Our Trip to Zurich

At the end of February, Szone and I went to Zurich for his cousin's daughter's wedding. It started off with a fabulous cab ride (tube station was closed, so we had to cab it to Paddington) with a Nigerian cab driver, who was a font of wisdom. Szone asked him if there were a lot of Nigerians in London, and the driver replied "There are a lot of Nigerians everywhere. If you find a place without Nigerians, you'd best get out!" Our cabbie also railed against the rushing nature of Western Culture (he was scandalized by how early we had left for the airport) and the focus on the future. "It's give us this day our daily bread, not bread for the next three years." he explained. As crazy, nervous, future oriented Westerners, we arrived in plenty of time at the airport.

The Central Railway Station was a nighmare of drunken teens, but our hotel, an easy walk, was spare but clean. The next day, we were greeted in the city by beautiful large sloppy snowflakes. We went out for fondue and then to an absolutely fabulous show at the Kunshaus, Zurich's mondern art museum. The show was all about the use of color in modern art. Although Szone and I disagreed about some of the paintings -- he likes ugly ones so long as they are "interesting," we both really enjoyed it. On the wall were quotes about color. My favorite:

When we overcome matter, denying it any serious quality, the primordial belief
in color with increase in ecstatic fervor and ardor, just as faith in God
increased when images were rejected.

Very interesting Mr. Franz Marc, even for an atheist such as myself with few visual artistic sensibilities.

That evening we went to Uster, a city about 20 minute train ride from Zurich to see Ilsa and Max Wyler. Ilsa is Lilly's late sister-in-law's sister. Although the relationship seems attenuated, Lilly's mother stayed with Ilsa and Max for years and the families are very close. Max, who is 90, is one of the last Jewish Cattle-traders in Switzerland. We had a wonderful meal and a great time. Max speaks very little English so the evening involved a lot of translation and my muddling through in almost non-existent German. Thank goodness for my translator, David Szonyi, cognates, and Learn German with Michel Thomas.

Our Main reason for our being in Zurich was the wedding -- very traditional. Men and women sat separately in the ceremony and the dinner and I wore long sleeves, long skirt and a ridiculous scarf that kept on sliding off my head. Every other woman there had a hat or a wig or both. I was really looked preposterous. During the break between the ceremony and the dinner (about 4 hours) we went with all of Szonyi's cousins (except the mother of the bride) to a famous chocolate shop for hot chocolate. It was a great experience meeting them and having time to talk with Szone's only cousins and their partners. The low point was during the long wedding speeches when the women, who couldn't hear or see the speakers were shushed by an overweight, obnoxious tummler with a whistle, who kept on shouting "Laaaaaaaaadies!" I did enjoy hanging out with Yeudit (Beat's girlfirend) and Talia, (Lawrence's wife) and Marianne (Felix's wife) at the reception and meeting Felix's kids (though Oliver, the boy, was banished to the men's section).