, water sampling, and the like can be a bit dry, at times, but on the whole, an over-the-top, nearly unbelievable, story of courage, leadership, endurance, desperation, heroism, etc., etc., etc. I didn't want to give away the entire plot in the description, but trust me. Absolutely, positively, worth a read! Especially if you're old-school and read a book that has pictures from the expedition. Just...wow.