The view north from the window at my desk looks up the Seefeldstrasse to the Opern Haus tram stop. It's somehow both graceful and melancholic (maybe the last is just the weather). The view west looks across the street at an unlovely office building with a nice set of tags decorating the walls of the parking garage (what the hell is that in German? Parkingplatz? Parkplatz?). Who is doing the tagging? Bored youths with delusions of gangsterhood? Actual gangsters seem out of character for this neighborhood, this city.
The view north in any case is more interesting--peopled by the ordinary bourgeios of Zürich going about their daily business. Midmorning I see young mothers (au pairs?) wheeling babies (lots of these), and midday I see hordes of teenagers released from school on their way to Migros take-away for a slice. Add a sprinkling of business men at lunchtime as well. I also see gay couples quite often, and it appears that the Seefeld is a favored neighborhood for gay men. But mostly I see women of a certain age (that is, my age) in their sensible dark wool coats and somewhat less sensible shoes on their way to and from the things that women of a certain age go to and from.
I go out and join the women on street, each day learning a little more about the best place to buy and how to shop here. Buchmann has good bread. Globus has great meat and wines that tempt the budget as well. Chäslaube has good cheeses and are more pleasant to deal with than the shop assistants at Globus. Terlinden for drycleaning. Blattner for hardware. Goethe Bar has a great lunch. And to and from some more.
In short, I feel at home.
