Getting Gaby's Pram from Konstanz

Lionel and I have been akin to the rather unrefined, unappreciated, uncultured Singapore tourist voyaging merely for bargains. Because I have just entered my third trimester, we have not had the luxury of time to take in the scenery and culture of this new city and its neighbours. Instead, we have been using our evenings and weekends to scour for the best bargains to make our apartment a home, and to get ready for Gaby's grand arrival.

During the last weekend, we trained up to Konstanz, Germany, which has been likened to the Johor Bahru for us living here. Konstanz is a pretty university town just across the border and slightly over an hour's train ride. And unlike travelling to JB, there is no causeway jam, corrupt officers to be wary of and the infamous JB snatch thieves on motorbikes. So on the other side of the human-defined boundary between what is called Switzerland and Germany, lies not just significantly more decent prices, but also tax free shopping! And when you consider that the tax rate there is 19%, it basically means you perpetually have a 20% discount on all purchases there.

It cost us 15 francs each one way for the train. So double us and make the journey a return trip and we pay 60 francs for transport.

It was fortunate that we had Euros (although very badly depreciated from the time we bought them late last year) leftover from our honeymoon in Eastern Europe last December. Lionel has a student account with UBS here and we found out that he had a 2,500 francs withdrawal/expenditure limit per month. By the last few days of July, we could not take out any money.

So with our honeymoon Euros, we set out to buy Gaby's pram. Asian prams, American prams and European prams are so different. In Singapore, I would never have dreamt of getting a bulky big-wheeled Mercedes-equivalent pram with excellent suspension. However, considering that we tram and bus around here, rather than drive about, the stroller needed precisely all that. Foldability and lightweightness became the last things on our mind.

So at the end of a couple of hours at BabyWalz, we left with (still) one of the more Asian sized big-wheelers. This pram is petite enough to manoeuvre supermarket aisles, and has the bottom carrier to double up as a marketing trolley. We got a three-wheeler because it seems easier to aim to get a single front wheel up and down a tram first. We parted with about 700 euros, of which we would get back 110 euros in tax claims. This German-made baby vehicle basically cost us more than S$1000 -- and it wasn't even in the BMW or Audi series of prams.

Don't I look all Mummified with the practical sports shoes, track pants, mummy figure, sun hat and well, the stroller? That is the store, BabyWalz, in the background.

Oh, that pink shopping trolley bag is what we came to Konstanz with -- all geared up for aggressive retail exercises. I think of Lionel as such a self-assured man, all confident in his masculinity, when he pulls this around on our Saturday grocery stockpiling trips. (Except in designated areas, all shops, including supermarkets, close on Sundays -- so that means we need to make sure we're adequately prepared for the weekend's meals and Monday's breakfast. And of course, Saturday is when my macho husband goes supermarketing with me -- and he can carry all the heavy stuff.)

And finally, what better way to end a day's shopping trip with a good meal? No wursts for us -- Lionel gets sausages at almost every breakfast. So here, we have our first Asian meal in a restaurant since our arrival a month ago.

Ah.. good clean Japanese food. Although it was more like Sakae Sushi in standard, the pricing was like going to a true Japanese restaurant in Singapore. Nonetheless, it was a relatively cheaper restaurant meal than what we would have had in Zurich.

All pictures are of me because Lionel was holding the iPhone. ;p

We took the 7pm train back to Zurich after an eventful day at Konstanz, which included a superb 80cent cone of gelato ice-cream, four colourful mugs at 50cents each, 3 DVDs at only 5.55 euros each, a nice jacket in preparation of the colder weather for Lionel, toiletries, detergents and two contented bellies.

The journey back gave us a trial run of what pram travelling was going to be like. And that test drive went well. The pram's suspension took the cobblestones, the ups and downs of pavement to roads and platforms to trains, and also passed the narrow supermarket aisle S-course test.

The only awkward thing was that elderly women would smile at me. Pregnant bellies attract a lot of friendliness, even in Europe. And to add a pram to that (Wah, the first is not even out of the baby carrier and she's having the next one!). Womenfolk would lower their heads and bend their bodies to peek into our pram to spot the baby, and I could never bear to see their disappointment when they found none. So eventually, Lionel and I decided to pull the pram cover all the way down -- so we ended up looking like over protective parents with an unbelievably angelic sleeping baby, or parents with a suspicious baby criminal to hide.