(WARNING: potentially dumb questions follow)

I never lived anywhere with snow (and in fact I've seen snow 4 or 5 times in my life at most) so I have some very basic questions about living in Zürich.

Apparently many of my future coworkers use public transport to go to work. I'm fine with that. What worries me is that after getting off the train, I'll need to walk about 6 blocks to the office.

How does that work in winter, with snow? Do you need special shoes? Do you need something to cover your face and eyes? Do you use an umbrella when it snows?

I have the (hopefully!) irrational fear that my eyes will just freeze and fall to the ground when it's ~0ºC

I'm not even thinking of driving with snow, I'm trying to avoid thinking about that until the end of the year...

Wooly hat, scarf, gloves and a winter coat and you'll be fine.

You might not want to be wearing leather soled shoes, normal shoes will work just fine, but after four years here, I'm still not as confident walking on icy snow as the locals seem to be.

I have a pair of sheepskin-line Vibram-soled boots for icy conditions, still not totally slip-free though.
Also, you'll find many Swiss wear swimming goggles in the Winter, precisely to prevent their eyeballs freezing, an all to common effect at sub-zero temperatures.

You don't get a lot of snow in Zurich anyway, and even when you do, it's usually cleared away quite quickly, so I wouldn't worry too much.

If you do find yourself walking in snowy conditions, though, just follow the advice above. I spend a lot of time tramping through forests and standing around in fields, so I treated myself to a pair of warm, grip-soled snow boots, but this is very unlikely to be necessary in the middle of the city. A hat, gloves and scarf will be quite enough, with a pair of sensible rubber/plastic soled shoes or boots.

What Cyrus said
Best bet for keeping warm outside in the snow is the "onion layer" principle: layer up with 2 or 3 lightish sweaters (pullovers) which you can then take off one by one when you get to the office.

Edit: and NO, eyeballs do not freeze over at 0°

It is worth observing that buildings in Switzerland are terribly over-heated, so being able to climb out of your sweater(s) is very important, otherwise you'll be passing out within minutes of arriving at your desk.

Snow .... what snow. If this winter is anything to go on, you needn't worry.

Seriously, though, when pavements aren't fully cleared; or are frozen, for a relatively small outlay, you can have "Spiky Plus", that just slip over your normal shoes/boots.



http://www.shopwahl.ch/a/produktlist...oduktliste.htm

Yeah - but I've got used to that by now. First thing I do when I get into the office and home (winter and summer) is open all the windows, first thing hubby does when he gets home is close them again

All of the above. Mind you will try to go camping because it's always like that:

Ahaa, you're the one responsible for global warming, then?

What snow? We want some - lots of snow.
After 2 years of daily shovelling tons of snow, we finally bought a super snow blower this autumn- I knew this would happen.