Friday afternoon the girls were invited to a birthday party on the Zurich side of the mountain. Noah and I decided to hang out at the mall while they were there. Melanie and Kevin (the parents of the birthday girl) very kindly invited us to stay and hang out at the party, but we declined. I didn't want to be in the way, and Noah wasn't so sure he wanted to hang out with a bunch of girls, eewww! Well, in hindsight, it really would have been better to be party crashers.
As soon as we got in the car and got it started, I realized that I had absolutely no idea how to get from the party to the mall. I knew it was close, but I wasn't even sure which direction to head in. So I asked my trusty GPS (otherwise known as Chris) to help me figure it out. This would have been a fool proof plan, had he not misunderstand where I told him I was, resulting in me driving around in circles for a while because he was convinced I was somewhere I wasn't. Finally, though, we found the freeway, which is what I needed to get to the mall. Hurray! And surprisingly, no one raised their voice or got angry during the entire exchange. We really are growing up. :) But then I had to hurry and hang up because there was a police check on the onramp. I wasn't worried, except for the whole talking-on-the-dellphone-without-a-handset-thing. But I was pretty sure I had hung up before they saw me.
So when the officer waved me over to the side, I was very calm, thinking he just wanted to check that my license and registration were in order. The kids and I were all buckled up properly, the car had it's winter tires on, no worries. Yeah, except for the little detail of the expired Vignette. (In Switzerland, you buy a yearly pass that allows you to drive on all Swiss freeways. Instead of taxing everyone for road upkeep, they just charge the people who actually use the roads.) Chris has always taken care of making sure we had our new Vignette every year, so I didn't even think about it. When the very nice police man asked me if perhaps, I had my Vignette in my wallet, or purse, I had to tell him no. I even pointed up to the behind the rear view mirror where we always stick it, and said, "What do you mean? It's right there." But it had expired on Sunday, which meant a 100 Franc ticket. sigh. And I don't know why it is, but every Zurich police man I have ever come in contact with has been very polite and very good looking. And no, it isn't just the uniform. Perhaps it's a requirement? I mean, they do require a photo with every job application, so perhaps they just weed out the ugly ones? Whatever, it works for me.