Baden Christmas Lights

The Christmas lights have been up in Baden for a few weeks now. I finally had a chance to get out last night and takes a few photographs. My wife was brave enough to grab a tripod and come with me. I was surprised she wanted to head out into the cold. For me the evening was a great opportunity to be a little artistic and try out some of my HDR capture techniques.

The image above was created from 3 images over-layed using the picturenaut tool. Final edits were done in Photoshop CS3.

I am not completely happy with the color tint of the image. I have to play with it a bit more but I think overall the picture turned out pretty cool.

For those that are interested the image was made of a -2, 0 and +2 exposure biased images.

Swiss on Cleanliness: Clean Your Darn Desk

Sign Left on My Desk

My wife had told me stories, funny stories, about the cleaning lady at her office that complained that her co-workers left the office in a state of disregard. The office kitchen was just way to dirty at times. It seems a bit ironic that the cleaning staff was telling the office staff to shape up and keep the place clean, after all, their dirtiness was keeping them employed.

Well today I realized this is an issue not isolated to my wife's office. I arrived at work to find a small neatly place sign in a plastic holder on my desk. The sign had a picture of my office's cleaning lady. The sign kindly asking me to straighten and clear my desk so that she could clean it. I found this hilarious. Especially due to the fact that my desk is probably 3 times as clean as most U.S. office desks I have seen.

As the custom is to not put personal items on your desk in Europe the only additional elements to the required computer hardware like computer keyboard and mouse pad is a small pile of 3 or 4 neatly arranged file file folders and a coffee mug. My co-worker that sits next to me also had the sign on his desk this morning. We had a good laugh over it.

But that does not top what we saw at lunch today. Often times we will go to a local place called the Trafo Hall which is a large building with a couple of small restaurants in it. It was an old warehouse converted into a retail space so there are the typical iron beams and large open spaces in the airy foyer. As we were sitting in one of the restaurants I looked out in the open hall to see a man walking across the rafters with a vacuum cleaner. He was literally walking across the I-beams vacuuming dust.

What are these people thinking? Is this level of obsession with cleanliness healthy? It is one of the strange quirks of the culture that I still can not understand.

Evening With David Sedaris

On Monday night we had tickets to see readings by David Sedaris. Sedaris is known as a regular contributor to the WBEZ Chicago radio show This American Life. His humor is really fanstastic and his delivery when he reads his essays is unmatched. If you haven't read or listened to any of his work I highly recomend that you do.

Sedaris read a great story unpublished story on Monday, i belive it was titled 'Innocents Abroad'. The essay was themed around that fact that even when you are speaking english abroad local languages or accents slip into you conversations. 'Paris' becomes 'Paireeee' or 'Street' becomes 'Strasse'. It isn't so weird when you are talking to a non-native english speaker, but as soon as you find another American and you start doing this is just becomes a little wierd.

Sedaris had submitted the essay to This American Life but the producers didn't accept it. He talked about it a bit, and said that they were completely wrong, none of the producers had lived abroad and probably would never relate to or understand the essay. I can understand his point, at times when you talking to others that haven't lived over seas, you try explaining something, a quirk in living, and strange tradition that you have to follow, whatever. Some just don't get it. And probably never will unless they decide at some point to live outside their boarders and outside of their comfort zone.

The roars in the club after the reading by Sedaris illustrated the fact that that the essay was right on the mark. Many of us in Switzerland had shared similar experiences to Sedaris who currently resides in France. Although we may never see this yet unpublished work in writing because of the difficulting of the nuances of pronunciation that make it such a great spoken piece I do hope that he will record it at some point for an audio collection.

Digital Photo Event In Baden

A few weekends ago I had noticed a sign for a digital photography event coming up at a local conference center in Baden. The conference hall is small, and I couldn't imagine what kind of event it would be but I made a mental note that I wanted to stop by and see it when the day arrived.

Last Saturday the appointed hour came. I almost forgot about it but after a morning run to Waldshut for a little shopping we headed over to the Trafo hall to take in the Digital photography show. It ended up being sponsored by a local school (I believe an art school or something) and the hall had three distinct things going on. A photography exhibit and contest, a senimar area, and a few vendor booths.

When we arrived a swiss outdoor photographer was giving a slide show and talking about taking outdoor pictures of rock climbing. Although the pictures were good, the presentation was a bit hard to follow because it was all in Swiss German. After about 10 minutes of listening and watching slides I just couldn't take it. Without understanding the commentary it was a little boring.

I saw a co-worker there as well. He had stopped in to get hte sensor in his Camera cleaned. Canon had a booth there and was offering free sensor cleaning if you brought your camera in. I probably should have brought mine but I just didn't feel like lugging it around.

Some of the photos in the exhibit were good, others were a bit of a strech to be in a juried show but regardless I like to see such shows because they always give me some new ideas and inspiration.

Halloween Pumpkins

Halloween Pumpkins

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because I get to carve a pumpkin. I absolutely love carving pumpkins. Looking at it from abroad it must seem like a strange and bizarre American pop culture thing to do. Pumpkins here are used primarily for making soup this time of year. The pumpkins used for cooking are much different than the traditional large orange pumpkins Americans are familiar with. European pumpkins are generally shorter, greener, or even slightly brown, squash like really. But the soup from these ugly little things in always goods.

I usually spend way to much time selecting a design for my pumpkin. I get out a pad of paper, and sketch a few ideas, pick one I like, refine it a few times and then start carving. Usually by the time I am done with my sketch my wife is already done carving her pumpkin. This year was of course no exception.

I tried something a little different this year and actually carved my pumpkin on it side. Usually the orange pumpkins we know of for carving lay in the garden on their sides. So I decided to exploit the flat side as a base and carved a skull this time around. I think it turned about pretty good.

First Snow Of The Season

We had the first snow of the year last night. When I woke up this morning everything was covered. I started yesterday afternoon here in Baden and continues to snow this morning. This is the earliest I have seen snow in this region of Switzerland.

Taking Traffic Direction To A Whole New Level

Street Cadet in Action in Bremgarten

I have never seen a culture embrace traffic control the way the Swiss do. I have realized that one of the reasons for the cultural obsession seems to be a program to develop talent from a very young age. They seem to pick out their high performers and really coach them to future success.

One excellent success story is the traffic control man that I see when leaving my office each day. He seems to be in his 50s. He stands duty at a busy intersection just outside my office to assist people in crossing the busy streets. Such positions are not staffed by local police units like in the US, but rather seem to be 'outsourced' to the streets department.

The pride, and grossly over animated gestures of these patrons of the pavement pale in comparison to their counterparts in the US. I'm am thinking of my experiences when I used to commute to work in Chicago and there was a CPD (Chicago police department) officer on each corner. Not so much directing traffic but rather standing on an island in the middle of the street, sometimes blowing a whistle and mostly cussing at taxis and bike messengers.

So, While in a city of 8 million like Chicago a traffic cop might make sense, and Swiss 'traffic cop' in a town of 16,000 directing a few white collar workers crossing a street to get the bus station seems like a bit of an overkill to me as an American.

Regardless, there is a job to be done, unemployment here is low, and our local traffic control staff take their job very seriously. Even if they do appear at times to be dressed like over zealous school crossing guards.

Eating Lunch at the Company Cafeteria

I had lunch at the company cafeteria today which reminded me of a movie from 1959 titled Lunchroom Manners. I had first heard the sound track to the move as part of a sound bite in a song by a group called Mr. Bungle. Here is the orginal movie.

The Gardner Visits

Our gardener visited this weekend to tend to our terrace. It was time for a final cleaning before the winter sets in. At least that is they way I'd like to think of it.

This past week our neighbor was cleaning her terrace. Both of our terraces share what appears to be a common gutter if you will. The gutter collects rain from both balconies and directs it to two downspouts. Of course both downspouts are on our side of the terrace.

This gutter is very similar to a house gutter except for the fact that there is a heavy metal grate over the top. And just like a gutter on a house it gets clogged with leaves. So while our neighbor was cleaning her balcony this past week a wad of wet leaves got stuck in our downspout and in her own words it was a catastrophe.

I was not her on Friday when she knocked on our door, informed my wife of the problem, and then showed herself through our apartment to inspect our decidedly atrocious balcony. After she had a closer look she informed my wife that she would be back on Saturday to show us how to clean.

So like clock work on Saturday morning around 10:00 the doorbell rang and there she was, buckets, brooms, saw, shovels, and knee high rubber boots. As I really do like my neighbor, I let her in and changed into some work clothes and we rolled up our sleeves for some work. We both started at separate ends of the balcony meeting somewhere in the middle. Of course I had not cleaned sufficient, so our neighbor had to double check, and reclean everything that I had done.

Knowing I could never quite match the proper degree of Swiss cleanliness I gave up and just stood around holding a broom, looking busy while she continued. That is when I notice her boots. The boots she was wearing looked like Grey trooper boots. On closer inspection I noticed the emblem on the side had a star and over it it said 'California Highway Patrol.' Oh, my God, my neighbor is a Ponch fan!

After two hours of work she was finished and began to pack up. I asked if she was familar with CHiPs but she had no clue what I was talking about. Either that, or my German was a bit off after two hours of heavy use.

So the balcony is clean, no more catastrophes, and we owe are beloved neighbor a raclette dinner as a thank you.

Magazines, German Will Have To Do

Lately I have felt a need to catch up on the digital photography market. I haven't had a chance to really read any magazines lately and sometimes I just prefer to page through a magazine as opposed to clicking around online.

On Saturday we went to the local kiosk, similar to a news stand, to look through the titles. The Kiosk in the Baden train station has a fairly large English language magazine section carrying titles like Self, GQ, Vanity Fair, and National Geographic to name a few but unfortunately they don't carry any photography titles.

I was disappointed at first but then thought to myself, why the heck have I been taking German lessons?! I walked over the the photography sections, found about 20 titles and picked up a few to skim them so see if I could read them. Aside from a few words here and there I actually found I could follow the articles quite well. So, I chose one, walked over to the register and made the purchase.

I've been paging through the magazine and reading bits and pieces here and there. It is a challenge but the topics are things I am interested in, and it is another way to get a little German practice in. Lets see how far this goes.

Flower Picking With Our Nachbarin

Gladiolas in a Flower Field

The Swiss like flowers. Flowers are everywhere. The weekend market, the kiosk, I've even seen them in vending machines. The best place to buy truly fresh flowers it to drive around in the country until you find one of the many farmers with a flower field.

Farmers will set up a small table, with a price list, cash box, and usually a couple of old butter knives, sharpened to a razors edge on a cutting wheel. These little stands are not manned, and everything is done based on the honor system. Take a knife, cut some flowers, drop a few coins in the cash box and on your way you go.

Earlier this week, we had an evening with our neighbor and she invited us to join her on Saturday morning to go to a few of her favorite places to pick flowers. We jumped at the chance as it is always fun to see what the locals are up too. We spent a few hours driving between two fields and a couple of grocery stores, just running typical weekend errands in truly Swiss style. In on the fields we got caught in a rain storm. Although we got wet our spirits surely didn't.

I hope we'll get to go again with our neighbor, it is truly a treat to follow her around and just be a quiet observer in her daily routine. It is a fantastic way to get inside the culture.

Tennis Club

Its been about 3 weeks since I first joined the tennis club in the next town over. I am happy to report that I've been going twice a week since we joined. At the price we are paying for the rest of the season I think I have already made my money back if you would compare it to paying the hourly non-member rental rate at some courts in the area.

I am feeling more confident in my ground strokes, and my overhead smash is coming back. I think in the next two to three weeks I'll have my serve back to some degree. Time will tell.

There is an interesting system for reserving courts at the club. They don't take reservations ahead of time. You just show up and put your member card on this big board indicating you would like to play. If there is an open court, you would you card on an open court and write the time at which you started playing.

If you come and the courts are full you put your card in a queue and you are allowed to ask people to leave if they have been playing at least 45 minutes.

The system works well, and we have only once had to ask someone for their spot. Asking someone for their spot can be a little difficult when you don't have an official member card. After three weeks we still haven't gotten our official card. When I say official do not be impressed. The clubs idea of an official card is a pink or blue index card, with a printed label with your name and address.

Since we don't have one yet, we just wrote our names on a scrap of paper and put it in the board. For the first time today someone actually asked if I had a card. 'No, I don't have a card, Erika hasn't sent it yet,' I replied in German. It was enough to convince my trusting club member friend who then wished me the best for my day.

A Clean Check Out At the Grocery Store

I've noticed a strange habit that Swiss cashiers at the grocery check out. They love to clean up after their customers.

Case in point, imagine your at the check out and you place a quart of ice cream on the check out belt. When the ice cream reached the cashier she or he would pick it up scan it and move on. The cold ice cream probably would have left a small damp spot on the belt from the condensation on the outside of the packaging.

In Switzerland, when that ice cream, or cold drink, or frozen food reaches the end of the belt you can bet your mortgage that the cashier will scan the item, then take out a small rag. The cashier will then wipe the spot on the belt, and then spit shine the glass scanner before continuing on with the rest of the items. Having a background in US grocery stores, this pause for cleanliness is unique, and truly exemplifies the Swiss culture.

I was moved to comment about this after a visit to the grocery store this afternoon. I was checking out close to closing time and one of the cashiers was closing her register. Before she could close her till for the night she was dutifully cleaning her conveyor belt. She had out a bucket of soap and water and was really leaning into that belt with her wash rag, making sure that in the morning she could eat her frühstuck right of the belt.

All ist gut in der Schwiez.

Erste August Party

Fireworks Over the Castle in Baden Switzerland

I mentioned before that we had our traditional first of August party this year. We have been having the party for a couple of years now. Since the fireworks are right across the street there is always a good show.

This year we had a smaller group, but a more diverse group. The conversation was switching constantly from English, to French to German. It seemed like just about everyone spoke at least 2 languages so people were only periodically left out of conversations. If there was someone who wasn't following, somebody would usually step in and do a quick translation as needed

As the group was a little smaller I really felt like I got to spend some time speaking to all of the guests. I often time feel like I don't get to spend enough time speaking with everyone, but this time I really felt like I got to speak with everyone.

The party had a bit of a slow start as compared to last year but by about 9:00 everything was in full swing.


At one point the doorbell rang and I went to answer it through our PA system that guests can use from the front door. I said hello, and the response I got was 'Das ist Polezi'. For a second I panicked, but then I thought why the heck would the police be here, we aren't making any noise. About 3 seconds into my stunned silence, I heard a friendly voice break in and say, 'hey it's me'. I have to admit, my friend really had me for a second.

The fireworks show was pretty good this year. Before the display started I took a look at my photos from last year to determine the best camera settings. I started out with f/4, ISO 400, and 1/4 second exposure. From there I made some minor adjustments as the night went on. The end results were that I got a larger number of good shots since I took the opportunity to learn from last year.

Krawatten and Crevetten, Mistakes with German

I went to lunch with a coworker today to a place we frequent in Baden. The restaurant usually has 4 daily menu items. Menu 2 is always a pizza, and I order the pizza 80% of the time I visit.

Today was a Rucola pizza with Crevetten. Rucola is similar to dandelion greens. Typically the Swiss will fully cook the pizza, take it out of the oven, and then throw a pile of these greens on top. It is tolerable but definately not my favorite.

Crevetten (Shrimp) on the other hand, I can't stand on pizza. Crevetten is a Swiss German word. The high german word is Garnele. Looking at Crevetten I would bet it has French roots somewhere.

Anyway, I wanted to order the pizza menu without Crevetten.

In German a W is pronounced like a V in English. Now, my German has been broken since I returned from Berlin. I am recovering from overusage of my German brain muscle. So knowing that I ordered my pizza without Krawatten, which to a non-native German speaker with a heavy Midwestern accents sounds a lot like Crevetten. My lunch guest turned to me and said 'you want you pizza without Krawatten?!' Immediately the waitress started laughing as well.

I laughed too, and replied 'well, of course I don't want any Krawatten, and I don't want any Crevettens either.'

It's not often that you place a pizza order and ask for them to hold the neckties. But you know, neckties just aren't to my liking with mozerella cheese.

Swiss Timeliness

A co-worker of mine is in the process of moving into a new apartment. He is still getting used to the scale of things in Switzerland. The fact that everything is small, and close and the quality of public transportation.

He was trying to figure out how long it would take him to get to the office from his new apartment and after looking at the bus schedule from the closest stop he found the bus should take around 14 minutes. Having not used much Swiss public transport yet, he thought that 14 minutes was wishful thinking.

We'll he decided to time the trip on a test run to see how long it would take. And, as it turns out his gut feeling about the 14 minutes was right. It did take longer. 6 seconds longer to be exact.

Water Lily

I have been in a bit of a creative slump lately. I think it has to do with the weather. The last couple of weekends have been gray and colder than it should be for mid summer. That means I haven't been very inspired to take out the camera.

I finally had a brief moment of motivation when I spotted some water lilies not far from our apartment in a small pond.

I went home, packed up the camera gear including tripod and headed back to the spot. I didn't spend too much time. Maybe twenty minutes taking about 40 pictures. I think the above is the best of the lot.

Crime On the Rise, About Time

Public Drunk, Arrested in Baden

So its time for my bi-annual posting about crime in Baden. About once every six months there is usually a major event in front of our apartment. Tonight was the night.

As I finished dinner I found my wife looking over the railing at something going on in the plaza below our apartment. Nothing too much, an ambulance and what looked like two drunk guys wandering, or should I say stumbling through the streets.

The medics looked like they were just checking them out when one guy got a little too unruly. A cop on the scene quickly cuffed the guy and he was swept away in a police SUV a couple of minutes later.

Although I wouldn't call it high action, I am glad that this is about as exciting as it gets in Baden.

Well, now another 6 months until the next 'Big Event'.

Rainbow Over Baden

Rainbow over Baden

There was a storm around sunset on Friday evening. Just as the storm was ending the sun broke through the clouds and gave us a magnificent show. There was a beautiful rainbow for about 15 minutes. At one point the sun was so strong there was a double rainbow.

This is the second time in the two years we have been her that we have been able to see a rainbow from our balcony.

Friends help Friends Make Pav Bhaji

When I used to live in Richmond on occasion we would make Indian food at home. Nothing spectacular. Sometimes just some Samosas from the local ethnic grocery store along with a frozen Alou Saag or Palak Paneer from the freezer section. Very rarely we would cook Pav Bhaji.

I haven't made Indian food since we moved to Switzerland for a couple of reasons. First of all I hadn't really found a good Asian grocery store in Baden. There are a few, but the selection tilts heavily towards all things Thai.

Second, and more importantly I lost my recipe from a friend and ran out of Pav Bhaji Masala.

Enter, international network of friends.

I got in touch with a friend from Richmond who had given me the original recipe. I asked him for it one day after he had invited us over for a meal. When I received the invitation I was excited about trying some real home cooked Indian food. I insisted that we go early and he give us a cooking lessons so we could try it at home.

He sent methe recipe via e-mail a few weeks ago. One down, one to go. All I needed now as a little Bhaji Masala.

Enter a co-worker and friend from work. He lives in the UK, and travels between just outside of London and our office here. I was talking to him about my Indian spices dilemma and being Indian himself he told me that he and his family would often go to East London to shop in the ethnic district for Indian specialties. He offered to pick me up some spices. I of course couldn't turn that offer down.

Last night we took the final step. Going to the grocery store and getting all the veggies to make a great Pav Bhaji.

It took about an hour to make the meal. If you decide to use all of the spices in the recipe it comes out pretty hot. After the meal I felt like a furnace. I was radiating heat like you wouldn't believe. I was burning up, but the food was so good. Next time I'll hold back a bit on the spices and see what happens.

What also interests me is the fact that Pav Bhaji is considered 'fast food' in India. As I understand it is really kind of a second tier food. I might equate it with running out to a hot dog cart to grab something to eat in New York or Chicago. Nonetheless. It is a great, easy to cook vegetarian dish if you are looking for something to try at home.

Breakfast Food for Dinner

I really like breakfast. I like breakfast so much that sometimes I like to make traditional breakfast foods for dinner. Tonight I am making ham & eggs. I've also been known to enjoy French toast, pancakes at the usual dinner hour.

I think my wife used to think I was a little strange for doing this, but you know what, I like it. I like the taste. I like that breakfast food, still for the most part tastes American here in Switzerland. That is more than I can say for steaks, hamburgers, sausages and Chinese food.

So tonight, ham & eggs! Why?! Because I can!

Fixing My Bike And Work Around the Apartment

Last year my commuter bike was slightly vandalized. Someone had stolen a few screws that rendered the bike effectively useless. The brakes no longer worked, and the seat wouldn't stay up so I parked it in storage and haven't ridden it since.

On recent trips to the hardware store I have been buying one or two parts at a time to get it back in working shape. You see this bike is a perfect commuter bike. I got the bike when I was about 14 and have had it every since. It is old, somewhat rusty, and looks it age, but it has a rack, a comfortably riding position, and until it was vandalized, I assumed it was so ugly that it wouldn't really be a target for thieves.

Because of my emotional attachment to the hunk of junk, I just can get rid of it. This weekend when I was hat the Jumbo I bought the final pieces to get it back up and running. A new set of brakes, brake levers, and brake cables. The parts weren't nearly as expensive as I had envisioned. It cost me about 45 USD to get everything.

After about 2 hours of work this morning the bike looks to be in working order. I worked on the bike outside on the terrace under our awning. There has been a light drizzle all afternoon so I haven't had a chance to take it out for a proper test ride, but maybe there will be time for that tomorrow.

I did some other cleaning around the apartment as well. I cleaned the kitchen, washed the floors, and did some laundry. Oh, and did I mention I got rid of the Christmas tree!?!

We always seem to miss the Christmas tree removal service because we are on holiday. This year same story, we missed the service so I did a number on the tree by taking all of the branches off with a pocket knife but I still had the trunk. It would have made a good wooden festivus pole actually. So the trunk has been on our terrace since January. I came across a small saw when I was looking for something so I finally took the time to cut up the trunk and get ride of it.

My wife had given me a deadline of getting ride of the tree by August 29th when my parents come for a visit, so I am glad I can check that one off the 'Honey Do' list.

Ohne Topf ? (Without The Pot)

I went to the weekend market this morning to buy some flowers for a bare spot in our planters. I had pulled out a plant, a dying pine, a couple of weeks back. The hole disparately needed to be filled with some vegetation but I just hadn't had time to get around to it.

This morning I made a effort to get up early to go to the market. It is sad that I had to make an effort, because the market is literally right outside my front door.

That is another story though.

So I found my usually plant seller that I like and I bought a few things. I am not a British gardener, so I don't know the Latin names, so I'm not going to post them. I'm just a bad gardener, so I'm not even going to post the common names. Generally because I don't know the names. When I shop for plants, I look, I ask if it is full sun or shade, then I point, and buy.

One question they ask here when you make a purchase if is you would like the pot or not. I think that is a great question. How many times would I plant a garden in the US, and in the aftermath you have a pile of plastic pots laying around, destine for a landfill somewhere.

Here if you go with the no pot option, they pull the root ball out of the pot, and wrap the root ball in a piece of newspaper. It looks kind of like the way a carry out resturant in the US might wrap a burrito to go. You get home, plant your plants, and there aren't a million guilt inducing pots laying around, just a couple of thin pieces of damp paper.

From a business sense I'm sure it is good for the garden center as well. They can reuse the pots for next season. It is nice to see that some societies don't have the same 'use it & throw it away' mentality that we have come to accept in the US.

The Office Without AC

Every summer I seem to post at least once about the lack of AC in our office. AC does not seem to be a standard feature in most building and apartments in Switzerland despite the fact that it can get hot. Both yesterday and today were about 30 c (86 F) and at that temperature with out AC the conference rooms can get darn hot.

This hot season usually lasts about 6 weeks. The worst being the last 2 week so July and the first two weeks of August.

I have a theory that the only reason Europeans take most of their vacation in August is because they can't stand the smell of the office during that time.

While I don't want to wish my summer away, I will be happy when the heat streak is over.

Where Do All The Native American Flute Bands Come From?

Flute Band Sets Up in Baden

I would like to know where all the Native American flute bands in Europe come from. My wife will be disappointed to know that she missed a performance right across the street from our apartment. I was serenaded during my lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches on the balcony today.

No matter what city you go to it seems that these guys are always around somewhere. I wonder if its like a franchise. Maybe you buy in for 20K and then you get the complete kit and have to send 10% of profits back to corporate.


Actually, I have to admit, this band today was better than most. They did a nice job. They actually sang, which I don't really hear that often. They also addressed the crowd regularly in English.

It was fun to watch from above because you had a different perspective of what was going on. Most interesting was the suitcase of various flutes, pipes, and whistles. If you look in the images behind the guy in the middle you'll see his 'instrument' case. Just about every song they would switch to a different set of flutes.

What I also found interesting is the shear number of what I will call 'whistles'. These whistles were used to create the sounds of birds shrieking, similar to what you might imagine a hawk or eagle would sound like.

Now that the summer is really hear, I expect that we will get our weekly dose of street performers coming around. I really like a cello and violin duet that usually comes around every couple of weeks in the summer. Hopefully they will be back this year.

The Swiss Sports Mentality

I was riding my bike yesterday in what will surely be one of my last training rides before my race next Sunday and had a typical Swiss experience.

As I approached my regular hill climb I came up on a man commuting from work, riding an older style bike. He was probably in in 40's wearing dress pants, dress shoes, a button down shirt, and carrying a large backpack. I decided to overtake him just as we started up the hill.

I got to about 20 meters in front of him when it dawned on me that this was a Swiss. Darn, that means he might pass me. Even though I am on a lighter, faster bike, and dressed like a professional (I use the term loosely), there is a good chance he is going to pass me.

That was it, I was determined not to let this guy pass me. The hill is a series of hairpin turns so when I approached the first turn, I looked over my shoulder and saw him about 25 meters behind me. Good, I was still ahead.

The next turn comes up and I look back again. Looks like I lost him. My pride was still in tact.
Then, out of nowhere I hear this faint squeaking. The sound on an old chain, going at a steady pace. I do a double take, looking back over my shoulder and there he is, right on my back wheel. The business man, in his work clothes, on his old bike. He is about to pass me while I am dressed in my bike shorts, biking jersey, helmet, and sunglasses.

Let me tell you, it was not good for my pride.

This seems to be a common horror story form many athletes coming from the US in Switzerland. Americans think there are in good shape, cruising along on their bike, or jogging the trail. Feeling at their peak in the rather young twenties or thirties, only to be passed by some 70 year old dude with no shirt and an extremely hairy chest. Where do these guys come from?

Then my wife reminds me. "Dear, that man has been riding up that same hill every day for 30 years, there is a reason he beat you," my wife proclaims in her tone of infinite wisdom. And you know what, she is absolutely right.

UEFA 2008 Starts

The UEFA 2008 football tournament (soccer) starts today. The tournament is being hosted jointly by Switzerland and Austria. As a result you can imagine the madness in Switzerland this week. Everything is decked out in Swiss colors. The grocery stores are selling full size soccer balls made o chocolate. Even the loaves of bread have been fashioned with the standard 5 panel soccer ball design.

Every store is packed with UEFA 2008 logoed merchandise. Jerseys, hats, flags, pens & pencils just about everything.

Some of the larger cities in Switzerland, including Baden, have also build public viewing venues. These venues have covered stadium style sitting in front of a hugh electronic screen so you can watch the games. For a couple of francs you can get the stadium experience without the live athletes. There is even a complete website devoted to the event in Baden.

The theaterplatz venue is about 50 meters from our front door. As always I expect it to be loud and obnoxious until the end of the tournament in late June. With enough room for 300 bleacher seats and 1000 standing room places I expect to see a lot more traffic in front of our apartment. In that regard I am a little happy we'll be on vacation in mid June.

The first game is tonight at 5:00 pm, Switzerland plays Portugal. I'm sure just about the entire country will be watching. I would bet that I'll be watching too.

Construction

Since Monday a crew of workman has been working on our building. They start diligently at 7:00 am every day. Banging, drilling, pounding while ripping out some of the plants and planters on the balconies of our building.

I have been told that they will not take our planters, and I hope they don't because it would really make our balcony terribly bare.

I have been a little disappointed in the way the construction was handled by the landlord. The sent out notices months in advance telling us that we need to be in our apartments for a week while crews replaced our windows and shutters.

Then about 2 months before they sent crews to our apartment to take measurements.

In the mean time we had rearranged all of our summer vacation plans to try to be available for the days they needed access to our apartment. The new plans were not ideal, but they were the only way to arrange our trip to Norway and still be here when they needed us to be here.

Then about a month before they sent another note saying that they weren't going to do any work in our apartment after all. I was mad to say the least.

And now of course I am going to have to put up with 2 months of banging everyday starting 7:00 and I will see no personal benefit.

Being Flexible Without Power

We had an issue with the power this weekend. We kind of knew in advance that something was going to happen but we weren't quite sure what to expect. That seems to be a common feeling around here when you get a letter from either the landlord of the local city office.

Often times the letters include language that is not very common. Tax information, permit information, construction. That is just not the language one uses everyday.

The most recent letter we received from the landlord mentioned something about them installing temporary emergency lighting in the stairway during the weekend. What we failed to understand from the letter was that apparently they were replacing all of the electric meters and we would be out of power for 2 short periods.

Of course the first outage came right as we were preparing dinner on Saturday night. Since our range and oven are electric we had to go to plan B. We took out something to grill. I went out to start the grill up and low and behold we were out of propane. Darn, stumped again. Luckily while trying to decided on Plan C the power came back on and were were able to continue with the delayed plan A. Taco Salad.

Sunday it happened again we were without power for a couple of hours during the afternoon as the workman finalized things. The good news is we walked down to the only store in town that is opened on Sunday and we picked up a bag of charcoal to get us through the outage. Even though the power came back on we cooked burgers and grilled some steak fries .

One lesson learned about this is that our Landlord doesn't communicate very well. The letter really contained no information about the power not being available that I can tell. It would have been nice if they could have put something more specific about the outage other than 'all weekend.' I can't tell if that is just our landlord, Wincasa, or if it has something to do with Swiss culture.

The Power Of Baden

A Storm Rolls Through Baden

We had a huge storm roll through Baden on Thursday evening. In the part of Switzerland where we are living such storms are rare. The entire apartment was shaking from the lightning and thunder. It was so loud we actually unplugged our computers for fear that there was a possibility of a power surge if something was struck. Of course all the commotion didn't stop me from taking out the camera and setting up shop in the living room.

We have a covered section of balcony right outside our balcony door so I opened up the door and setup my camera and tripod just inside the door to keep myself and my camera gear dry.

Lighting can be a tricky thing to capture on film if you aren't using a lighting trigger. The lightning itself also needs to be clear and unobstructed by clouds to get a nice crisp defined edge. Although camera settings are one thing, I think it is more luck than anything to get a good shot.

For my attempts I had dialed in the settings as follows

• Exposure: 20 sec at f/10
• ISO Speed: ISO 100
• Exposure Compensation -2 EV

I think the trick to getting a decent exposure in a situation like the one I was shooting with the castle in the foreground is setting the exposure compensation to -2 stops. By setting for -2 you are telling the camera to underexpose, meaning that the picture will turn out a little too dark if this were a normal exposure. However, with lightning and clouds the bright light and clouds act light a huge light box flash, lighting the entire scene.

If you leave your exposure compensation at 0.0 the foreground will be washed out by the flash of the lightning. Getting it right takes a few test shots and a lot of luck.

The shot above of the lightning over the Stein Castle in Baden was just 1 of about 60 exposures I made all between 10 seconds and 30 seconds while I tried to find the best settings for the evening. Its also a question of pressing the shutter and hoping that sometime during the exposure a bolt of lightning will strike. It is really a guessing game. To get such a great picture takes patience and perseverance. And a little help from above.

Zürich Main Station

Thursday was a public holiday in canton Arrgau, however people who work in canton Zürich still had to work. That means I was off, and my wife was headed to the office. I took advantage of the free time and did some things I had been meaning to do.

In the morning I took the train to Zürich to take some photographs in the main station. I was not very fortunate and spent most of the time just scoping out different angles. The photos I got were for the most part subpar. Although I did get one good one of the train sign as the departures where changing. I love watching these kind of signs as the cities and times manually scroll through their options. It's really fun to watch.

For lunch I met my wife for Chinese food close to the train station. We went to a small place called Beyond that actually had some of the best Chinese food I have had in Switzerland. I would highly recommend it. The fact that most of the clients had Asian features was a give away that I was in for something good.

After lunch I headed back to Baden and got on my bike for a training ride. I finally made it to Egelsee which had been a long time goal for me. There and back was about 2 hours and 15 minutes with a lot of climbing. I was really wiped out after that.

View Larger Map

Egelsee looked like a really nice spot for a summer picnic and a swim. On the edge of the lake was a tall wooden platform that looked like a makeshift 3 meter platform dive. I'm sure the kids love it in the summer. The lake itself was small and as smooth as glass. I was a little disappointed I didn't have my camera but now at least I know where it is. This was the third time I had tried to find it.

Whats Burning? Is That A Broiler Or A Microwave?

Although we've been here almost 20 months now it amazes me that I am still learning things about my everyday surroundings. Case it point, the microwave. We had an experience a couple of weeks that raised the hair on the back of my neck for a bit.

The one thing about appliances and there associated manuals is that there are a lot of buttons with strange symbols, and directions that you just don't understand. Our microwave, oven, dishwasher, and washing machine all of buttons that I can't tell you what they do. A Squiggle here, some slanted lines there, I have not idea what these symbols are. The symbols themselves are in the America cultural language.

So back to my microwave. There are a couple of what I'll call 'no brainer' buttons. Pictures of plates of food, fish, chicken etc. I have been using the defrost button for months. It has worked faithfully. Put in the food, enter the weight in grams and let it go.

Well I got experimental a few weeks ago thinking I had a command of the appliance and used one of the buttons I am not used to using. I think it was the potato button actually.

So this boils down to the fact that I have never used buttons 9 through 15 (in the photo) until I was trying to cook some potatoes. If you notice the very thin column to the right of buttons you'll notice a set of upside down triangles and wavey lines. These same symbols are under the time buttons.

I started cooking my potatoes (200 grams of them) and about 3 minutes into the cooking I smelled something. It smelled like something was burning. Not like plastic melting or that kind of microwave burning, but rather kind of like something burning in an oven. I ran to the microwave to stop it and opened the door to the microwave to find the top inside of the microwave was glowing red hot.

What could have happened, did something burn out? After a closer look I realized the glowing hot metal was actually what looked like a broiler element. Then in dawned on me. Those upside down triangle symbols are the same symbols on my oven for switching on the broiler. The wavy lines represent standard microwave cooking.

It only took me a year a half and a close call with a kitchen fire to find out that my microwave doubles as a toaster oven. Go figure. You learn something new everyday.

A Long Week

For me it was only a 4 day work week because of the Easter Monday holiday but it feels like the week had dragged on forever.

Last night we went to the opera in Zürich. It was the first time I had been to the opera house there. It was a nice small venue. We were in the second to last row, still I was closer to the stage then I usually site in most opera houses.

We saw Cosi Fan Tutte. An Italian language opera, with German subtitles of course. I managed to read the subtitles for about the first 20 minutes and then I was just too tired. It ended up being about a 3.5 hour show, which was a little long for my taste on a week night. We ended up catching the 11:36 train back to Baden and I didn't arrive home until around midnight.

On a positive note, the Baden Burger King opened yesterday. That means I now have two options for a taste of Americana in Baden. McDonanld's is of course right across the street. There is a McDonanld's logoed trash can in front of the Burger King. It has been there since they started the renovation. I was expecting that the Burger King staff would move the trash can once the store opened but they haven't. I'll be interested to see how long that lasts.

Excited to Go to the Dentist

We got a letter in the mail recently from the dentist that has an office below us. He was inviting us to stop in. Now you may think this was a piece of junk mail to get more patients, and on one hand it was, but on the other it was something like I had never seen before.

The Doctor and his team were inviting us to an 'open house' of their newly renovated practice. The event was billed as a 'website launch' and 'Art Exhibition'.

Now how these go together I was not sure until we arrived. It turns out the doctor was launching his new website (complete with new branding) and he had redecorated his practice with all of his own artwork, mostly pencil drawings and paintings. We only discovered that that Doc was the artist after we started talking to him (in German) at the event.

This explained the strange front picture on the invitation, a pair of mushrooms and an onion. I didn't quite get how this matched with the concept of dentist, but know I understand that it was some of his own work.

The event was not like anything I had been too before. In the foyer in front of the elevator he had tables set up with food and deserts. There was also a 'bar' where you could get a drink (including a small selection of wines.) When we arrived there were a few others in the foyer speaking Swiss German. I couldn't really understand much but we grabbed a few snacks and then headed into the office for the tour.

The office was the cleanest dentists office I had ever seen. All the office and visitation rooms were open so you could walk in and check out the various equipment. It almost felt like a house tour, except, well, there was a strange drill and x-ray machine next to the recliner in the living room.

We spoke to the Doc for a bit and he was very animated and explained everything to us including his art. He showed us his website as well. At one point we were asked to participate in a 'video' of some of the attendees speaking to the Doc. If I understood correctly it may be posted on his website. That will be funny. Me and the wife, quietly nodding a smiling, acting like we understand. God, I hope that doesn't make the website.

I guess the best take away from the event is that while I'm reclining in the chair in my living room, I can think about those poor patients in the recliner right underneath me getting their 'microsurgery.'

Güggen Music, I'm Leaving!

Güggen music Spieler in Baden f