November 17

Today was a fantastic day. It counteracted all of the Monday mishaps. This morning, I met a friend downtown to go shopping. Every Wednesday and Saturday morning there is an open market. I had only ever seen the produce stands before, so I was under the impression that they were the extent of the market, but I was wrong. There was a whole open area for the meat, cheese, bread, and antique stands. It was fun to walk around these while waiting for Elizabeth. I saw lots of interesting things. I bought a slice of pumpkin to use for my pie.
The first place we went after the market was Salvation Army. Yes, that is right, there is a Salvation Army here. It was interesting and was full of really cool things. Some of the things probably wouldn't be seen in US Salvation Armies, but since Switzerland is a very ecological country, everything is reduced, reused, and recycled. For example, half-bottles of soaps and detergents; very practical, but likely not seen in the States. There were also quite a number of jelly-type jars on the shelves. Another surprising find was some Chemistry lab glassware that I pointed out to Elizabeth. She kindly informed me that it was actually a bong. Interesting.
During our shopping adventures, I found a really beautiful scarf for a really good price. Elizabeth also found a great long green wool coat at a second-hand store for only 10 Francs!
With the excitement of both of our good deals, as well as the beautiful sunny weather and general joyful bustle of the market, we were both in really good spirits. We bought lunch from a bakery vendor and then returned to my house to have hot cocoa and watch a movie. We also roasted chestnuts. This was a first for both of us. I bought them last weekend, but I just hadn't gotten around to using them yet. Some of them had gone bad, which was unfortunate, but the ones that were salvageable were quite fantastic. All in all, it was just a really nice, relaxing, fun day.