Guilty Pleasures

A looooong time ago I spent a year at what was at that time called the Institute of German Studies (brought to you by the Lutheran goodness of Concordia College). It was 9 months of staying in the camp-like environment of Waldsee. Stuck out in the woods with pretty much nothing to do but speak German, we managed to get into all sorts of trouble. All we did, all day long, was learn and do German stuff. It was a crazy idea that preceded MTVs Real World idea - the only difference was that we didn't have cameras. Same idea though - kids, nothing to do, chaos ensues. I wish I had some pictures to post - my time there preceded the digital camera era. It actually was a lot of fun.

And one of the most awesomest dinners we ever had was of course wiener schnitzel. The kitchen made it by hand, and it was delicious.

Thus, behold ... "Coop Schweinefleisch paniert nach Wiener Art". Turns out, you can buy a 1kg bag of schnitzel to have in your home! Not the best schnitzel on the planet, but when it is your favorite all time guilty pleasure, it is a 1kg bag of heaven. Just add ketchup. Wow. Yum. Put it on a stick and pretend you are at the State Fair it's that good.

Now if only I could get Noah to like it. If only I could get Noah to eat meat?!? Maybe if I tell him it's just a different kind of toast ...

Our Own Private Gurtenfest

Today we headed up the Gurten again. This time, we were able to relax a bit more due to the fact that we've now been here for a few months instead of a single week. Noah remembered the place pretty well. This time though we decided to climb the tower (Eiffel Tower as Noah called it). While were were up there, a glider buzzed the tower - if you can call swooping by virtually silently buzzing. Crazy. Noah and I were acting like little school kids. Cool! Wow! Did you see that? We ran around a ton, climbed the climbing thing, did the mechanical ball thinger. He barely made it home he was so tired.

Now he's sleeping on the couch.

FYI - the tower wobbles. Very unnerving.

And ...

... the popularity contest begins.

Bern-Thun-Bern

Another fun route, which magically in CH seems to be downhill in both directions.

I bring you: Bern-Thun-Bern. Did the southward journey in 1:15, and the return in 1:00 even. The ride back was wicked fast. I was doing 40 - 50 at times (that's kph) and the roads were nice! Very smooth, wide bike lanes, only 2 smallish hills. Lots of round-a-bouts which are confusing at times, but loads of fun when doing 40.

It looks much farther on the map. The distance is about the same as riding from our house in St. Paul to Wayzata which I used to do all the time. 60 km round trip roughly - 30 there, 30 back.

Privacy Violations!!!!

Here in CH there is much ado about personal privacy. Google is being attacked for its Streetview thinger. But me? Nah, it's all ok. As long as they credit me for my appearance, that is. On 6. June at roughly 2pm Alison and I were walking past Kleine Schanze and I saw the Google camera-car drive by. Turns out, it was on! Here we are for the world to see. I feel so violated. According to the conditions agreed to by Google and the Swiss Office of Data Protection (the office ... protects data I guess) license plates and faces must be blurred. Check. We're blurred. That's totally us though.

Oh, here's the link to our fame.

Being Outside

Here in Euro Disney there is much more closeness with the outside. Even when you are inside, you still feel like you are outside. Why? No air-conditioning. No forced air. So people open up the windows. And the windows open up ALL THE WAY. The doors open up ALL THE WAY. No screens, just huge freakin' holes to the outside. And when they're not open all the way, they can tilt open from the top. So they're really ... always open.

This works both positively and negatively. When it's hot, like it is now, well, it's hot inside. Mornings are nice (since my desk is on the west side of the building ...). And the period from about 1pm until I head home is a bit hellish. But it never seems quite as hot as back in MN though. The shot above really doesn't do it justice. If you like it cool in the mornings you can open up the windows all the way and you have a nice cool breeze flowing through the office. It's a different way to experience life. In the US, offices are completely sealed off from the outside. Here it feels like you ARE outside most of the time. My allergies took a hit at first but now I think I'm at one with the elements.

Also, being in CH there is no point of a weather forecast either - the weather changes every 4 hours or so. So the best weather forecast is opening the window. That'll tell you how to dress. Bring an umbrella no matter what.

It's all about ...

... performance