Co$t of ₤iving

I decided to make some salsa and a sandwich the other day. I noticed that this meal (along with the fruit juice) covered a good variety of food types, and decided to take the opportunity to show how expensive groceries are in Zurich. The first column of the table gives the price as written on the foodles, and the second column is my conversion of the price into units that American people can understand.

Food	CHF	USD
Chili Pepper	18 / kg	7.44 / lb
Tomato	2.70 / kg	1.12 / lb
Orange bell pepper	4.30 / kg	1.78 / lb
Lemon	0.80 ea	0.73 ea
Cilantro	0.10 / g	2.6 / oz
Onion	6.2 / kg	2.6 / lb
Fresh bread roll	0.60 ea	0.55 ea
Turkey breast	35 / kg	14.46 / lb
Mixed lettuce	19.60 / kg	8.10 / lb
Fruit juice	2.30 / L	7.43 / gal
Mayonnaise	7.1 / kg	2.93 / lb

To be frank, things really aren't as bad as I thought they would be!

In other news, here's my first attempt at a panorama:



It really sucks; I intentionally didn't match up the contrast/brightness cause I think it kinda looks cooler this way. All the same, I am going to try to go back on a less foggy day and redo it. This is the view that can be seen on the way from my home to the ETH Hoenggerberg campus. When the lighting is right, all of Zurich can be seen beneath you. Unfortunately the sun almost never comes out! I might have to wait until summer to get great pics.

So here are some leftovers from previous photo-shoots that didn't make it in due to a lethal combination of laziness and bandwidth.


Some birds flying at the lake



A close-up of one of the cute birdies.



The opera house! "The Magic Flute" was playing on Sunday matinee for the last time. I really wish I could have gone.


I'm starting to really love Zurich. This is a gorgeous town; it's a big city but the air is clean, there's loads of green stuff (forests, mountains, water), and it has a nice feel to it. I love the public transportation, I love grocery shopping (even if it is expensive), and my flatmates are freaking awesome. I hope the rest of the trip continues to go as well.