Joe considers himself to be the Clark W. Griswold of his family. Apart from his unrealistic expectations of perfect family life in the midst of total chaos, Joe likes to play guitar, work on his computer, and camp/hike/canoe. He is also a huge fan of the Green Bay Packers. He is currently doing a fellowship in hip preservation and reconstruction at the Inselspital, University of Bern, Switzerland.
The first woman in our series, Sophie Täuber-Arp is a female artist born in Davos, Switzerland in 1889. She married the Dada artist Jean Arp in 1922. She studied art in Munich and France, as well as in St. Gallen, Switzerland.
Her art is highly geometric in nature with influences of Cubism. She was skilled in textile techniques, sculpture, paint, and dance. Samples of her artwork can be viewed online through the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
She died in Zurich in 1943 when a gas stove in her home malfunctioned while she was sleeping.
Today, the Swiss bill carrying her image will buy you a Skross World Adapter PRO+ at melectronics. It is, quite honestly, the best travel adapter Swiss Francs can buy. I own two of them (and it only cost me “a pair of Sophie’s” as they say in Switzerland).
Recently, the kids and I went once again to the local playground or “Spielplatz,” and I realized that playgrounds are another expression of cultural differences. Some friends of ours who are doing a fellowship in California posted a picture on their blog of a great playground on Venice beach. It is a large version of a standard American playground, made mostly of plastic, with bars that are the required width so no one will fall off. Things like merry-go-rounds and see-saws have all but disappeared from American playgrounds, presumably because it was too dangerous for kids.
Here, going to a playground is like going back several decades in a time machine. They are all made mostly of wood, rope, and metal. There is always a stand-alone slide and a sandbox. If you are lucky there will also be one or more of the following: swings, a see-saw, a zip line (James’s favorite), a merry-go-round, rocking horse, and something I call the spinning rope of death. The last one is like a giant rope ladder with rope swings attached to it that is wrapped around a pole. Adults or older kids run around spinning it as fast as they can and try not to get hit by the kids who are clinging to the ropes for dear life. The kids think this is a blast!
Another thing I’ve noticed is that there are no training wheels here. I realize my children were very late to learn to ride two-wheel bikes. But, I haven’t seen any training wheels at all here. In fact, come to think of it, I haven’t seen any tricycles either. Even little kids who are 2 or 3 years old ride on “first bikes” that are like mini-two-wheelers with no pedals. They push themselves along with their feet, learning first to balance before learning to pedal.
As I’ve mentioned before, ALL of the kids either walk, bike or scooter to school by themselves from Kindergarten on. I’ve even seen entire classes of kids riding their bikes behind their teacher to go on a field trip. Not to generalize too much, but there seems to be a little less coddling of kids here than is typical in America. Here’s some shots of my kids flinging themselves around at the Spielplatz and having a blast.
Born in 1892 in Le Havre, France to a Swiss family, Arthur Honegger would become a celebrated composer with significant Swiss connections. He studied music in Paris and Zurich. Among his many compositions is one entitled “Pacific 231” a symphony that attempts to recreate the sounds of a steam locomotive that goes by the same name.
He lived in Paris for most of his life, and died of a heart attack after a protracted illness in 1955. His last composition was a Christmas cantata. Below is a YouTube video featuring some of his music.
Sarah and I had to decide how we were going to survive in Switzerland without being able to reliably watch football. We decided the best way to deal with it, is by not dealing with it. Instead, we found out that the NFL offers a product called NFL GamePass to people outside of the United States that allows you to watch football on your computer, smart phone, or iPad. Apart from watching live games, you get access to each game after it is over.
So we decided to get it.
This did pose a problem, though. Sunday games start at 7pm, Switzerland time, and any night game (Sunday, Monday, and Thursday) starts between 2am and 3am. It just so happened that the Green Bay Packers opened the season with one of those 3am games.
Randall Cobb scores on a kickoff return
Normally, when the Packers play, I get so worked up that I have trouble sleeping that night. When I decided to wake up at 2:30am to watch the Packers live, I had no trouble going to sleep that night, but I did have a bit of a hard time staying awake at work. Nothing a few Swiss espresso couldn’t cure, but still…
I know it’s not really embracing another culture, but I’m really glad that I still have football to watch. Go Pack!
Known as Le Corbusier (a pseudonym), Jeanneret was born in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland (in Canton Neuchâtel). Though he become a French citizen later in life, he was honored by the Swiss National Bank for being a well-known architect and pioneer of modern architecture. He was particularly interested in using architecture to provide better living conditions for people in crowded cities.
His most well-known project was the planning and implementation of the Indian city of Chandigarh. He was commissioned by the Indian government to develop the city as a new capital of the Indian state of Punjab. Of note, he also designed the stadium that was to become Saddam Hussein Stadium in Baghdad. He also designed a number of private homes, including one called “Villa Schwob” in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.
He died at the age of 77 while swimming in the Mediterranean sea near Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France.
Today, the banknote bearing his image will buy you two coffees, and two gipfeli at Migros Take-Away.
It feels like almost everyday I end up going to an ATM machine to withdraw my hard-earned American Dollars as Swiss Francs. We’ve mentioned before on this blog how expensive things can be here, but it is more than just the expense that makes me look at Switzerland’s money in a different light. Certainly Switzerland is a world financial powerhouse and daily updates from the newspapers detail the complex policy-making issues within the Swiss National Bank.
But living here has given me the opportunity to really examine the issued notes that make up the money. It’s not something we usually think about in America, but maybe that’s because I know who George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Benjamin Franklin are (not to mention Sacajawea), but who are the people on the Swiss Currency, and what did they do to get immortalized like this?
Part of this interest has been prompted by the recently publicized Swiss Franc New Banknote Project. In 2012 the Swiss National Bank will start printing new currency whose design was the result of a contest. So for a few posts over the next several weeks, I was going to look at who was on each Swiss Franc Banknote (10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 1000 – never seen that one), and find out a little about them. And if I’m feeling up to it, I’ll throw in a bonus post about the coins if you’re lucky.
So, as I noted before, September 1st, 2011 was our tenth wedding anniversary. Sarah and I decided to get a babysitter this weekend (no small feat in Switzerland), and go out for the evening. Sarah had been looking forward to this weekend for quite some time, as she had already decided where we were going for our anniversary.
We took the train down to Thun, a lovely city just 10 minutes south of us by train, that also lies next to the Thunersee (Lake Thun) right where the Aare river exits. In fact, a portion of the old city is essentially an island in the middle of the Aare river, connected to the rest of the city by pedestrian and motor vehicle bridges. On one side of the old city is the bahnhof, and on the other lies Schloss Thun.
Sarah and I walked around the old city, visited Schloss Thun, and had drinks at several outdoor cafes while strolling through the town. We also saw preparations for a festival in the middle of the old town called the Langer Tisch, a festival that involves one long eating table that meanders through the old town.
While this was all lovely, it was by no means the highlight of the day. Sarah had a special plan in mind. There are a number of boats that sail on the Thunersee, “cruises” if you will, that have any number of themes associated with them. There are simple tourist boats, lunch boats, fondue boats, fish boats, wine boats, almost any kind of boat you could imagine. And Sarah had her eye on one particular boat for some time: the Dinner-und-Tanzschiff (Dinner and Dance Boat). She had made reservations for us on this boat, which only rides about once every two weeks or so, when she noticed that one set sail on our anniversary weekend.
The boat itself was beautiful. The M.S. Berner Oberland is one of the largest tourist ships to sail on the Thunersee. The dinner was delicious; we had apparently been upgraded to a First-Class dining area reservation. The view of the lake shore as daylight faded, and lights lining the lake as darkness crept in was fabulous, and made for a romantic evening.
And what could be more romantic, than two 300-lb guys in plaid shirts, unbuttoned at least half way down, singing German folk music with a pre-programmed Yamaha keyboard? Well, that pretty much describes Duo Barbados, our entertainment for the evening. The beginning of every song sounded like Boney M singing “Rivers of Babylon,” which Sarah got tired of me singing until at one point they actually WERE playing “Rivers of Babylon.” Sarah kept referring to what they were playing as “Muzak,” but to me that seemed like an insult to Muzak.
And if they weren’t entertaining enough (and the video below should clear up any confusion there), most of the other boat patrons (many of whom likely got their tickets as a half-price deal through their local ballroom dance studio) sent the entertainment value soaring into the hilariousphere. Among my personal favorites were: creepy guy who sat alone all night without dancing, The Elizabeth Taylor lookalike (at least from about 1 week after she died) and her “partner” who took turns “dancing” with a man in a boat captain’s uniform, and Mr. Bolo Tie and his lovely companion, who were actually very good dancers and enjoyable to watch.
There are times when sitcoms seem unbelievably contrived, but there are definitely times when you can’t believe that your life has turned into a sitcom. The only thing missing from last night was a laugh track, or a live studio audience. But when you are celebrating 10 years of marriage, you don’t let something like a ridiculously surreal Dinner-und-Tanzschiff ruin your evening. Sarah and I toasted the night away, laughed at ourselves, and, most importantly, hit the dance floor a few times just to say we did it all!
While this isn’t really related to our travels, I just want to make note that today, September 1st, 2011 is Sarah and my 10th wedding anniversary. It’s hard to believe that we have been married for that long, but I would be remiss if I didn’t note that I have spent the last 10 years with the sweetest, funniest, brightest, kindest, and most beautiful wife imaginable. She has followed me halfway across the world to allow me to pursue my career. And don’t forget that she has given me three wonderful kids, who she has practically raised all by herself for the past seven years.
So we will get you back to your regularly scheduled program, but I would like close by saying I love you so much, Sarah. I couldn’t be doing all of this without you. And I’m looking forward to the next ten decades together!
This post comes a little late, but on Tuesday, August 23rd I had the chance to visit a manufacturing facility for a large international Orthopaedic device maker. The plant was located in Le Locle, Switzerland, near Neuchâtel, about 5km from the border with France.
Interestingly, this location started manufacturing medical supplies when a neurosurgeon from South America came to Le Locle to talk with the Tissot family (manufacturers of fine Swiss watches) about manufacturing a tiny motor for cerebrospinal shunts used in kids with hydrocephalus. After a series of business acquisitions, mergers, takeovers, and moves, the facility ended up producing a large amount of Orthopaedic implants, including titanium trauma implants, and spine implants.
I was greeted at the rail station by gorgeous weather, rolling hills, charming houses, and a smiling Antonio and Isabelle, the representatives from the plant. Antonio and Isabelle took me for lunch to a local restaurant, the absolutely fabulous Restaurante de la Gare – Chez Sandro. The restaurant, a short walk from the train station, was started by an Italian couple who have since passed it on to their son, though the father still cooks and entertains the guests (and himself, it seems). If you ever find yourself there, the Saltimbocca with homemade pasta is as good as it gets. It has since made my dreams.
Antonio, Isabelle and I talked about the region, the effect of the Swiss Franc on industry in Switzerland, and their impression of the United States. We enjoyed our food, drank a bottle of local Neuchâtel wine, and eventually made our way to the plant.
The plant tour is probably only interesting to someone like me, but it did give me a concrete image of the “Swiss Quality” that is so often advertised here. It was a great time, and I had the chance to meet lots of great people who were proud to show off the work they were doing.
When the tour was done, Antonio drove me to the train station and I boarded my train. As I rounded Lake Neuchâtel and headed toward Bern I felt really glad to be in Switzerland, if only for a relatively short time. It’s nice to remember to feel lucky every once in a while.
So, this is just a brief follow-up to yesterday’s post. Mostly I want to share our pictures from our time in Ingolstadt (including our time at the infamous Barthelmarkt in Oberstimm). I also want to put in a small plug for “backdoor traveling.” Basically, you can find the big tourist attractions, the must-see festivals and cities, and the can’t miss tours, but there is nothing that beats being off the beaten path. The best way to do it is to know someone who is passionate about an area and have them show you around. We’ve had just as much fun in small-town festivals and exploring castles in hamlets no bigger than a city block, as we have had seeing all the big sites.
The first woman in our series, Sophie Täuber-Arp is a female artist born in Davos, Switzerland in 1889. She married the Dada artist Jean Arp in 1922. She studied art in Munich and France, as well as in St. Gallen, Switzerland.
