Ice, Ice, Baby!

Did you know that Swiss refrigerators are small?  Very small.  About the size of half of a side by side fridge in the US.  The freezer is thus commensurately small as well.  In the picture, Soul Swisster is opening the freezer on our kitchen fridge.

Add to this, the Swiss don't really use ice in their drinks.  If you go to a restaurant and ask for water or a coke, you specifically have to ask for ice.  And iced tea?  No way!

So you can imagine that a Swiss fridge will not have an icemaker.  If you want ice, you have to go back to using trays.  And those take up valuable space.  I mean, we've got to have room for ice cream, don't we?

The solution?  The Ice Bull!  A standalone ice maker that is available at some of the electronic stores. You pour water into it and it will happily go about making ice cubes for you.  It makes three sizes--small, medium, and large.  The picture shows the medium size ice cubes.  We're actually hoping the small size is a bit like Sonic ice!





Buying the Ice Bull was no small feat and it made The Cheese Whiz feel very Swiss. One morning after going to the bank, CW was going to catch the bus back to the office.  As luck would have it, there was a Fust (Foost) right next to what he thought was the bus stop.  A Fust is an electronics store where you can buy everything from TVs to computers to small home electronics like irons, mixers, and blow driers.  So rather than try to borrow a car or go to a Fust and try to carry it back to the office where he wanted to keep until we move, he thought he'd grab one and take the bus.

The buying was easy--a mere 499 CHF (Swiss Francs)--a bargain at $659 USD.  Yes, you read that right.  We haven't talked about how expensive Switzerland is, have we?  We will.  Oh yes, we will!  Probably in multiple posts!

Anyway, CW took the Bull by the horns and carried it out of the store in its bulky 45 pound box.  Right across the street to the bus stop.  Or so he thought. As it turned out, that was the stop for busses going in the direction opposite to his destination.  His bus stop was about 3 blocks away.  In traffic.  In 80 degree weather.  I know--it doesn't sound too bad.  But three blocks in the heat trying to carry a heavy, bulky box wasn't a ton of fun.  But he made it to his stop and hopped onto the bus (dripping).  10 minutes later, he was outside his office.

He'd completed his first shopping trip and used public transport to get to his destination.  Did I mention CW felt very Swiss?

But he's going to miss the Suburban.  And Best Buy.