Monday, August 16, 2010
Tickets booked to Greece!!!
Athens here I come!! I finally booked my flight to Greece and will be officially leaving Switzerland on August 31st. Fotini and Randy have graciously offered to host me for the week at their new home in Athens. It will be an amazing vacation and a trip of a lifetime. I’ve ALWAYS wanted to visit Greece and here is my chance. This is a huge carrot at the end of the stick and makes leaving Basel that much easier. Of course I am excited to come home but I definitely need a vacation from my vacation. Flight back to Philadelphia is on September 7th arriving at 3:20pm EST
Zurich Fest and Liechenstein!!
This past weekend Zurich hosted their annual "Love Festival”. This street parade is actually a huge European trance - techno costume party. There are “love” floats pumping trance into the crowd with scantily clad women hanging from stripper poles. To say the streets are filled with hedonistic party goers is an UNDERSTATEMENT. People with the equitant of a washcloth (if that) covering their unmentionables. My delicate sensibilities were definitely offended. I would categorize the costumes into (3) basic categories: 1.) Neon fairy whore, 2.) Jungle - leopard whore, or the 3.) the sexy police officer. Group costumes are also very common. My group decided to dress up as "Uncle Sam's". It was overwhelming the amount of positive feedback we received from the happy crowd. Many Swiss and German's stopped us for a picture. The city allows people to drink openly in the street and after about 2 hours you were standing on a layer of trash. We stayed for about 3 1/2 hours which was about 2 hours to long:) Although the official parade begins at 1pm and finishes at 10pm, the entire weekend is dedicated to parties and good times. On average just under a million people line the streets to dance and go bananas.
After the Street Parade we headed to Liechtenstein a small country with an estimated population of 35,000. It is a landlocked alpine microstate in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over 160 km² (about 61.7 square miles). Its capital is Vaduz; the biggest town is Schaan. Liechtenstein has the highest gross domestic product per person in the world according to the CIA World Factbook. Why on earth would we go to Liechtenstein you ask???? Well August 15th is their national holiday with a open bar happy hour at the crown Prince's castle. The reception is held in the royal gardens where fruit, pretzels, sandwiches, and beer are all served in abundance. During the reception the Prince shakes hands with his visitors. How cool is that?
After the Street Parade we headed to Liechtenstein a small country with an estimated population of 35,000. It is a landlocked alpine microstate in Western Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over 160 km² (about 61.7 square miles). Its capital is Vaduz; the biggest town is Schaan. Liechtenstein has the highest gross domestic product per person in the world according to the CIA World Factbook. Why on earth would we go to Liechtenstein you ask???? Well August 15th is their national holiday with a open bar happy hour at the crown Prince's castle. The reception is held in the royal gardens where fruit, pretzels, sandwiches, and beer are all served in abundance. During the reception the Prince shakes hands with his visitors. How cool is that?
Monday, August 9, 2010
Last few weeks!!!:(!!!:):):)
Well my last few weeks are approaching and I'm scrambling to see everything on my list before I leave. Basel has been my home for the last 5 months and I definitely feel sad about saying goodbye. I have learned a lot about myself during my stay and have met many new people. Just yesterday the older lady (approx. 80 yrs old) said, "You must speak German, haven't you been here for a while?" LOL. This cracked me up because she actually expected me to learn German in 6-months. Learning German is only one of the daily hurdles I face. In addition, I need to calculate the exchange rate on the fly, convert the temperature, and adjust to the metric system:) While in Basel I joined a gym called Crossfit which is sort of like boot camp. Julia one of the grad students living in my building also joined which has helped keep me motivated. She left this morning so we'll see how strong my commitment really is.... I completed my first Rhine Swim yesterday which was amazing. You basically strip down to your bathing suit in front of everyone relaxing on the Rhine and jump in with your "special" bag. The current is strong and very fast so it's important to pay attention where to get out of the water. Being the little fishy that I'm, I decided to ditch my bag and flow with the current. I learned my lesson because I almost crashed into a poll. All is well and I was able to swim away to safety. The water was freezing due to the rain from the past week and on again off again clouds. Many Swiss are appalled by the idea of swimming in the Rhine as many of the local pharma companies have been fined for illegal dumping. Basel has gone to great lengths to restore the Rhine and it is absolutely lovely. I HIGHLY recommend taking a dip if you are ever in Basel.
Monday, July 5, 2010
American Dad Uniform
Hello Everyone,
I apologize for the lack of responsiveness and updates over the last few weeks. Dad was here for 10 days and left this past Sunday. Many fun stories to tell so I'll start from the beginning.......
Dad arrived on Friday, June 25th tired, hungry, and excited to be back in Europe. He had a direct flight from Philadelphia to Zurich and needed to catch a train to Basel SBB. I received a phone call 45 minutes in to his 80 minute train ride that he had arrived! Impossible. It was completely impossible for him to arrive in only 45 minutes unless he hailed a private helicopter..... Due to sleep deprivation he got off at the Baden stop not Basel. We had to quickly determine when the next train was leaving Baden for Basel and direct him back to the correct platform. Finally after almost 18 hours of traveling Dad arrived in Switzerland in one piece. He had expected Basel to be cooler than the 90 degree weather he left behind in Philadelphia being so close to the Alps and everything… No chance. Of course Switzerland was hit with a heat wave the same week he arrived. This doesn’t sound so bad but believe me people….. unless you have experienced 90 degree temperatures without air conditioning in the dead of summer you can’t comprehend just how quickly your stress level can rise. Anyway moving on……
I promptly dropped dad off at my apartment so he could recover from his long journey and head back to work. It is difficult to explain but my apartment is VERY tiny. The bathroom and the kitchen or as I lovingly refer to it as the “bitchen” is one of the not-highlights of my studio in Basel. I’m sure my dad will respond to this post with his own commentary on my temporary accommodations. On Friday evening, we discovered a cute Italian Bier garden a few blocks from my apartment to watched the Swiss – Honduras World Cup match. Switzerland was knocked out of the World Cup but it was definitely fun getting into the spirit and shout “Hopp Schwiiz!!!” with the locals even though they lost.
As some of you may know I have a lot of energy and wanted to show my father a great time in Switzerland so I created a jam packed itinerary for his 10 day vacation. On Saturday morning we had an 8:30am flight to catch to Vienna for a long weekend. In the flurry of leaving Basel 1st thing Saturday morning and navigating through Vienna I forgot to pack the address of the hotel….. Everything has a way of working itself out as we arrived to the Hotel and were upgraded to a two bedroom apartment in a typical Viennese building with extraordinary architecture and attention to detail with fountains and a massive staircase. I promptly jumped around the apartment like a lunatic excited to have a spacious apartment for the weekend. Dad didn’t fully understand my excitement until we returned to Basel and he was reacquainted with my “bitchen”. Vienna was absolutely beautiful and we ran around the city on Saturday snapping pictures of anything and everything we could find. Dining out was even more mysterious as neither of us read German so we never knew what we were ordering or what we would be eating. I’m still cracking up remembering our slogan from the trip “We don’t know what we are doing”. This is a phase we would used when we were lost, confused, or generally clueless. Dad had Weiner Schnitzel two nights in a row and we tasted appel strudel at every café Even with ALL the fun we were having Dad and I have very different ideas of what it means to visit a new city. We now have a running joke that my trips are like boot camp or “Navy Seal Boot Camp” to be exact. He was subjected to sleep deprivation, irregular meals, limited bathroom breaks, and self inflicted hunger strikes. He quickly learned that he needed a steady supply of pretzels and diet cokes to survive. All joking aside we enjoyed a magical evening at the Vienna Volksopera and a whirlwind tour of Vienna via the Hop-on-Hop off bus tour. We also visited the Belvedere Museum where The Klimt Collection is on permanent display. The original “The Kiss” is housed at the Belvedere Palace and was on exhibit during our visit!!!! If you are a fan of Gustav Klimt then this the your mecca. We wrapped up our tour of Vienna with a traditional Viennese concert where members of the Vienna Walzer Orchestra perform pieces by Johann Strauss and Mozart. Well-known singers and ballet dancers round out the orchestra’s renditions, allowing the vitality of life in the Strauss era as well as the gentle melodies of Mozart to re-emerge and also enticing the audience to join them on a nostalgic trip back through the 18th century and to the merry parties of the "fin de siècle" Vienna. The ballet dancers perform the waltz in inimitable Viennese style, following the violin in a colorful springtime roundel while offering tender declarations of love in three-four time. Included in the performance was an opera singer who was amazing but made a “crazy” face during her performance which launched my father into a full on “giggle” fit which lasted about 2-3 whole minutes!!
On Monday, dad decided he needed a break from the rigorous travel schedule and tried to catch up on his sleep. Little did he know there is NO air conditioning and he was tortured in the 90 degree weather with the sun beating down on my apartment. I returned from work to find a very frustrated and sleep deprived father. To make matters worse we thought the radiator was on and he decided to man handle the knob by accidentally pulling the knob OFF with the dial set to “high”. I then proceeded to have a breakdown and broke into tears thinking we would have to spend the night in my hot apartment with the radiator cranked to “HIGH”. Dad invoked his “MacGyver” skills and fixed the knob with the only tool available…. a butter knife! Thank god he was able to fix the knob because one of us might be dead right now
The rest of the week was very relaxing with trips to the Rheinfelden Sole Uno Spa, the Black Forrest, Lucerne, and Zurich. Dad says he left a piece of his heart in Switzerland and I miss him already. I love you dad!! Thank you for visiting me!!
P.S.- I almost forgot to explain the title of this post. American Dad Uniform or "ADU" is when American father’s wear shorts, white calf length socks, and sneakers. This is how Europeans distinguish American families from other tourists. The “ADU” was in full effect last week while dad was in town!!
I apologize for the lack of responsiveness and updates over the last few weeks. Dad was here for 10 days and left this past Sunday. Many fun stories to tell so I'll start from the beginning.......
Dad arrived on Friday, June 25th tired, hungry, and excited to be back in Europe. He had a direct flight from Philadelphia to Zurich and needed to catch a train to Basel SBB. I received a phone call 45 minutes in to his 80 minute train ride that he had arrived! Impossible. It was completely impossible for him to arrive in only 45 minutes unless he hailed a private helicopter..... Due to sleep deprivation he got off at the Baden stop not Basel. We had to quickly determine when the next train was leaving Baden for Basel and direct him back to the correct platform. Finally after almost 18 hours of traveling Dad arrived in Switzerland in one piece. He had expected Basel to be cooler than the 90 degree weather he left behind in Philadelphia being so close to the Alps and everything… No chance. Of course Switzerland was hit with a heat wave the same week he arrived. This doesn’t sound so bad but believe me people….. unless you have experienced 90 degree temperatures without air conditioning in the dead of summer you can’t comprehend just how quickly your stress level can rise. Anyway moving on……
I promptly dropped dad off at my apartment so he could recover from his long journey and head back to work. It is difficult to explain but my apartment is VERY tiny. The bathroom and the kitchen or as I lovingly refer to it as the “bitchen” is one of the not-highlights of my studio in Basel. I’m sure my dad will respond to this post with his own commentary on my temporary accommodations. On Friday evening, we discovered a cute Italian Bier garden a few blocks from my apartment to watched the Swiss – Honduras World Cup match. Switzerland was knocked out of the World Cup but it was definitely fun getting into the spirit and shout “Hopp Schwiiz!!!” with the locals even though they lost.
As some of you may know I have a lot of energy and wanted to show my father a great time in Switzerland so I created a jam packed itinerary for his 10 day vacation. On Saturday morning we had an 8:30am flight to catch to Vienna for a long weekend. In the flurry of leaving Basel 1st thing Saturday morning and navigating through Vienna I forgot to pack the address of the hotel….. Everything has a way of working itself out as we arrived to the Hotel and were upgraded to a two bedroom apartment in a typical Viennese building with extraordinary architecture and attention to detail with fountains and a massive staircase. I promptly jumped around the apartment like a lunatic excited to have a spacious apartment for the weekend. Dad didn’t fully understand my excitement until we returned to Basel and he was reacquainted with my “bitchen”. Vienna was absolutely beautiful and we ran around the city on Saturday snapping pictures of anything and everything we could find. Dining out was even more mysterious as neither of us read German so we never knew what we were ordering or what we would be eating. I’m still cracking up remembering our slogan from the trip “We don’t know what we are doing”. This is a phase we would used when we were lost, confused, or generally clueless. Dad had Weiner Schnitzel two nights in a row and we tasted appel strudel at every café Even with ALL the fun we were having Dad and I have very different ideas of what it means to visit a new city. We now have a running joke that my trips are like boot camp or “Navy Seal Boot Camp” to be exact. He was subjected to sleep deprivation, irregular meals, limited bathroom breaks, and self inflicted hunger strikes. He quickly learned that he needed a steady supply of pretzels and diet cokes to survive. All joking aside we enjoyed a magical evening at the Vienna Volksopera and a whirlwind tour of Vienna via the Hop-on-Hop off bus tour. We also visited the Belvedere Museum where The Klimt Collection is on permanent display. The original “The Kiss” is housed at the Belvedere Palace and was on exhibit during our visit!!!! If you are a fan of Gustav Klimt then this the your mecca. We wrapped up our tour of Vienna with a traditional Viennese concert where members of the Vienna Walzer Orchestra perform pieces by Johann Strauss and Mozart. Well-known singers and ballet dancers round out the orchestra’s renditions, allowing the vitality of life in the Strauss era as well as the gentle melodies of Mozart to re-emerge and also enticing the audience to join them on a nostalgic trip back through the 18th century and to the merry parties of the "fin de siècle" Vienna. The ballet dancers perform the waltz in inimitable Viennese style, following the violin in a colorful springtime roundel while offering tender declarations of love in three-four time. Included in the performance was an opera singer who was amazing but made a “crazy” face during her performance which launched my father into a full on “giggle” fit which lasted about 2-3 whole minutes!!
On Monday, dad decided he needed a break from the rigorous travel schedule and tried to catch up on his sleep. Little did he know there is NO air conditioning and he was tortured in the 90 degree weather with the sun beating down on my apartment. I returned from work to find a very frustrated and sleep deprived father. To make matters worse we thought the radiator was on and he decided to man handle the knob by accidentally pulling the knob OFF with the dial set to “high”. I then proceeded to have a breakdown and broke into tears thinking we would have to spend the night in my hot apartment with the radiator cranked to “HIGH”. Dad invoked his “MacGyver” skills and fixed the knob with the only tool available…. a butter knife! Thank god he was able to fix the knob because one of us might be dead right now
The rest of the week was very relaxing with trips to the Rheinfelden Sole Uno Spa, the Black Forrest, Lucerne, and Zurich. Dad says he left a piece of his heart in Switzerland and I miss him already. I love you dad!! Thank you for visiting me!!
P.S.- I almost forgot to explain the title of this post. American Dad Uniform or "ADU" is when American father’s wear shorts, white calf length socks, and sneakers. This is how Europeans distinguish American families from other tourists. The “ADU” was in full effect last week while dad was in town!!
Friday, June 18, 2010
Art Basel
ART BASEL -The world's biggest contemporary art fair opened in Switzerland on Wednesday with buyers demanding ever higher standards from galleries as the global economy stages a fragile recovery.
It receives more 1,100 applications from art galleries worldwide, but picks less than a third of them, allowing only about 300 galleries to exhibit in the northern Swiss city's huge exhibition halls over the five days. The resulting collection, showcasing over 2,500 artists from 37 countries, is not only a feast for the eyes but also a thought-provoking display of artwork spanning the 20th and 21st centuries. Staples such as Picasso, Andy Warhol and Joan Miro count among prominent names at the show.
But there are also more recent works by icons such as fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld and US contemporary sculptor Paul McCarthy.
One gallery featured McCarthy's "dwarf" series, while another displayed a series of photos of the Eiffel Tower by Lagerfeld.
Besides showcasing such latest trends in the art world, this show also affords art lovers a glimpse of rare pieces before they are snapped up by private collectors.
Art Basel closes on June 20.
It receives more 1,100 applications from art galleries worldwide, but picks less than a third of them, allowing only about 300 galleries to exhibit in the northern Swiss city's huge exhibition halls over the five days. The resulting collection, showcasing over 2,500 artists from 37 countries, is not only a feast for the eyes but also a thought-provoking display of artwork spanning the 20th and 21st centuries. Staples such as Picasso, Andy Warhol and Joan Miro count among prominent names at the show.
But there are also more recent works by icons such as fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld and US contemporary sculptor Paul McCarthy.
One gallery featured McCarthy's "dwarf" series, while another displayed a series of photos of the Eiffel Tower by Lagerfeld.
Besides showcasing such latest trends in the art world, this show also affords art lovers a glimpse of rare pieces before they are snapped up by private collectors.
Art Basel closes on June 20.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Manners and Etiquette
Manners and Etiquette are two staples in Swiss society. Children obey their parents, the elderly are treated with the utmost respect, and people greet each other formally with (3) kisses. If you are with a co-work or a friend and they say, "I invite you" this simply means they would like to pick up the check. The first few times this happened I thought "invite me where?" we've already arrived at our destination..... In general the Swiss split the check evenly and the restaurants/bars are VERY accustomed to providing separate bills. In the USA it would be a huge inconvenience for the wait staff to divide the check per patron. Not is Switzerland (CH):) Another item to note is the traffic, cars actually stop for pedestrians. Image that! But beware the tramlines rule the road so don't expect them to stop when you’re at a crosswalk.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Half-way mark..... Three months to go!
I have officially hit the 3-month mark for my stay in Basel! It's a strange time for me at the moment because I have one foot in my life here in Basel and one foot in Philadelphia.
I've settled in at work with a LONG list of deliverables due by the time August hits...... I’ve decided to take a brief time out from traveling and enjoy Basel over the last two weekends. It has been a blast!!! My expat community is growing faster than I know how to respond to all the bbq, dinner, drink, and coffee invitations. On Sunday, the girls and I watched SATC II at the kino in style with cosmos of course! The Rhine is slowly warming up and a few brave souls have ventured in for a swim.
I'm very excited about the upcoming Summer here in Basel. Bergli Books the ONLY English book store in Basel is hosting a WALK Party with Peter Habicht a local author with a reputation for a delightful sense of humor and a skillful way of telling fascinating facts about Basel. Many more exciting details to follow……..
Love you and miss you all:)
I've settled in at work with a LONG list of deliverables due by the time August hits...... I’ve decided to take a brief time out from traveling and enjoy Basel over the last two weekends. It has been a blast!!! My expat community is growing faster than I know how to respond to all the bbq, dinner, drink, and coffee invitations. On Sunday, the girls and I watched SATC II at the kino in style with cosmos of course! The Rhine is slowly warming up and a few brave souls have ventured in for a swim.
I'm very excited about the upcoming Summer here in Basel. Bergli Books the ONLY English book store in Basel is hosting a WALK Party with Peter Habicht a local author with a reputation for a delightful sense of humor and a skillful way of telling fascinating facts about Basel. Many more exciting details to follow……..
Love you and miss you all:)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)