Winter storm Jonas was the largest snowfall on record for New York City. With two feet of snow falling from the sky in a matter of hours, the sky and the ground were just white fluffy blurs. I went out with my camera to document the event, and here are some pictures.

As you can see some other people were out and about braving the blizzard, but this is a far cry from the busy streets of Brooklyn on a regular Saturday. Traffic and pedestrian signs were ignored more than usual.

I had a hard enough time getting around on foot, but there were even a couple of cars trying to make it through the snow.

By far the most fun was had at the park, however, where Brooklynites made use of the blizzarmeggedon (you’re welcome, previously untitled metal bands) to do snow sports and otherwise enjoy the weather.

This New Years I had the tremendous good fortune to visit Zurich, Switzerland with my family. We flew from London, Heathrow to Zurich International Airport arrived on the day before New Years Day. Here’s a shot of our arrival in Zurich HB train station (right on time, of course):

My family and I stayed at an AirBnb in a quieter part of town, Dubstrasse Street in Werd. We spotted another prominent tech company on our way, with a major Google campus located nearby. Here’s a shot of Zurichsee in the day:

Walking along the river, every corner of the city is packed with history, character, and luxury retailers. In particular, there are four major churches in one part of town, here are two of them:

It got dark pretty fast, but the weather stayed pleasant and the streets stayed safe. It was unusual to see neither an officer of the law nor a homeless person while walking around, which I’m very accustomed to seeing in NYC.

Zurich became more beautiful as night fell, and the water in one of the two nearby rivers was pristine. While rambling about, my family and I noticed that swans made a home in the river, and there were a great many of them. Another unusual sight for a New Jersey native:

As midnight drew closer, we began to head down to the Bahnhofstrasse, where a fireworks display is being held. Before the official celebration, citizens took it upon themselves to ignore the no warnings against setting of fireworks in a rare and magnificent display of law-breaking:

But this was little compared to the official display. The fireworks were especially extraordinary for the unexpected reason of the seemingly constant fog above Zurichsee, where every firework light up the entire night sky in its own shade as it refracted through the fog:

It was a delight to get three days in Switzerland with my family and a pleasure experiencing Swiss culture.