Zürich, 14 February 2006

What I'll miss most about Switzerland?


Nick's favorite Bratwurst provider


Roger's Juice Bar in the Niederdorf

Today is our 5th anniversary and we're spending the last night in Europe, here, in Zürich. This is where our adventure began, in February 2000, when I came po pick Nick up at the Kloten Flughafen, 10 months since first meeting him in Melobunre.

So here we are.
Capter II of our life begins...

I'm the kind of person who...

I'm the kind of person who loves to make a grand entrance, but likes a quiet exit.


Goodbye, Via Rodari!

Arrivederci, Baby!

This blog ends here: with my departure from Switzerland an important chapter in my life is now coming to a close. These pages document, in part, the years spent living in Lugano, our trips abroad, the special occasions shared with friends, etc...
As a new chapter in our lives is now about to begin, I deem it appropriate to start with a fresh blog. If you wish to read on, please continue here. Thank you for your interest!

I Love You Sitzerland!

Here's to all the people, the faces and places that have made the past seven years some of the best years of my life! Thank you to all the loved ones, the dear locations, the familiar scents, the pretty streets corners and delicious tastes... I leave with a treasure-trunk steeped with longing ... I am rich with experience and friendship.


Nick & Xine.


Lugano.


Lugano.


Via Nassa.


Celebrating at the Bottegone del Vino.


Muzzano.


Origlio.


Origlio.


Street near home.


Via Rodari.


Via Rodari.


Gotthard pass.


Luzern.


Looking out over Lugano from Monte Brè.


The golden colours of autumn.


Geneva.


Zürich Streetparade.


Bally Boys.


Nick at a soccer game in San Siro stadium.


Summer at the lido in Caslano.


Playing volleyball in tenero.


Summer markets in Locarno.


Samu & Sami: women who sit with the wolves.


With Giovanni in Geneva.


Nick and Xine with Daniela & Giovanni on the lungolago in Lugano.


Nick at Oops.


Xine at Oops.


Zep at Oops.

Sunset in Santorini


Nick at the Locarno Film Fest.


Xine in Bally Heaven: a day spent shopping at the Schönenwurth outlet!

Last round

The day started off with a sale. Someone came to pick up the scooter. Wow, after all those years riding it in the rain and snow, zooming around the hills in a singlet and bermudas during the warm summer months! Ah, I'll miss my little Vivacity! It's the end of an era for me.

At one o'clock I was booked in for a relaxing massage at Deseo. Thank you Davide for taking such good care of my limbs these past few years - what would I have done without you? Thank you also for all the great parties and for having the most beautiful massage studio I have ever seen.

Following the massage, I was off to vsit my friend Alexandre's photographic studio. I sat on an antique chair, sipping a bowl of Assam while Alexandre displayed his wares on the Moroccan coffee table for me. We bargained a price and I purchased a series of five, large black and white original prints to complete my collection themed on the creative writing processs. They're going to hang in my new house in Melbourne.

In the afternoon I waited on Giovanni to arrive - the darling came all the way from Lausanne, especially, for my party. While I was getting dressed, the landlady came to pick up my house plants. I put on makeup and painted my fingernails a deep, blackish purple to match the colour of my silk shirt. Giovanni arrived with a new CD compilation he'd created, which included three new tracks by The Orb.

The evening was a success: what a night! It started off wiht Nick and I having separate dinners, each with his own circle of intimates. I booked at Tinera, a traditional restaurant that serves Risotto al Gorgonzola and Zabaione; I offered parting gifts to my dear guests. It was quite emotional for a minute.

Dinner was followed by Cioccolata at Oops, Zep's bar, where DJ Dani from Zürich did his thing and kept everyone in good spirits (I was drinking Jack Daniels on the rocks) until one a.m. As soon as Daniela, Giovanni and I arrived (early) we did a beeline for the corner with the 70s lounges, monopolizing the only comfy seating area for the entire evening. Alessandro and Sandra soon followed, so did Samuela and Miline. Giulia arrived all stressed about doing the video display show at the afterparty so I hardly had a chance to speak to her. All of Nick's crowd where there too: Axel and Con, Paolo, Andrik, Sophie and Steward. Zep and Nati were busy serving behind the bar.

After one a.m. the real party began. We all got into the cars and drove to the outskirts of Lugano, where an artists' studio, at the end of an icy dirt road, had been transformed into a fully-fledget night club with a working bar. There was ice and snow in the carpark and it was very tricky getting into the building without falling ass-over-tit. Inside, I ran into some people I handn't seen in the entire time I'd been back in Switzerland but who I used to hang out with back in 1996! I entertained them wtih anectodes from my life-story. Meanwhile some guys were coming up to me telling me they were related to some of the guys who'd stayed at my place when I was living in Melbourne - fishing for an invite, I presume.

Nick and I were like strange creatures on display; the party a ritualistic event in honour of two people about to venture beyond the familiar boundaries of Ticinese existence, going Down Under to start a mysterious new life none of these people can fathom. I lapped up the attention, handing out business cards with our new Melbourne address, while everyone noted (with a tinge of envy) that we were going to live by the beach (178 Beach Road). I was fully aware however, that although Nick and I were the novelty flavour of the night - giving everyone there a pretext to organize a special night out - in a week's time we would be gone and life in Lugano will go on as usual and everyone will carry on seamlessly without us.

We stayed util the bar ran out of booze, Con was doing the "washing machine" on the dance floor, but when they ran out of bottled water we decided it was time to get back home. It was four thirty am. Boy was I glad to get my boots off! Surprisingly, Nick wasn't at all drunk and by the time I washed my face, my make up was still intact.

Last Kiss Goodnight!

Hello!

As you very well know by now, some very special people are about to leave Lugano and move on to new shores and wider horizons. Hence you are cordially invited to celebrate Nick's and Christine's Going Away Party in a one-off special, one-night only event: L'ultimo Bacio Cioccolata (see attached invitation).

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Cioccolata, it was a series of conceptual drinking events hosted by D.J. Extraordinaire, Dani S. back in 2003.

So come on down and party with us, while being inspired by some smooth grooves. The party to end all parties will be held on Friday the 3rd of February 2006, from 9pm to 1am @ Bar Oops.

Nick and I look forward to seeing you there!

The Final Countdown

Next Friday Nick and I will be hosting our Going Away Party at Zep's bar, Oops. The theme of the party is Cioccolata (chocolate) in honour of Nick's mate, the legendary D.J. Dani S., who will be laying on some cool grooves to relax to.

Everyone will be there: the somebodies and the nobodies, the bohos and the hobos, the friends and barflyes, the locals and the expats, the Bally brigade, the Radio 3 crew, the TV people, the beautuful people (architects and graphic designers), the artistes, the club owners, the musicians, the party crashers.

I'll be working the room in a killer outfit (black velvet pants, high-heeled boots, a purple silk shirt with a key-hole neckline and a pussy bow), cocktail in my manicured hand and purple fingernails to match.

For the occasion, Raffi a local artist, will be hosting the afterparty (starting 1.00 am) at ther studio, and my friend Jonata the celebrity singer-songwriter, will play an acoustic set in downtempo.

The weekend after the party, Nick and I will be leaving Lugano for good. The thought of going away is daunting. I look forward to it as much as I'm a little bit anxious of moving back to Melbourne after an almost seven year absence. Although leaving me with the feeling thtat it was a bit of a tight fit, living in Ticino has been lovely, it's had its perks and most of all: it provided a real sense of security and comfort, which I hope to be able to re-establish in the big smoke downunder. But will my friends still be there for me? There is so much to figure out...

So far, we have begun to dismantle our home. We have sold the wardrobes and kitchen furniture and are now camping inside our flat, our clothes hanging off wobbly clothesracks and us having breakfast on our camping furniture in the kitchen - once the setting of lavish dinner parties, now looking very bare.

There are piles of boxes of linens and clothes and cds in every corner of the flat, packed suitcases leaning against now bare walls, and I've rolled up the Kilims to save them from getting all dusty and grimy from all the coming and going.

Meanwhile outside, it has snowed round the clock for the last three days. It's the heaviest snowfall in over 20 years, causing total chaos not only in southerns Switzerland but in the entire northern Italian region. Cities are in chaos, citizens held captive by the snow. Public transport has come to a full stop, with airports closed and over 200 trains cancelled. Driving is impossible without snow chains, turcks have been forbidden to circulate, the schools are closed, workers are stranded.

There are 80 cm of snow on my balcony. Enough to build a big fat snowman. Yesterday morning, as I shovelled the snow off the balcony and freed the terrace plants from the weight of the snow, I saw a man in skis, gliding past my street! All parked cars are buried under an enormous mound of snow. The spot where my scooter once stood, is now a single, tall, white pyramid of snow.

It started on Wednesday evening, after I got back from visiting the Keith Haring exhibit in Milan. By the way, it was one of the best art shows I've seen in recent years, on par with the Magritte show I saw in Balsel last December, the Basquiait exhibit in Lugano last summer, the Georgia O'Keefe in Zürich and the Whitny exhibit in Milan a few years back. The great thing about the art exhibitions around here is that they are usually comprehensive retrospectives, whereby one has the rare opportunity to see an immense collection of the artist's work gathered under the one roof, the works spaning his or her entire career - from the early days to the last, usually including such treats as sketches, sculptures, photographs and video footage.

Happiness is a Jam-Packed Breakfast Tray!

For new years' Nick and I booked a room in a historical, art déco hotel in Zurich to partake in the city's festivities. It was too cold to wear anything glamorous, just black lacks, an embroidered jersey top and sensible shoes for (there was snow on the streets so we had big parkas and beanies, gloves and scarfes!) The best part, other than shopping in the Bahnhofstrasse's boutiques during the sales, was dinner at Lipp's a French brasserie: boujolais, rosted lamb with potatoes duchissoise followed by crème caramel. And of course wee had a bottle of Mum's Champagne with us.

On the first of January we awoke to two opulent breakfast trays of fresh orange squash, croissants, coffeee, bagles, sliced meats and cheeses, and complimentary champagne - all delivered to our room! After breakkie we slowly, lazily headed back home. But when we got in the car it was such a gorgeous, clear and sunny day we decided to make a detour and stop in Luzern on the way home. So it was lovely, in Luzern, we walked around, taking in the sights and just loving the scenery, the famous wooden bridge that corsses the lake and the dramatic mountainous landscape as a backdrop; a perfect way to begin the new year!

At home, things are getting a bit hectic; with Nick working until the day we leave Lugano(!) and me taking care of everything, including his paperwork (superannuation and pension funds, banking, taxation, notification to immigration, taxation, and on and on...). The list of things seems endless so I break it down into managable quantifyable units. However, I lost a whole day just sifting through our boxes of photographs and throwing out all the unwanted ones! In the meantime, people are coming to look at our flat, the removalists have been here too, to give us estimates and quotes on volume.

On today's list of priorities: place ads for sale of motorvehicles, dry cleaners, decluttering the sutdio, photocopying all important documents, notifying the post office of our change of address, contacting the removalists, recycling unwanted stuff, shopping, cooking and cleaning. And I'd like to squeeze in a couple of hours at the gym for some Pilates, followed by a sauna and a solarium (don't want to arrive in OZ looking like a ghost).

Well it's only four weeks now before we leave and panic is starting to take hold of me. I hope we'll get everything sorted out in time! And there is so much cleaning to do! Sometimes I just wander around the rooms in this place wondering where to start... As much as I feel nostalgic about leaving my friends and this gorgeous part of the world, I'm now looking forward to being in New York, when all this will be behind me and I'll be enjoying my holidays, thinking only about the future.

Hope this year is filled with wonderful surprises!

Boxing Day

So it's finally happened again. The day after X-mas it snowed. Just as the last remaining crusts of hard ice had started to melt, the snow came. Silent and mysterious as always, it fell, blanketing the world in a cold and still layer. We turned off the lights in the kitchen and stared out the open french windows, watching the snowflakes gently drifting down from the sky. It was quite hypnotic. And the air never smelled so pure.

X-MAS EVE 2005

A dusting of tinfoil hearts and stars exploded in the elevator as I opened Britt's Xmas greeting card, which I found in the letterbox. The shimmering confetti burst out of the envelope, sprinkling all over the elevator floor. I left them there; they might brighten the elevator rides of the other tenants.

I can't believe that this is my last Xmas in Switzerland! My last white Xmas!

Yesterday we went out to Oops, the local, our friend Zep's bar. So we went out and saw lots of people, old friends and new ones we made while lining up at the bar. (Drunks who came up to Nick and me for a chat.) Those who overheard us speaking English were curious enough to come up and use us to practice their language skills. And while I was gone a while, cueing in the ladies', Nick was hit on by a guy... He's never been so happy to see me return from the loo!

Giulia and Roger and all the old crew were there, so we drunk lots of VBs' (yes, VBs!) Roger’s got a job in Zurich now, so we haven’t seen each other since that time we all went sledding up in the Engadin, in the Alps near St. Moritz. But that’s two Xmases ago now. Everyone gets out of the woodwork at this time of year. Giulia brought me presents wrapped in my favourite colour, fuchsia: a compilation CD of electro-dance music and some more novelty magnets for my fridge collection.

Got up this morning with a whooper of a hangover but, fortunately, no pain. In spite of feeling a bit wobbly, I pulled on sweatpants and boots and got on my scooter to go shopping for the long weekend. But by the time I got to the first set of traffic lights, I realized I was still feeling a bit drunk!

In the supermarket people were pushing their shopping carts in random directions, which resulted in me feeling quite dizzy. I bought fresh croissants, two bags of blood oranges to make fresh juice for breakfast, and tomato juice to make myself a Bloody Mary as soon as I got back home.

Climb Every Mountain...

Nothing compares to the sheer contentment one feels when admiring a breathtaking view, after spending hours conquering narrow, steep goat trails to conquer a tall mountain peak. A truly priceless pleasure!

The Silly Season

Samu and I spent Friday afternoon at the Locarno markets. Although I'd rugged up, I still forze and after about an hour I protested that I needed to go sit inside a warm café. We ordered hot chocolates and Samu smoked a cigarette. The place was full of old ladies eating desserts. Afterwards it was back into the cold.

The stalls were screaming Quaint. With fairy lights hanging all around them and home-baked cakes and jars of secret recipes for fig and chestnut jam arranged on checkered tablecloths. Samu bought a packet of cous cous, hand-made soaps from Egypt, beeswax candles and several jars of marmelade. My purchases consisted of chestnut cream, a Gritti-Bünz (which is a traditional sweet bread in the shape of a man) and a hand-made panettone that was decorated with dark chocolate and candied fruit.

Samu and I browsed the entire old city centre, getting cold whilst admiring the many stalls and evaluating the merchandise on display. Finally, I seduced her into savouring a fulte of Champagne. The wine was enhanced by the tangy fresh juice of pomme-grenades. Simply divine! But when the bells in the old church tower struck six, we headed back to Lugano for an aperitivo at Penel, my favourite wine bar, near home.

Untitled

Soft as a whisper
Silent as a cat
Blank as an idea
Cold as a headstone
The taste of childhood
The scent of a mountain stream