During the May Day long weekend we explored Switzerland and Lichtenstein. Adrian had to go to Basel for work, so we figured I should join him for the long weekend and make a holiday out of it. I had a horrible time trying to meet him at the hotel, as the place was surrounded with a swarm of rough looking surly men. We were both so intent on not making eye contact with any of them, we didn’t spot each other in the crowd. Luckily Adrian’s hosts had a mobile that we had to use to discover that we were only meters from each other. We made Zurich our base, and proceeded to explore Lichtenstein and Schaffhausen. The capital of Lichtenstein, Vaduz, is a cute little town with an excellent postal museum, and a wide range of interesting stamps and postcards. Plus, it meant that we could tick another country off our list.

Schaffhausen is a well preserved yet deserted Renaissance city, filled with gilded wooden figures presiding over fountains of crystal clear water as well as houses bearing intricately painted frescos. It is also close to the Rhine Falls, the largest plain waterfalls in Europe. We spent hours enjoying the sunshine as we strolled along the Rhine to the rapids and back again. Even though Zurich is supposed to be one of the dirtiest of all the cities in Switzerland, I found it quite charming. The clear blue canals, the open park, and the warm sunshine all synergised together to make it a very enjoyable town to explore. The chocolate was delicious, and we were able to spot the cute May beetle displays in many of the windows of the chocolatiers.

However, now that we are exploring during the weekend and I am commuting to Brussels everyday, I don’t seem to have time for anything else. Adrian and I are both so busy, the dishes and washing pile up at an alarming rate. The supermarket in Leuven is only open from 8:30am – 6:30pm Monday to Saturday, which makes it almost impossible to find time to go shopping. Add this to the lack of a freezer or stove in our tiny apartment, and the task of preparing dinner can become quite difficult. However, in the words of the Flemish penguins: