Today Sofia and I moved into the Studio that we’ll be subletting for the next two months. This came along with some requisite house cleaning and unpacking as we settled into the first space that will be ours for a period of longer than 3 days since leaving Boston May 10th.

It’s just south of the train station at Stettbach, which makes it really convenient for transportation, especially to get to the EBP offices near Stadelhofen. There’s full SBB rail, two trams and numerous buses coming into the hub on a regular basis. I was told that although the Zürichbergtunnel opened in 1990 this part of the city really didn’t start developing until very recently. It’s only 6 or 7 km from the very center of Zürich, but its still pretty quiet.

There are some very new looking apartment buildings in a large complex across the street and an increasing number of corporate campuses with a veritable skyscraper going up right behind the station. Our place though might have been here since earlier than the 90s and at least some of the adjacent buildings seem to have been repurposed from farm structures for additional apartments.

It backs right into the woods of Zürichberg. After lounging around most of the afternoon we managed to get ourselves outside to explore. Zürichberg is an expansive  nature preserve right in the city with the zoo somewhere near the top. And it’s full of well maintained hiking and cycling trails. Yellow diamonds and signposts abound! Right in our backyard we saw a wild deer grazing that eventually rain off up the hills. Along the trails there were several pastures with cows out, one bunch of which had their distinctive Swiss bells clanging.

We must have been out for around 4 km. It’s been absolutely fantastic weather since arriving in Zürich, with a few showers and a foggy morning that are nothing worth complaining about. We’re really excited to be so close to the peaceful and quite trails out back while at the same time having great connectivity to continue to explore the city (and get to work efficiently, of course).