Swiss Missives

Why I Support Barack Obama

2008-10-21T01:12:00.006+02:00

As we are now a mere fifteen days away from the election and the campaigns are getting even uglier (especially from one particular side of the aisle), I think it’s a good time to look at why I support Barack Obama in the first place. Of course, his platform is the most important aspect of this since it’s his actual plan for America. However, there are many other reasons why I have been devoting the better part of my time back at home to volunteering locally for Barack. While I could enumerate them all, that would likely just preach to the choir. Instead, I’d like to suggest to any undecided voters out there that they watch one or all of the following three speeches. Sure, the McCain campaign has given Barack a lot of flack for his eloquence, but I believe intelligence isn’t something to be sneered at, especially when it serves to articulate the core of what someone stands for. There are certainly many people out there who don’t consider themselves Democrats and probably didn’t focus too closely on the Primaries, waiting until the real contest we are experiencing now. For those, I submit these prime examples of why Barack Obama inspires me and why he’s the right man to lead our nation into the next chapter of our history.

DNC Keynote Address, August 2004

A More Perfect Union, March 2008

Speech at Apostolic Church of God on Father’s Day, June 2008

Additionally, as part of my local volunteering I’ve been blogging for the Pickerington Campaign for Change office about various events in and around Fairfield County, Ohio. You can find that blog here.

Bad Type Worldwide

2008-09-28T00:39:00.003+02:00

It’s now been two months since I left Europe and I’m coming to grips with the fact that I’m not returning (at least not anytime in the near future). I suppose it’s probably also time to hang up this blog, or at least this iteration of it. Therefore, a final post devoted to some of the places I was able to visit over the past two years that will bring us full circle.

When I first arrived in Switzerland I wrote a couple posts detailing my dismay at finding the much maligned Comic Sans font at use in a country known for good design and typography. My silence on this front in the time since may give the inaccurate impression that my encounters with Comic Sans came to an end. Unfortunately, the truth is far more sinister. In almost every country I visited, I spotted examples of the dark side of globalization.

Here, a goodbye to Europe and a good riddance to awful typography:

Geneva, Switzerland

Vevey, Switzerland

Montreux, Switzerland

Note: Italicizing it doesn’t make things any better

Interlaken, Switzerland

Annecy, France

St. Gervais, France

Paris, France

Madrid, Spain

Barcelona, Spain

No, outlines don’t improve the appearance either

Dublin, Ireland

How can a brand as large as 7Up stoop to such lows? And Fido Dido still exists? If you say so, Dublin…

London, England

Budapest, Hungary

Bold, outlined, AND with a killer gradient in the background? Sign me up!

Prague, Czech Republic

Not only do we get Comic Sans (which appears to be squished), but there’s also a second horrifying typeface on display

Hamburg, Germany

Rome, Italy

There is just so much going on here that I don’t know where to begin, so I’ll just let the photo stand for itself.

Athens, Greece

This isn’t Comic Sans, and fortunately I didn’t see any Greek version of the font. However, they had plenty of their own display faces including this exciting example.

Zurich, Switzerland

I was pleased that Swiss design centers Basel and Zurich appeared Comic Sans-free. But I did find this stacked Hobo on display in the latter city.

Change We Can Believe In

2008-09-04T19:32:00.003+02:00

One of the interesting things about living abroad for the past two years has been seeing our electoral process through the eyes of citizens of other nations. There is great interest in this election and there is great interest in Barack Obama. The McCain campaign continues to pummel Obama on his perceived “celebrity,” but in my mind, having 200,000 people show up to hear him speak in Berlin is an attribute and a testament to his character, not a detriment. The world is ready to be rid of the Bush presidency and be inspired by something new. I have been following Barack since his famous 2004 DNC speech and as the 2008 election cycle began, I wondered if he’d be able to make it through at such an early stage of his political career. He quickly silenced my doubts with his strong integrity and his inspirational message of Hope. Certain people like to be cynical about this message, but honestly, if you don’t have hope what do you have? It is the foundation of the Christian faith and it is how we should look toward the future – with the hope and belief that things will get better and that we don’t have to be stuck with the way they are now (not just in America, but abroad as well). The more and more I read and viewed, the more I realized that this is indeed the right candidate for America. Barack Obama is a role model, and despite the mud being slung his way this week, I am proud to support him. My hometown of Pickerington recently opened an Obama For America office, and while I’m in the process of portfolio-updating and job-searching, I’m volunteering there a few days a week. (If anyone in the area is interested in getting involved in the campaign, I encourage you to drop by.)

Following last week’s Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama and Joe Biden traveled to Ohio making a stop north of Columbus at Dublin Coffman High School on Saturday. In a Labor Day weekend filled with family, friends, baseball, and other excitement, it would have been hard to top the opportunity to see these candidates in person. Adam and Julie, newly returned from their year abroad in England, joined me in the early afternoon and we made the trip. We arrived around 3:00 and spend a few hours in line and then inside the football stadium before the event got started around 6:30. We were fortunate to be on the field and very close to the podium. The excitement of the event was palpable and the diversity of the crowd was inspiring. There were ages ranging from babies to senior citizens and a wide spectrum of ethnicities represented. Not only that, but the crowd was remarkably courteous, respectful of one another and exhibiting nothing close to the “anger” that the folks at the RNC seem to think defines the Democratic party.

The rally began with the pledge of allegiance followed by a prayer before several of the area’s Democratic candidates had a turn to speak to the crowd. Finally, Ohio’s Senator John Glenn took the stage and gave a fine speech endorsing and introducing Biden and Obama. The candidates spoke about their vision for the country and reprised several of the key points from the DNC. Ultimately, Barack reminded us that he’s running for the people and it’s up to us to spread the message of change and hope.

Ghandi said you must be the change you wish to see in the world. A defeatist attitude helps no one. I strongly believe that we have the power to change the planet and to indeed be part of God’s kingdom breaking through to this world in which we live. While it would certainly be naive to think that this election can fix everything, it is a huge piece of the puzzle. Together we can make a difference and a better tomorrow. Yes, we can.

Some photos taken by the three of us:

Me and Adam, pleased with how close we were to the stage

Senator Glenn

And an inspirational video highlighting the grassroots movement for change:

Venice, Italy: The Final Eurotrip

2008-09-01T20:04:00.003+02:00

The weekend before I departed Geneva (and, therefore, Europe) I finally made my way to Venice, a destination I had been wanting to get to since my arrival two years prior. The beauty of the city certainly lives up to the hype, though the prices of everything there do as well. I arrived on a Sunday afternoon and departed on Tuesday afternoon, giving me plenty of time to explore, visit some nice art museums and have a final taste of authentic Italian food. What a place.

Worth a few thousand words:

The Grand Canal

There were plenty of thunderstorms and plenty of sunshine during my visit. The times when both converged made for some amazing lighting.

They love their St. Mark in Venice. His winged lion is all over the place, including the Basilica.

Carnival masks are all over the gift shops of the city.

the grand staircase at the Doge’s Palace

the towers of the Basilica

Arrivederci Italia!

Brussels, Belgium

2008-08-22T05:12:00.002+02:00

Back at the beginning of July, I decided to spend a few days in Brussels since I had already planned to attend part of the Rock Werchter festival in Belgium. It was one of my final European mini-vacations and I definitely want to return at some point to do a cross-country brewery tour.

I split my time in the city between sight-seeing and volunteering since some friends of friends were hosting a big “Serve The City” event that week. I had the opportunity to help paint at a refugee center and a children’s daycare. Despite the hard work, it was great to give back and meet some other people while in the city.

Unfortunately, on my first day in town, I got a call from my Californian friend Chris (who had interned in Geneva last summer). He and three friends from home were backpacking through Europe after graduating this year, and I was actually expecting to see them in Switzerland over the weekend when they’d be crashing at my place. However, while in Bruges Chris had his passport, Eurail pass and credit cards stolen so they returned to Brussels to get a new passport at the American embassy. Of course, this meant they needed a place to stay in Brussels and all the hostels were booked due to Serve the City. I mentioned the guys’ plight to the head of this service initiative and in a wonderful example of Christian fellowship, we were able to find volunteers to house the guys for that night which was really cool (plus I got to see them a few days early). Fortunately, the rest of my time in Brussels went smoothly and Chris and the guys were still able to make it to Geneva in time for the 4th of July.

All that being said, how about some photos of Brussels?

Comics are known as “BD” in French-speaking countries and are really popular in Belgium which gave birth to the Smurfs, Marsupialami and Tin Tin among others. I saw several buildings featuring the characters in wall paintings like this one.

Quite possibly the city’s most famous landmark, the Manneken Pis, which is in fact a child pissing.

I found it interesting that graffiti on public monuments is left standing. In Switzerland, this would be gone overnight.

From the city's great art museum: a Hieronymus Bosch detail. What a crazy, crazy man.

The Death of Marat. Even more amazing in real life than in art history class. Go figure.

Inside the brewing museum. It really wasn't much more than a video, but it was a comprehensive video and came with a free pint, so well worth it.

And finally, a gorgeous art nouveau building.

Towers Of Beer

2008-08-19T04:39:00.004+02:00

Over the course of my two years in Geneva, I had several occasions to visit Les Brasseurs, a microbrewery with four locations in the region. Not only is their beer great (especially the amber), but they serve it in a way not uncommon in many European nations: by the yard. Yes, Les Brasseurs specializes in towers of beer. I know I mentioned this practice at least once before, when Joe came through last summer, but the sheer glory of it cannot be understated. Thankfully, I had a final opportunity to enjoy one with some friends a few weeks before departing.

Behold, the tower of beer:

Such Great Heights

2008-08-17T01:06:00.003+02:00

Some time ago now (at the end of June), Adam and Julie returned to Geneva for take 2 of paragliding (an item on my "things to do before I die” list). As you might recall, they had come through towards the end of March and we made an unsuccessful attempt thwarted by wind and rain.

This time, however, was much more successful. In short, we had gorgeous weather and great flights. We again headed to Interlaken and it proved a wise choice as the beauty of our surroundings was unsurpassed.

I won’t do much in the way of descriptions because in this case, the pictures are worth much more than anything I could attempt to describe. I will, however, say this: somewhat counter-intuitively, paragliding was one of the least frightening and most fun things I’ve ever done. Somewhere in the back of my mind I thought I’d be jumping off a cliff, but the truth is you just need to run down a gentle slope and the parachute just lifts you off the ground in a way I can only describe as “magical.” I highly recommend it.

En route to our departure point

Preparing for flight

Julie lifts off

The rest of the group getting into the thermal lift area

My flight instructor Dominick and I over the city

I even got to take the reigns for a few minutes to steer; fun stuff

another aerial view of Interlaken

amazing

After touching down and having another great rösti, we headed back to Geneva to go to a friend’s going away party.
In addition, being back in Geneva allowed us the chance to do some other fun activities on Sunday. One thing that it took me that long to finally get around to was exploring the Salève, a mountain just across the border in France. We didn’t have time to both ascend and descend on foot, so we took the funicular up and hiked down. It was another breath-taking day with some spectacular vistas.

Le Salève from below

Geneva from atop the mountain

Finally, that evening before Adam and Julie returned to London, we had the chance to stop by a music festival sponsored by AMR, the school that puts on the Tuesday jazz jam sessions. It was a nice way to end the weekend, relaxing with beer and friends.

The Porrs

Me and Adam enjoying some tasty Calvinus

My Summer in Music Festivals, Part 3: Lollapalooza

2008-08-13T01:21:00.003+02:00

After missing 2007’s Chicago-based Lollapalooza due to being in Europe (and I think I was in Budapest that weekend, so I really can’t complain), it was nice to be able to make it back this year. While the lineup wasn’t quite as interesting to me as that of 2006, the rest of the attendees seemed pretty impressed; for the first time as a 3-day festival, the event sold out all 3 days! And it certainly felt more crowded than 2006 – it took me the better part of an hour to exchange my ticket for a wristband and make it inside on Day 1, causing me to miss the majority of Rogue Wave’s set. However, I still had a great time and was able to get good stage position for the artists I was most interested in.

Of the acts I saw, here’s how I felt their live shows stacked up:

Underwhelming: MGMT, Duffy, Cat Power (I enjoy studio albums from all of these artists, but they lacked something live)
Decent: Cool Kids, Black Kids, Rage Against the Machine
Good: Rogue Wave, Gogol Bordello, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, Radiohead, Lupe Fiasco, Flogging Molly, Kanye West
The Best: The Go! Team, Explosions In The Sky, Okkervil River, The Raconteurs, Mark Ronson

The Go! Team rocking the Bud Light stage

The Raconteurs were again great. Sure, I’d just seen them in Montreux but they’re such a good live act that I couldn’t resist seeing them again. Of course, this time I was a bit further from the stage…

The madding crowd gather for Radiohead who performed unopposed the first evening. I am honestly not that big a fan of the band, but they put on a solid show. Especially amazing were the unrelated fireworks visible to the left of the stage during the middle of their set. They worked perfectly with “Everything In It’s Right Place” and then climaxed in time to the apex of “Fake Plastic Trees” which was incredibly serendipitous. A beautiful ending to Day 1.

The beautiful Buckingham Fountain in front of the Chicago Skyline by night

Lupe Fiasco owns the stage on Day 2.

Flogging Molly, who I’d seen about six years ago on the Warped Tour, delivered an energizing set of their Irish-punk anthems.

Another Lollapalooza, another Gnarls Barkley performance. Their cover of Radiohead’s “Reckoner” was a highlight.

My favorite performance of the weekend was British producer Mark Ronson (who delivered my favorite album of 2007 in Version. He brought out a number of special guests he’s worked with including rapper Rhymefest (Ronson plays guitar in the background).

Kenna also joined the festivities…

…as did Aussie crooner Daniel Merriweather who kicked out a great version of the White Stripes’ “You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told).”

Ronson jams on an instrumental of Coldplay’s “God Put A Smile Upon Your Face.”

Alex Greenwald of Phantom Planet pops up for Ronson’s cover of Radiohead’s “Just” and proceeds to scale the stage scaffolding.

Then, all of Phantom Planet joins him on stage for a raucous version of “California.” Awesome! What a way to end a great weekend of music.

Also, Kanye West was there. In all seriousness, he put on a good festival-closing show for his hometown.

My Summer in Music Festivals, Part 2: Montreux Jazz Festival

2008-08-11T19:25:00.003+02:00

As I mentioned last year, the Montreux Jazz Festival is really a two-week series of concerts rather than a traditional festival. The line-up this year was quite good, though the expense of tickets made seeing many shows cost prohibitive. As it was, I went to two concerts the first week which combined were more expensive than my Lollapalooza 3-day pass.

Even so, I’m glad I was able to make it. The sound, lighting, and video production at MJF are stellar and it was a fine way to start saying goodbye to Switzerland.

On Monday, July 7th, I joined my friend Lee and some other folks to see Vampire Weekend (who I’d just seen in Belgium) and the Raconteurs, the second band of the White Stripes’ Jack White. I’d seen the latter band two years ago at Lollapalooza and it was easily one of the highlights of that weekend. The band puts on a killer live show and the chance to see them at a more intimate venue like MJF’s Miles Davis Hall was irresistible. And, unsurprisingly, the band were amazing. It was definitely one of the best shows I’ve seen recently and Vampire Weekend were a great opener, though they didn’t play any longer than at Rock Werchter even though they had more time allotted.

Vampire Weekend

that band’s Ezra Koenig

the Raconteurs

the crowd getting into “Steady As She Goes”

On Wednesday my brother, who had arrived in Europe the weekend of my parents’ departure and spent the subsequent weeks touring the continent, passed back through Switzerland on his way home. We returned to Montreux that evening to see Paul Simon with several of my Geneva friends including Darryl, Katie, Robyn and Frank. The concert was excellent with Paul supplying a mix of tracks from the classic Graceland, his terrific 2006 release Surprise, and several Simon & Garfunkel tunes including my personal favorite, “The Sound of Silence.” The band brought down the house on “Call Me Al” and brought out Patti Austin for “Bridge Over Troubled Water” which I’ve now seen both halves of Simon & Garfunkel perform independently. It was well worth the price of admission and late train home.

It’s events like MJF that make Switzerland special and I’m pleased that I was able to make it part of my summer again this year. Maybe someday I’ll make it back there…

My Summer in Music Festivals, Part 1: Rock Werchter

2008-08-08T04:55:00.004+02:00

Before I get caught up on my final European trips, I figured I’d blog about my music festival experiences this summer while last weekend’s Lollapalooza is still fresh in my mind.

I kicked off the summer of concert-going with a day at Belgium’s Rock Werchter on July 3rd. The festival is in a town outside Leuven (which is about 20 minutes away from Brussels). It wasn’t very well-advertised outside of Belgium (perhaps intentionally so), but it had the best line-up of any of this summer’s festivals in my opinion. On the day I attended, I saw Vampire Weekend, Counting Crows, the National, Mika, Lenny Kravitz, R.E.M. and the Chemical Brothers. Acts on the subsequent days included Beck, Ben Folds, Radiohead, the Raconteurs, Gnarls Barkley, My Morning Jacket, Mark Ronson, Panic At The Disco, Sigur Rós and the Verve, just to name a few. Like I said, stellar line-up.

The festival itself was also pretty great. There are only two stages, so at most you're only missing one other band. Furthermore, the smaller of the two stages is covered so it has the feel of a more intimate club or concert hall. Really great atmosphere. I only attended the first day because I figured camping on my own for four days would lose its appeal quickly, however I’d love to go back in the future for the whole thing.

It stormed torrentially right in the middle of the day, but I managed to stay mostly dry and wasn’t too miserable. Thankfully, it was pretty much dry again by the time R.E.M. performed. Unfortunately, their show was scheduled to go until 12:15 and the last train back to Brussels was at midnight, so I decided to stay at the festival. The Chemical Brothers played from 1am-3am, so I had entertainment until then, and by the time the bus got me back to the train station I only had to wait an hour until a train. From there I went straight to the airport and made my way back to Geneva. It was the first all-nighter I’ve pulled in several years, and though I was exhausted it was totally worth it.

Anyway, here are some photos and more commentary:

To get to the festival, I took a train from Brussels to Leuven, a bus from there to Werchter and then walked 1.5km to the festival entrance.

Vampire Weekend played the smaller stage. They sounded great and debuted a new song that I really enjoyed.

If there’s one thing I look for in a music festival it’s consistent branding. Ok, not really, but it is pretty nice to see everything so well-designed including the drink and food vouchers.

I’d somehow managed to have never seen Counting Crows before, but they put on a solid show just as everyone says.

The National lit it up on the small stage. They’re a band that I think wouldn’t have worked nearly as well without the covered setting.

Another act I hadn’t previously seen was Lenny Kravitz. I’m not a huge fan of his music, but he puts on a fantastic show of inspired old fashioned rock’n’roll.

The main reason I picked night one of the festival was the chance to see R.E.M. touring behind their latest album, Accelerate. I was able to get to the front section of the crowd and had a great vantage on the show. It was an even mix of tunes from throughout the band’s tenured career, though I felt the crowd was a bit apathetic. Oh well. I enjoyed it.

The band had great video and lighting effects, including this section which created instant pop art of Michael Stipe.

Mike Mills, Michael Stipe, and Peter Buck say thanks and goodnight from the front of the stage after their performance.

At night, both fields turned into Dj’d dance parties/rave-ups. The main attraction was the Chemical Brothers on the larger stage. It was entertaining (especially the video screens), though house music really isn’t my cup of tea.

The field at the end of Day 1. Can't imagine what it looked like after Day 4.

And now, a fond farewell to my beloved Pumas. Since they were on their last legs, I decided to give them one last hurrah in Belgium. They served me well.

Barcelona, Spain

2008-08-07T00:14:00.002+02:00

It’s now been almost two full months(!) since my parents and I ventured to Barcelona following their stay in Switzerland. In total, we spent about three days there as a family before they departed on a Mediterranean cruise with some of their friends and I joined friends of my own for the weekend.

All told, I enjoyed Barcelona quite a bit, but I’m glad I had previously been to Madrid because it doesn’t feel distinctly Spanish in the same way that the capital does. Barca is a much more international city of the ilk of New York, Paris or London. However, it does have a lot going for it beginning and ending with the architecture of Antonio Gaudi. A major presence in the city, his version of Art Nouveau uses undulating organic forms to evoke various natural elements. Underlying steel skeletons allowed his genius to take almost any form he desired on the buildings’ surfaces.

While in town, we did a lot including a Gaudi tour, the Picasso museum (which featured a great temporary exhibit of artists riffing on Velazquez’s Las Meninas), a nighttime bus tour, a trip outside the city to the spiritual center Montserrat, and time browsing around Las Ramblas and the general vicinity of our hotel. When I joined Kara and her boyfriend Sergio for the weekend we took a bike tour which took us to the beach and also climbed up to the center of the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Five days is a lot of time and I have a lot of photos, but in the interest of brevity (and in an attempt to try and get myself update sometime soon) I’m just going to post a few of my favorites here.

Joan Miro mosaic on Las Ramblas

Christopher Columbus column

an underpass at Gaudi’s Parc Guell, originally conceived as a housing development

one of the city’s unofficial symbols is this lizard (part of a fountain) at the park

proving that fact, here’s a street performer dressed as that lizard

detail from the newly completed Passion side of the Sagrada Familia church which Gaudi devoted the end of his life to (this facade was done by Josep Subirachs

nighttime detail of his Casa Batlló

Montserrat

the famous Black Madonna

a fence on the grounds which is almost certain supposed to evoke the crown of thorns

The “Magic Fountain” near the Olympic Village. Quite a spectacle (though not quite as cool as the Belagio in Vegas)

Kara trying a milkshake at a chocolate museum we toured

Olympic Stadium

Kara and me in front of Barca’s arc de triomph on our bike tour

Finally, this ad was everywhere the whole time we were there, so Sergio and I had to get our picture with the lovely Vanesa (apparently a Spanish soap star)

Airportman

2008-07-21T16:34:00.005+02:00

Generally speaking, I’ve been very fortunate throughout all my travel in the past two years. I’ve only had a handful of delays and aside from the Budapest strike incident, everything’s been smooth sailing. Leave it to my trip home to be one of the biggest hassles.

Normally, to get from Geneva to Columbus I would have flown with Continental straight through (with a layover in Newark). However, prices for that trip have been cost-prohibitive this summer so I found a deal on a one-way British Airways flight to Chicago O’Hare via London Heathrow. I had never actually been through Heathrow before but most of the stories that have been relayed to me have been of the “horror” variety. I was a bit concerned about making connections and having my luggage since I’d be landing at the infamous Terminal 5. However, all these fears were completely unfounded as my BA flight was great and everything went off without a hitch.

No, it was the final piece of my journey that proved the most difficult. To get from Chicago to Columbus (only about an hour by plane), I had booked a United flight at 6:45pm. There were earlier flights, but my other flight didn’t arrive until 2pm and knowing I’d need to make it through passport control, baggage claim and customs before check-in and security, I opted to give myself plenty of time. Well, being cautious ended up folly. I opened my e-mail around 5:30am on Sunday morning in Geneva to a message saying my United flight had been cancelled and they’d booked me on a flight this afternoon at 2pm (There were several other United flights that day making the same connection; mine was the only one cancelled). Naturally, news like this isn’t the best when you’re about to spend the whole day in the air and just want to make it home.

Fortunately, my brother (the night owl) happened to be online when I made the discovery and I gave him the information I had. Despite spending the morning with my stomach in knots (from stress, worry, or beer from the day before? hard to know...), when I landed in Chicago I had a message from a United rep with information for an NWA flight they booked me on. My mom was able to call during my transatlantic journey and work something out. So, as it was, I spent a few hours in Chicago before flying to Detroit and then, finally, into Columbus at 11pm Eastern Standard Time (about 23 hours from the time I’d left my apartment in Geneva).

Making the trip somewhat less distressing was a visit in Chicago from Scott who is finishing up his summer vacation in the city before heading back to Japan this week. It was great to catch up, if only for a few hours, especially since it was New Years 2007 that we’d last seen one another. Photographic evidence:

So, long story short, I have made it back safely from Geneva despite some uncertainty going into the journey. Now come a few months of relaxation and organization as I regroup to figure out what comes next. Let’s hope it’s a time of “great opportunity,” to quote from the R.E.M. song which gives this post its title.

Thanks again to all my Geneva friends for coming out last week to help my say goodbye. I will miss you all and look forward to when we meet again.

Despite the fact that I am no longer in Europe, I’ll keep this blog going for a few more months at least since I still have a lot to cover from my final weeks and months on the continent. Hopefully I’ll have the time to do so in the near future…

Parent-Sitting

2008-07-10T23:05:00.006+02:00

As these things sometimes/always go, I am very very behind on updates. Hopefully I’ll have the chance to prepare a few more entries before my re-entry to the US. Even if not, I’ll try to keep this one relatively succinct for your benefit and mine.

A bit over a month ago, my parents finally made it back to Europe to visit me. Their previous trip had taken them to the UK sometime before I was born (and maybe even before they were married?), so this was actually their first time in Continental Europe. Because I had to work during the week of their arrival, I sent them on a few day trips in which they got to visit Bern, Lucern, Lauterbrunnen and various others. Finally, on the weekend after their arrival I began my vacation and was able to accompany them to some places in the country I hadn’t yet traveled.

Basel

It seems kind of crazy that it took me almost 2 years to make it to Basel, one of the country’s design centers (home of a world-renowned design school where two of my professors studied). When I finally did visit, it was during ArtBasel, an international showcase by various galleries and artists at the city’s massive convention center. We spent the better part of a Saturday browsing some great (and exorbitantly expensive) contemporary art.

Entrance to ArtBasel

On Sunday we returned to do more traditional sight-seeing including some nice museums and the zoo. The city is quite beautiful with some great Medieval architecture. That, coupled with the thick Eurocup atmosphere made it a great day.

the Rathaus at the city’s main square

an amazing door relief

detail of a Rodin sculpture

sweet birds at the zoo

street scene

Broc

On Monday we traveled to Broc to tour the Callier chocolate factory which has technically been owned by Nestlé since the early 1900s, but still retains its own recipes and name. It was a nice visit, compounded by the fact that it was free and included a room full of chocolate for unlimited tasting. Yes, please.

So much chocolate, so little time.

Sampling some of the goods

Gruyeres

Following Broc, we made our way to the cheese-making village of Gruyeres. We were able to do the cheese-making tour which included some delicious samples of differing ages of the namesake cheese, but missed out of touring the Chateau or H.R. Giger museum (devoted to the artist behind the aliens in Alien, which for some reason resides in this otherwise quaint little place). Even so, it was a fun trip and I think my parents enjoyed the spectacle of the Raclette we ate.

Cheese aging in the cellar

Entrance of the Giger Museum

Dad preparing some raclette (in which you melt the top of a block of cheese and scrape it onto a plate of potatoes)

Vevey

On Tuesday we stuck around Lake Geneva, venturing just an hour away to Vevey. This lakeside city offers fantastic views across to the mountains and has a nice little statue as a tribute to Charlie Chaplin who lived in the area after he fled the states during the McCarthy Era. We wandered around in the morning and enjoyed the views.

Mom and Dad

Chaplin as the Little Tramp

There’s a Museum of Food near the lake, thus it’s only logical that this giant fork would be there.

Lausanne

Our Swiss tour ended with another trip (for me) to Lausanne, one of my favorite cities in the country. We did the standard “attractions” as well as some shopping and a last dinner at a great pizza place/microbrewery I try to get to every time I’m in town. Since I’ve covered this city pretty well in other posts, I’ll just leave you with one final image to haunt your dreams.
My new vote for scariest mannequin ever:

Eurocup 2008

2008-06-24T17:30:00.000+02:00

If there’s one thing Europeans (and just about all the world outside America) love, it’s football (soccer). Unfortunately, I arrived a few months too late in 2006 to experience the excitement of that year’s World Cup. However, this summer has almost made up with the 2008 Eurocup being hosted in Switzerland and Austria. For my fellow Americans, the Eurocup is basically the same as the World Cup but on a smaller (read: European-only) scale. And the Europeans take it just as seriously. Play kicked off on June 7th and concludes on the 29th.

Geneva is one of Switzerland’s host cities (along with Basel, Bern and Zurich) and hosted three games in the first round. Thus, there has been no end of football fervor over the past few months. Several of Geneva’s key monuments have been refitted for the occasion and our town is home to the country’s largest “Fanzone” (basically an off-site viewing center for the games that includes giant screens and sound plus plenty of food and beer).

Thus far, I’ve experienced the tournament in a variety of ways. Traveling through Basel on the day of the first Swiss match, witnessing hordes of orange-clad Dutchmen descending upon Bern while changing trains there, seeing Spain triumph over Sweden at a bar in Barcelona, watching Germany conquer Portugal at the Fanzone, and of course plenty of other matches from the comfort of my own apartment. It’s been an exciting time thus far, even if England didn’t make the tournament and Switzerland didn’t make it through Round 1.

Some photos of the madness:

Swiss fans gather in Basel’s train station on the day of Switzerland’s first match

Giant viewing screen in Basel’s town center

Geneva’s Jet d’Eau (or “big old geyser,” according to Emily Verba) gets outfitted with a giant 200,000+CHF football for the occasion. As if that weren’t enough, the thing popped a few weeks back and they actually returned it to the UK for an 80,000 pound repair…

Geneva’s Flower Clock gets an equally exciting treatment

The host city icon for Geneva

Geneva’s Fanzone at Planpalais

Germany and Portugal duke it out on the big screen

Portion of the massive crowd. There are an inordinate amount of Portuguese people in Geneva (and Switzerland in general) so their fanbase is pretty big here.

Who’ll win the whole thing? It’s been pretty unpredictable so far, but I think undefeated Spain could be a nice surprise champion. Time will tell.

Florence, Italy

2008-06-18T14:49:00.003+02:00

The train ride from Pisa to Florence is only about an hour so we had a full day upon our arrival. After finding Andy and Julie’s hotel, we headed off for the Accademia which is home to Michelangelo’s David. We had booked tickets online a few months prior but had a slight mishap when we got to the ticket counter. Seems that our reservations were for the Accademia in Venice. Oops. Even so, the ticket guy let us re-buy admission without having to wait in the really long non-reservation line so despite paying a little extra we didn’t lose any time.

Turns out the only really notable thing in the gallery is David. Even so, it was worth the price of admission. Out of all the famous buildings and pieces of art I’ve seen since I’ve been in Europe, the David is the most impressive/least disappointing. The larger-than-life size certainly helps, but the shear artistry of the thing is phenomenal.

Following that, we headed to the Duomo and then grabbed lunch at a little place our good pal Rick Steves recommended. Good choice, Rick. The afternoon took us to the Uffizi Gallery which includes Botticelli’s Birth of Venus among others. It was alright, but I’m starting to think that I might not really care for Renaissance art that much after all. At least they had some really nice Caravaggios (including the Sacrifice of Isaac).

We also took time to wander across the Ponte Vecchio, eat more gelatto, and climb the steep hill to the Piazzale Michelangelo which offers a magnificent view of the city. Before too long, it was time to grab dinner and jump on the airport bus so I could return to Geneva. The Daubenmires would continue on to Rome, but my midweek journey had to end here.

Duomo

front of the church

nice candelabras

the interior of the dome

crowd in front of the baptistry

close-up of one of the bronze door reliefs (replicas of the originals, apparently)

Alessi creates the greatest knife-holder ever

Replica David

Perseus slaying Medusa

UC has two little lion statues at McMicken Hall which are kind of unofficial school mascots. They are based on this guy. Here, I display a bit of UC pride.

the Ponte Vecchio

maybe the most dramatic statue ever. The dying guy’s hand is amazing

Beautiful view of Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo

the Daubenmires on the hill

another David replica which caps the whole thing off

Pisa, Italy

2008-06-17T15:31:00.003+02:00

Once again, I find myself way behind on entries. I have plenty to share about the Eurocup, my parents’ visit to Switzerland and our trip to Barcelona last week. However, given my desire to keep things as chronological as possible, I must first share about Italy.

Last month, Andy and Julie came to Europe for their summer vacation, and though they didn’t have time for Switzerland, I was able to join them in Pisa and Florence, Italy, places I’ve wanted to visit for awhile but hadn’t yet had the opportunity. So it was that early on the morning of Tuesday May 20th I boarded a train for an 8-hour journey south. I connected in Milan and Florence before making it into Pisa mid-afternoon, just after the Daubenmires flew in from England.

They met me at the train station and we dropped by the hotel (my first in a very long time) before heading to see the tower. It was great to see them for the first time in a few years and fun to reminisce about a few high school band trips (even if we had trouble remembering some of the details) as well as catching up on our current lives.

Anyway, if you talk to anyone who’s been to Pisa they are likely to complain that all there is to do there is see the tower. In a sense, that’s true. I suppose if Pisa was your destination and you planned to spend a few days there you’d quickly become bored. However, if you only plan on spending an afternoon there, it’s certainly worth a visit. First off, the tower (which is of course leaning) is quite a marvel – it’s the oldest standing tower in the world. (It also seems a rip-off to pay something like 16 Euro to go to the top which we opted not to do, but friends have told me is actually worth it.) But beyond that, it gives a nice sense of a smaller Italian city. We explored at a leisurely place, found a great place for dinner (with amazing gnocchi, even though we passed it by two or three times because it looked completely empty from the outside) and had some terrific gelato to boot.

All in all not a bad pace to pass the time before our trip to Florence the following morning.

Yes, it really leans

as do Andy and I… a little too much

foundation

the accompanying basilica

another little Pisa church, this one by the river

The Daubenmire double-camera assault

exciting Iron Man-themed graffiti

the tower by night

Days of Wine and Beer

2008-06-04T16:17:00.004+02:00

I give Geneva a pretty hard time, but it is a nice place to live. Once in awhile, everything comes together and you have what can only be described as a “perfect day.” I had one of those a weekend ago. On Saturday May 24th, Geneva had its Caves Ouvertes or open cellars at vineyards across the region. Basically, all the wineries open their doors and offer free tastings to the public. Some of my friends from the Hash were planning on attending, so I joined in on the fun. There are several outlying regions of the city which make wine (Swiss are known for their whites, though the reds are nothing) and the least touristy/busy of the bunch are also where the estates are quite spread out. Wanting to avoid the heavier traffic, we headed to the countryside by bike. All told, some twenty-two people were in our posse, and the weather ended up being perfect. It started out overcast with a bit of drizzle, but that quickly passed and we had cool but clear weather.

Having spent my previous weekend at another regional wine-tasting in Mont-sur-Rolle (a bit before Lausanne on the train), I assumed Geneva’s event would be similar: pay a few Swiss francs for a glass and then travel around to various places and sample their wares. At that location, the vineyards are much closer together and the public transport is amazing: they literally drive you to whichever vintner you wish to visit and will come pick you up whenever you want. Some of the places have baked goods to munch on while tasting, but nothing fancy.

Geneva, however, far exceeded my expectations. Despite the lack of an easy way to get around (bikes and cars excepted), all else was wonderful. There was no paying for a glass: everything was completely and utterly free. And while most places had some simple cheese and bread available, they also had much more. Our first stop offered grilled sausages (3 varieties!). Another offered free raclette (a Swiss dish that is basically melted cheese over potatoes). Another allowed you to take and empty bottle; place it on an assembly line; and watch as it was filled, capped, and labeled before you collected it and kept it. For free!

So by the end of the day, we’d been to about 6 or 7 different wineries, had full stomachs and had paid absolutely nothing (excepting any bottles of wine bought along the way). This is probably just about the best “deal” I’ve ever found in Geneva. I only wish I’d been able to go last year as well.

Of course, the previous weekend also had its own charm. The Mont-sur-Rolle tasting (with a small group of Hashers as well) was a lot of fun, and that came on the heels of a beer festival.

A few friends from YAGs and I took a one-and-a-half hour trainride to Martigny to experience the Fête de la Bière. We didn’t really know what to expect, but we found a 70s-style community/convention center type of building filled with beers from around the world and the least pretentious crowd I’ve ever come across in Switzerland. My kind of people.
We each paid a few francs for a glass and then bought tokens (in the form of bottle caps) to exchange for tastings of different beers. There were stations set up all around the perimeter of the building according to regions of the world. My find of the night was a Belgian brown that’s an 11 percenter! Amazing.
They also had live bands playing from a pair of stages in the center of the floor.

All in all, it was a fun evening a great way to spend time with friends (especially church friends).

Here are a couple of Rob’s pics:

Kate’s well-planned train journey with raspberries and sparkling wine...

Cheers!

Mmmm… beer.

CERN visit

2008-05-29T12:00:00.000+02:00

I’m doing my best to make the most of the rest of my time in Switzerland. One example of this came a couple weeks ago when I was able to join my Finnish friend Erkki on a trip to visit CERN, the large particle physics campus on the outskirts of the city. CERN is where the Large Hadron Collider (basically the world’s largest particle accelerator) is nearing completion and where scientists will be looking for so-called “God particles” that may give better understanding to the Big Bang. It is what some people think will be the end of the world. I will probably get many of these details wrong because I am not a scientist, but Erkki is an engineer and worked on the data collection panels at one of the accelerator sites.

For an overview of the whole thing, I recommend listening to Kurt Anderson’s excellent Studio 360 podcast which this week happened to discuss CERN:

Here’s what I can explain: the basic layout of the accelerator is a very large underground ring. There are actually a series of rings, in which the particles are loaded and then transferred until they finally get to the larger outer ring. At various points along these rings are a series of experiments designed to collect different types of data. The experiment we visited was CMS which is actually over the border in France. (Here’s a diagram from Wikipedia:)

At this site, protons will be smashed into each to try and find new subatoms. Each type of particle has a certain properties that give it a certain trajectory when collided. These trajectories are picked up by the data collectors and can then be used to determine what types of particles were produced. If previously unknown trajectories are detected, these may represent the “Higgs boson,” a hypothetical undiscovered subatomic particle. It’s all very dense, but if you are interested in learning more, check out the Wikipedia page about the CMS site which gives almost as good an overview as Erkki. (But not quite.)

Anyway, I didn’t know what to expect the accelerator to look like, but I certainly had something in mind like a sterile white lab. Instead, it was a massive mutli-colored mechanical construction that was more on the scale of space exploration. Very impressive. Here are the photos:

The throughly impressive data collection station at CMS

The even more impressive heating and cooling controls

Me in front of the accelerator

Once the experiment goes live, this fun retinal scanner will make sure only official people can get in. Side note: I didn’t know real retinal scanners already existed.

The whole thing is about 100 meters underground. It doesn’t seem like it when you’re down there, but we climbed the stairs back up, and I assure you it’s deep. Here’s my proof (creepy yellow lighting an added bonus).

Mike Wong

2008-05-28T14:57:00.003+02:00

I recently booked my plane ticket home so I will officially be returning to America on July 20th. I know I’m ready for a change, but it will be a bittersweet departure from this city that’s been, for better or worse, home for the last two years. This means I’m now entering the phase where everything marks a potential “last” time to do something. Last night for example, I attended my penultimate French class and between that and YAGs I decided to grab some Pad Thai from a local Asian Fast Food mini-chain (by which I mean it has 2 locations).

And I honestly can’t believe I haven’t written about the magic of Mike Wong any earlier than this. Sure, I’ve only been there a few times (even “fast food” and “cheap” options in Geneva are expensive by American standards), but it’s got a unique charm. You see, Mike Wong’s “identity” blatantly rips off not 1, but 2 major American corporations. Sure, the McDonalds reference is obvious, but check out the squashed Nike swoosh that typography is riding on. Pretty amazing.

Last night’s trip was the first time I noticed the slogan on the carry-out bag:

In case you can’t make it out, that does indeed say “I’m lovin’ it too much.” Above another swoosh, of course.

Oh, Mike Wong; how I’ll miss you.

Return to Bernese Oberland, Part 3: Bern

2008-05-27T16:55:00.002+02:00

After our canyoning adventure, Andrew and I decided to make the most of his Swiss Rail Pass and boarded a train to Bern, the country’s capital. I’ve now been living Switzerland for about 21 months and it took me almost that long to get there (not counting the evening I spend in the train station following a concert in Zurich). I’m really glad we went! It was a nice sized city and very active (though perhaps some of that was the fact it was the day after a national holiday so many had probably taken off work). We walked pretty much the whole thing and covered Rick Steves’ suggested city tour. The symbol of Bern is the bear (the name has to be some sort of Germanic remnant meaning the same) so there are bears all over the place.

Bern has several of these medieval fountains around town that are one of the city’s trademarks

Also fairly well-known: this clock, on which at the turn of every hour the characters do pretty much nothing…

The final judgement entryway of the otherwise sparse cathedral

Beautiful stepped hillside by the river

Walking the line between depressing and hilarious (hilariously depressing?), Bern keeps a bear pit by its tourism office. You can buy food to throw down to them and they are so lazy they often don’t bother unless they can catch it without moving.

Me and Bern

bookstore gnome

Swiss parliament

The fountain of an ogre. Yes, those are children he is eating.

scariest mannequin ever

Controversial fountain that is, at the least, interesting

And finally, yes, this was in a store in Bern. Obama ’08! Even Switzerland’s getting into the act!

After a busy afternoon and a bit of window shopping, we hopped on a train back to Geneva in time for dinner and some rest before Andrew’s insanely early 6:00am flight. He managed to pack a lot into the trip and I’m glad I was able to join for at least some of it. Now I just have to find a way to get out to Wyoming to visit him…

Return to Bernese Oberland, Part 2: Canyoning!

2008-05-26T14:55:00.003+02:00

On Friday morning Andrew and I went canyoning, which involves traveling through a canyon by climbing, rappelling, jumping, swimming, etc. It just so happened that the day we went was the first time the outdoor adventure company was opening this particular passage of river for the season, so we lucked out. The weather was also much more cooperative than Adam, Julie and my failed attempt at paragliding.

It was quite a fun experience, though not nearly as physically demanding as I may have thought (or hoped). For example, the rappel was controlled entirely by the blayer and not myself. Even so, the various jumps and dives were a blast and we got our money’s worth. I bought the photos afterwards, so here are a few of those:

The crew: me at back left, Andrew front and center

The canyon

This is my "I've done actual rappelling before and this is nothing, so since you're making me take a picture I'm gonna be really enthused about it" face.

Psyching up for a jump

one of our instructors demonstrates the “Superman” dive

Return to Bernese Oberland, Part 1

2008-05-22T15:32:00.005+02:00

Schrummy’s trip conveniently coincided with a Swiss holiday and I took an extra day off to join him on a little Swiss travel (Maggie had to head back to Paris midweek). We met up in Interlaken (where I’d recently gone with Adam and Julie) and fortunately had better luck with weather this time around.

We spent Thursday hiking around various alpine villages, starting in Lauterbrunnen and trekking straight up to a little mountain town called Gimmelwald (highly recommended by Rick Steves). The sign told us it would be almost a two-hour hike but we managed in half the time. I guess those signs are for a slightly different demographic of traveler.

From there, we wandered around the little town (which is about as traditionally/stereotypically Swiss as you can get) and over to a slightly bigger ski destination called Mürren where we had some great Rösti (the glorified hashbrown dish I’m sure I’ve mentioned at least once before. After making our way around there, we decided to try and get back down to Lauterbrunnen and found a snow-covered path that was still “closed for winter.” We figured it couldn’t be too bad and lucky for us, a prior visitor had left a pretty good boot path, so we only ended up knee-deep in snow a couple times.

We ultimately made it back to the city and finished our day with an outdoor drink at one of the hotels before returning to Interlaken and our hostel.

Misc:

Interlaken

Interlaken’s flower clock and my best tourist face

Valley between Lauterbrunnen and Stechelberg

Gnomes were everywhere. My theory is that the big one here recently killed the two at bottom right. He appears to be quite excited about it, too.

The Hike Up:

Me, by Andrew

Gimmelwald:

the firehouse; everything in town is made of wood, so during the dry season there’s 24-hour fire watch

example of lots of wood storage

Mürren:

Alps near the Jüngfrau

Andrew makes the rösti look almost as good as in real-life

The Hike Down:

Andrew, by me

Me, by Andrew

Waterfalls a-go-go

More to come.

Home Away From Home

2008-05-19T15:41:00.005+02:00

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of entertaining friends for 3 consecutive weeks. First, a couple kids I met at a study center called L’Abri (which I’ll probably write more about at some point) came through, then Kara came over from Madrid, and most recently Andrew Schrum came through on his European adventure (and was joined for part of the time by Maggie). Since it’s now been a full 8 months since I was last home, guests are a nice way to stave off potential homesickness.

Andrew and Maggie’s visit was especially fun, given that we basically all grew up together. While I had to work Monday-Wednesday of their visit, we were still able to spend plenty of time together and we had a great time.

Here are some photos Andrew took of our Sunday afternoon in Geneva (during which we visited a total of three different parks):

We, of course, also went for fondue (convenient that there’s a great place within walking distance of my apartment)

On Tuesday I recommended they day-trip to Lausanne while I was at work and I joined them in the evening for a concert by the Go! Team at Le Romandie. We ate at a really good pizzeria/brewery and headed to the show which was really entertaining.

Andrew took this shot of Maggie and I enjoying a beer before the concert. Open containers are perfectly legal in Switzerland, something I’m definitely gonna miss upon returning home

Unfortunately, the lights were low and thus, the photos aren’t great. Here are a few nonetheless:

Unfortunately, the last train back meant both that we missed the encore and were too late for Geneva’s buses so had to walk back to my place, but it was well worth it.

Coming up: I return to Interlaken with Andrew and do some hiking and canyoning

YFC “Road Rules” 2008 Update

2008-05-13T16:10:00.003+02:00

Hi everybody,

I’m happy to report that this weekend’s cycling trip around the lake was a big success. We had great weather all through the ride and were only threatened with rain for the cookout at the end. Fortunately, it blew over and everything went off without a hitch.

I didn’t take as many photos this year (I was focused primarily on the biking), but here are a few. I also wanted to let you know that it’s not too late to donate to Voix Libre, the organization our trip supported. For details on how, please read my previous entry. Please let me know by Monday, May 19th if you can donate. All told, I cycled about 140 km over two days this weekend.

Thanks for your support!

Séb getting a bit of sleep in at the rest stop

This is at the campsite. Yes, the Swiss even do gnomes when camping…

A few of the other chaperones enjoy some delicious ice cream having finished our trip around the lake

My pick: chocolate orange

We were divided into teams for various challenges over the course of the weekend. Here’s my team, Something Witty, being photographed by a stranger at the end of our journey as part of a photo scavenger hunt

Help Me Bike For Underprivileged Kids

2008-04-28T09:28:00.004+02:00

Dear readers of my blog, (especially my parents’ friends who have money),

As you may recall, around this time last year I helped chaperone a bike trip for high school students around Lake Geneva. I am going to have the same opportunity this year over the weekend of May 10-11, but rather than freeload completely I would like to help participate in their fund-raising project. This year the beneficiary of all funds raised for the 100km (62 mile) ride will go to Voix Libres, a local Geneva organization which works for underprivileged children in Bolivia, many of whom are forced to work in mines and garbage dumps. The unique aspect of this organization is that in order to receive help, the children must then in turn help others. You can read more at their website.

If you would like to sponsor me, you can do so in one of two ways: a pledge per km or a flat pledge for the entire distance. The Swiss Franc is currently at parity with the US dollar, so the easiest way to work this is probably to send checks to my home which my parents will deposit and I can then withdraw here.

If you are able to help me out, please send a check to:

Aaron Maurer
YFC bike trip
11554 Springtree Ct.
Pickerington, OH 43147

Additionally, please e-mail me the following information at yodini [at] yahoo [dot] com:

your name, your address, your phone number, your e-mail address, and your pledge (per km or flat).

If you are interesting in helping, please let me know by Saturday, May 10th. Thank you very much for your support and know that your contributions go to a wonderful cause!

What Would Rick Steves Do?

2008-04-24T14:12:00.006+02:00

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of hosting Adam and Julie who came through Switzerland over Julie’s teaching break on their way to Austria. I took a day off work and we spent the long weekend making our way to Interlaken and Lauterbrunnen, two place I’d heard a lot about over the past 20 months but had yet to visit. Interlaken is a destination for outdoor sports enthusiasts and Lauterbrunnen is known for its waterfalls and beautiful scenery.

Lauterbrunnen
We spent Sunday hiking around Lauterbrunnen (though it was more on walking trails than actual hill climbing) and had pretty much perfect weather. The only slight disappointment was that we were ahead of season for Trümmelbach Falls, a collection of ten waterfalls inside of a mountain.

Here are some photos from our journey:

Adam and I are surprised to find Christmas in April (photo by Julie)

Julie and I chill by a creek (photo by Adam)

Authentic glacial spring water. It was fantastic — and none of us got sick!

On our hike out we had passed several small farms including many which sell “Alpine Cheese.” Of course, it being a Sunday in Switzerland, nothing was open. However, on our way back we saw a farmer baling hay and wondered aloud about the possibility of obtaining some cheese. After a couple moments of deliberation, Adam decided to approach the barn and made an inquiry. The man told us to go back a bit and up a short path to a nearby house. This was apparently his parents’ place and they would be the ones to ask. Fortunately, a little old Swiss German man was already outside and Adam made fine use of his high school German. We were invited to sit down while he went and cut us a wedge and some samples.

I always joke that from what I’ve seen of Rick Steves’ travel videos, he would have everyone go to a remote village somewhere, knock on a random door and invite himself in for dinner to get the most ‘authentic’ experience possible. This was our definitive Rick Steves moment. While we certainly didn’t impose, we were able to enjoy a nice little taste of the Swiss Alps.

Adam, awaiting cheese amidst some amazing scenery

Julie, awaiting some cheese with the housecat

we think these bells were awards – our host rang them all for us (photo by Julie)

Adam, the cheese guy and one enormous bell (photo by Julie)

the cheese was pretty great too

Interlaken
We arrived in Interlaken Sunday evening and found a place to grab some good Swiss German food (mainly rösti, which I think I’ve described before as glorified hashbrowns - but in a good way) for dinner. The next morning we awoke to lots a rain and explored the city while hoping for the clouds to part in time for our 3:00 paragliding appointment. Alas, it was not to be. Our guides even took us up the mountain to check on the conditions but determined we couldn’t make the leap. A bit disheartened, we resolved to reschedule for the future (currently set for late June). And the rain may have been a letdown, but it didn’t dampen our spirits too much.

Sunset over Interlaken (the night before the rain began)

Enjoying some local beer

Geneva
The only good thing about paragliding being cancelled was the chance to make it back to Geneva in time for Monday night Pub Quiz at Mr. Pickwick. The next day I was back at work, but Adam and Julie made it around the town to see all the landmarks (and fortunately had great weather). We capped off their visit with Tuesday Night Jazz at local music school AMR. All in all, a great time!

This trombonist reminded us of Adam Norman

…and we figured we should probably get some sort of pic with all three of us

Paris, France Part 3: Montmartre, et. al.

2008-04-10T11:50:00.004+02:00

My favorite of the Parisian areas I visited is Montmartre which has the feel of a (relatively) small French village in the midst of the vastness that is Paris. Situated on a hill, it’s also the highest point in the city and is where much of the film Amélie was set. Maggie and I took a walking tour on Saturday night for an overview and then returned on Monday with Bouba and met Dana for lunch.

Part of Montmartre Cemetery where a number of famous people are buried

The real Moulin Rogue – as opposed to the fake one we have here in Geneva

Our tourguide, Jay, in front of the café where Amélie works in the movie

Moulin de la Galette, one of the city’s last surviving windmills

statue of the “Man Who Could Walk Through Walls” from a book by a French author

Au Lapin Agile, a restaurant Picasso used to frequent (and pay for with artwork)

pretty little Absinthe poster

the beautiful Sacre Coeur

recreating a scene from Amélie, sans blue arrows and avec many more tourists

Pickerington reunion! (the fact that we’re all wearing America’s colors is pure coincidence)

the city seen from the top of the hill

One afternoon Maggie and I came across a street performer who had a fairly elaborate set-up for an unsatisfying James Bond-inspired bike gag. Seemed about right (and at least he wasn’t a mime).

On Easter evening, Maggie had several friends and classmates over and Bouba treated us all to a delicious Senegalese dinner. It was a lot of fun, even if I didn’t understand half the French being spoken.

Bouba presents our dinner…

…and we all dig in…

…some more literally than others (this is the traditional way you’d eat in Africa, as anyone familiar with Ethiopian would know).

Bouba examining my contribution to the soirée

my hosts on a night out at a local bar

and I was also there

And that pretty much covers my weekend in Paris. It was great (as always) to reconnect with old friends and find inspiration in life and culture. The city definitely does have a unique atmosphere, and in watching Amélie and Paris, je t’aime again afterwards I recognized plenty of truth in their romanticized depictions.

This narration from Alexander Payne’s poignant closing vignette of the latter film says it all:

“Sitting there, alone in a foreign country, far from my job and everyone I know, a feeling came over me. It was like remembering something I'd never known before or had always been waiting for, but I didn't know what. Maybe it was something I'd forgotten or something I've been missing all my life. All I can say is that I felt, at the same time, joy and sadness. But not too much sadness, because I felt alive. Yes, alive. That was the moment I fell in love with Paris. And I felt Paris fall in love with me.”

Paris, France Part 2: Art

2008-04-08T16:16:00.004+02:00

I like art, but I don’t always like an artist’s most well-known painting. Paris has a lot of well-known works by a lot of well-known artists, many of which I was forced to study in my collegiate art history courses. They also have a fair amount of other stuff that doesn’t get as much attention, which is what I most gravitated toward at the three art museums I went to (the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, and the Centre Pompidou).

First up, the Louvre. Everyone I’ve ever talked to has mentioned how impossible it is to try and see the whole thing. That was fine, because I didn’t really care to spend my Friday night looking at Etruscan antiquities or tapestries from the Middle Ages. Okay, so that’s a bit flippant, but the truth is that I was most interested in the paintings and was seriously underwhelmed by them. For example, I like da Vinci but have never been too interested in the Mona Lisa. Therefore, seeing it in the, er, oil was all the more anticlimactic (the thing is small).

Despite all of this, it was good to have the experience of being there — plus, Friday nights after 6pm are free to young adults under 26 so Maggie and I didn’t have to pay or stand in line to get in. And in Paris they must figure there’s no way they could police so many people, so photos are allowed (without flash).

I.M. Pei’s glass pyramids

the inner courtyard

inside

taking people taking pictures of famous paintings is as much fun as taking pictures of the paintings themselves!

Winged Victory

thoroughly unimpressed (but I was there!)

The next day I spent the afternoon at the Musée d’Orsay which is a little more my speed: lots of impressionism and related movements. I enjoyed the collection a great deal, though the rooms where the really famous stuff is (i.e. Monet and Van Gogh) were a little claustrophobic for my taste.

Here are some highlights:

the museum is housed in an old train station

“Enigma” by Gustave Doré

A room from the Art Nouveau collection

A bed from the Art Nouveau collection – this is what my parents’ guestroom needs

The disciples on the road returning from meeting the resurrected Jesus; appropriate for Easter weekend

Whistler’s Mother and friends

I really like this Cézanne – the texture alone is beautiful

great Seurat

I spent Easter Sunday afternoon taking in my favorite of the three museums, the Centre Pompidou for modern art. In addition to their expansive contemporary art collection, they have an amazing range of art from the modernist era onwards. I don’t know how many hours I spent there, but I do know it was worth the hour wait to buy tickets.

A couple exterior shots

Fibonacci crocodile. ’Nuff said.

I think this guy pairs with the Orsay’s polar bear quite nicely

Picasso’s “Guitarist”

The Juan Gris pieces (above three) were my favorites of their cubism collection

Beautiful Alexander Calder mobiles, beautifully displayed

sweet Magritte

The Bauhaus room

And finally, a lovely piece by Kupka

All in all, I really enjoyed the works and found more than a little inspiration to keep me going for another few months.

To come: Montmartre and Easter dinner

Paris, France Part 1: Touristy Stuff

2008-04-07T16:15:00.005+02:00

Over the long Easter weekend (one of the benefits of working for a Catholic organization is getting both Good Friday and Easter Monday off), I finally made my way to Paris to see Maggie and Bouba. While there’s no doubt that I was in France, it’s also true that Paris has its own vibe. I had a really good time and even managed to communicate with Bouba reasonably well despite my limited French and his limited English. It was also good to see Dana Schrum again as well as Maggie’s friend Tess.

In an effort to get as much of the touristy stuff out of the way as possible while Maggie worked on Friday, I took a free walking tour (yes, from the same group used in London, Edinburgh and Amsterdam). We would also end up doing the same in Montmartre on Saturday evening.

The weather was strange over the weekend. Fortunately, there was a lot of beautiful blue sky. Unfortunately, there were random wind and hail storms that whipped up just about every day. You’d think I was in Ohio or something. So if my pictures look schizophrenic, that’s why.

Here’s the tourist special:

St. Michael’s Fountain

Garden at the end of Ile-de-la-Cité

place where the guardians of the French language exercise their real ultimate power (which mostly entails wearing powdered wigs and debating whether an iPod is masculine or feminine, from what I gather)

Jardin Tuileries

The Egyptian obelisk at Place de Concorde

Fountain at Place de Concorde

Petit Palais

Arc de Triomphe

More of the same

Me at the Eiffel Tower

From a distance, I thought the scale of the tower was pretty unimpressive against the skyline (kind of like the Statue of Liberty). However, when you’re actually under the thing, it’s quite magnificent.

Peace monument

the Eiffel Tower behind the Peace monument

St. Madeleine Church

Notre Dame Cathedral

One of the interior windows but not the Rose Window

beautiful Art Nouveau metro stop

More to come, including plenty of art and Montmartre, my favorite area of the city (at least of what I saw).

Art Brut in Geneva

2008-04-01T17:00:00.002+02:00

To celebrate my quarter century of life on March 19th, I kicked off Easter weekend early with a show by British rockers Art Brut. It was my first visit to Usine, a fairly popular club near the lake and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The band themselves are a lot of fun — very tongue-in-cheek while still energetic and hook-laden. Though I’m now officially old (there’s a certain part of you that can convince yourself that 24 isn’t that far away from 18; 25 is definitely on the other side), I feel about the same as I did in high school (though maybe a bit wiser) so this show was more an affirmation of life than a reminder I’m no longer a student.

Anywho, here are a few photos from the show:

Vroom!

2008-03-26T13:40:00.003+01:00

I am not a car guy, so I am probably not the best person to report on an autoshow. However, since I roomed with two industrial designers in college, I felt obliged to attend Geneva’s huge spectacle this year (especially having been to Detroit’s while in school). Here then, some stray observations from Geneva's International Motor Show (held from March 6-16th at the city’s expo center, literally a 5 minute walk from my apartment):

• There are lots of people who have more money than I ever will

• Detroit had more impressive showfloors (though that was 5 years ago...)

• Eco-friendly is the way to be! (At least in Europe – almost all major automakers were displaying some form of alternative energy or hybrid vehicle)

• These folks know their audience: tiny cars abound while SUVs, trucks and other American monsters are few and far between.

• Props to Mini and Mercedes for providing free water (it was hot in that giant expo center)

• Haha, yeah right, Toyota:

• However good an idea supergraphics seem, if they completely take away from the beauty of your vehicles, it’s probably best not to plaster them on EVERY SINGLE ONE of your cars at the show (BMW)

• If you’ve ever dreamed of sitting in a stationary car while rotating on a showroom platform, this is the event for you

• Today’s designers must really like HotWheels. I can’t think of any practical use for any of the following features:

{this last one is the much-publicized fully aquatic car}

• Is it ironic that Ford (an American company) centers a lot of their space around soccer (included foosball for the kids)?

• Most spokesmodels wore either stylized labcoats or 60s-style retro-future fashions. Smart is obviously going for the hipster crowd (complete with lapel buttons) and Mini an even more accessible audience (just tees and scarves on their reps):

• This car is ridiculously badass:

• I’m really glad it’s over so I can take the bus again without having to cram in like a sardine.

Band of Horses in Lausanne

2008-03-17T18:10:00.005+01:00

On Friday night I joined friends Chris and Sue and their friends Alec and Danielle in Lausanne to check out Band of Horses at Le Romandie (the cool little hole-in-the-wall venue where I saw that National last fall). For the uninitiated, BoH make music ripe with electric guitar soundscapes, southern-fried sensibility and vocals that soar above the din. To be honest, I was on the fence about the group — the Southern rock thing isn’t overpowering but it’s not my genre of choice, and on record I find a lot of the songs blend together (which really makes no sense since I really like the in-many-ways-similar group Rogue Wave).

The live show, then, was make-or-break for me, and I’m pleased to say I was won over. The songs became more distinctive and more energetic than in studio and the musicianship was quite impressive. I’m a Collective Soul fan, so I can appreciate a 3-guitar sonic assault (which is certainly the only thing those two bands have in common).

There were two opening acts (including a solo set by BoH guitarist Tyler Ramsey) which weren’t bad, but definitely fell into the “beard rock” subgenre. It’s right up there with wolf shirts, which incidentally came up in the evening’s conversation. (Aaaaannnnd, I’ve lost all of my parents’ friends if they even made it this far).

Unfortunately we had to book it at around 12:30 to catch the last train back to Geneva, missing the encore. We did, however, get to hear most of the songs we wanted to including “The First Song,” “Great Salt Lake,” “Is There A Ghost,” and their ‘biggest’ song, “The Funeral” which was fantastic in person.

A few pics (featuring a few too many beards):

Friday Night’s Alright for Curling?

2008-03-16T13:03:00.004+01:00

Last weekend I joined the YAGs group for an evening of curling — that’s right, the Scottish “sport” the Canadians made famous (at least from my North American perspective). I won’t lie and say that I went for anything other than the novelty, but it did make for quite a fun time.

If you haven’t caught this strange-looking event during the past couple winter Olympics, here’s the basic idea: there are two teams of four that compete against each other in something that’s a bit like bocce ball on ice. Each person wears a pair of special shoes, one slippery and one with traction, to move about on the ice. A “rock” or “stone” is slid out of a starting block and glides down the court, hopefully ending up in the concentric circles designating the scoring area. If it appears the stone will be short, teammates can rapidly scrub the ice in front of it with brooms to ideally give it some more distance. Scoring is based on the team closest to the center of the scoring area.

I had a bit of a rough go at my first couple attempts, but made up for it with a shot that our instructor said was pretty much the perfect curl (bypassed the other team’s guard stone and ended up close to the center). Anyway, enough boring writing. Here are some photos:

The instructor using a magnet board to explain the rules

Ollie, mid-curl

Darryl and I get swept up in the action (photo by Andrea Otte)

Stones

Me in action

The red stone in the foreground was my “perfect” shot.

weekend warrior

US Economy + Swiss Standard of Living = Suck

2008-03-10T09:15:00.007+01:00

It’s been a little while since I’ve actually described living in Geneva and Europe in general. These posts have more or less turned into a travelogue, which may be appropriate but isn’t entirely what I set out to do with this journal. Hopefully from time to time over my last 4 months or so here I’ll be able to do some more reflection on day-to-day life. Here’s one example.

{No actual dollars were harmed/defaced in the creation of this “graphic”}

I’ve complained before about how expensive Switzerland (and Geneva in particular is), but things have gotten a whole lot more ridiculous over the last few months. Yes, in the international economy the US Dollar has been hitting some all-time lows – especially versus the Euro and British Pound. When I arrived one dollar bought you 1.25 Swiss Francs. Now one dollar buys 1.02 Swiss Francs.

That’s almost parity, folks.

What this means is that this weekend when I went to McDonald’s (no, I’m not proud of it, but their beef quality standards are much higher here than at home) which is basically the cheapest food option in the city, it cost me about 3 times as much as home. Here’s the receipt as proof:

14.70 CHF = $14.40 US

If I’m not mistaken, this same meal (a Big ’N’ Tasty Extra Value Meal) costs somewhere between 4 to 5 bucks stateside. That is quite a mark-up.

I am reminded of this great SNL skit from a few years back. At the time it was funny and a bit quaint. Now, it’s a much bitterer pill to swallow.

Ski Trip

2008-03-05T10:50:00.003+01:00

A couple weekends ago, I finally made it to the slopes this winter for a bit of skiing. The YAGs winter retreat was held at Sam and Michelle’s house in Peillonex, France, this year rather than a random lodge situation like last. We had a really good turnout this time — I think something like 35-40 young adults. Of course, with the transient nature of YAGs and Geneva in general, it was a much different group than last year including a lot of people I hadn’t even met before. However, when I think about last year, it was pretty much the same situation since I had only been to a handful of group events before the retreat. So although I may have had a bit of premature nostalgia for good ol’ 2007, I had a great time nonetheless.

Saturday was the day for skiing which we did in Samoëns at a series of mountains called le Grand Massif. Unlike last year’s half-day whiteout, this time around we had clear skies and sun and a full day on the slopes. Only the last run was a bit rough with some slush accumulating. There were enough skiers this year to break into groups based on experience level, so for once, I didn’t feel like I was holding anyone back (due to my somewhat overly cautious pace). I basically stayed with my friends Chris and Sue (who I was in a bible study with last year but haven’t had a chance to see much of lately) which was a lot of fun. Couldn’t have asked for a nicer time.

Erkki consults the map

Alps

Faux-hero shot

Sue and Chris momentarily breaking from snowboarding

Getting my squint on

Ohioans and Texans: VOTE TODAY!

2008-03-04T14:33:00.004+01:00

Even though it’s been awhile since I’ve been home, I’m pretty sure that everyone back there has been inundated with election propaganda over the past few months. The US election has its own special coverage on CNN International which has helped me keep up to date (along with reading the International Herald Tribune, checking various websites and watching Saturday Night Live – okay, that last one is a bit of a joke).

Anyway, in case someone out there reading this has been under a rock, today is the day Ohio! Go vote in the primaries! Vote Obama! Or at least vote for someone... The democratic process only works if we take part in it. A reminder: you are legally allowed to vote if you are in line at your polling location before 7:30pm, even if you can’t get inside by then. If anyone tries to turn you away they are violating your rights.

vote! VOTE! VOTE!

Amsterdam, the Netherlands Part 3: Enkhuizen

2008-03-03T09:40:00.004+01:00

Okay, so I suppose the title on this is slightly misleading since Enkhuizen’s actually a town in and of itself and not part of Amsterdam. Regardless, it was part of the same trip, thus it receives the same heading.

On Sunday we decided it might be nice to see something a bit outside the city and on a tip from Kara’s Dutch neighbors we decided on Enkhuizen, a harbor town about an hour’s train ride from Amsterdam. The weather was gorgeous and it was nice to see slightly smaller-scale village. The harbor was pretty cool and reminded me a bit of Mystic Seaport or something of that nature. Surprisingly enough, the town itself actually reminded me a bit of Old Town Pickerington and all the various other restored “historic” villages throughout my region of Ohio (and I’m guessing throughout the US). At any rate, it was a refreshing way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Here are some photos:

Amsterdam, the Netherlands Part 2: Jimmy Eat World

2008-02-29T12:00:00.002+01:00

One of the reasons we went to Amsterdam the weekend we did was to see Jimmy Eat World, one of my favorite bands. The doors were supposed to open at 7 and there was an opening act, so logic would dictate that the headliner wouldn’t take the stage until 9 at the earliest (especially on a Friday night). We were running a little late for the show, but made it to the venue right about that time and were surprised to find the band already performing. Not only that, but they finished before 10pm. After checking out the setlist, we only actually missed 3.5 songs (“Always Be” was being played while we checked our coats), which just means it was a really short show. I’ve seen them 3 or 4 times previously and know they played for at least and hour and a half on those occasions so I have no idea what the deal was that night. Regardless of that, though, it was good. We managed to maneuver ourselves fairly close for such a late arrival and were treated to a range of tunes included a handful from Clarity and “Here It Goes,” my favorite from their latest, Chase This Light.

Here are a few pics:

Here’s the setlist (*=song missed):

Big Casino*
Sweetness*
Work*
Always Be*
For Me This is Heaven
Disintegration
Bleed American
Futures
Blister
Here It Goes
Let It Happen
23
Pain
----------
Your House
Hear You Me
Dizzy
The Middle

And because this doesn’t really fit with anything else from the trip, but is still worthy of sharing, here’s a bit of trend-forecasting from an Amsterdam storefront:

Apparently neon is coming back. Be afraid. (And thank God I got that out of my system in the early 90s)

[ UPDATE: The whole Jimmy Eat World concert is viewable online: ]

Amsterdam, the Netherlands Part 1

2008-02-28T10:21:00.006+01:00

A few weeks ago I ventured to Amsterdam along with a variety of other folks: Kara (who you may remember from my entries on Athens and Madrid), Erin (from Edinburgh), fellow “intern” Steph (from Lucerne), and her friend Mikele who joined us from Heidelberg.

It was sort of a random grouping, but we had a lot of fun (and saw a lot of stuff). Steph and I flew in from Geneva bright and early on Friday morning and met up with Erin who had arrived the previous evening. Mikele soon arrived as well and we met up with him before doing a little exploration, lunch and a canal boat tour.

For the Amazing Race fans in the audience: the floating barge of thousands of parked bikes the contestants had to search through this past season. Bikes really are all over the place in the city. Pretty crazy.

Statue of Rembrandt’s “Nightwatch”

A totally radical statue of an alien smoking up that would be right at home in the mid-90s

The city’s seemingly ubiquitous marijuana culture spills over to the flower markets

souvenirs... my better taste prevailed and I passed (though it would’ve made for some great herbal tea jokes)

The Rijksmuseum which features plenty of Rembrant (including the “Nightwatch”) and Vermeer, though being under construction, we only got to see a portion of the collection

Kara joined us Friday night and she, Erin and I saw Jimmy Eat World (more on that next post).
On Saturday we started out taking another free walking tour (same company as London and Edinburgh) with a pretty amusing tour guide. We ended up missing the group after lunch, so we went off on our own and ended up finishing the day at the Van Gough Museum. Kara and Erin left for The Hague to see another friend that night and the three of us remaining in the city had dinner at the Pancake Bakery which was pretty amazing.

National Monument

East India Trading Company

Steph, Kara, me and Mikele in front of the Heineken Brewery (which is currently being renovated so we couldn’t tour it)

The whole crew (with Erin in the bottom left corner) enjoys StropWafels (a hot waffle sandwich thing with syrup in the middle).
I look kind of scary in this photo, but it’s the only with all 5 of us, so whatever.

Sunday brought a day-trip to Enkhuizen, a small shipping village that may (or may not, according to my Dutch friends) represent the quintessential Dutch town. The weather was gorgeous the whole weekend and this day was no exception, though I’ll post those photos in a separate entry.

Soon, it was time for most everyone to head home except me (I stayed through Monday afternoon), so I decided to rest my weary legs and went to the movies. The next day I visited the temporary home of the city’s Stedelijk Museum for modern art and did some browsing (I suppose it doesn’t count as shopping if you don’t really buy anything) before it was my turn to head to the airport.

Nemo, the science and technology experience (didn’t go in, but I’m guessing it’s something akin to COSI)

view down a hallway at the Stedelijk Museum’s temporary space

and because the girls were doing it and it wasn’t touristy at all, I decided to pose in these wooden shoes

All in all, it was a nice trip to a beautiful city. More photos to come in a couple future posts.

Great Scot! Part 2: Athlete in Aberdeen

2008-02-20T09:35:00.000+01:00

One of the reasons for my trip was a chance to see London-based britrockers Athlete on their Beyond the Neighbourhood tour. The only Scotland stop wasn’t Edinburgh or Glasgow but Aberdeen which was fortunately accessible by bus and train. Pretty much my only prior awareness of Aberdeen came courtesy of the Simpsons episode “Monty Can’t Buy Me Love.” In this episode, Mr. Burns decides to capture the Loch Ness monster so the citizens of Springfield will love him. They travel to Scotland and drain the lake finding “Loch Ness High’s discarded homecoming float” adorned with a “Stomp Aberdeen!” banner. In response Homer yells, “No way! Aberdeen rules!”

Of course, my best friend Zach and I were pretty big Simpsons geeks and I can remember him quoting this line as a complete non sequitur on random occasions. Hence, upon my arrival in the city, I began a hurried search for any sort of Aberdeen gift shop that might have a t-shirt or shotglass emblazoned with the immortal phrase. Alas, it was not to be. The “Granite City” must not be quite the tourist attraction that Edinburgh is because I couldn’t find souvenirs anywhere. I did, however, find some nice looking buildings and a pretty sweet statue of William Wallace (you know, from Braveheart).

Finally, once all the stores had closed and after I’d found a place to grab a quick bite, it was showtime. The concert was held in Aberdeen Music Hall which might normally hold anything from orchestras to choirs to popstars. Seeing a rock band in such a venue was really cool, especially since the last time I caught these guys was literally at a bar in Boston.

Their music is somewhere in the realm of Coldplay with a twinge of electronica with swelling melodies and sing-along choruses. Their most recent album (aside from having a great cover) has really grown on me and it was great to hear many of the new songs live, especially the encore opener “Second Hand Stores.” British bands really know how to do lights, as evidenced by these photos, and the whole evening was great.

On Monday morning I awoke way too early to get the first train back to Edinburgh where I caught my return flight. It was a nice little whirlwind trip and I really hope I am able to return to the country so I can visit the highlands and maybe some distilleries…

Great Scot! Part 1: Edinburgh

2008-02-18T15:15:00.000+01:00

I have to admit that there’s something really comforting about traveling to an English-speaking country, especially in terms of ease of getting around. Maybe that has something to do with why I enjoyed my Irish and English adventures so much. However, I have to think that the natural beauty of the land contributes a lot as well. A few weeks ago I finally made it to Scotland and I honestly can’t wait to get back.

Having heard Edinburgh was quite nice (and since EasyJet flies there from Geneva), I decided to make that my primary destination. As luck would have it, a friend-of-a-friend is studying there so I even had a de facto tour guide and place to stay.

I arrived on Friday January 25th to rain and wind (big surprise). I met up with Erin and wandered around the city for a bit while she went to class. We then headed for dinner and spent the evening at an Australian bar with some of her friends to celebrate Australia Day (which is comparable to the 4th of July for us Americans).

The Merkat Cross in front on St Giles Cathedral

The Cathedral by night

John Knox, a reformer who spent a lot of time in Geneva, is still buried near the cathedral. Of course, the cemetery is now a parking lot (that yellow square marks his grave)

Edinburgh Castle

On Saturday morning we took a free walking tour from the same company Joe, Brian and I used in London. Erin came along and got to see a few things and learn some history she hadn’t known before. Lucky for us, the rain subsided, though the skies were still plenty gray. While Dublin is rather industrial, Edinburgh is very much a medieval city with lots of amazing old buildings infused with magic and majesty. After walking around for a little while, it comes as no surprise that this is where J.K. Rowling invented Harry Potter and wrote the first book.

Herriot's School, allegedly J.K. Rowling's inspiration for Hogwarts Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry

The Elephant House, the coffee shop where J.K. Rowling allegedly wrote the first Harry Potter book

Me in front of the Elephant House. Gotta love display fonts...

Greyfriars churchyard

statue of Greyfriar's Bobby, a terrier who wouldn't leave his master's graveside and became a local legend

Deacon Brody's Tavern, named after a prominent citizen whose double-life of crime and lechery inspired Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

a statue of Deacon Brody

window from the Scottish National Gallery featuring one of my favorite pieces there

preternaturally green grass in one of the city’s parks

Following our tour, we toured the National Gallery and did a bit of shopping. Unfortunately, the castle was closing so I wasn’t able to actually tour that, but perhaps another time. By the time the sun went down, we were pretty exhausted so we decided to grab some dinner (Mexican!) and a catch a movie (the excellent Dan in Real Life which still hasn’t made it to Switzerland). All in all it was a great day.

After finding some breakfast and wandering around the shops of Princes Street on Sunday, it was time for me to take MegaBus up to Aberdeen where I would spend the rest of my trip.

Paramore and New Found Glory in Zurich

2008-02-17T23:02:00.004+01:00

One of my favorite albums of 2007 was Paramore’s Riot! so I was thrilled to hear they were coming to Switzerland this winter along with New Found Glory who I also enjoy. Thus, yesterday afternoon I embarked on a 3-hour train ride to Zurich to attend the show. After getting a bit lost trying to find the venue, I managed to make it in time for Paramore’s set. The club hosting the show, Abart, was tinier than I expected, giving it a basement show vibe (albeit with better sound and lights).

I was not disappointed. Frontgirl(?) Hayley Williams may be small but she has an amazing voice and can certainly work a crowd. The set was high-energy and a lot of fun. One of the highlights of the night had to be their cover of Jimmy Eat World’s “Sweetness” (one of my favorite JEW tracks which also happens to be my US cell phone’s ringtone). My only complaint was that they finished too soon.

Having been to 3 or 4 New Found Glory shows in the past, I know what to expect. I was resolutely planning on not doing any moshing, however resistance proved futile. The crowd was more energetic than rowdy or violent which was a plus, so I joined in the mass of bouncing bodies for a number of the tunes. Hayley joined the band on a Johnny and June Carter Cash cover and the rest of the set was high-octane fun. There was no barrier between crowd and stage so the crowd surfers ended up on stage which was pretty entertaining.

I cut out a bit early to catch the last train to Geneva (so I could avoid sleeping a train station like the night I saw Snow Patrol), but I was completely fulfilled. A little punk rock was just what the doctor ordered.

Away From Home For the Holidays Part 4: Italian New Year

2008-02-13T18:23:00.005+01:00

Although I couldn’t be with my family this holiday season, I was fortunate enough to spend four days with the Montanaros who were renting a small villa in Italy. I think I’ve probably known Maggie and her family at least since we were three or four — “cherub choir” days at church — so it was pretty cool to be able to see and spend time with them in a foreign country. We had beautiful weather and moderate temperatures which certainly added to the experience.

I took quite a few pictures, and I’m way behind on updating this thing so I’m just going to post some of my favorites which will hopefully give a decent narrative of my time there, assuming I remember it all correctly.

Day 1: Rome

Katie, Bo, Maggie and I take the train from the house (which was located near Viterbo) into Rome. We manage to pack a lot into one day and I thoroughly enjoyed not being the one leading the group/setting the itinerary for a change.

Though this photo doesn’t do it much justice, the Pieta is probably my favorite sculpture and favorite work by Michelangelo

Day 2: Civita di Bagnoregio

With Rick Steves as our guide (in book form), we headed to a hill town called Bagnoregio which is only accessible by one pedestrian bridge. There are only 15 permanent residents left in the town, but quite a few shopowners come and work during the day.

Day 3: Montalcino and Montepulciano

We decided to journey into wine country which was a good decision. Unlike Napa Valley where the vineyards in most cases are estates with nice tasting rooms and commercial set-ups, in Italy you basically drive up to a family’s house and sit down in their kitchen to try what they have to offer. Even though the family we tasted with didn’t really speak English and we didn’t really speak Italian, it was pretty cool.

The proprietor of the place we stopped

Day 4: Ostia Antica

On my last day, we drove to Ostia Antica which is sort of the next-best-thing to Pompeii in terms of ancient Roman towns. Basically, it’s an old port city that was abandoned when the water receded. It was a lot larger than we expected and we spent the better part of the morning wandering around looking at the ruins.

Katie and Maggie amid some ruins

All in all, it was a quite relaxing time and great to be with friends from home. I’m definitely looking forward to my own parents making their way to Europe in June.

Best of 2007

2008-01-22T12:40:00.000+01:00

In continuing to live my life about a month behind the curb (hey, I spent 5 years in Cincinnati so assuming Mark Twain was right, maybe it rubbed off on me), I thought I’d share some of my picks for my favorite entertainment from 2007. Granted, living abroad can make this a challenge in some cases, but I still highly recommend any of the following.

Aaron’s Top 10 Movies of 2007

This is probably the most challenging (and perhaps inaccurate) list here because a great deal of the late-season award-contenders haven’t opened here yet. I would expect that films like Dan In Real Life, Sweeney Todd, and No Country For Old Men, could all find a place on this list, yet I won’t be able to see any of them for several more weeks.

It might also be worth noting that I enjoyed Spider-Man 3 much more than the rest of the world and recommend giving that a second shot. The Simpsons Movie was really good (but not great) and if I were to have put a comedy on here, I think the surprisingly hilarious 80s-homage Hot Rod would’ve beat out both Knocked Up and Superbad which were entertaining but overlong and overcrude.

10. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — Not quite as good as Goblet of Fire or Prisoner of Azkaban but exciting and enthralling in different ways, this is the film where Daniel Radcliffe finally became Harry for me. One of the things I distinctly remember about the book is how unlikable the character is (appropriate since he’s going through some teen angst) and Radcliffe brought that to life perfectly in bursts of uncalled for rage and confusion. The film’s swift editing and streamlined approach work well, but I would’ve liked to have seen some more time devoted to the Order and the kids just being kids.

9. Enchanted — Part of me can’t believe I’m putting this on my list. I am not a big Disney fan and definitely not much for the “princess” subgenre, however this was one of the most entertaining movies I saw this year. Sure, Shrek may have mined a fair amount of this territory before, but I give Disney props for making fun of itself. Amy Adams is pitch-perfect as Giselle, the cartoon brought to life. I first heard about this earlier this summer when Zach mentioned it to me as one of the worst-looking things he’d ever seen. I would have to disagree; for better or worse, it’s an instant classic.

8. Helvetica — How often do you get to see a movie made about your profession? Gary Huswit’s documentary showcases not just the ubiquitous typeface Helvetica (which celebrated 50 years in 2007) but also the people who use it. That is, a range of graphic designers as very entertaining talking heads encapsulating a history of the last half-century of the discipline. Huswit said he set out to make a concert film with a font in place of a band. Success!

7. Sicko — Watching this film in Europe perhaps stung even more than it would have had I viewed it Stateside. Love or hate Michael Moore, you can’t dispute there’s something wrong with the fact that the US is the world’s only leading economy without universal health care. The stories he presents are heart-breaking but the film gives hope for a change. Essential viewing before deciding who you’ll support come November.

6. Ocean’s 13 — The most fun movie of the year. Sure, it’s mindless popcorn and doesn’t add much to the excellence of the first film, but it also doesn’t take away. The Bourne Ultimatum may have been a stronger film, but I don’t think I smiled as much as I did during this one (or maybe that was the margaritas I had beforehand…)

5. Into The Wild — To start off, let me just say that Sean Penn creates a lot of typographic crimes during the credits of this film. Perhaps he was trying to allude to early 90s-style videographics but when compared to the beautiful simplicity of the poster, the titles made my eyes hurt.
That being said, this is a powerful film on many levels. As someone the same age as Christopher McCandless was during his journey the story was bound to resonate. I am fortunate that I don’t have anything to run from like he did (or felt he did), but the movie is still a catalyst for rumination on personal strength, the importance of community, the unimportance of fitting into predefined molds, and the grace of forgiveness. I don’t imagine this is an easy film for parents to watch but it is an important one.

4. Freedom Writers — Easy to miss (and dismiss) due to its January release date and seen-it-before story about a teacher making a difference in her student’s lives, this is one worth a second chance. Based on a true story, Hilary Swank stars as an idealistic English teacher who goes to teach at an inner-city school because she wants to SAVE THE WORLD. It ends up costing her quite a lot but the connections she makes are inspiring. Having the benefit of using actual words written by the students, the movie never panders and shows what a difference one person truly can make.

3. I’m Not There — Perhaps the most innovative biopic ever filmed, and though my familiarity with Bob Dylan is limited this is certainly the only appropriate way to capture his life. Using 6 actors to play different riffs on Dylan (and none using his actual name), director Todd Haynes creates a somewhat obtuse portrait that is also by turns irreverent, wistful and moving. If you’re a Dylanophile this is certainly even more fun, but even those of us with a cursory knowledge will find plenty to enjoy.

2. Zodiac — David Fincher is one of my favorite directors, though since this movie was an early-year release it’s been all but forgotten in the awards races. It’s a pity because this meditation on obsession is among his finest work, and indeed the finest true crime drama I’ve seen in some time. As a cartoonist and detective who become embroiled in the hunt for a serial killer in the Bay Area, Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr paint convincing portraits of men finding and ultimately losing themselves in their work.

1. Once — A “modern musical,” this indie film from Ireland is one of the most moving pieces of cinema in recent memory. A lovely encapsulation of Dublin, the beauty of the creative impulse, and the indescribable connection between two souls. The music is nice too.

Aaron’s Top 15 Albums of 2007

In a year of a lot of great albums (including new discs from many of my all-time favorite bands), here are a few that stood out.

15. Who We Are by Lifehouse — The band that brought the world “Hanging By A Moment” finally rocks out and delivers enough hooks to keep the pop crowd happy. However, it’s the quieter moments like album closer “Storm” and the hauntingly beautiful “Broken” that have the most impact.

14. Challengers by the New Pornographers — The Canadian collective’s fourth album is more understated than its power pop siblings yet still beautiful catchy enough to win over new fans. Twin Cinema is still the best place to start, but this album is a worthy successor.

13. We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank by Modest Mouse — The addition of the Smiths’ Johnny Marr on guitar may at first seem like an odd marriage, yet it somehow works. Propulsive and fun (if a track or two long), the brightest moments on here (“Florida”) were among the brightest in music last year.

12. Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace by Foo Fighters — Is it wrong to call an album “cohesive” when its musical styles veer all over the place? Somehow, despite running the gamut from acoustic instrumental to Southern-rock to neo-grunge this seems a much more complete work than either of the band’s last two albums. There Is Nothing Left to Loose remains my favorite FF album, but this one puts the band back on the right track.

11. I-Empire by Angels & Airwaves — Last year, I lamented Tom DeLonge’s arena-rock-wannabe excesses on his new band’s first album. However, a little over a year later they’ve turned in something much more accomplished. Granted there are still times when everything starts to run together and you may not fully distinguish between individual tracks, but overall it is highly listenable power punk.

10. Into The Wild Soundtrack by Eddie Vedder and Once Soundtrack (mostly) by Glen Hansard — If several of my favorite films of the year are music-infused, you can best the music was pretty good. Vedder’s series of earnest musical sketches works wonderfully in Penn’s film, yet taken by themselves are better than most of Pearl Jam’s output over the past decade. On the other hand, Glen Hansard of the Frames does marvelously subtle work on the Once soundtrack, especially when joined by his Swell Season partner Markéta Irglová.

9. All These Houses Look The Same by Deas Vail — This is an album in the Death Cab For Cutie vein which I can’t seem to shake. With melodies and harmonies weaving about and soaring above the starry instrumentation, its kind of like a space rock dream – in a good way.

8. Beyond The Neighbourhood by Athlete — The latest by this fine British band is a grower, but grow it does. Finally synthesizing the electronic quirk of their first album and the Coldplay-esque melodies of their second, Athlete create a reflection on the state of the world today and the hope and resolve we might find if we only look deeper.

7. Boxer by the National — Speaking of growers, this album can take some time to get into, but once you’re into it good luck getting out. Likened to a white collar Springsteen by Paste Magazine, the band creates tales of urban woe and complacency with modern life yet still manages to find the beauty within. If there’s a more gorgeous sentiment than ”Slow Show’s” lyric “You know I dreamed about you/For 29 years before I saw you/You know I dreamed about you/I missed you for 29 years,” I haven’t heard it.

6. Combinations by Eisley — I’ve already extolled the virtues of this sibling rock outfit and their latest album, but it really was one of my favorites of 2007.

5. Chase This Light by Jimmy Eat World — JEW have a habit of contributing songs to the soundtrack of my life, so it’s no real surprise that their latest would again resonate. What is surprising is how upbeat the record is, especially “Here It Goes,” an amazing pop song that just makes me want to get up and dance.

4. Riot! by Paramore — Energetic guitars and giant choruses define the sophomore release from these young Tennesseans. This is by far the best pop/punk album of the year, distinguished by 19-year-old Hayley Williams’ pitch-perfect vocals. Topics from teen relationships to larger issues of trust and faith are all delivered with impressive bravado. I am so looking forward to finally seeing them live next month.

3. Wincing The Night Away by the Shins — After a pair of truly impressive indie albums, Wincing miraculously managed to live up to its predecessors’ promise while also growing the band in new directions. All that remains is to see where they go next.

2. Everything Starts Where It Ends by Lovedrug — This is my favorite rock and roll album of the year: an indie dose of layered instrumentation, delightfully nasal vocals and great riffs. As with the band’s previous release, light wages war with dark lending transcendent moments as well as somewhat blacker fare. It’s a bit like the Silversun Pickups in tone, but with more diversity. Plus, they’re from Ohio.

1. Version by Mark Ronson — Ronson has definitely achieved more fame this year for producing Amy Winehouse’s album than his own, but Version is a great record and a non-stop party from start to finish. Essentially, it’s an album of covers pairing British singers with Ronson’s favored Bossa Nova backing horns on tracks both well-known and obscure. He kicks off with a brassy instrumental of Coldplay’s “God Put A Smile Upon Your Face” and doesn’t look back. In the era of the shuffle, this album is a mixtape in itself and sounds great the whole way through.

Aaron’s Top 5 TV Shows of 2007

Is it coincidence that there are almost no comedies on my Movies list and almost all comedies on here? I dunno, but there’s certainly a lot of high-class humor available on the tube these days (including Extras which didn’t quite make my cut).

5. The Office — This is still a great show, however the forced hour-long episodes at the beginning of Season 4 just didn’t feel right. Even so, it’s a treat to see Jim and Pam together and despite the Writers’ Strike the eight episodes that did air this year provided plenty of laughs.

4. The Amazing Race — Still the best reality show on television and the only one I really wish I could be on someday. International locales, elimination based on performance (and not popularity) and exciting challenges are among the qualities that make it eminently watchable.

3. Flight Of The Conchords — The epic tale of deadpan acoustic-folk comedy duo Bret and Jermaine trying to make their way in New York. The guest stars alone (including John Hodgeman, Will Forte and Demetri Martin) would be enough to warrant recommendation, but it’s the intermittent songs that make this a keeper. They work fine out of context but even better in their proper surroundings.

2. 30 Rock — Who’d’ve guessed that Tina Fey’s sitcom would become the spiritual heir to the dear, departed Arrested Development. Its self-referential tendencies and hilarious non sequiturs (not to mention its own share of great guest stars and cameos) have turned it into the funniest show on TV. Bravo!

1 Lost — After an uneven start and an unfair 4-month break, Season 3 of Lost ended up again redefining the show and managing to re-engage its audience. The brilliant season finale may have answered a few questions but managed to raise a whole slew of new ones. I cannot wait until January 31st (well, I suppose February 1st ’til I’m able to see it).

Away From Home For the Holidays Part 3: Christmas Eve and Other Stories

2008-01-17T15:41:00.000+01:00

Montreux Market
Though a great deal of the Christmas season this year was somewhat surreal, one of the things that did seem quite traditionally Christmas-y was the Montreux Christmas market. Certainly not as big as some of Europe’s more prominent Christmas displays (particularly those in Germany), this one was still nice. Christmas lights abounded through the city and the lakefront was lined with plenty of vendors selling hot wine, snacks, and homemade goods. Sure, the hedge carvings of characters from Ice Age 2: The Meltdown may have been a little out of place, but for the most part, it was good fun.

This booth was selling what I think were manger displays in different sizes and complexities. This one pretty much includes the entire village. Pretty neat.

Christmas in Geneva
Christmas Eve includes the only major family tradition that easily springs to mind. As a family, we’ve always opened presents that night rather than the following morning because we often traveled to relatives’ places on Christmas Day. What started out as something practical has now become the norm, and I really enjoy spending time at church and then coming home to spend time with family. I’m sure my parents have also enjoyed the extra hours of sleep on Christmas morning this has afforded them over the years.

Of course, this year was going to be different. And though I didn’t have presents, a tree, or family I did have friends which was the next best thing. I even somehow managed to enjoy three out of three of my favorite desserts over the course of two days.

This is me in front of my apartment window. There was a big Christmas tree visible from our place which I liked to think of as “my” tree since we didn’t have one at home

I spent the majority of Christmas Eve day baking a Pumpkin Pie (one of my three faves) to contribute to a small potluck at Julia’s. Despite not being able to find a proper pie pan (shallow tarts being the preferred regional pastry…) it turned out really good. Along with Patty and Patience, we had a nice little get-together before heading to the Anglican Church for worship (one of the only places in town with an 11pm service).

Me, Patty, Julia and Patience

Patty prepares to enjoy some tasty pumpkin pie

On Christmas Day the Vrieling’s hosted a brunch for the Shema folks in town which was quite nice, especially Conny’s chocolate mousse (that would be the second of the favorite desserts). Lammert read us the Christmas story and we then ended up watching last year’s Nativity Story film. And after all that, we worked on the used bike I bought a couple months back and finally got it road-ready. Now once I have enough money to buy a helmet, I’ll be able to get around even more conveniently.

Christmas brunch

Max clearly recognizes the true meaning of Christmas: Legos!

Nuno “carves” the “traditional” Christmas sausage

Lammert tells us what Christmas is all about

That evening I was able to join my Hash friends Jon and Philippa for an evening of games at one of their mates’ flats (this is apparently what Brits do on Christmas). We enjoyed some homemade tiramisu (the final favourite dessert) and a whiskey tasting whilst playing a quite addictive German board game that’s a bit like Monopoly meets Colonization.

Though it may not have been quite what I was used to, I really enjoyed my time here and am quite thankful that so many people were around Geneva this year.

Away From Home For the Holidays Part 2: Festival of Lights and Trees

2008-01-13T17:32:00.000+01:00

Not so much an actual festival as a month-long exhibition, the Festival Arbes et Lumieres (Lights and Trees) features a series of artistic expressions of light around the city. Much more interesting (and less gaudy) than traditional Christmas light displays, I’ve really enjoyed this tradition over the past couple years. This year my friend Patty and I wandered around one evening and took a look at most of the displays. I also took plenty of photos and here are some of the best:

One of the more intriguing conceptual displays this year: a couple trees outfitted with video screens featuring people discussing bad Christmas memories.

This sort of creepy snowman thing was part of a collection of remembrances of past years’ displays.

Another of this year’s more interesting displays: an orb of lights that pulsated to represent a beating heart. Cool to look at, certainly incredibly annoying to live beside.

Away From Home For the Holidays Part 1: The Escalade

2008-01-13T16:56:00.000+01:00

2007 marked the first year of my life away from my family at Christmas. While it certainly wasn’t the same as being home, I am grateful to have friends in Geneva I was able to spend my time with. And like last year, the city’s artistic Festival Arbres et Lumières (Festival of Trees and Lights) was on, as was the Escalade race and parade.

As I wrote last year (sorry, but I’m too lazy at the moment to relink the photos), the Escalade is a series of celebrations themed around a failed attempt by Savoy troups to seize Geneva back in the day. This year, in addition to the normal Escalade races, there was also an 18 km option called the “Cours du Duc” which started in France and traced the route of the would-be conquerers to the Old Town of Geneva. I ran in that race which was quite fun. There was even a betting pool (with proceeds going to charity) within the Hash running group and I ended up coming in third place in an hour and eighteen minutes. I also managed to beat my friend Lammert from Shema by half a minute or so…

Despite intermittent rain throughout the day, the Genevois turned out in force for the costumed “Marmite” race/parade. Here are a few pics from that:

Something I didn’t really describe last year is the tradition of breaking the marmite, which symbolizes the old lady dumping her hot vegetable soup on the unsuspecting Savoy troups. Every year in early december chocolate pots begin to appear in the stores. Families traditionally break these on the evening of the Escalade after chanting an edict renouncing oppressors (or something of that nature). The oldest and youngest of the household basically crack the thing open and then share the chocolate and marzipan vegetables contained within.

At a poker night with some friends at Darryl’s we executed the tradition with Lammert and Michael demolishing the pot

And of course, the whole thing culminates with the Fête de Escalade where people in old-timey costumes parade through Geneva and read a declaration in several key locales before lighting a big bonfire in front of the Cathedral. Here are a few photos from that evening:

And now for something completely different:
Unrelated to the Escalade but still worthy of note was the Christmas display in Geneva’s train station featuring the worst/scariest Santa mannequin ever. This one’s for you dad:

Nothing says Christmas quite like a slimming velour jumpsuit and cape ensemble…

Madrid, Spain Part 3: Sights and Culture

2008-01-04T13:48:00.000+01:00

Having taken Spanish for a few years in high school, it was fun for me to experience some of the random cultural things we used to learn about (especially the food, though there are weird quirky linguistic things like “zumo” meaning juice instead of the Latino “jugo”).
Here’s a photo from one of the tapas places we ate at. A true Spanish omlet of eggs, ham and potatoes.

As always, I didn’t bring to many preconceptions to the trip and I was wowed by the grandeur of everything in the city — massive, ornate buildings along everyday streets. The plazas, monuments, etc. were all great to experience. Here are just a handful or random pictures.

Puerto de Alcala

Palacio de Linares

in front of a monument to Alphonso XII in the Parque del Buen Retiro

Cathedral de Almuneda

The coolest thing was the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) which was the first extravagant royal palace I’ve been in. Of course, photography was not allowed inside and none of the photos in any of the books or on the postcards come close to doing it justice. Even so, perhaps they (the images I’ve scanned from their official souvenirs) give a small glimpse of the place’s diversity and beauty. Also featured was an incredibly boring exhibit on the Greek influence in French art from the mid 1700s. Couldn’t get out of that soon enough.

Kara and I in front of the palace

Throne Room

The Rococo fever dream that is the Gasparini Room

Royal Chapel

Royal Armory

Madrid also has a great collection of art museums. My only regret from the trip is missing out on Picasso’s Guernica (we went to the museum on Sunday and it was only open from 10am-2pm — what kind of hours are those?), but I got to see a lot of other gems. The Prado was really neat, though I’m more into modern than classic art so some of it was lost on me. However, they have Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights which was great to see in person. And half the kids stuff in the gift shop was based on creatures from that painting! Wow!

The Prado Museum

Statue of Francisco Goya (pertinent side-note: do not see Goya’s Ghosts. Horrible film.

Statue of Diego Valezquez

The collection of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum was great, ranging from medieval art through pop art and early design theorists. I highly recommend that to anyone who might be visiting the city.

entrance to the museum

During my trip we also went to a Flamenco show which was absolutely incredible. The second half, in which the dancers were accompanied by live musicians sharing the stage was one of the high points of my visit. I had a great time, though I realized that living in a French-speaking city has considerably mangled my (admittedly limited) Spanish. I’m really looking forward to seeing Barcelona in June which will hopefully hold in store more great experiences.

It is he, Don Quixote (with Sancho Panza)

Symbol of Madrid: el oso y el madroño (a bear and a Madrone tree, apparently some sort of European strawberry tree)

Madrid, Spain Part 2: Randomness

2008-01-02T16:14:00.000+01:00

In the final entry concerning my trip to España I’ll be sure to write about the culture and include most of my sightseeing pictures.
Here, however, are a few that don’t really fit with anything else yet should still be documented for posterity.

A beer-toting penguin is always cause for celebration, especially since stopping to grab a photo caused us to spot a Mexican restaurant for lunch (I am going through seriously withdrawal here)

Pork is a pretty big deal in Madrid. This was in a butcher shop window, and yes, those are real piglets. At first disturbing and then hilarious, before reverting back to disturbing.

This was from a shop selling various apparel with animals. In retrospect, I probably should have checked to see if this was available as a shirt…

The building on the right was a sort of living mosaic with various flora in small planters creating an abstract design. The one on the left contrasted and complimented nicely.

One of Kara’s friends was having an 80s-themed birthday at a local bar one of the nights I was there. She had clothes for the occasion; I did not. Regardless, it was fun/interesting to experience a bit of non-touristy Spanish nightlife.

This was kind of a greasy spoon type of place where we had lunch one day. I had a calamari sandwich but missed out on the patatas bravas (Spanish class comes to life!)

Madrid, Spain Part 1: Thanksgiving with Josh Rouse

2007-12-27T15:12:00.000+01:00

My final trip in November was to Madrid to visit Kara, my friend formerly of Geneva and Athens (and who I visited there earlier this summer). Being from Texas, she’s fluent in Spanish and is currently spending a year teaching English at a school there.

It was my first time outside of America during Thanksgiving, a fact that was amplified by the fact that my Grandma Maurer had passed away earlier in the week. While it could have been a miserable trip, the fact was, since I couldn’t make it home for the funeral it was better to be away from work and spending time with an American friend than anything else I could have done. I tried to make the most of it, remembering Grandma’s words that I should do all this (traveling, etc.) while I can.

My flight arrived the afternoon of Thanksgiving and Kara successfully found out that the city’s TGI Friday’s had a special Thanksgiving menu (Hard Rock Café apparently also did, but they were completely booked). We made our way there and I fought the urge to not order the Thanksgiving food in lieu of a burger. We got a quesadilla as an appetizer which helped. The food was decent, though not exactly what you might expect (i.e. Shrimp Chowder to start, sliced turkey wrapped around stuffing and liberally covered in gravy). However, the novelty of the experience made up for any lack of quality.

The menu, which also featured an explanation of the meaning of Thanksgiving on its reverse

Me enjoying my dinner and cherry-spiked champagne

After dinner, we proceeded to a venue called Joy Eslava to see singer/songwriter Josh Rouse, an American expat who now lives mostly in Valencia, Spain. I never had the chance to see him when he was based stateside so it was cool to have the chance now. While his music can sometimes veer towards the really mellow side, in concert the full band brought it much more to live. Perhaps because the place doubles as a dance club the bass was really notable and really made the whole performance groove. He played a set heavy on tunes from his two latest albums, Subtitulo and Country Mouse, City House, and (my favorite) Nashville.

This cow was atop a bar inside the venue. Seemed about right.

All told, it was a good, if moderately unconventional Thanksgiving made much better by virtue of sharing it with an American friend who also appreciates its meaning. We even found ourselves quite full and tired by the end of the night, which I suppose means we celebrated appropriately.

Happy Thanksgiving, Only A Month Late!

2007-12-18T16:06:00.000+01:00

As previously mentioned, I am playing catch-up with all the weekend traveling I did in November. I was fortunate enough to get to spend the 17th and 18th back in London visiting Adam and Julie who recently moved there. They hosted an early “expat Thanksgiving” that weekend for me and our hometown friend Val Hayden (who spent this semester doing a study-abroad in Italy) — unfortunately Maggie, Dana and Erik were unable to make it.

It was great to be back in London, especially since I didn’t have to be in tourist mode this time having seen most of the major sights in June. And staying with friends is always better than worrying about hostels. I definitely think I could live in there for a few years.

It was even better to spend time with the Porrs who I hadn’t really seen since last winter. Despite some unruly students for Julie, they appear to be adjusting to European life just fine and it was cool to get to hear their perspectives on the culture and meet their friends.

Of course, the food was great as well. They went all-out with turkey, stuffing, cheesy potatoes (by far the favorite), mashed potatoes, and of course, pumpkin pie. Julie fashioned pilgrim hats and native american headresses and she and Val created candy turkey things using Oreos. I was quite impressed.

The guests: Me, Val, 2 of Julie’s co-workers, the Porrs’ roommate (turns out I’m awful with names!), Adam, and Julie

My favorite: Pumpkin Pie. Not worthy of a photo, you say? I beg to differ

The Americans

Adam and Julie prepare to break the wishbone. I’m pretty sure she won.

The rest of the weekend involved stopping by the pub and spending Sunday afternoon back in Camden browsing through clothes and used CDs which yielded some treasures for all parties. We caught a movie and grabbed dinner at Pizza Hut (seemed like the thing to do), and before I knew it, it was Monday morning and time to return to Geneva.

Even though it was a short trip, I’m glad I had the opportunity to make it. Here’s hoping I get to have some more European adventures with Adam and Julie before my time here is up!

Riga, Latvia Part 3: Street Art + Art Nouveau

2007-12-17T16:39:00.000+01:00

By now, it’s certainly quite obviously that I am interested in art and design in most of its forms. Lucky for me, then, that Riga has an amazing collection of Art Nouveau architecture, mostly designed by M Eisenstein (father of Sergei, the director who made Battleship Potemkin). Of course, there was also plenty of other random graffiti and street art around as well which I also enjoyed.

Rabbit near Matt’s apartment

Another creature in the same area I assume is by the same artist

Chuck Norris: no longer just an ironic cultural icon in America…

The first of the Art Nouveau photos, in case it isn’t blatantly obvious

I don’t know what this building is, but it was my favorite. The color scheme is understated beauty.

A detail from the same.

And finally, this has nothing to do with Art Nouveau, but it is a part of Latvian culture: Balsim is cough-medicine like liquor along the lines of Germany’s Jägermeister or Budapest’s Unicum. The locals drink it daily, literally "for their health.” While I was in Riga I tried it straight, in a hot drink with Black Currant juice, and in this Martini Cocktail. On my last evening in town I went to dinner with Matt and his girlfriend and we finished the night at “Balsim Bar.” It was a fun time and thanks to Matt, I even brought some back to Geneva and forced it on some friends during Poker…

The Balsim is the unsettling dark layer at the top of the drinks

All in all, a great trip, though after a few days of bitter wind and snow I don’t know if I could survive an entire winter in the Baltics.

Riga, Latvia Part 2: Old Town Wanderings

2007-12-14T15:15:00.000+01:00

The focal point of Riga is its Old Town (or Vecrīga) with a great deal of buildings in a variety of styles. Here are some of the highlights I hit over the course of 2 or 3 days of wandering.

Monument in front of the city council square (Rātslaukums)

St. Peter’s Church — every city has one!

The Museum of the Occupation

House of Blackheads, an old merchant guild building

street leading up to St. John’s Church

the Cat’s House (named for the cats perched on its two towers)

The Dome Cathedral, which was under a fair amount of interior renovation/excavation

Random sculpted stone in the cathedral courtyard

Random sculpted chicken in the cathedral courtyard

And some bells in in the cathedral courtyard

The “three brothers,” a trio of quirky residential buildings of medieval Riga

One side of Riga Castle, the home of Latvia’s president

random wall mural

Freedom Monument

Riga, Latvia Part 1: Introduction

2007-12-11T11:41:00.000+01:00

November was a whirlwind in which I ended up traveling three out of four weekends, which of course means that I spent the rest of my time playing catch-up. Hence, even though I was in Riga a full month ago, I haven’t gotten around to posting anything about it until now.

When I came to Europe, I didn’t have too many preconceptions about places I would visit, but I certainly didn’t have the baltic states high on my list. However, my college friend Matt has been working in Latvia since graduation and I figured if I could find a way there, it would be worth the trip. Riga isn’t the easiest place to get to, but I was able to find a decent flight through Zurich and so I found myself training and planing north on Saturday November 10th.

Matt met me at the airport and we grabbed some groceries at a supermarket before returning his cousins’ car and having dinner there. It was nice to spend time with Latvian natives and to hear Matt’s perspective from having lived there for a bit over a year. Over the next few days I had a chance to see some sights, try some local bars and beers, enjoy a sauna and get a taste of the culture (including the finale of their ‘Singing With the Stars’ and an overdubbed presentation of Goldeneye). As Latvia was an occupied country up until the early 90s, it was interesting to see the contrast between the remnants of Soviet influence versus the development that has happened since. All in all it was a great visit and a good introduction to winter, because beginning on Sunday, the snow and wind made their presence felt.

I took many photos, especially of the architecture which I’ll share over the course of a few photo drops. Here are some starters.

Latvian flags by night

sunset over the Daugava River

park by night (pre-snow)

an old Soviet monument

Flowers are apparently a really big part of Latvian culture. People prepare bouquets to take as gifts to parties and gatherings as well as lay them all over the major monuments.

Orthodox Cathedral

random street scene

Matt and I enjoy an Alus (Latvian for beer)

Joseph Arthur in Lausanne

2007-11-29T10:58:00.000+01:00

While I was visiting my friend Kara last week we had a short discussion about how certain music just seems to fit where you are – it becomes part of the soundtrack to your life. She was talking about how Feist is one of her current favorites though she doesn’t think she’ll still be listening to The Reminder in another 20 years. I’ve had my share of these bands and moments (John Mayer’s first album my freshman year of college, Switchfoot the summer after pre-junior year), though I hope that I can hang on to what they mean to me with a bit more longevity. I have to say that currently I can’t seem to get enough of Joseph Arthur. I have been familiar with him for several years: I knew his song “In the Sun” (video directed by Anton Corbijn and track covered by Michael Stipe for Hurricane Katrina relief) and “Honey and the Moon” is one of the highlights of the early OC soundtracks. However, I didn’t really delve any further into his work until I made it to Switzerland (ironic, since he’s originally from Ohio). One of my Shema friends, Sébastien, is a big fan and has played a few of his songs during our gatherings. This was enough to intrigue me and when I was in London earlier this year I found a copy of Our Shadows Will Remain at a used CD store for 2 pounds. I was blown away by the album and have since picked up a few more including the equally impressive Redemption’s Son. For whatever reason, this music just seems to speak to me right now. It deals honestly with faith, pain, hope, relationships and myriad other topics. For instance, this amazing lyric from "Devil’s Broom”: "I just pray that the Lord is gonna come down and take me / Sweep me off the floor with the devil’s broom / Where are you? / What did I do? / Why can’t you see? / You mean everything to me.”
I honestly can’t believe I hadn’t gotten into this guy before.

All that being said, on Tuesday night I had the good fortune to travel to Lausanne with Josh, Sébastien and two of Séb’s friends to see Joseph Arthur & The Lonely Astronauts (his band) live. It was at a venue called Les Docks which purportedly has the best sound in all of French-speaking Switzerland. I can’t say that it tops the LC Pavilion in Columbus (still my favorite venue sound-wise), but it was quite good.

Most of the times Séb has seen him, Joseph has played solo (with an assortment of guitar pedals and loops to help flesh out the sound) so he was wary of the full band. I have to say, I think we were all thrilled with the show. The setlist was a generous mix of material including several tunes from my two favorite albums (those mentioned above) and plenty from the new CD “Let’s Just Be.” The older stuff took on new arrangements but never to the songs’ detriment and the full band (including female background vocals) contributed a lot.

JA is a very entertaining, spontaneous performer. At one point he decided to use the lead guitarists’ mike and wander around the stage, forcing everyone in the band to regroup as well. He and the band all seemed to truly enjoy themselves during the show and we had a chance to chat briefly with he and Kraig afterwards. It was a long show but never tedious. It was a late night but in good company. It was meaningful in many ways. I highly recommend you go get yourself some Joseph Arthur – and check him out when he’s in your neighborhood.

The National in Lausanne

2007-11-22T00:14:00.000+01:00

I love music. I love live music. Somehow, I always seem to forget this until I have the chance to go to a concert and it all comes flooding back. Last night I had the chance to see the National at an intimate little venue in Lausanne called Le Romandie with my friend Sébastien and another of his friends. And with the earlier news of the day the event was nothing short of cathartic.

This was my first time seeing the band and I was thoroughly impressed. They were on fire and whether turning it up to 11 or slowing things down a bit, they proved equally adept. While it was something of a miracle that they all managed to fit on the stage, I was reminded of college basement shows not only due to the proximity but also the energy. While the sound quality wasn’t the world’s greatest, it also wasn’t too bad for such a show. The audience was very into it and though I’m not sure how much of the crowd even spoke English, I felt like I was at home.

I hope I have the chance to see more bands there in the future and though my ears are still ringing, I’m glad I have a few more concerts coming up to look forward to.

Halloween 2007

2007-11-04T18:15:00.000+01:00

Hard to believe Halloween has already come and gone and it’s now November. Craziness.

However, this year the holiday seemed a bit more traditional to me than last. To kick things off, in the grand tradition of the Circus apartment last year, Nadia and I hosted an intern Halloween party at our apartment.
I was the muthaflippin’ Rhymenoceros (Bret’s rapping name) from Flight of the Conchords.

It loses a little something out of context, yet still stands on its own.

And a couple of the night’s best costumes:

Yaron as some sort of Australian(?) hayseed

Harold and the purple crayon

Okay, so Nadia’s friend Ian didn’t actually have a costume, but he quickly improvised which I found quite amusing

Part of the gang hanging out in our common room

Ain’t no party like my nana’s tea party…

I also carved a pumpkin this year (they were actually selling them in some of the local grocery stores!)…

…and toasted the seeds

On Halloween night itself I set my first trail for the running group (the Hash House Harriers) I’m part of here. My co-“hare” Pete and I did a Halloween-themed costumed run which ended up going quite well, despite running almost 24 km (having to run the trail twice, once to set and once on the actual run).

The reverse of my pumpkin, decked out for the occasion.

Pete and I both conveniently decided to be vampires for the evening

Part of the group circling up before the run

For those without costumes, we enforced a strict apple-bobbing requirement

Our dinner was at Chez ma Cousine, one of the best deals in Geneva featuring salad, fries, and half a chicken for around 15 Swiss Francs

All in all, a fun week of activities and a great way to celebrate my favorite holiday. We even saw several groups of kids our trick-or-treating during the run, which is proof that Westernization is growing—which I think, in this case, is a good thing.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T15:26:00.000+01:00

Today is one of the best days of the year, and this year it actually feels like a real Halloween, despite being in Europe — we had a party on Friday, I’m setting a Halloween Hash run tonight, and we’re even having a Halloween-themed office party.

Unfortunately, I’ll still be missing out on one of my favorite aspects of the holiday: Chipotle’s Boo-rito. I hope you all remember to deck yourselves out in foil and head to your local Chipotle to get an absolutely free burrito (or tacos, bol, etc.)

Enjoy, and Happy Halloween. (Pictures to come soon...)

A New Set of Interns, A New Swiss Adventure

2007-10-17T16:55:00.000+02:00

One of the remarkable things about Geneva is what a transient community it is. With so many students and interns passing through for 3 and 6-month study abroads and work experiences, people who’ve been here a year are considered quite established. And so, with everyone else from my ‘intern class’ having returned home (save for Sasha who will only be here through December), it’s time to make new friends with a bunch of new people.
I should step back for a brief moment to clarify that I do have plenty of friends who are here long-term, so it’s really just the intern crowd that’s completely changed.

A couple weekends ago I joined Steph (new multimedia intern here at FI), Harold (the new Dave at ACT), Dana (the new Mike at EAA), and Melissa (the replacement Sasha at ICMC) for a day trip to Lucerne. It was nice to finally see a place that I’d heard a lot about (especially that lion statue), although it was pretty overcast so the mountains weren’t quite as dramatic as they could’ve been. Even so, it was a fun trip and a good chance to get to know some of the new folks better.

Here are some pictures:

An interesting stained glass World Clock at the Lucerne train station

That poor dying lion everyone’s always talking about

The monument is a tribute to fallen Swiss mercenaries in the French Revolution

The Hof Church, where we inadverantly sort of crashed a wedding

Harold surveys the landscape

Sagmeister-esque poster

Yakkity yak

Part of the city (which probably would have been more impressive without the cloudy sky)

A shot by Harold on the wall overlooking the city

The Picasso museum, which is actually more interesting due to the immense number of candid photos from his home life in his later year rather than his work (they mainly just have drawings and studies)

For dinner we decided to eat at a Tex-Mex place we’d read about. While El Divino was good, I don’t know if I’d necessarily call it the “King of Fajitas” as their advertising suggested. Here we are, out front (l to r: Dana, Harold, Melissa, me, and Steph)

There was some sort of carnival happening in front of the train station. Here’s a shot of the swing ride in front a big arch at the station.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation Part 5: Ohio

2007-10-15T11:58:00.000+02:00

Following my week in Florida, it was time to head back home for another eleven days or so. Fortunately, the weather was pretty much stuck on summer with highs in the 90s, even though the season officially changed to fall.

My cousin Chris got married on September 15th at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in downtown Columbus. The ceremony was beautiful and interesting because it was very very traditional (wearing and exchanging of crowns, walking around the altar, etc.). My brother and I managed to entertain ourselves at the reception (open bar) even though he didn’t catch the garter this time around (as he had at my cousin Emily’s).

The Maurer Men... thanks for the ears, genes!

The interior of the beautiful Greek Orthodox Cathedral

The dome at the church

Andrew and I feign enthusiasm for our flat champagne

Fortunately, the wedding was also close to the Short North which meant an opportunity to meet up with friends after. Trent was down from Cleveland for the weekend so I got to see him in addition to Greg and some of his work friends. The next day I met up with Jen at Planet Coffee which I don’t think I’d been to since high school. It was nice to catch up with everyone.

Greg, Trent, and I enjoy a pint at Bodega

I also took a couple trips down to Cincinnati to visit friends there and embrace my alumnicity. I caught a small but nice retrospective on illustrator Charlie Harper and his wife Edie’s work at the Cincinnati Art Museum (which also had a really well-done Saul Steinberg special exhibit). I also attended Bearcat Live! which I helped design the materials for again this year. Though they decided to do a country concert this year (not my cup of tea), I enjoyed seeing some familiar faces as well as free LaRosas pizza and OTR beer for my design efforts.

The Bearcat Live! stage (featuring a banner designed by yours truly)

Nice looking logo...

The BCL headliner, Carolina Rain, from backstage

On Saturday the 22nd I attended the UC-Marshall football game which was great. I tailgated with Dom and a group of young alumni beforehand and then joined the crowd flooding into the stadium. The attendance at Nippert set a record with an absolutely packed student section as UC dominated and brought our record to 4-0 (at that point). The game’s outcome ended up launching UC into the top 25 for the first time in thirty years and it was great to be able to get to see the team in action.

The Cincinnati Bearcats trounce Marshall at Nippert Stadium

I drove home early Sunday morning in order to meet more of the old Pickerington crew for lunch. Jameson was in town for that weekend’s OSU game and so he, Jen, Matt, Greg and I ate at Steak’n’Shake. It was a really nice way to say another temporary goodbye to everyone. I know I’ve said it before on multiple occasions, as have all these folks, but we have an amazing group that can pick up with each other like nothing has changed and there’s something really refreshing about that.

Following that, my mom and I drove up to Fremont to visit my Grandma Lotycz and even had success trying to convince her to try Mexican food. It was a good afternoon, but before I knew it, it was already evening and the realization that I would be departing the next day.

Fortunately my flight out wasn’t until 1:00 which afforded the opportunity to have brunch with the family. Even so, I soon found myself back on a plane journeying towards Geneva (with a requisite layover in Newart which, for the record, features the worst Starbucks in the world).

All in all, I had an amazing month back home. I don’t really tend to get homesick, but I can honestly say that upon returning to Geneva I felt ambivalent than any time over the past year. Sure, I’m really happy to be back here, but I do love my family and friends and – to a more limited extent – my country, so it’s bittersweet. At least I have the assurance that though things do change, friendships soldier on and regardless of where life takes me next I’ll have the chance to see everyone again before too long…

How I Spent My Summer Vacation Part 4: Orlando

2007-10-09T22:44:00.000+02:00

After leaving SLC, I headed down to Orlando for a relaxing week with friends. It’s hard to believe it’s already been over a year and a half since I lived there, but meeting up with everyone felt just like old times.

I arrived on Thursday night and stayed with Jesse and Dana for the first few days. This was actually the first time I’d seen them since they were married and it was great to have some time to catch up with everything. That first night I also had the chance to catch some of UC’s game against Oregon State that evening before heading to bed. I headed into the Relevant offices on Friday afternoon (which are actually now in a new location from where I worked when I was there) to hang out a bit and work on a few personal projects. The new digs are nice and have a good vibe. The kitchen area is actually done up with Jeremy Cowart’s photos from Hope in the Dark, a book I got to help layout when I was there.

After the work day ended, we did a little acoustic guitar sing-a-long followed by dinner with Adam and Mel (friends I knew from outside of work who have since both spent time at Relevant) and Derek (who worked there after I left but has since departed himself). So, if you’re still following this at all, after a great dinner we watched some 90s video classics on 120 Minutes before heading to a showing of The Brothers Solomon. We were one of the only groups in the theater (and one of the only groups seeing that movie anywhere, for that matter) but we thoroughly enjoyed every minute. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard as I did just during the opening credits — I was literally crying. Anyway, it was a nice end to a nice day.

We all slept in on Saturday and Jesse and I went for a run (during which we saw an alligator — hooray for Florida) before a few errands in the afternoon. We reteamed with Adam and Mel and a few other friends for dinner, Starbucks, and a subsequent Nintendo and Trivial Pursuit blow-out (during which Dana schooled everyone at Dr. Mario).

Sunday brought church at Summit, lunch at Panera, and my handoff to Jeremy and Jen. Though I’d seen Jeremy’s bachelor pad, this was my first time at their current place (even though they’d had it the last time I was down there). All I can say is the man is an interior decorating whiz. Very cool place. We caught an afternoon movie and hung out the rest of the evening.

Relefriends Adam, Jesse, and Jeremy

On Monday I went into Relevant for the full day and saw a few other staffers who were out on Friday, as well at meeting some of the folks who’ve joined since I left. After work Jeremy and I stopped by to see our former creative director Josh who has been doing quite well since going independent a few years ago. He shared some of his recent work and stories of recent exploits which was quite cool.

On Wednesday I met up with Amy, my friend from UC who’s getting her masters at UCF. We headed over to Tampa to see Dave Matthews Band (which I figured I needed to do for it to feel like a real summer). Despite our failure to find a Mexican restaurant (Applebee’s ended up being a perfect stand-in), we made good time and had no problem getting to the venue. Of course, right about the time we parked the sky turned black and a torrential downpour descended upon us. Unfortunately, we had tickets for the lawn. Fortunately, the rain let up a little bit by the time DMB came on and they allowed umbrellas which meant I didn’t get soaked to the bone (just mildly damp).
The show itself was great. I really liked the setlist and it featured the one song I’ve been waiting almost a decade to finally hear live: “The Dreaming Tree” – and an excellent rendition at that. Perhaps my only caveat would be that they played a single song for the Encore, but really, it was a good time in good company.

Amy and I, having survived 3 hours of drizzle and Dave

Before we knew it, we had made it back to Orlando and after a few short hours of sleep it was off to the airport to head back to Columbus.

I feel incredibly blessed to have the friends I do, and it was really great to see everyone down in O-Town again. I really do feel like I have a family of sorts down there despite the time and distance between us.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation Part 3: Grand Canyon and Las Vegas

2007-10-04T10:48:00.000+02:00

What could be more stereotypically American than spending Labor Day weekend at the Grand Canyon, complete with camping and bonfire? I celebrated the unofficial end of summer doing just that, thanks to Zach’s comprehensive knowledge of National Parks. I’d never been to the Grand Canyon before and I can honestly say that no photos can do its majesty justice. We headed out on Saturday morning and made it to the North Rim by early afternoon. After finding a campsite, setting up our tent, and purchasing a few amenities, we took a short hike down into the basin. We planned pretty well, and made it back up right around nightfall. The next morning we stopped at a couple other overlooks before hitting the road.

Entrance sign (to prove I’m not lying)

Quite possibly the best warning sign ever

Shot of the Canyon

Not exactly separating church and state, but I still kind of liked seeing this

Zach and I assemble the tent

Et voila!

This is about as close to the edge as I dared get...

...unlike these crazy people...

...and Zach

It turned out that Maggie was going to be in Las Vegas having a reunion with college friends the same weekend, so we planned to meet up. Zach and I drove up on Sunday and also had the opportunity to drive by/over the Hoover Dam. We didn’t actually stop because it was over 100 degrees and, after all, it’s just a dam. We did get to take in a lot of its grandeur, however.

So we arrived in Vegas early Sunday afternoon without any real plan. After seeing an ad for a pretty cheap deal at a Howard Johnson near the strip, we decided to try there first. Fortunately, they had rooms available, it wasn’t bad and fit our budget. We called around and successfully secured tickets to the Cirque du Soliel Beatles show Love, which despite being “limited view” were really pretty good. After grabbing some Chipotle, we went to the show, which was great.

I’ve been to a few other Cirque du Soliel performances before and this was the least circus-y, being more of an art/music/dance showcase, but even so, it was innovative and beautiful. The music, which was remastered specifically for the production, sounded phenomenal and the art direction was very well-considered. We were both very grateful to have had the chance to attend.

The Beatles/Cirque also have an “ultralounge” called Revolution, the entrance to which is this cool typographic light wall

The strip as seen from the Stratosphere

Following that, we met up with Maggie and three of her friends and proceeded to the Statosphere. We decided to go up to the observation platform and each ride one of the three rides they have on the top of the casino. I rode a swingy thing called Insanity which was a bit nerve-wracking at first, and then tired by the end. It’s pretty freaky to be suspended that far above the ground in a metal contraption that doesn’t seem much safer than something at your local county fair.

A look at Insanity

By this time, it was pushing 1 or 1:30am, so we did the logical thing: ihop (or International House of Pancakes for the uninitiated). After a fun later dinner/early breakfast, we parted ways until the next day.
On Labor Day itself we all met for lunch at a Wolfgang Puck Euro-Asian restaurant inside Caesar’s Palace. The food and company were great, but before we knew it, it was time for Maggie and the girls to head to a Russian cat circus and for Zach and I to get back on the road.
As we drove home, we listened to NPR reports about the nation’s Labor Day parades and saw some majestic landscapes and an amazing rainbow out the window. A great finale to a great weekend.

Before I knew it, my time out west was at an end, and I said hasta luego to Zach to fly down to Orlando to visit friends there...

How I Spent My Summer Vacation Part 2: Salt Lake City

2007-10-01T15:36:00.000+02:00

On August 30th I flew out to Salt Lake City to visit Zach who’s been out there working for Infinite Scale since last summer. Since I’d never been to Utah and probably wouldn’t go without someone there to visit, I figured it would make sense to do so now.

I planned the trip over Labor Day and Zach took a day off so we actually had a 4-day weekend which allowed us to roadtrip around the region (more on that next post). Thursday after he finished work we hung out, ate some delicious Mexican food and saw the Bourne Ultimatum (one of approximately 8 movies I caught up on while I was back).

On Friday Zach took me around to some of SLC’s tourist/Mormon hotspots (they’re pretty much one and the same there).

Brigham Young statue at Temple Square seeming to say “this is the place.” Or something.

Great Salt Lake meridian

The Mormon Tabernacle...

...and its interior

The LDS Temple

We also headed to SLC’s Public Library which apparently won the national library award in 2006. It was pretty impressive, with much of the design fixtures having been done by prominent design firm Pentagram.

Here’s a clever bike rack out front

And here’s a pretty incredible floating sculpture of butterflies reading books that form a human head

the dead-end of the path up on the building’s roof

The top of the building offers a nice view of the city and the surrounding landscape. Zach often hikes in those hills, but we ran out of time during my visit.

One of the coolest things for me was more Olympic history, SLC having hosted 2002’s winter games. They’ve created a nice little visitor’s center near Utes’ stadium where the torch resides (as well as opening many of the sites in Park City during the day). Infinite Scale was actually founded as a result of two of the principles’ work on the games, and the firm helped put this center together.

Kudos to Zach for suggesting this shot

On one of the days Zach actually did have to work I wandered around the city and visited the contemporary art center where this rocket-powered cow hung out.

During my trip I also got to try a lot of good food and beer (because even though Utah has ridiculous liquor laws there are stilll plenty of breweries around). On one of my last nights there, emo-pop band Mae was playing a show celebrating their new album, so I headed to that. The show was good, still mixing a lot of their previous disc The Everglow in with the new tunes.

All in all, a great trip to a very pretty city. Up next: the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas