Bike For Curly

I took a train ride into the big city (Geneva) today. It was frightfully cold with humid winds and a mix of rain and snow. When I get back to Colorado, I'm going to grab my heavier jackets! Until then, I ran in and out of cafes and museums to recapture warmth. One observation was that Starbucks has quite the niche going here. It's the only non-smoking building I've seen and what a nice break to enjoy a coffee and snack without all the second hand smoke...They do quite the business though and I hope it's only a matter of time before other establishments recognize that non-smoking could be good for their business....having said that though, it was interesting seeing all the Starbuck employees darting outside to get their nicotine fixes....

One of the museums I visited had a collection of old cars and bicycles. I found nice sturdy one that would be perfect for fellow sumo Curly, some nice lights for Tom (in case he wants an upgrade to the one he bought from me)











and the perfect solar powered car for the 'lil general. It's speedometer goes up to 110KM/hr!

Cheers, Sharkbait

Mountian View

One nice thing about the strong winds....they cleared out the smog, leaving a nice view of the lake and mountains. With the sun out, I almost felt warm for a bit!

Dave Gets a Haircut

Well I was getting a bit ragged around the edges and decided it was time for a haircut. A co-worker recommended this beauty salon in Saint Sulpice, and since this might be where we might end up living, I thought it would be good to give the place a try.

I swung by the place before work and made an appointment for that afternoon. I arrived on time and the hair-stylist discussed style options with me...ie. how much do you want left?...I asked if I would get a discount due to my hair quantity or perhaps better said, lack thereof, and the beautician, without losing a beat, responded ..." I think I will need to charge you more...due to the extra work to find your hair!" Anyway, the haircut was fast and cheap and I left a happy camper!

Bise and Snow

I was warned about the 'Bise' (pronounced Beees) and thought it was interesting that one would name something as simple as a wind from the North...Now I know why it has earned the right to its own name! Kind of like an "Albuquerque Low" in Colorado Springs in terms of significance but quite different in effect. The Bis is a strong and powerful constant cold wind that sucks away all warmth and chills you to the bone. At night the sound it makes as it pushes on your windows, shakes your shutters, and wraps around chimneys, resembles that of a trains coming right at you. Combine this with a bike commute to work and you get the word unpleasant!

Today though the Bise has settled down to a nice breeze but the sky is is grey with thick clouds and last night we got our first snow fall. The white snow contrast with the dark grey clouds is quite beautfiful. It made for a very nice walk to work this morning.

Cheers, Dave

Ouchy

I practiced taking the Metro today and the only 'tourist tax' I paid was dropping a 5 swiss franc coin in the machine to buy a 2 swiss franc

discount ticket and then finding out the machine did not make change....

It was a beautiful albeit, cold day! I headed out to Ouchy and strolled thru the parks and the Olympic museum. It was quite nice. I also picked a good english/french dictionary at a Flea market to help me get thru a French detective novel I picked up yesterday.

Life is good here and I'm eating well...great cheese, bread, chocolate, and wine! What more could you want...ok, I did break down yesterday and bought some peanut butter! It sure tasted good. I also picked up some Pecans imported from Bruce's Arizona farm. Pretty good and only a few broken pieces!

Yesterday I found a nice electronic piano which I hope to pick up soon....not quite my Kawaii grand but it will do.

Cheers, Dave

What a Beautiful day!

..and just in time for the weekend too! Last night I closed the exterior blinds on my window which makes the room pitch black. Quite nice but also a bit of a shock when you open your door and experience the sudden flash of daylight.

After a week of hard work, breakfast was a bit of a problem...no coffee, milk, eggs, juice, or cereal..just some left over spaghetti...plenty of motivation to walk to the supermarket and stock up. I was up and out by 7:30 and took the scenic route as it was was so pleasant out. Cold but blue sky! I noticed that the supermaket had a small self-serve restaurant and knowing you shouln't shop hungry, I stopped in and fixed myself a glass of fresh juice, bread, fruit and a capuccino. It was quite nice despite the early morning cigarette smoke...also it was quite interesting to see professional looking men (ie. not alcoholic bum stereotypes) pull up to the bar and enjoy a cold draft beer...

With that motivation, along with my purchase of essential food groups, I also bought two bottles of wine (one French, one Spanish...to keep things balanced ...in my shopping bags) but not having adapted completely to the european ways, these were not purchased to accompany my breakfast eggs...


Today I hope to join the local gym and then I'm going to ride out to Morges and check out the music store. Should be fun!
Cheers- Dave

1st French Class

Well I took my first French class last night in Rennens...quite the experience...small class with a Turkish man (Kurd), Swiss German woman, and a Polish man. The class was taught at the supermarket/food distributor Migros...It was fun and I learned a lot...the teacher though commented that I was the first american she has ever seen in this area...

On the way out I was approached by a man from Kosovo who was trying to find his wife who was taking a French class as well. We talked a bit and when he asked where I was from, I said USA. He was aghast that I would want to live in Switzerland! He gave me the horror stories of how much prejudice I would find and how closed the opportunities were for foreigners in Europe...he then went on to say that he appreciated very much what the US had done for his people (he loved Clinton) and though he did not like Bush, he clearly understands what he's doing and thinks the way he's dealing with Europe is necessary...

It was quite interesting getting a pulse on local views...

I then proceeded to get lost on a few round abouts on my bike ride home...after about 45 minutes of night riding I was back where I started, which was good I guess, because at least I was no longer lost!

The other good news was there was a local Coop Super-market by the metro that was still open. I stopped in bought a nice bottle of wine and a frozen dinner and got ready to check out. The cashier offered me a free case of bottled ice tea which I declined, explaining I was on a bike. 'Oh, but it's so cold..., you must be very sportive...(all in french)"...I replied, "Not at all, I don't have a car, I'm American'...his face lit up, both hands shot out and he did a pow pow double gun shot gesture at me....(wild wild west reputation?)...he went on to say how he had been to LA, New York, and Miami and liked the US very much...I indicated 'not too loud' which generated quite a laugh. So I'm having fun with the interactions!

I finally made it home and dinner was not bad and the wine (a local bottle from the Vaud region) was actually quite nice!

Find a Place

The big challenge for us will be to find the right place to live. The Pully Neighborhood is really nice but a bit on the pricy side. Let's see how things shape up! There are many other nice areas, but for now we are ruling out those that are far from public transportation or with too many hills for an easy bike commute to work.

20051114

Right now, just trying this out! Hopefully this can be a good forum for sharing my Swiss adventures. This is a shot of some roman ruins in the town of Pully near Lausanne.

Zurich Trip

Here are some notes I jotted down on my way to Zurich...

Saturday was truly a beautiful fall day ! I got up around 8.30 vacuumed, made breakfast and rode my bike to work. I checked email, grabbed extra passport photos and rode along lake Geneve. lt was quite pretty and serene. Along the way l stopped at a pharmacy and picked up some dental floss which somehow had escaped during my packing frenzy. ..that was a simple $6.00 omission...

I then took a new route home hoping to avoid the huge hill that somehow keeps showing up between my apartment and the rest of Switzerland...no luck...this new route had both hills and mud and made quite a mess of me and my trusty bike...

l parked my bike in the velo (bike) room, went upstairs, and met my neighbor, an elderly woman, as she was leaving. Her words were (in French...) '....er....hello, you must be the new american ...you will be staying here only a few months, no?'

Not wanting to seem rude and imply l did not like the area, I replied, that I really liked the apartment and hoped to stay longer if possible. Her face turned pale when I said this....hmm

She left, and I entered my flat and took a much needed shower, ....packed for my trip to Zurich, and feeling pretty good, headed out to find a bus to Morges...
A 3km hike later, with a blistered left heel I finally found my bus and was soon in Morges....I went to the ticket office,showed my passport,

and put out $100 and a spare passport photo and purchased a 1 year pass which will allow me to travel for 1 year at half price....Not bad..
For today and tomorrow I can travel anywhere in Switzerland for $34 per day...quite a deal!
...so after a quick lunch and a coffee I'm now off to Zurich...Have just been joined by 3 german speaking students who have just taken my newspaper...so I'd better stop and rejoin my

environ...