The Account

Switzerland is known for its banks. It is a heaven for all those billionaires out there. Everyone takes their money to Switzerland. In fact my wife is currently working on an advertising campaign aimed at affluent tourists to leave a little hard cash here when they visit.

I want to let you in on a little secret. Don't bother.

The Swiss banking system is ridiculous. Where can I begin. Hmmmmm, how about my savings acoount. You should see the interest rate I'm getting. Something like 0.1%, boy what a way put your money to work for you.

How about the mail from the bank. It seems like every document that is somewhat important I have to pick up personally at the post office. But my biggest complaint isn't going to the post office, its actually e-banking.

When we signed up for e-banking I thought we would have immediate access. I was sure wrong on that one. We went to the bank and signed a few forms and were told they would send us some information in the mail. About 4 weeks later we got a later in the mail, to be picked up at the post office, with more forms to sign. What the heck is going on here. So we signed those forms and sent them back. Then about 3 weeks later we got another note in our mailbox that we had to go to the post office to pick up another package. This is where it gets a little strange.

They sent us in the mail what looked like a calculator, a credit card, pin code, and a sticker. All of which you have to use to login to your e-banking account on the web. Confused?! Let me explain.

Here are the steps to login to the website.

1. Stick your credit card thing in the calculator.
2. Enter a pin on the calculator
3. Enter an 8 digit 'contract number' as a login to the website
4. Now the website presents you with a 6 digit number to enter into your calculator
5. After entering the 6 digit number into the calculator it will display a new number
6. Enter the new number from the calulator back into the website as your password.

I have obviously taken some short cuts because in the online tutorial there are 19 steps to login instead of 6. I might suggest you have a look at the tutorial here, as it is quite 'different'.

This is so complex I'm going to have to read my own directions every time I do this. The funny part is I think they have all these separate pieces and parts to make it so secure. But really, the card fits perfectly in the calculator thing, so I'm nenver going to take it out. Secondly they sent with the card and calculator a sticker with our 'contract number' that just happens to be the same size as the back of the calculator. Let me think about this. They send me all these disparate pieces but they all fit together nicely. Seems like a major flaw in the Swiss security scheme to me.

Well I better get back to my key pad. I have some bills to pay tomorrow and I want to make sure I can get logged into to my online bill pay by the morning.

Listen Carefully

The one nice thing about being in Europe is that I can make all my phone calls to US businesses in the evenings when I have free time. I can take care of my credit cards and bank issues when I am actually free.

My calls to the US in the evenings have made me more aware of automated calling systems. As a result I have a few gripes.

Why are they always changing the menu options. It seems like whichever service, company, or hotline I call, the message always opens with 'Listen carefully as our menu options have changed.' Have they really changed? Or are they just to lazy to take that part of the message out.

So, the next point is why do they change the menu options? I can't believe it is to improve service because it seems that whatever I need, it is never an option. For this reason I would propose that all phone systems should start with 'Press 1 for other options, press 2 for....."

Then there is always the 'we are experiencing high call volumes' bit. If these hotlines are always experiencing high call volumes why don't they hire more people? I think waiting on hold for 10 minutes is a shame. It's not that long, but when you are teathered to a corded phone it seems like forever.

Finally my biggest gripe is when they ask you to put in your account number. Then you speak to a live person and they first thing they say is 'can I have your account number please.' What was the point of me entering the number if you are going to ask for it anyway? I was actually dumbfounded yesterday when I called the City of Richmond DPU hotline. I was prompted for my account number and then waited on hold for about 5 minutes. After a very kind and pleasant woman answered my call I asked her if she needed my account number only because she didn't ask for it. Can you believe it, she said 'No sir, I have your account number right here on the screen.' Oh my God, somebody has finally figured it out. Kudos to the City of Richmond DPU.

The Button

A while back my wife and I went on a hike up to the baldegg wasserturm, which is near Allmend. After the 45 minute hike up the hill you arrive at the base of the watertower.

There is a fence around the base of the watertower with a large gate. You enter the gate, and proceed to a spiral staircase that goes up through the center of the watertower. At the time we had not started our language classes so we knew very little German. But we did notice at the base of the stairs a sign next to a button thad said something about an 'Alarm' and '60 Sekunden'. Since we couldn't read the sign we just climbed the stairs.

As you go up the stairs at one point you are actually climbing up through the center of the water tank. It was cool, damp and poorly lit. You finally arrive at the top of the watertower and have a tremendous view of the surounding countryside. We must have spent about 20 minutes taking in the scenary.

As we started to head down the stairs I noticed something was different. There were no lights. As I went a few more steps further into the center of the tank it was so dark that I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face. I turned back to my wife and said, 'wait a second, I need my eyes to adjust.' I waited for about 30 seconds and then tried to go further, but it was just so dark that I felt like I might have to slide down the stairs on my butt. Instead I turned around and my wife and I went back up the 10 or so stairs we had traversed. It was just too dark to go down safely.

At this point we are standing at the top of the stairs trying to figure out how we are going to get down without the lights. As we are standing at the top of the stairs I notice a push button switch and a sign in German next to it.

I can't read the sign. But the sign down stairs said something about an 'Alarm' and '60 Sekunden.' Maybe if I push the button I only have 60 seconds to escape. Maybe the button is a panic button and will summon the police. Maybe the button doesn't do anything.

I tell my wife that she should press the button. 'No way, you press the button!,' she says. 'I'm not pressing it, what if sets off an alarm.' I say. 'We'll I'm not pressing it,' she replies.

We look at each other silently. Slowly she reaches out, presses the button, and...... the lights go on.

Thermalbad

Stress..........

Finally some relief. Today our friends, fellow Americans, took us to the Baden Thermalbad for an afternoon of rest and relaxation. What a great way to spend the afternoon.

When we arrived we first got our keys and went to the locker rooms. From there we took our madatory showers and made our way to the outdoor pool.

We slowly waded into the warm mineral filled waters. The smell of sulfur wafted through the air. As you enter the pool you immediately move to the right and quickly find ourself with a water jet hitting the middle of our back. Ohhh that feels sooooo good. Just as you are getting the jet on that tight spot a doorbell rings, and everyone moves to the right like clock work.

Two minutes on the calves, ding dong. Two minutes on the quads, ding dong. Two minutes on the lower back, ding dong. Two minutes on the shoulders, ding dong.

This process is very Swiss, effecient, exact, measured. But it actually worked quite well. Everyone knew the process and moved along efficeintly. I would imagine in the US there would have been someone hogging the shoulder jets and people would have just gotten upset about it. Here, there was an expectation, a processes, and everyone followed it.

After about 30 minutes of soothing water massage outside we moved to the indoor pool. the highlight of the indoor pool were these loungers built into the shallow section of the pool. As you laid in the shallow waters, little bubbles would tickel your back as that bubbled up from the bottom of the pool. This must be heaven.

After another 30 minutes in the indoor pool we got out of the pool and one-by-one where haned large warm towels. We followed our friends like apprentices into the 'quite room'. This room was filled with loungers similar to the 'astronaut' chairs that the astronauts sat in in the 60's when they were preparing for flight. The loungers fully reclined and allowed you to relax every muscle. We rested in the quite room for about 15 minutes almost nodding off at times.

From there we packed our things and headed home. What a great way to spend a Sunday. I will definately be doing this again.

Brokenstube

Today we went to the Baden Brokenstube. Brokenstube means second hand store. We had been interested in trying to find a Brokenstube for quite some time as we thought we might be able to get some inexpensive kitchen electrical appliances there.

The Brokenstube was around the corner from the library in what looks to be the garage of an appartment building. The store was much like an indoor garage sale. There were card tables, and shelves packed with Glassware, mugs, kitchen pots and pans. All sorts of junk.

What was so interesting is that while much of the junk was similar to what I would expect to see in the US there were some things that I had not expected. For example, the bookself and table crammed with all things fondue. Fondue pots, forks, plates, burners, lazy susans. I never realized so many fondue accessories existed.

The store is only open twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays. I can imagine I'll go back a few times. Most likely just to comtemplate all the junk, but who knows someday I may get lucky and I'll find that Raclette grill I'm looking for.

I Live in a Cave

I arrived home today to find the appartment completely sealed. Every window is closed, shutters drawn. There are what look to be old sheets with a paisley pattern thrown over the chairs.

Flashback to grandma's house circa 1986. Plastic, blankets, darkness.

What has happened here? Why does it feel like my wonderfully sunny appartment has been boarded up for a hurricane? The answer is simple. My mother.

How can someone have such a profound influence from 4,000 miles away? You don't know my mother. Remember, this is the same woman that stopped a Swiss train.

In one of her trademark lectures while she was here on her visit she had expressed great concern that in such a sunny appartment all of our things would fade. Our chairs would become destitue, our sofa, tatered, and what would happen to the seagrass carpet, can you imagine? The only viable solution was to close everything up, and cover everything with sheets towels and blankets. Of course in theory, if you were having company you could remove all of this, but you never would. This doctrine must have effected my wife deeply.

I think this fear of faded furniture is a Polish thing. My grandmother on my father's side was notorious for covering furniture to 'protect' it. She had the classic clear plastic coverings installed on all of her furniture. It made for quite comfortable sitting on a hot summer day. I can also remember what I believe were blankets and sheets on the loveseat that sat in front of her console TV. Of course the sheets and blankets were not coordinated with anything and made the living room look like a gypsy garage sale, but hey, that is my family.

I am of the opinion that furniture and living spaces should be enjoyed, not preserved. I'm not suggesting that I'm going to guzzle beer and grind cheese-its into my sofa but I don't want to always worry about faded furniture or a little spill of soda. After all, by the time my furniture is faded, worn and stained it should probably be replaced anyway.

Oh, and one more thing. Mom, I Love you.

Even Old People Ride Bikes

I was thinking about a conversation I over heard between my parents when they were visiting. My mother said to my father 'There are even old people riding bikes around here."

During my short 3 months abroad I have seen this as a trend here in Switzerland however I was amazed that even my parents picked up on this so quickly. Is it that different from the US? I must have already become somewhat desensitised to seeing someone in their 50's or 60's riding their bicycle home from work. Physical activity is just a part of life here.

People don't take elevators as much, stairs seem to be perfered. Walking is essential. Public transportation can only take you but so close to the front door of the local clothing store. Since everything is close Sunday your choice is to sit inside, or get off your duff and be outdoors.

I think I too are becoming accustomed to more activity. I remember the first three or four weeks I was constantly complaining about how sore my legs where all the time. I would wake up in the mornings with the same pain in my legs that I used to get in high school when we used to have two weeks of 4 hour soccer practice just before school started. Now I don't wake up with that same pain.

My wife also made a comment the other day that she tackled the infinite flight of stairs without much difficulty. The infinite flight of stairs is this insanely long stair case that leads from the river to the the old town. It must be something like 200 steps. When I first saw it I thought, why would they put that there? No one would ever climb that. With time I guess you just become used to a different level of expectation of physical activity. And really, it isn't so bad to make yourself move once in a while.

Miss Italia 2006

Usually I don't watch beauty pagents, but Miss Italia struck me. It is a very interesting format. It's almost like a game show.

There are 100 women, obviously in bathing suits. They randomly pick the number of one the women while playing We Will Rock You. She walks down and then gets to pick another woman that she wants to go head-to-head against in a talent content. After the short talent contest, they open the televoto, where you as the viewer can SMS which woman you prefer. There is a long dramatic pause, and then they announce the winner. Then on to the next pair.

This is just for the first round I guess. Europe in gernerall seems really big on SMS messaging for everthing. I've noticed almost every game show has some opportunity for the viewer to SMS in to win a prize or vote on a winner.

As far as talent, there was one woman singing, one doing a dramatic reading. There was the woman who claimed she was a goal keeper and had an Italian world cup star shoot soccer balls ar her. Then there was the woman who was making ballon animals and finally there was "fit box." I think that is Italian for Billy Blank's Tae Boe Kick Boxing work out. It was actually really lame. But, I guess jumping up and down and punching in the air can raise a few eyebrows when you are considering that this is a beauty pagent.

Crap, is that Art?

We were planning to go hiking today but it was raining when we woke up so we made some alternative plans. We decided a day visiting the musuems of Zürich would be a good alternative to trekking through the rain.

We looked through a list of possibilities and my wife selected a contemporary art museum. I don't think I really get contemporary art. Some of it I like, but most of it I just don't get. Regardless I thought it would be worth a trip.

I actually think a TV sitcom with 4 of 5 starving artists discussing the creation of contemporay art would be quite humorous. Imagine this scene. Steve the artist, a man in his early thirties, kind of spacey enters a room devoid of furniture. John, his friend is sitting against the wall surounded by canvases and piles of dirty clothes and a stereo reciever from 1982 playing some sort of bizzare noise. Steve proclaims, "I've had a rebirth, a new vision. Two birds in a room, a white room. They'll eat, fly around, and shit. Can you imagine how deep that would be?"

Wait, a second, didn't I see that at the Kunsthalle in Zürich? I did!

Here is a quote form the press release...

" Visitors then continue through the ephemeral atmosphere of the large, empty exhibition room, whose floor is completely covered with white powder. It is the temporary habitat for two birds – also white – which hang symbolically between salvation myth, peace kitsch and subjective pet fetishism – and which will, naturally, contaminate the purity of the white room with the evidence of their passing existence namely, feathers, excrement and waste. "

If such artists want to provoke feels and emotions then they have succeded. I still don't quite get the point though. I guess I'll have to try again another time and see if I too have a vision.

E. Coli

I find it rather ironic that at the same time there is an E. Coli outbreak in the US I am here in Switzerland with what I think is my own case of food posioning.

My wife and I had the same lunch today and we both came down ill. I got the worst of it, and we think it was due to salad. Luckily the symptoms seemed to have passed in only a few hours time.

Being sick is a little different here. As I was really feeling the worst of it I was thinking of all the home remedies I might try to aleviate my problems. There are no 24 hour Walgreens here. You can't walk in anonymously to a drug store and pick up a bottle of Pepto-Bismol. If you want any medication or treatments you have to first find a store that is open, then secondly describe your symptoms and the pharmisist will give you something. Not at all like at home.

I feel better now though, and I think I'll be fine come morning.

The Table

Last week we went to the Ikea to buy a rug. This rug was a a small rug for our front hall. We had been eyeing it for some time and we had just seen an advertisement that it was on sale, marked down 50 CHF. We figured it was time to make the purchase.

We went to the Ikea, found the rug and a few other things and went to check out. At the check out line the price rang up as 149 CHF when we were expecting it to be 99 CHF. I asked the casheir about the price and she could only direct me to the service desk since neither her english nor my german was good enough.

After paying I took my rug over to the sevice counter, took a number (you always have to take a number in Switzerland) and waited. Once my number was called, I walked up and asked if the woman spoke english

'Nein' she said.

Ok, I'll try my German.

I proudly hold my rug in one had I say "Ich glaube diese Tisch kosted 99 franken"

She replies "Tepisch"

Damn, she caught me. In all of my exuberance I proclaimed to her while holding the rug, that the rug was not in fact a rug, but a table. She was nice enought to correct me when she insisted that it was not a tisch (table) but in fact a tepisch (rug).

The woman was actually very nice, and I did manage to explain the situation in German, she suggested that I return the rug, and see if I could fine the brun (brown) rug instead of the rot (red) rug because the brun rug was actually the one on sale.

It was good practice for me. I manged to get through the transaction. And the woman was nice enough, and patient enough to help me while I struggled. These are the type of people that make the expereince of trying to learn a language more enjoyable.

The Cigar

My father has a vacation tradition. The indulgence in his semi-yearly cigar. I can remember him telling me the source of this tradition when I was a child. He had told me that his father used to smoke cigars when they would fish. He had never forgotten the smell, and has since kept the tradition alive by lighing up on his vacations.

Although my father keeps the tradition alive, I sometimes question his choice of when and where to relive these memories. This trip he decided to indulge at 9,800 feet above sea level, during a hike, down a mountain. Knowing my dads problems with high blood pressure, poor fitness level, and his general unsteadiness I was a little concerned when he adimately suggested that he would make the "30 minute" hike down to the next train station. I was even more concerned when he lite his cigar immediately thinking that the combination of cigar, high altitude, and lack of exercise would do him in.

Sure enough about an hour into the 30 minute hike, dad took a tumble backwards on his backside on some uneven rocks. He rested for a bit and then came down the remainder of the difficult incline but was in no shape to make the remainder of the hike.

Mom insisted somehow we get a train to take dad down the moutain. Seeing as the trail runs right next to the track mom immediately marched over to the track (all 5 foot of her). And stood in the middle of the track waving a hiking pole shouting. The train going up to the peak of the moutain slowed long enough for her to convey a message to the conductor that dad needed some assistance. The conductor yelled back that he would have a train stop on the way down.

At my moms insistence we left my mom and dad by the side of the track to wait for the train and my wife and I continued our hike down to the next station.

When we got on the train at the next station sure enough there were mom and dad on the train. I was quite proud, and somewhat embarassed of the fact that my mother had successfully coordinated her first apline rescue. And like superman, she too could stop a train and not break a sweat. What great story for the future grand kids.

Zermatt

What an amazing weekend. There are so many good stories to tell from our 3 days in Zermatt. The pinnacle of the weekend was an early morning fannicular (moutain train) ride up the the Rothorn to see if I could get the classic post card photo of the Matterhorn reflecting in a calm apline lake.

We got up fairly early for us and were out the door at about 8:00 am riding the train up the moutain by 8:15. We reached the lake by about 8:30 and for the next 45 minutes I took photographs from every conceivable angle. The results were surely worth the last minute trip before our departure Sunday morning.

Other highlights of the trip included:

• Moutain hike decending 1000 verticle meters (took us 3.5 hours)
• Mom's Apline Rescue, The only American to stop a Swiss train dead in its tracks (Don't worry, everyone is fine)
• Lunch at 3000 meters about sea level

We also tested out our hiking poles, they were surely a must for the below average aplinist like myself. I would highly advise them to anyone, young or old that would be doing any type of hiking up or down-hill.

The End Of Indian Summer

After my mom was complaining in work all week that it was going to be cold in Switzerland she was quite suprised when she arrived and the entire week it was in the upper 20's (Celcius that is). It has been in the 70's and 80's (farhenheit) all week.

Yesterday we made the short 30 minute train trip over the German boarder to a small town called Waldshut which is where all the swiss go to shop because the prices are cheaper. We had a good day going from store to store. I actually had quite a long and involved conversation with a sales cerk in a sporting goods store when I was trying to purchase some hiking poles. I was asking him if I would be better off with Wanderweg poles, or nordic walking poles. Amazingly I managed about a 10 minute conversation with the guy in german telling him that I liked the moutians and the more advance terrain and he suggest the wanderweg poles. I ended up getting some Leki poles. Now we'll really fit in as everyone at the resorts seems to walk around with these things. I guess I'll get a chance to try them out and see if they really make a difference.

I think however our luck with the weather is about to change. We are boarding a train to Zermatt in about an hour and the forcast is for colder weather and rain. They are even predicting the possibility of snow on Saturday night. I've got my suitcass fully packed with winter gear and I'm ready to go.

Neuchatel

This past weekend my parents arrived from the US and we started a mini vacation. Unfortunately I have two days of work in the middle. But after tomorrow I'll have a nice little long vacation to Zermatt. I'm really excited about that and I'm sure I'll blog about it when I am back.

In the mean time we had a chance to visit Neuchatel last weekend with my parents. This was the first time we had a chance to use our $3900 train tickets. It was quite relaxing and nice to be able to transfer from bus to train without purchasing a ticket.

Neuchatel was a beautiful little town on the coast of lake Neuchatel. There was a great little path along the waterfront that we followed for a while. It was a great chance to take in the scenary, watch the sailboats, and get a bit of ice cream.

We also walked to the town castle and took a self guided tour of the prisons that were housed in the castle (See the tower in this picture) and were last used in 1848. The priosons looked like large wooden boxes, They were about 8 feet buy 6 feet, by 5 feet tall. They did not long very large and with no really openings or windows I have to imagine it was quite a stinky, and dark, and dank environment.

We had a nice lunch at a cafe on a big plaza. We struggled for a bit as we were speaking German, the waitress was speaking french, and then we all settled on english. Lunch was spagehtti, and it was quite good.

Neuchatel is in the French region of Switzerland so all the signs and train announcments and daily life are conducted in French. This makes for a bit of a challenge since I don't know French but my wife knows a little. We managed just fine.

The two hour train trip home allowed me to do some sleeping, and even when I got home I was exhausted. It was a full day of activity and I feel right to sleep.

The $3900 Train Tickets

We decided a few weeks ago that we would forego a car here in Switzerland and instead use public transportation. Seeing as I haven't driven in close to 3 months and I really do miss it I think it makes sense.

Also, it would cost us at least 400 CHF for car payments and then another 200 CHF for monthly parking. This doesn't even include the cost of gas, which is insane here.

So what is the alternative? Clearly a set of two train tickets that cost 3900 USD. These are not any train tickets. They are actually yearly passes that will be us on almost every Train, Tram, Bus, and Boat in the country. There is a map of the entire network available on the web (See page 2).

After doing the math. The cost of the tickets are actually cheaper than owning a car. If we do need a car for shopping or to pick up that rug, or TV there are car sharing programs where you can rent a car hourly. A 3 hour rental costs about the same as 2 standard round trip train tickets to the next train stop where the shopping mall is.