Lost in Switzerland ~ A Foreign Adventure

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Adventure 3.2 : Der Toilette

March 16, 2011

Today I dropped my bagde in the toilet...after I had urinated in it. My badge is on one of those retractable clip thinga-ma-gigs and I clip it to my belt. I stood over the toilet thinking "Crap, what am I going to do." Thank goodness it wasn't in crap! Thankfully the ladies room has plastic bags for the feminine stuff. So I used one of those to fish it out. I had a plastic bag on each hand, took my card out of the holder, and threw the holder thinga-ma-gig in the garbage. I scrubbed the card in hot soap water and wrapped it in a paper towel until I could come home and disinfect it. I still don't want to touch it. Ewwwwww

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Adventure 3.1: Fasnacht

Sunday, March 13, 2011

The Fasnacht Totem

Fasnacht - Similar to Mardi Gras.

People dress up in costumes.

There is a parade.

And lots and lots and lots of music.

I went with a co-worker to Winterthur to the Fasnacht party. The pictures say it all.

Accusing Bern of grinding up money.

The troll that kidnaps people.
At New Year's I'm told they have a festival to scare away the troll.

And that's a John Deer tractor in the parade.

We also climbed a giant town to get a amazing view of the city. Then we ate Racalette. Yummmmmmm.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Adventure 3.0: Luzern

Saturday, March 12, 2011

For those that want the short version:

- Luzern is beautiful. A city surrounded by snow capped mountains.

- I finally get Picasso after seeing over 50 of his paintings.

- Farmers market with cheese vendor, glorious cheese!

- Walking around the lake is a must do! It offers amazing views

- The Swiss transportation museam is huge and well worth the time and money.

Now for the rest of the story:

"On a train bound for nowhere"....er Luzern. "I met up with a gambler..." I digress.... It took about 2 hours to get to Luzern by train and I arrived at 10:30. I found a starbuck's and yet once again I paid 8.70 CHF for it. This may turn into a Saturday luxury. I walked around the farmer's market. Oh how I wish I was closer to home, I would have bought lots of cheese. Just look at this yummy cheese!

I discovered that my debit card won't work in the MAC machine. I have used it to make purchase, but this is the first time I've tried to get money. I had to ask some lady what the screen said. She says "it says you can't get money. Do you have money in there she says." Yes I had money in there. So the rest of the day I had to use my card as people scowled at me for using it. The Swiss always use cash for everything. American could learn a lot in this situation! But let us not get into that.

My first stop was the Rosegart Collection. The Rosegart's were personal friends of Pablo Picasso and they have over 50 of his works plus a collection of rare photos of Picasso in action. I strolled through the first room thinking "this guy was a nut. His paintings are all weird." But by the end of the first room, I discovered something. I held the brochure over 1 eye and covered up 1/2 of the painting. What I saw was a profile portrait. I switched eyes and what I saw was a straight on portrait of the same face. Picasso put multiple perspectives in the same image! Now some of you may be thing "duh!" But I didn't realize this before. As I continued through Picasso painting, I spent more and more time analyzing them for their beauty and his perspective. Fantastic! Next I went down stairs to see Paul Klee art. I previously did not know who he was, but in about 1/3 of his art I saw a draftsman at work. Some of his pictures played tricks on your eyes and they were marvelous. Now I'm not keen on some of his more famous pictures, but he was a good draftsman.

Next, I strolled across the famous Luzern Bridge with the chapel on it. I was heading to the Gletschergarten. Here in 18-something a guy discovered glacial potholes and some fossils. It was neat, all outside, and it explained how these formations got there in quick, brief statements. Which meant that I didn't have to spend hours reading to figure out how a glacial pothole was created by a glacier melts and the water hits the same spot over and over. The water starts are whirlpool, which has a rock in the middle of it. The rock spins in the water and essentially drills a hole. This was a good museum and it was free to me because of my bank. Sweet!

Then I strolled around the lake, watched some people play a game that looked like a cross between Quidditch and the shot put, and had a chocolate and banana "Swiss" crepe and headed for the Verkehrshaus der Schweiz. Dad would love this museum! The first area I enter was the evolution of the train. The next section was the evolution on the car, which by the way the US rocks in inventions for this in the past century. Next was all by sea and finally by air. Then there was the ultimate Rube Goldberg style project (see picture below and if you don’t know who Rube is go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rube_Goldberg). Excellent museum! Again these museums cut to the chase in descriptions, are in 4 languages (including English), and offer vast useful knowledge. Other museums could learn a lot from these one!

For those gals who are coming to visit, this could be a good day trip so here’s a link:

http://www.luzern.com/en/

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Adventure 2.1: This Living Part

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Today, I had to go to St. Gallen to get finger printed for my work visa. I was really looking forward to this trip for one reason: STARBUCKS! Let me repeat: STARBUCKS! I love Starbucks and there isn't one where I'm living. I have gone 2 weeks without a Starbucks Chai Tea Latte with no water and an extra pump of chai. So I bought the biggest size they had. In the States this would cost me roughly $4.00. Here it cost me 8.70 CHF. I guess I should be happy there isn't one in my town. But is was OH SO GOOD!

After leaving St. Gallen, I stopped at the shopping Arena. It is a mall that is connected / under / in a sports arena. In the middle of the mall they had the following display:

Yep, just naked mannequins hanging out. You think this is weird,
Imagine how weird I looked taking a picute of naked mannequins!

Shoes for 650 CHF!!!!!! Don't buy shoes here!

Monday, March 7, 2011

At the grocery store tonight this is what I saw:

This week is carnival week, aka Mardi Gras for the Swiss. This bands wander around playing music everywhere, even in the grocery store. If you blow up the picture, there is a guy on the right with an orange mohawk. I'm doing my gocery shopping and he walks up to me and says "Hey, you're [fill in my name]. Right?" To which I say, "I'm sorry, but if we've met I don't recognize you with all that paint on your face." Apparently he works on my floor, but we have not me. Then he helped me find distilled white vinegar.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

How to do laundry in Switzerland:

Sign up for a laundry time. That's right, you can't do laundry whenever you want. You must plan ahead. As you know planning is not really an expertise of mine.
Haul you clothes to the basement, community washer. I'm slightly germaphobe, so this is gross but what can I do. Better share a washer with 7 other people than hundreds at a laundry mat. All clothes therefore get washed in hot water.
Plug in my power card. Turn power on.

Wash clothes in German. I can't read what the machine says, so I go with what the housing management lady pointed to on the first day.

Haul your clothes back upstair to day. There is no dryer, so I created a make shirt clothesline in my living room. Better than the basement community one. Nasty!