Amusing Things About Switzerland: Part III

Part III in my recurring series has taken a while to accumulate. That might mean I'm becoming a bit more adjusted and not automatically reacting to things in a WTF manner. Probably a good thing. Still, some funny obervations:

1. Food is not orange

I'm not sure what the hell I have been comsuming for the last 25 years, but around these parts, there is no orange cheese, the French dressing is white and KD is unknown. I've adjusted nicely to the first two, I mean how does the cheese become orange anyway? But I do love KD and my parents and Emily have been kind enough to supply me with some boxes and I try and have a box monthly.

A nice piece of Gruyere (left) and Emmental (right). No orange dye in sight...

2. Paprika Chips

Salt and vinagar? Nope. Ketchup? Are you crazy. Dill Pickle? On a chip. I'm sure if I looked hard enough I might find a couple of these flavours that of course everyone in Canada think are ubiquitous. But here in Switzerland there seem to be two falvours. Nature and Paprika. Not quite the same as BBQ, but not too bad.

3. Birthday Tradition

I've been to a couple of birthday celebrations and I might hold my own in Canada because here, you have to buy the drinks. Or bake your own cake and then share it. It took me aback at first, but when I think about it, it actually makes some sense.

4. Money

50, 100 and 200 CHF bills that are used with regularity at any and all stores.

All over the place in Canada you can't do anything with $50 and $100 dollar bills. I guess there is way too much counterfitting that takes place. Good luck if you want to try and spend one of those in the grocery store. In Switzerland, they wouldn't even look twice (such as at the cafeteria at work, paying for a 9 CHF lunch with a 100 CHF bill). In fact I would say that the 100 CHF note is the most common one. Maybe it's the money culture (especially in Zürich), but it's very different and interesting.

Last Night's Gig: The Hives at Alte Börse in Zürich

Finally had a chance to take in a band I've been wanting to see live for about 6 years.

I first heard the Hives on their breakout Vini Vidi Vicious album (which I bought at one of those great HMV 2 for $20 sales) and since then I have been a fan. They are from Sweden but on the back of some great garage rock sounds and a great live show they are pretty popular across Europe and North America. Although they have toured in Canada before it has always been one night stops in Vancouver and Toronto, both a bit out of the way for me. So when I saw they were playing Zürich, I bought a ticket right away. It was a bit pricey (59 CHF) but when I considered what it would have cost to go to Toronto to see them play, it wasn't that bad.

The concert was interestingly scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM and I made the mistake of thinking they would be late starting. Never assume the Swiss will be anything but punctual. So when I rolled in at 8:30 PM, the bar was packed and about 5 minutes after I arrived the Hives took the stage. So I missed the opener, but thankfully didn't miss any of the Hives set.

If you know the Hives, then you know most of their songs aren't much longer than three and a half minutes, so the just under two hour set was pretty good. The band all dresses up in the same suit type black and white clothing which looked very cool. They played all their big hits (satrting with Here We Go Again) and the lead singer Howlin' Pelle Almqvist has stage presence to spare. He really interacted well with the crowd and had everyone yelling and screaming and clapping their hands. They finished with Tick Tick Boom in their encore and the place was going nuts...wish I could have been closer to the stage, but my late arrival prevented that.

The only complaints I had about the concert were due to the venue. The concert was at about 10 PM (way too early) because the place becomes a club afterwards. As well, the smoking inside is terrible. Once again, I came out smelling like an ashtray and at leats a year off my life expectancy because of second-hand smoke inhalation.

Great show though and if you get a chance to see them live, go for it. You won't be disappointed.

6 Months in the New Land of Red and White

It's been 6 months since I left Canada for Switzerland. I can't believe the time has passed so quickly. Simply amazing.

Last weekend I decided to take advantage of my new (as of August 13th) GA (General Abondement). The GA is an annual pass available to Swiss residents that allows you to take any bus, train or boat at any time, in the entire country. Pretty sweet and definitely worth it for someone who plans to get to know his new surroundings well. My first free weekend I decided to take advantage of it and head to Thun to take in some of the World Kayaking Freestyle Championships. I managed to make it down for a couple of runs in the junior men's and women's semi-finals (toting along my big ol' Canadian flag for waving) as well as catching the Big Air qualification event. Overall a pretty sweet event and it was a nice to see Canadian Nick Troutman (from the Ottawa Valley) come out on top in the K1 competition. Here are a few of my best photos:

An overview of the site. They had shut the dam on the Aare and created a nice standing wave that the athletes had 45 seconds to perform their best tricks. The stands actual extend over the water which was cool.

My best photo of the day by far. Junior girl coming up after her flip move.


Slacklining exhibition by Stefan Siegrist. It was pretty cool, because that water was a) moving pretty quick, thus preventing focusing and b) was damn cold (see next pic)


Lost balance = cold shower


Yes, that is a C1 whitewater upside down. The coolest event of the day was the Big Air qualification. 8 m jump over the river with lots of acrobatics...


Some not ending so well. Ouch..

August Vacation Recap

A lack of posts in August, both due to being a bit lazy and being on vacation for a solid 2 weeks. I don't have any pics to add to this post but you can see the photo journey on my Facebook page.

Emily came over for a visit from the 14th of August to the 28th of August. After 5 months of being here, it was great to have her come and visit and see how my life in Zurich is playing out. I must note that according to everyone here, the summer has been rather rainy, but for the entire time Emily was here, it was absolutely brilliant outside (no rain and lots of sun). Maybe a reflection of my mood for entire time she was here.

*Travel Tip*

Em was able to secure a very cheap flight with AirTransat that flies from Montreal to the EuroAirport in Basel, CH for less than $700 taxes in. That's a pretty sweet deal and even if you aren't coming to Switzerland, the airport is on the border with France and Germany. The only downside is that they only run 1 flight a week and it runs from May to October only.

**

We hung around Zurich for a couple of days so that Em could deal with the jetlag. Unfortunately, my lack of planning prevented our participation in the Limmatschwimmen (an annual 2 km swim/float down the river in the middle of Zurich). To make up for it, we took a boat trip around part of the lake and had an excellent picnic lunch on the lake. On the Sunday, we went to Luzern for the day. After touring the town, we took a cablecar up Mt. Rigi, took some photos and had a beer on top (a nice feature of Swiss mountains), and then took the cogwheel train down the other side of the mountain, catching a of course prompt train to egt us back to Zurich in time to catch the Women's final between Lotus and Stella from the CUC. Perfection.

On Monday we took off in the afternoon for a trip to the Lötschental where my research is based. We camped on the mountain after a brisk hike as dusk closed in. Did my field sampling in the morning (I'm such a romantic) and then hiked to the glacier at the end of the valley (running into numerous cows along the way). Not all that strenuous, but great views. On Wednesday we made a trip to Lausanne to visit a couple of museums that the Lonely Planet thought would be good (La Musee De L'Art Brut and the IOC Olympic Museum). Both very enjoyable and recommended to any visitors. We also managed to go for a swim in Lake Geneva which was a nice cool down after a warm day. Thursday and Friday were spent in Zurich cruising around to a few of the sites and seeing a couple of museums in the city.

Friday night we took a night train to Slovenija (j is pronounced as a y in Slovenian) for the best part of the time Emily spent here. I was in Slovenija for a conference in April (blog post here) and loved the country and made a promise to come back. Em was also intrigued so we decided this would be our trip outside of Switzerland. We arrived in Ljubljana on Saturday morning, but right away (after morning coffee) took a train/bus to Piran on the coast where we spent our first day/night. A very hot day so we ented a peddleboat and swam in the Adriatic, then toured about the small town that feels very much like Venice without canals, ate dinner and then were able to watch a spectacular lightning storm as it crossed the Adriatic and then moved just north of us. It was windy, but no rain fell on us. The next day we bussed to Divacja and spent the day exploring the UNESCO Karst caves at Skocjana. Very impressive. The local museums that we toured afterwards were also very nice and offered great contextual information about the archeology and history of the area. we stayed in Ljubljana overnight and then caught a bus to a new top 10 town for me, Bovec (pronounced Bovets) in the Soca Valley. It's basically the smaller Slovenian equivalent of Canmore as outdoor sports rule the roost. Emily and I had a chance to partake in some white-water kayaking on the Soca, which was great, despite the low water levels at the end of the summer. I wa simpressed with Em as she had never been in a kayak before and handled it with perfection not having to wet exit in the river once (although we did have to practice before taking off with our guide). The next day we went to Kobarid where WWI played an important role and checked out the museum dedicated to this theme and the trail they have designed in the area. Then on our way back to Ljubljana to catch our train to Zurich we stopped for a couple of hours in Bled to admire the scenary.

Once back in Zurich on the 27th, we spent some time doing souvenir shopping for Em. On the 28th we took the train to Basel and I had to say goodbye until the next time she can make it over. It looks like December will be the next time we will see each other in person when I fly back to Canada for Christmas. It seems like a long haul, but I'm sure the time is going to fly by (I mean, it has already been 2 weeks since she left).

Overall, it was a great time and I was glad she was able to come and visit.

Out of My Element

I have officially started taking German classes here in Zürich. What a frustrating experience (yet somehow as times passes it becomes more enjoyable).

I'm sure it is always the same thing when you begin learning a new language, but I basically felt the same way I did walking into Grade 7 to begin French Immersion at Astral Drive and not knowing how to put a sentence together. The instructor wants you to speak in German but you just can't express yourself properly. The most interesting thing is that when I become stuck I know I'm not supposed to speak English, so instead I find myself throwing in French words.

I suppose the second language centre of my brain needs a bit of organization...