It's Beginnng to Look a Lot Like Switzerland

With exquisite timing, we managed to arrive in Zurich just before the city's first snow of the season began to fall in flakes the size of cotton bales. Coated white after a long walk in the early night to a warm pizzeria, we fed ourselves until becoming sluggish, then trudged home to our temporary flat that is the size of walk-in closet back in Texas.
It has been an interesting few days, to say the least.
We have been bombarded by winds so fierce that we find ourselves spending most of our time lining up to buy new umbrellas. After a long walk to the UBS on Bahnhofstrasse (the only location that is allowed to open accounts for Americans, thank you U.S. tax authorities), we arrived wind-blasted to meet with a banker so knowledgeable about finance that it was hard to believe he was only 12 years old. Actually, he was a bit older, but still young enough that he had not yet begun his university studies. We advised him to loosen up a little, enjoy his time at school and worry about career later, knowing full well that he would not take our advice on such an American approach to higher education.
Lest it seem as though we have touched down in a land of gloom and grey skies, let me be clear that Bahnhofstrasse is one of the world's most beautiful Christmas streets. There is a gigantic Christmas tree that sings and strands of lights blaze from the shopfronts. Music from carolers drifts around corners and men huddle inside wooden stands that sell roasted chestnuts. A woman dressed as Santa hands out bags of oranges. It is supposed to be cold and snowy for Christmas in Switzerland.
Our neighborhood is situated just behind Rietpark, a sprawling greenspace with a stately museum on the grounds. We cut through it when we walk to the grocery with our duffle to buy supplies, and along the way we talk about how nice it would be if the weather was warm and dry and we were tooling along on the tandem with a couple of sandwiches in the daypack. Winter takes patience and understanding in Switzerland, especially if you're from the southern part of the United States.
The heat in our flat comes through the floor and the thermostat is on the outside of the building. As the outside temperature changes, the sensors click on and our floorboards become warmer or cooler. We have been warned by the landlord to keep our frozen mitts off the thermostat. We have complied til now, but if the snow continues, well, we'll see.
The mountains are spectacular when the sun bursts through the grey and we get a glimpse of the bluish peaks beyond the lake. The forests on the hillsides are flocked with Christmas white. At dinner, with the wet flakes billowing just outside the window, T said it feels like we're inside a snow globe.
We manuever through the cold and think about our cycling buddies back in Texas, stripping off their arm warmers halfway through the Saturday morning ride. Good for them. When it's 110 degrees and the pavement is buckling back in Texas, we'll think of them again as we're soaring down the hillside from Hirzel on a bright 70-degree day.
That will come later. For now, it's Christmastime in Switzerland.