Despite the relatively high costs of public transportation for individual tickets in Switzerland there always seem to be good deals for families on the go as long as you are willing to look around for the offers.  The junior card is just another great example of how family friendly Switzerland can be.

The first encounter was near the train station where I was taking pictures of crowds of people going in and out of the station. A woman came by and told me that I should not be doing that because I was doing something not allowed, and then she mumbled something about security.  I kindly told her that I was in a public place, and as a photographer I can freely photograph the area.  She gave me some kind of evil eye like I was the devil and stormed off.  I was  half expecting security to find me but they never showed, and she probably in the end realized I knew what I was talking about.  After all if she was right, then every tourist in the country might was well not bring a camera because it would be useless.

My second encounter came this afternoon when I decided to walk down to the old town with my tripod and some gear to practice some flash photography.  The reason I went to thisspecific area was because the the beautiful cobblestone streets, and the relative lack of traffic.  In the past I have stood on the street for 2 hours and not seen a single moving vehicle.

Of course I get to the area and setup my tripod and not 5 minutes after getting things together an elderly woman walking a worn dog stops next to me to ask me how long I plan to stay.  At first I am a bit confused by the question.  Then she jumps into a lecture telling me that I should not be in the street with my tripod because there is alot of traffic. She is absolutely right,  all those 80+ sunday church goers taking over the old town on foot  on Sunday afternoon.  I also found it a bit ironic as here pace was not exactly speedy and she was not moving much faster than my tripod.  But back to her point, yes the people in the street were walking so fast they might not see a man in a red ski jacket standing next to a triopod in the middle of the road.  Politeness got the best of me of course, and I calmly responded that I will not be more than 5 minutes before moving on.

In all fairness, I was on the street for 45 minutes, and I did have to move once.  Only once, when the police came by in their van, probably looking for strange foreign men standing in the middle of the road with tripods.

• Bread
• Potatoes
• Cheese
• Onions
• Bacon
• Sausage

From this list you can make Roesti, Fondue, Raclette, Bouillon soup, bratwurst, geschwellte kartoffeln and the list could go on.   I think this will turn into my new barometer of Swiss restaurants.  If there menu consists of only items from my list it gets a top rating.  I can think of one restaurant in Baden that fits that bill.  All of a sudden I feel like I need to make a reservation at the Resturant Arcade.

gottardo nord from fb1 visuals on Vimeo.

I was surfing around the internet and found this neat video down with a tilt shift lens feature Swiss trains. It is a cool little clip. Enjoy.

While my daughter was in a good mood this morning I setup my lights in the living room for a portrait.  The challenge is of course getting a 3 month old to put a smile on her face long enough for Daddy to snap a picture all while looking in the direction of the camera.  It kind of feels like winning the lotto some how.

The trick of course is to introduce a stuffed animal.  My animal, in a small nod of the hat to the SVP is of course a black sheep.  I got my photograph, a beautiful smiling happy child holding a black sheep about half as big as her.  She may never be Swiss, but she will always be mine and that seems reason enough to love her with all my heart.

Still going through some photographs from our trip to Oberwald in the first week of January.  I love fresh snow and small streams.  Put them together and you have the makings for really nice photographs.  Unfortunately it was still snowing when I crossed this stream.  This means it isn’t quite as sharp as I would like, but it still captures the moment.

Töggeli Kasten

Swiss German: Töggeli Kasten
High German: Tischfussball
English: table soccer

I got an e-mail today from a long time friend that works on in L.A. as a music composer and producer.  He does a lot of music for radio and television.  He was writing me because he just got a royalty check for a Kinder Bueno Commercial that is running in Switzerland.  Of course knowing I am here he dropped me a line to ask me if I had seen it.  I hadn’t seen it yet but kudos to him for his global work.

I actually have the track in the commercial in my iTunes library.  I like to keep up with his music and he sends me tracks now and again when he has new stuff.  I’ve included the commercial from youtube.

New Years 5km Candle Lit Nordic Walking Event

Christmas this year was a totally new experience for me and my family this year.  It marked the first year in my life that I spent the holiday away from home.  Since our little baby was so small this year we made the difficult decision to stay in Switzerland.  We did have family join us in Switzerland for the holiday so we weren’t alone, but it was very different.  Some old traditions were put aside.  Others we tried to replicate here as best we could in this new setting.

I don’t think having Christmas outside of the U.S. will be a permanent change, it feels like only a temporary arrangement.

Due to the fact that were were here we did get to do some local things that we wouldn’t normally have a chance to do. We bought our Christmas tree in the plaza under our apartment as opposed to the Jumbo home improvement store.  Usually we don’t have that option because the vendors start selling trees in the city a little late for out tastes.  We did get to keep one long standing tradition which was eating fondue on Christmas Eve.  And I have to say I think it was better in Switzerland for obvious reasons.

We also participated in the new years nordic walking evening on Baldegg.  The event was a 5km candle lit trail followed by a pasta dinner.  Most of the hike was in the pitch black forest with the trail lit by some 1000 candles according to my calculations.  It took a good 15 minutes to get used to walking in the complete darkness as the candles just didn’t have the power needed to illuminate much of the trail at all.  My sister-in-law described it like stumbling 5km for the bathroom in the middle of the night.  A perfect description.

Our family will be here for another 2 weeks or so.  That is beautiful in a sense that we will have 3 extra babysitters around, and that they will have a chance to spend so much time with the newest member of the family.

Seeing as the description also mentioned that once my old passport was in Bern it would have to be sent to the U.S. for processing I was not optimistic.  But having planned to stay in Switzerland for Christmas this year it sounded like a perfect time to renew.

After a day of running around an collecting my photos and paperwork to be mailed I put everything in th epost on December 2nd and didn’t expect o hear a word until early January.  You can imagine my suprise then when I got a letter that included my new passport on the 10th of December.  Finally the first time ever that a government agency has done something quick and efficient.  Kudos to the people in Bern for getting this done so fast.

Hopefully I will have the same experience in getting my daughters passport.