Weekly Digest

Seasonal maintenance in Lausanne

All the fun and awesome adventures have gotten in the way of blogging once again.  The coldest winter in recent history has been letting up and we have found ourselves getting out more to enjoy our Swiss story.  A quick observation I've been wanting to share has to do with how much manpower the Swiss invest into proper maintenance of their urban greenery.


I am still in awe of all the systematic winter pruning that has been done all around town.  Sometimes the tree line along an entire street is speckled with crimson, as these crews busily work away.  Of course this diligence goes hand-in-hand with other forms of care-taking of public  infrastructure.  Streets sweepers constantly canvass the sidewalks for litter and street signs are carefully hand washed.


I walked past a worker not long ago carefully removing the remnants of an old sticker someone deposited above / on the hood of an ATM machine, using a razor blade.  In most places outside Switzerland, this weathered, faded old sticker would have become a familiar sight for customers, a stable fixture of the ATM.














On Sundays we have been making regular pilgrimages to the Monterux-Vevey region to take in the sites of the beautiful Swiss Riviera.  I love the atmosphere of Montreux and getting lost in the old town area.


                                                                                                  

Montreux rooftops

A few weekends ago we drove to the Neuchâtel Museum of Art and History to visit some of the oldest automata ever built by famous 18th century Swiss watchmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz. These three androids (The Writer, The Cartoonist, and The Musician) are also considered by some to be the oldest examples of the computer. On the first Sunday of each month, these fine historic pieces of precision technology are demonstrated to visitors at certain hours of the day. While they are on exhibit daily, available to visitors in a silent, motionless state, we went to see them in action. The demonstration revealed amazingly complex mechanisms, which, back in their time attracted world-wide attention from emperors and kings, and captivated public imagination (e.g.Andersen: The Nightingale) 

This is the mechanical hand behind the Musician.  Her chest rises and falls with breath as Jaquet-Droz also built-in subtle details such as head and eye movements. 

I recorded this brief  video for you so you don't have to go all the way to Neuchatel in order to admire this amazing talent of a watchmaker. Then again, you might just want to anyway. The Writer was out sick, but the other two worked very well:

The public fascination with automata hasn't died over the centuries.  Robots are now a fact of life, and a new Scorsese movie Hugo, based on Brian Selznick's novel also prominently features an automaton.  It was really fun taking a trip back in time when this romance with androids all began.

On the Swiss slopes

Considering all things cliche about Switzerland, we have done a pretty good job checking things off the list: had lots of fondue and cheese, and admired vast displays of luxury watches and happily grazing cows.  The one thing missing thus far from this Swiss story has been winter fun.  We took the opportunity the other day to make up for this oversight, and went skiing in Villars-Gryon on season opening day.

Right off the bat, our adventures began in this mountain village when our car (along with 10 others) got stuck on ice and snow on a particularly steep street.  With tires spinning, and car sliding sideways and backwards, we came to rest on a sidewalk.  Our ski instructor was waiting for us at the resort and on the clock, so we felt our spirits dampened at this situation -naturally- until I got out of the car, and realized that we broke down literally in front of a mom-and-pop auto shop.  Ten minutes later we had the right size chains in hand, and twenty minutes later we were on our way to the train station to catch the cog wheel to the top.

J removing the chains -end of the day

We arrived late and exhausted but Snowboard Dude did not seem to mind.  All kids except Small Fish were on boards today, with Big Fish and Small Moose taking lessons with Snowboard Dude.

The kids with Snowboard Dude

The truth is, the weather was quite wretched. We had whiteout conditions, strong winds and snow fall, and couldn't see the surroundings. However, Big Fish had a successful first time on snowboard, and after and hour of instruction, Snowboard Dude took her on a Blue Diamond trail. Small Moose did great as well. Big Moose has been snowboarding for a few years so he was on his own.

J and Small Fish: Ski buddies

We had great fondue lunch with Snowboard Dude. He leads an enchanted life divided between that of a ski /snowboard instructor in winter, and of a cycling guide on wine tasting tours in the terraced vineyards of Lavaux during summers. Yes, really.

 

Big Moose in big snow

Back in Villars

All in all, a good trip measured in no broken bones and a safe return home.

Wintertime, and the livin' is easy

Image: myswitzerland.com

It is true: in Switzerland one really can go from doorstep to the top of a mountain via public transportation with incredible ease.  We tested this hypothesis a couple of weekends ago with a trip to Les Pléiades, a small ski resort nearby. This place is not atop a huge mountain by any means. At 1500 m it is just a big hill. But it is a gorgeous and popular place for weekenders to ascend by train, and ride down on mountain bikes following a picnic.

Flowers growing out of the stone terrace wall of a vineyard

The short 20-minute train ride was just long enough to remind us of the beauty of this region. From our speeding coach we admired the vast stretch of vineyard terraces carved into the hillsides as far as the eyes could see. What is it about vineyards that evoke images of a straw-hat-wearing, older version of myself tending vines and pondering the importance of terroir? Such a life will probably never be mine and yet this thought bubble never fails to pop up.

From Vevey we hopped on a cogwheel to ascend to the top. Somewhere in the process we broke through the cloud layer blanketing the whole region, and found ourselves in bright sunshine, summer weather and perfectly still, quiet air. The sweaters quickly came off as we wandered around the meadow in amazement and realizing we were getting sun burnt noses and cheeks. But, apparently Swiss preparedness is rubbing off on me, as I have been carrying a tube of 50 spf sun block in my purse since our trip to Zermatt. This really saved the day believe me, the sun was incredibly potent.

Not much else to say, except that we played at an awesome playground, had hot chocolate and ice cream on the deck of a chalet with a million dollar view (well, adjusting for Swiss rates probably a 9-10 million dollar view) and looked at happy cows. The whole day was so awesome, I found myself singing a new take on Porgy and Bess to the kids. And when I got to this part:

Your daddy's rich 

And your mamma's good lookin' 

I had to agree. It was THAT fine a day.

  

Zermatt, Chillon, CERN: Time travel in three days (Part 1)

As September 19th was a federal holiday here in Suisse, we enjoyed a long weekend.  We decided to not waste a second of it, and planned 3 eventful days of autumn fun.  Right off the bat, we had to change our plan to watch the Sion air show, due to intense rain fall and fog on Saturday.  No big deal we thought, and we headed into the mountains instead to get above the clouds in Zermatt.  Zermatt is a quaint, cute quintessential Swiss village, most notable for being the base for viewing the Matterhorn and for visiting / skiing nearby peaks.

Fooling mother nature was not quite as simple as that.  We parked in Täsch as usual -well I say this because the kids and I visited Zermatt in August and did so,  and took the 10 minute train ride to Zermatt.  This journey just brought us closer to the rain clouds, but not above them.  So A) we could not view Matterhorn, B) the weather alternated between drizzle and torrential downpour.  They say Zermatt has approx. 300 sunny days a year, this was not one of them.  We kept our good spirits however.

J and Small Moose on the Zermatt train

In Zermatt

We went back to Forest Fun Park where the children ziplined and tree climbed in August in scorching hot weather.  Today they repeated the same activities in the rain.  All part of their rigid Ninja training schedule we keep.

Big Moose overcoming obstacles

Big Fish tethered

Downtown, we literally walked into the middle of an amazing performance of Mozart's Requiem, called Hark! Requiem Reloaded.  At first we thought it was a flash mob with umbrellas.  It was a truly moving performance.
Here are some sunny shots from August to give you a better idea of what it is like in Zermatt on better days:

Matterhorn in background

Small Moose navigating the treetops, Matterhorn below him

Big Moose enjoying bratwurst from a street vendor

We arrived back in Lausanne late at night, tired, wet but happy, ready for the next big thing.   

Zermatt, Chillon, CERN: Time travel in three days (Part 2)

Part 2:

On Sunday we took a short drive just a few villages yonder on the shores of Lac Leman to visit one of the most visited historic sites in Switzerland: Chateau de Chillon.  Chillon's history dates back to the 11th century.  It is a massive castle / fort, made up of over 100 smaller buildings or units that got connected over time.  It was a site to behold, and lucky for us, the place of medeival reenactments for the weekend.  This meant that the castle and the yard were full of people dressed in period costumes, acting the part of castle folk.  We walked around for a couple of hours, visited the dungeon, saw Lord Byron's name carved into the wall, climbed a few towers, and took in the site of the lake from the castle rooms.

Small Fish in the cellar / dungeon

Kitchen maiden

J and Small Moose by the lake

The site

The good stuff

Following a fondue dinner across the street in the tavern, we went down by the lake to play and watch the setting sun:

Big Fish in the sunset

Small Fish, Small Moose, Big Castle

Zermatt, Chillon, CERN: Time travel in three days (Part 3)

Part 3: 

On Monday we journeyed back into the 21st century with a visit to CERN.    In particular we went to see the Universe of Particles exhibit and had our minds properly blown with dark matter, dark energy, neutrinos, string theory, the inner workings of the Large Hadron Collider and the like.  This was my second visit here, but I could go again.  This exhibit is full of exciting displays, technologies and artifacts of the past, such as the very first internet server ever, with a sign that reads:  "This machine is a server.  DO NOT POWER DOWN!"  Yes, the internet was invented at CERN.

).  

Small Fish experimenting with the cool interface

The very first internet server

J in the talking chair listening to a lecture on dark matter

Movie about the beginnings of the Universe projected on the walls all around

With our minds stimulated, our bodies exhausted and our spirits high we returned to the school / work routine on Tuesday, looking forward to future adventures in this beautiful place we live in.