I've officially decided that the thrift stores here in Zurich are the best I've ever been to. I base that more on the quality of what's in the thrift stores than the prices, though the prices aren't too bad either. Here I barely have to dig to find something great. Just look at my two new paintings above--a stern lady to add to
the collection and a vase of pretty flowers. Thrifting culture appears different here than in the states as far as the clientele goes. Out of the handful of thrift stores I've been to, I'm usually only one of a few people under 65 years old (even on Saturdays when I've peeked into places), which means a lot of what a 20 or 30 something year old would be interested in is just sitting there on the rack. Wow, there's so much good stuff here! I had thriftuphoria today at
Bracki-Land! But before we go there, lets go to the
Salvation Army (Heilsarmee here).
Lets start with the ceramic plates above. I love them! I see these everywhere here in thrift stores. I don't think these would last 5 minutes at
Thrift Town in San Francisco. I was looking around at people, thinking, you're not going to buy these?, and you--how about you? These didn't seem to interest anyone here. They're a dime a dozen from what I can tell by the thrift stores I've been to. I wanted to get a bunch of them to sell in
my etsy shop, but they are heavy and I don't know if it's worth it to haul them home. Gotta give that one some more thought.
At this Brocki they even had a reading nook with a table and chairs. All it needed was a little barista stand so you could sip your espresso while flipping through books. And they had so many books!
The artwork was really impressive too. Little did I know at the time that the selection here pales in comparison to
Bracki-Land.
Welcome to
Bracki-Land!
I thought I was in thrift heaven at the
Heilsarmee, but then I found the mothership. That's right, I found
Bracki-Land (which happens to be two blocks away from our apartment)! I probably had the same look on my face that Sigourney Weaver did in
Aliens when she finds that room where she sees all the alien eggs (cocoons?) and the look on her face says, OH MY GOD! That's how I felt, except I wasn't scared and didn't want to torch everything with my flame thrower gun. I just wanted to fill up my basket, though I was good and just got a few things. It also reminded me of how I felt when
I went to Tomato in Tokyo then went to Yuzawaya. I thought the first couldn't be topped, but then I was totally surprised and overwhelmed by Yuzawaya. Anyway, that's how I felt here--completely excited and overwhelmed. Just look at this place!! I took these pictures with the camera on my phone, so they're not the best, but I was afraid someone would ask me not to take pictures if they saw my normal camera, which is pretty hard to hide. Covert missions call for covert photograpy action!
Bracki-Land is in an old underground parking garage, and the ramp that curves its way down to the lower level is filled with artwork, and it goes around and around and around. Yes, you still have to dig a little to find the good stuff, but not much.
They also have tons of blankets and linens. Guess who I saw in here? (I said that to Andrew and he said, "uh, we don't know anyone here do we?") But it was the owner of Portner, that antique store here that I like. He was in the checkout line with a stack of linens. Now I know where he probably gets a lot of his stuff. The blanket I bought from him may have come from here too.
The scarves! They had hangers and hangers filled with great scarves. So hard to decide on a few, but I did.
And the vintage clothes. Where do I begin. Well lets just say that just about every other piece of clothing is something worth buying.
Great hat selection too.
Lets not forget the coats. No shortage of those in Switzerland.
How is it that almost every umbrella was great? I don't know. They have so much more--shoes, bags, housewares, kid's stuff, etc., but you probably get the idea.
I bought a few things there. My top favorites are the paintings at the top of this post and this scarf. It's about 2 feet wide, thin and with great colors too. Coming soon to
an etsy shop near you.
I'll leave you with a close-up of the floral painting. I love it. It reminds me of all the pretty floral paintings
Lisa has in her kitchen.
This weekend we were back on the Swiss sightseeing trail and went to Uetliberg on Saturday and Lucerne on Sunday. Both days were beautiful and we had a great time. Uetliberg is a mountain just about 20 minutes from Zurich that provides a great view of the city, the lake and the Alps. It was a winter wonderland but not as cold as it looked. The mountain is covered with hiking trails that serve as sled trails in the winter. How fun!
Making our way up we saw this cute red cabin in the woods.
Interesting lamp posts lined part of the trail up the mountain.
When we reached the top we saw people chilling out in chairs and at picnic tables taking in the view and soaking up the sun (the sun being a rare treat lately with all this cloudy weather we've been having).
A little boy was blowing bubbles over the outlook.
This is part of what you see once you reach the top. The city, the lake and the Alps in the background. It was beautiful.
Andrew and Lois taking in the view.
A Swiss kitty was also admiring the scenery.
Then on Sunday we went to Lucerne. Lucerne makes for a great day trip since it's only about an hour from Zurich. What a beautiful town and so easy to navigate. We got out of the train station and everything we wanted to see was basically right in front of us. The town is nestled where the Reusse River meets Lake Lucerne and is surrounded by the Alps. What more could you ask for?
This is Chapel Bridge, the oldest covered bridge in Europe, built in 1333.
Inside the bridge are paintings depicting Lucerne's history.
Andrew looking happy in Lucerne.
The most beautiful sight was the view of the lake with the Alps in the background. These pictures really don't caputre the grand scale or beauty of the scenery. It was amazing.
Me and Lois in front of the Lake.
These little white flowers are popping up everywhere here. We're not sure what they are. Can anyone tell me? They look a little bit like bluebells but they're white. We call them white bells for now. They are so sweet. White, bell-shaped flowers. What could be more perfect for the idea of winter turning to spring? Update . . . Lene from Norway emailed me to let me know these are called Snowdrops. Thanks, Lene!
We walked up a hill leading to Museggmauer, the medieval town wall, built in the 15th century. From there you get a great view of the city.
Above is a neat conservatory on top of a house.
The view from the hill. A lot of houses had rooftop decks or patios. Can you imagine having this view every day while sipping your coffee on your rooftop patio? Ah to dream! Some people actually have that here though. (It really did look so much more impressive in person.)
We just thought this copper chimney was neat.
We're not sure what this little building was for, but it was very pretty.
To see more fun pictures, just check out what you see when you Google images of Lucerne. 
