Well, we started our seach for permanent housing in Switzerland! The housing market here is quite hot, with properties lasting only a few days after they are listed. Most people here do not own property as the cost is quite high and the supply extremely limited. We looked at many listings on the web sites here and Teri sent them onto the relocation company that we are using to assist us. Most we had to reject out of hand, no dogs allowed, too far from transportation, unrealistic fees for the rental agent, etc. When the agent called Teri to arrange some viewings, she had only one showing for us. Teri managed to fins some more on her own, which the agent set up for us to view or at least to drive by. The pictures shown here are of the very first house we visited. Wow, it was really something. Built in 1925, it has just recently been remodled inside. We really liked this one and put an application in to see if we could get it. The owner met us at the showing and we found out that he had grown up in the home. It has three stories, with two bedrooms on the top floor and two down in the lower level. There is a living and dining room on the main level with an extra room there as well. The kitchen is unique. It had a "warming oven" made of cast iron built into the wall that connects to the diniing room. This was part of the original equipment from the 20's. The owner indicated that it still worked! A plus for the dogs would be the back yard, complete with fish pond, fireplace, sitting area and grape barbers. The place also has a one car garage, a basement and a bomb shelter. The Swiss took the cold war seriously I guess as every place we've visite has one. The floors are either tiled or hardwood. We have no seen much carpeting here. Of course the best feature of the house is the view (the picture here is from the bedroom). It sits on the "gold coast" of Zurich See. This is the side of the lake which gets the most sun. The Swiss take every opporuniy to soak it in. We've seen any number of people dining outside here in the winter if the temperature is a little above 40 F. One restaurant actually provides blankets to theri customers when dining outside. We also visited a home almost directly across the lake. It was new and very modern. The rooms were big as well. Unfortunately, it sat between the rairoad tracks and a busy street. We had three drive bys as well. We could not get into these. Two held promise as they looked very nice from the outside. The other was a little more dated and a duplex to boot, although the goat pen across the street was a conversation starter. Anyway, we'll keep looking while we keep our fingures crossed.