July 22

We’re in Strasbourg. It has been up and down, really. The city is nice, and it’s fun to be in France. We arrived on Thursday evening and were immediately shown to our rooms. Unfortunately, these rooms came with dead friends that were smashed on the wall and left there. Not just one or two, but multiple creatures—in the hallway, the bedrooms, etc. When someone tells you that you’re staying in a Chateau, make sure you find out more information. Gina and I shared the same immediate (some would say over) reaction, which was to head to the Holiday Inn that I saw on the way into the city. However, it was after midnight, and we couldn’t get a taxi where we are without a 15 minute walk to the bus station……I won’t go into detail, let’s just say that we stuck it out on the third floor with no air in the middle of a heat wave. Thankfully, I ended up talking to Lynne and Carlos who helped me gain perspective and make a plan. On Friday morning, things started looking up.

At 10 a.m. we arrived at Domaine Rémy Gresser for our first tasting of Alsatian wines. It was a small operation, and M. Gresser himself led the tour and the tasting. He was obviously very passionate about his wines, and his enthusiasm was contagious. We tasted seven wines, including Gewürztraminers, Rieslings, and two of his Grand Cru wines. None of us left empty handed. Later that day we visited a more corporate operation, Dopf. They get their grapes from several producers to produce their wines. While the woman who led the tour was very kind and knowledgeable, she seemed to lack the passion of Gresser, who knew his wines from the planting of the vines, the harvesting of the grapes, and through production and bottling. And there was a really cute dog that we named Le Woof.

After this morning's visit to learn how things work at Kieffer, a local caterer, we went into Strasbourg. One of the chefs took a few of us to a great little restaurant on the river called Maison des Tanneurs. It was my most recent meal, and if I died right now, I will have died happy. It was perfect. We, of course, ordered the foie gras, and then shared onion tart, salad, choucroute (a local specialty of sauerkraut with multiple types of pork product) and kugelhopf ice cream. Kugelhopf refers to the fact that it is shaped in the form of a cake-like bread that is popular in the region…I’ll post a picture.

Gina and I are now living on the first floor with Sarah and Katie. We moved some furniture around and are turning lemons into lemonade! And the only dead bugs are the ones that we kill.



There is some wine happening here.


I liked this so I took a picture of it.


This is a traditional kugelhopf cake. Our dessert for lunch was ice cream that had some sort of crust on it shaped like this with raspberry and vanilla sauces. In the little well in the middle of the cake, there was some sort of brandy.

Tomorrow we leave for Strasbourg, home of foie gras! What can I say? I’m excited about the goose and duck livers, it’s true. While we’re there, we plan to visit a couple of patisseries (I’m not sure if that’s plural for patisserie or not), tour Strasbourg, and visit at least two vineyards. Should be some good stuff. We’re all a little ready for a break from the hotel and its food. Now that we’ve started classes, we cook lunch for ourselves twice a week, which is giving us some variety. Yesterday, Sarah and I made a lovely tofu chocolate mousse with a pecan crust. Well…that was the idea. Remember when I said that we would have to make do sometimes? It turned into a walnut crust with butter substituted for canola oil and orange brandy for vanilla (there was no vanilla extract anywhere in the kitchen). The theme for the day was “heart healthy.” We were able to keep the tofu. Go us, keeping our hearts healthy. Ok, not really. We took the scraps from our tournee potatoes (we’re not very good-- there was still a lot of potato attached) and made French fries. We were all so happy. They really were just perfect. Today we were supposed to make apple strudel. Again, we had some ingredient issues. There wasn’t enough strudel dough so instead of rolling it up, we sort of made it like baklava. And there wasn’t an ice cream churner, so the dairy base for our apple glace turned into a sort of apple yogurt sauce. We just kept pouring in the Calvados, made a little caramel sauce, dusted the whole thing with powdered sugar, and served it with a smile. It actually didn’t turn out as scary as it may sound.
Monday was my second day at my internship. I worked with a really cool girl named Andrea. She could speak English, but I asked her to speak in German, and then we just translated what I couldn’t understand. I would tell her the words I understood, and then we would work out the rest. In our German class yesterday afternoon we learned some words for the bakery, so I think that will help. I’ll find out tomorrow morning. It looks like I’ll be working there twice a week from 5 a.m. until noon. It seems so unreal when my alarm goes off at 4:30, but it’s kind of nice to feel so accomplished by lunchtime.
At the beginning of the trip, I wondered how long it would take until we started showing our true colors. It’s happened! While there is a fair share of weird group drama (that I’m managing to mostly avoid, thankfully), my favorite thing is that a student in my class walked up to the chef yesterday with a bunch of celery in her hand asking, “is this celery or parsley?” She really didn’t know the difference. This is the same woman who is dying to go to Alain Ducasse in Paris, and is willing to spend 500 Euros to eat there. Hmmmm…..I’m thinking of so many things to write about, but will have to wait. There is some studying that I need to do. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing this. Sorry if I’m a little scattered and sporadic sometimes—so many things going on at once.

July 15
Today we went to Lucerne to try to cram way too much into one day. Well, I don’t think that was the point, but that was what happened. I believe that I mentioned that I was thinking at some point I might go through a sort of rebellious 14 year old "I'm ditching the group" thing. Which is exactly what happened. About a third of the way through our walking tour, around 5:30 p.m., I thought, "I absolutely can't do this anymore." Sara and Katie came with me and we caught an earlier train back to Engelberg. The group left the hotel at 7 a.m. to catch the 7:15 train. We arrived in Lucerne about 8:30, just as the market was starting. It was so beautiful. The vegetables and fruit are like nothing I've seen. So fresh and beautiful. The only frustrating thing is that we don't have consistent access to a kitchen. So there we were, surrounded by all of these great things to eat and nothing to do with them if we got them. So...we settled for some cherries, a pastry and a cappuccino-- which isn't really settling in the grand scheme of things is it? We also visited Confiserie Bachman for a chocolate demonstration and a sampling of chocolates. My favorites were an almond and honey concoction dipped in chocolate, a dark chocolate truffle with a hint of rosewater, and an absolutely gorgeous handmade truffle that was prepared while we watched. Overall, it was a lovely day. I decided to take pictures of me and the people here that I like so you would know who my friends are in Switzerland....There are also pics of the market and the chocolate demo.



Just a fraction of the yumminess....




I had to get this woman in a picture....she's so fabulous. The halter, the Dior shoes, the apron. By far the most fabulous vendor there.


The chocolate guy.


That whole tray is just for us!!!


Gina from DC and me. She is really quite lovely.


Sarah from San Diego. She is 19, but she'd rather hang out with us because we're cooler than the other 19 year olds on the trip. Imagine.


Colin is a straight edge skater kid from Charlotte, NC. He's very funny and keeps us from getting on each other's nerves too much.


Anita from Chicago....she and Gina and I share a brain, I think. We think a lot alike. No wonder we like each other.


Eric from DC...We like him-- in spite of the fact that he's prone to break into Kelly Clarkson, Reba McEntire or Broadway at any moment.


This is me in Lucerne....that is Old Town in the background.

July 13, 2006

So…. I started my internship today at Bäckeri Jakob this morning at 5 a.m. Thankfully, as I was walking through the lobby to leave, the overnight receptionist said, “you need coffee?” And he unlocked the dining room so I could get some. I proceeded down the very quiet street to the kitchen where I was greeted by Carmen and Maria. They are both very sweet and were very patient. Carmen speaks more English than Maria, which isn’t much. We did manage to communicate for the most part, however. Thank goodness there’s always a bunch of flour or powdered sugar on a table surface…it doubles as a writing surface. She would draw words—German is one thing. Swiss German is another. Everyone was lovely, and at 7:30 we were able to have more coffee for just a few minutes. It is wrong that I have done enough work by 7:30 to deserve a break. But I had! By that time I had dusted 600 cookies with powdered sugar and formed them into little mounds that would later be baked, put on top of kirsch buttercream discs frozen, then dipped in chocolate ganache. It took me a minute to get the hang of it, but somewhere in the second verse of “I don’t want to go on with you like that” by Elton John, I was on a roll. I definitely miss getting to play music off of my co-worker’s i-tunes. I made some other things that I can neither pronounce nor spell, so you will just have to trust me. One thing that is weird is that I will totally miss the social aspect of work. I didn’t really talk about anything except work stuff, and that was difficult enough. I think it will be an adjustment.

This week has been pretty busy for us. Classes started—I’m taking International Cuisine. My teacher, Pam, is a chef from Art Institute of Ft. Lauderdale. She’s a really great teacher. Not all chefs are….but she actually teaches you how to do stuff instead of acting like you should already know. There will be a lot of times that we will just kind of have to make do with what we’ve got, and move on. She seems to have the ability to do that. We are using the hotel’s kitchen. This means that for half of the class, the hotel chef (a lovely man named Guisseppe—pronounce with a “pay” accent on the end) is in there trying to get lunch ready. The other day he let us help him….I think he was happy to have 10 extra pairs of hands. At the same time, however, we were in class. Anyway, Pam totally went with the flow, didn’t freak out that we weren’t “on schedule” and we went on our merry way. By the way, they are not nearly the freaks about cleanliness that we are in the States. However, no one seems to get sick. Interesting. Guisseppe is a new chef here. He is Italian and, in addition to Italian, speaks German and French. He would speak to Pam in French and she would translate.

When I’m not in class or working or eating (we have most of our meals provided for us—meaning we have to be there—who really eats three multi-course meals a day?! It’s a good thing my room is on the fifth floor—those stairs are helpful)—anyway, when I’m not working, eating, in class or sleeping, I either go to Lucerne or walk/bike around the village here. It is really beautiful….I wonder if I’ll get used to it. I imagine that I will since, as humans, we tend to become sort of numb to what’s familiar. However, I hope it always impacts me. I hope that when I’m walking and am looking ahead at the Alps, that the feeling I get when I look behind me and realize that they’re on that side too still makes my stomach drop.
Below are some random picture….
the signs for “stairs” and “pedestrian crossing”…I love the little man, though I haven’t seen anyone looking nearly that dapper. Also some Swiss cows, an actual Swiss man on a bike, and someone paragliding. Please note that I will do that before the end of the summer. OH....finally, the last picture. A story. There is a covered bridge in Lucerne. You're walking happily along and you happen to look up. "Oh! Look at the nice paintings!" you say to yourself. Upon closer inspection, however, you realize that some of the bodies have no heads..."hey, what's that floating in the water in the picture?" you ask. Heads. Anyway, there is a series of war and decapitation paintings. Fascinating.

July 9th

It's been 4 days now that we've been together. Everyone is, for the most part, still on good behavior. Though you can see tensions building here and there. Our own little “Real World.” I definitely made the right decision to not have a roommate. The rooms are fine, but small, and I can't imagine sharing with another person. It's a little weird to have a hall bath, but it's not gross like I thought it would be. There are only two showers, but that hasn't been a problem. We each have a sink in our room-- most people have TVs. I don't, but I think I'm ok with that. A little break from the telly won't hurt me. I have an armoire, which is bigger than the closet in other rooms. That works out nicely. I also have a bed that's bigger...somewhere between a twin and a full size. There are also French doors leading to my very own balcony. Yesterday we went to the grocery, bought food and had a picnic out there. Peanut butter and Nutella sandwiches. We really don't eat enough Nutella in America. Basically we hung out around Engelberg on Saturday and had a little hike. In the afternoon we visited the local Benedictine monastery, which has a cheese factory. We watched them make cheese, and had a tasting. It was so yummy.

Classes start tomorrow and most of us aren't sure of our schedule yet. The lab classes that normally meet three days a week in Atlanta are only meeting two days a week to give us more time for days available for our internship....it works out to two days of class/two days of work/ off or traveling on Fridays-- works for me! Tomorrow or Tuesday I will visit my internship site. So far, things have been really laid back. That will soon change, I imagine.

Today we went to the top of Mount Titlis...it's one of the mountains behind the village and is 10000 feet high. You get up there riding a series of cars hanging from wires, one of which rotates and plays techno music. Well…it was a cross between something and techno. A sort of dum-dee-dee-da-da with a techno backbeat. I'm not kidding. For the last 2500 feet we were in a rotating car, suspended from a cable with music blaring.

At the very top, you could hike out onto the glacier…it was about 4 degrees Celsius. I’m not sure of the conversion off the top of my head—somewhere in the high 30s or low 40s Fahrenheit. They also had the ice flyer and tubing. I’ve posted some picture below. Basically, the “ice flyer” was kind of like a ski lift that took you off of the highest part of the mountain. At first it was a little scary—with my feet hanging in the air and the sight of dropped gloves and shoes. Within about 10 seconds, I was over the scary part and thoroughly enjoyed it. The only disappointing thing was that it moved kind of slow. We were thinking that we would have more of a “flying” experience. Oh well. Still fabulous. We discussed that there was really nothing to complain about when one is in the Alps in July playing in some snow. Whether you fly fast or not. Oh—and the music that they played was once you were in the “ice park”—with the tubing, ice flyer and other stuff—was all rap. We were greeted with a little Wu Tang.

After the ice flyer we went down a trail on rubber tubes….You sit in the middle, a woman swings you around with the attached rope and off you go! I went up a bank and did a flip, which would have been even cooler, had I been holding on at the time. Nevertheless, my tube and I stayed together and I continued down the slope. It was so much fun. You’re going from side to side, down a hill while spinning around. We wanted to do it again, but there were other people there, so we had to give them a turn. Instead, we opted for some French fries—ok, they give you one pack of ketchup with the order. After that, it’s .50 CHF each. That’s like 45 cents! I could go broke on ketchup. The good news is, though, that the fries were yummy enough without all the Heinz and we moved on. After getting cold and wet, and walking back in the rain, I went to the sauna that’s here in the hotel. Pretty lovely. I’m sitting in the lobby of the hotel, and Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” is playing. They make interesting choices about what American music to bring over.

July 10th
Today is pretty uneventful. I woke up early enough to take the 8:15 a.m. train to Lucerne. I went with one other student—we had a mission-- An alarm clock and laundry detergent. We were doing some price comparison. Because Engelberg is a resort town, everything is super expensive. Well….we lucked up and found ourselves outside the Target/Wal-Mart of Lucerne. It’s a bigger version of the Migros supermarket that we have here in the village. They had everything….food, clothes, electronics, cookware. We found it within the first 15 minutes we were there, and spent another hour or so wandering in and out of other stores. I bought some hair gel for about $2. I’m sort of scared to use it, but we’ll see what happens. We spent the rest of our time going in every supermarket that we saw. The fruits and vegetables were beautiful. The eggplants were such a deep color purple, they were almost black. And completely pristine. No bruises or scrapes or anything. Same with the mushrooms—you know how you pick through a bin of mushrooms at the supermarket, and they have brown marks on them, chunks missing out of them, etc? These were just beautiful. Also, Cool Ranch Doritos are called Cool American Doritos here. And we were the cool Americans, taking pictures of them—heehee.

This afternoon, I was supposed to visit the bakery where I’ll do my internship—it is just up the street. A three minute walk. I’m so lucky. Other people have to catch the train to Lucerne, which can take more than an hour. Anyway, we had to cancel the meeting for today, I’m not sure why. Chef assures me, however, that I still have the job. And that, really, is what matters. Today, tomorrow. We’ll see. Also, it turns out that we may do our shifts in one day. So it would be one ten hour shift for me….that could start as early as 12:30 a.m.! So…it seems I have a free afternoon. I think I’ll take a little walk, and go find some postcards so you guys can get mail.


Some pictures...




Some pictures...


A view from my balcony.


Another view from my balcony.


Jesse, Colin, and Corrina, our travel guide and tour coordinator.


This is a fire hydrant. Around here they're all painted into little people.


A view from Mount Titlis.


Me, Eric from DC, and Anita from Chicago in the cable car going up Mt. Titlis.


More mountains because they're pretty.


Ice tubing on top of Mt. Titlis.


Small and large french fries. Kleine und grosse pommes frittes.


A view in Lucerne today.


Cool Ranch Doritos-- Swiss style, yo.

Here are 3 pictures from the Kunsthaus Zurich....There were so many works, and I know the pictures don't began to do them justice. I have more that I may post later. Here's a little Picasso and Rodin with a touch of Monet for now.


The Kunsthaus Zurich


Rodin sculptures (with Monet in the background)


Picasso

Thursday, July 6

Today I left Zurich and headed to Engelberg where I will meet the rest of the Art Institute students. After traveling alone for only 2 days, I feel more open about (small) group travel. When I’m by myself it takes me forever to get anything done because I’m so easily distracted. Perhaps it’s not a group I need—just Ritalin. A Klosterbrau will have to do while I listen to French pop music (except for an occasional Cat Stevens cover or Bryan Adams song) and think about my day.

Before leaving Zurich I went to the Künsthaus—their museum of contemporary art. It is truly awe inspiring to see works that one has read about or seen in books. Degas, Cezanne, Brancusi, Rodin, Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, Kandinsky, Matisse--- they were all there. The area near the Künsthaus has a different feel to it than the other side of the river that I was on for most of yesterday. The crowd here is a little younger and more contemporary. People seem to be just cruising around doing their thing. Yesterday people had more of a sense of urgency about them. Here there was time to sit and smoke cigarettes, have a coffee and just be. After the museum I stopped for lunch at Café Zähringer. I couldn’t really read the menu, but managed to recognize cheese, pesto and “hot”….I figured I couldn’t really go wrong with that. By the way, it turns out “schinken” is ham, not chicken--Which I vaguely recalled from 10th grade German. But not until it was on my plate. So I had a lovely sandwich with melted brie, a little bit of thinly sliced ham and basil pesto. It was warm, and the bread was crusty on the outside, but soft on the inside. And just for fun there were some grated carrots on the plate. Yummy. With that I decided it was time to start the trek to Engelberg via Lucerne.

I grabbed my luggage from the hotel, and proceeded to the train station, where the only ticket purchase option seemed to be from machines. I look at the machines, and the maps displayed beside them. Lucerne was nowhere to be found. I saw the “Tourist Information Office” and headed there….thinking, “I’m a tourist, I’m sure they’re helpful.” And they were…..I was able to purchase my ticket and move on. The train was at platform 53, so I was told. The nice man said that it was far away in the new part still under construction just behind the train station. There was good signage and I made my way there….past platforms 1-52. I noticed somewhere around platform 4 that a sign said “Luzern”….but my schedule said 53 and so I kept going. Past roads, and cars, and shops, and trains and other platforms and a bank and the post office. Finally! Platform 53. Oerliken? yes. Bern? yes. Luzern? not so much. So, I thought I should see what that was about. Well, in this new part of the station they have yet to build a ticket booth or information desk. So I went back….past the post office and the bank and the other platforms and trains and shops and cars and roads (and, of course, “Luzern at platform 4). When I returned to the main area, I saw the ticket station with people. So I asked. And ended up at Platform 4. And that is how you arrive an hour before the train leaves, yet almost miss it.

I made it to Engelberg without much trouble. I did exit the train at Wolfscheissen because that’s what they train guy told me to do. Apparently, however, I was just supposed to move to the front of the train. He said get on the next coach. Which means car, not train. Maybe I should know that. Anyway, they shorten the number of cars to go up the final mountain into Engelberg. Thankfully, I realized that I needed to get back on the train and did not find myself stuck in the village of “wolf shooting” unarmed. The scenery was beautiful. There were little alpine cottages, and everyone seemed to have a garden. Even in multi-family units, there were what looked like community gardens. Bright flowers, vegetables and herbs. It was cloudy so parts of the mountains were hidden, but the peaks would rise above the clouds. There is snow on the top of some of them. As we went further along I found myself above the clouds. It was so cool! I arrived in Engelberg about an hour before the rest of the group and was able to settle in a bit. We woke up this morning to rain, but that didn’t stop us from taking the walking tour around the city. It’s very tiny but has everything one needs. There are lots of things to do outdoors here in the summer—hiking, biking, paragliding, swimming, rock climbing, canyoning. I’m excited to try some of them. I’ll take pictures.

Friday July 7, 2006
The people that are a part of this group seem fine. Most of them are around 20 and excited that they get to drink without fear. There are some who are a little older…30s and 40s. I’ve already found a couple of people I like. Gigi, an Italian from DC, Colin, a skater kid from Charlotte, Jesse from Atlanta, a girl whose name I can’t remember but she makes me laugh, and Sara from San Diego who will go to shows with me. And there is Bob from Iowa who I like because he is from Iowa and thought about becoming a Trappist monk just so that he can truly learn to brew beer. There are some other good people too. I just don’t know them yet—it’s only the second day. The other chef instructor, Pam, is from Chicago and seems nice. I think she’ll be my International Cuisine teacher. She has said that if I find a yoga class, she’ll go with me. Therefore, I have attributed a number of positive traits to her automatically.

Today we ended up with a surprise free afternoon, so a big group went to Lucerne and walked around. I had some initial concerns that everyone would try to stay together—which is nearly impossible for a big group. A few people kept trying to make us wait for everyone….so 5 of us left them. That worked out nicely. We sat down and had a lovely cappuccino after walking around the city. I plan to go back to Lucerne to see some other things….We got back to the hotel in time for dinner—around 8 p.m. The food in the hotel is fine—it is “free.” (included in the cost of the trip)….it’s better than I thought because my expectations were low.

Ooh! Good news. I think that my internship will be at the bakery just up the street. What this means is that to be there by 5:45, I will get up at 5:30. I’m not sure when I have to be there yet—it could be earlier. Chef O (who has been my baking and pastry instructor in Atlanta) said that they’re nice people. The other choice was one in the valley that would involve multiple modes of transportation. Chef said that he thought it would be nice to take care of me. I have to agree. Also, my International Cuisine class will meet at 7 a.m. 3 days a week. Who knew being in class at 7 would seem so luxurious?!
Later I will try to post some pictures from the Kunsthaus and Engelberg.

I have just finished dinner and am back in the hotel. I walked down Niederdorfstrasse, one street over from me, which is full of shops, bars and restaurants. I smelled something really yummy (garlicky, peppery, tomatoey) so I stopped in the nearest restaurant. Unfortunately it was not the source of the smell….so I had a glass of wine and continued down the street. Then I found it. A little Italian place—I enjoyed a respectable salad and penne with arrabiatta. “Italian in Switzerland?!” you may ask. Well….did I mention the wind was starting to blow umbrellas inside out, awnings off buildings and flatware off of outside tables? Seriously, I wasn’t kidnapped by the van driver, I’m not going to get gouged in the eye with a butter knife my first day. I ate by myself at a real restaurant without a book. That never happens. I don’t even sit at coffee shops by myself without something to read. But there was nothing to distract me—except some Americans beside me who were telling their Swiss host about Olive Garden and Planet Hollywood. I wish I was kidding. Anyway, I enjoyed the rain, and listened to people speak in German. It was kind of fun. The rain came and went then came back again. I made it back to my hotel during a break, and am planning my day for tomorrow. I think I will go to the Kunsthaus the museum of modern art. Then I will go to Lucerne and on to Engelberg to meet up with the rest of the group.

Hi from Zurich. My flight here was just fine. I was happy to make it on the plane, and even happier to be in business class. That's never happened before. It really is nicer. I slept about 3 hours or so. There was some turbulence, but nothing too rough. I sort of think of turbulence as speed bumps in the air so I don’t get freaked out. This works for me in spite of the knowledge that there is no solid matter under the plane. As we were approaching Zurich, I thought that Switzerland might not be that different from the southern part of the US. There seemed to be a church on every corner. But things look a lot closer together when you’re above them. I wonder if birds have trouble judging distances.

Once I was on the ground, I was happy to discover that my checked bag had also arrived. I tracked down the bus to get me to my hotel and I was off! The bus driver was a man from Tunisia who has been here 8 years. He kept saying “OK! We go now!” Whether we did or not. It turns out that he doesn’t love Zurich, but doesn’t plan to leave anytime soon. We got stuck in morning traffic, and he was running late for his pick-ups. So, once he dropped off the other passengers, he asked if it would be ok if he made two stops to pick people up before he dropped me at my hotel. It was 9 a.m., I knew my room wouldn’t be ready so I said, “why not?!” Sure, it could be an evil plot to kidnap me, but I thought the odds were good that I would be safe. It turned out to be the right decision. I got to see a lot of the city, and he pointed out things I might find interesting—the university, old churches and museums. He received a phone call asking why he was late to pick up his passengers. He yelled into the phone a lot…..the only word I understood was “scheisse.” Anyway, once off the phone he apologized and said that it was “bad talk.” I pointed out that I didn’t really understand it (though I managed to get the gist from his inflection, tone and hand gestures), and we continued on our way. (“OK! We go now!) He told me that he loved Americans….apparently he thinks us a very kind, upstanding, cultured people. Except for Bush. I wondered how long it would take before someone said something about the President. Turns out it was about 15 minutes.

I arrived at the Hotel Basilea, and was pleased to see that many of my needs can be met within the block. For instance, Boutique Erotica and Speical Moments, a store specializing in “love aids” are just across the street. There is also a café two doors down. Oh, and a Starbucks. Of course I didn’t.

A room was ready for me, so I was able to check in and put my bags away. Once I washed the airplane gunk off of me, I headed out. For the first hour, I just walked. I rarely had any idea where I was or where I was going. Finally, I found my way to the Museum for Design. I saw an exhibition of photography by Hans Finsler and some of his contemporaries. The main focus was his architectural photography from the 30s, though there were some landscapes as well as photos of objects and materials. The exhibition also briefly dealt with how photography made its way into graphic design and advertising.

From there I navigated the tram system and went to Bahnhoffstrasse, the main shopping strip. I sat at a café and watched people go by. First I had an Einseidler Dunkel Bier (sleepy) then I had a cappuccino (awake!). I almost got mineral water instead of the beer, thinking I should hydrate. However, the beer really gave me the best value. More beer for the same amount of money! I love that. I did ask for some tap water, which came out in something the size of about one and a half shot glasses.

I had a great time reading and people watching. Some observations….the chic Swiss man wears capris. It’s true. They were everywhere. And if they weren’t capris, then the jeans were rolled up to just below the knee. Women are wearing white….pants, skirts, tops—but especially pants and skirts. More than one was also wearing a black thong underneath. Flip flops or kitten heels seem to be the footwear of choice. People. walk or bike or ride their scooters or take public transportation. I haven’t been on a bus yet, but the trams are nice. They’re well marked and clean. And people use them!

Once I had my beer and coffee, I walked around. I went into a few shops…..including H&M. I don’t even have to look for tH&M—it’s like it finds me. There are huge sale banners everywhere. And lots of people shopping. I’m not sure how I’m coming across to people. Well, I’m pretty sure it’s easy to tell that I’m not from here…what with the pointing and tentative speaking. But I noticed that when I would say something in German (to someone who had spoken to me in German), they would respond in French. Maybe my German has a French accent. Once I said “merci” instead of “Danke” just to see what would happen. I figured that if I actually said something in French, a person might realize that it’s not really my first language. Totally backfired. The woman in the shop started speaking French to me. Then looked confused that I didn’t understand. Ok, it’s only broken German from now on. Anyway, I have had to ask someone if they spoke English only once (at the airport). Otherwise, I have, at a very basic level, gotten by with only German. I have navigated a tram, purchased drinks, asked for prices and checked into a hotel. I’ll have to see how dinner goes…….

I have attached some pictures for your enjoyment….They include, a man in capris (to the right of the guy in the hot pink JAMS), a dude getting some girl’s digits, the Museum for Design and pictures of the city. About the guy and girl….I witnessed the Swiss version of “Yo, what your name is?” And it actually worked for him! If you’ve read this much, wow! Thanks. I totally would have stopped by now. Future posts won’t be this long, I’m guessing.