Where Santa Vacations...Strasbourg, Noel Capital of the World.

Night time in Strasbourg

You better watch out, You better not cry, better not pout...Haha.  Yes, the wife and I got into the Christmas spirit by traveling to Strasbourg, France to take in some Christmas markets, look for gifts, and in general see what the big deal was all about.  In my humble opinion, I believe that when Santa goes on vacation he travels to Strasbourg.  It's crazy, Strasbourg has everything that Santa would need if he missed the North Pole.  I think we even saw a stable to keep the reindeer!  One of the great things about living in Schweiz is that traveling to Italy, German, Austria or France is literally an extended train ride away.  I'm not talking about a high speed train from Chicago to somewhere in Iowa, just a regular train to Strasbourg, sixth largest city in France, in about 2 hours.  Downtown Zurich to Downtown Strasbourg.  Pretty nice to walk three blocks to the hotel from the train station.

Surprisingly enough, the first thing we noticed on our walk to the Hotel was the McDonald's on the corner.  Maybe Strasbourg IS a big city but on Sunday my wife mentioned that we did not see a Starbucks...so it's somewhere in between.  But if it's good enough for Santa, it's good enough for me.

Upon arrival, we took some recommendations from the hotel hostess.  In typical fashion, the wife decided to navigate on her own to find what looked like authentic Franco-Germanic cuisine.  In typcial fashion, I just followed and tried to keep my extremities warm.  It was very cold (but nothing like the next day) and we found a restaurant that looked, from the outside, like it sold beef, oysters, and fish.  The wife's "authentic radar" was spot on tonight...the french menu proved to be more of a challenge.  Walking out of the restaurant, we couldn't help but notice that all the buildings had xmas lights.  Ornaments hung above and many restaurants and shops displayed xmas themed promotions.   What noticed more were the prices.  My wife pointed out a La Furla purse and how she might need to add something like that to her collection and I almost broke the window to get it.  In Zurich a purse like that would cost 500chf or $500 (yes american).  I would have gladly left 200CHF even though it only cost 125CHF.  Just when I get used to the $25 burger in Switzerland, I go somewhere like France and quickly get re-calibrated.  When in Rome right????  Yes, I know it makes no sense but I love saying "When in Rome right???"

Two Hour Trip and we're still smiling...At a lounge after Dinner 

Almost all buildings put up decorations...look at T bundled up...brrr!!

The next day we were treated to fun treats: spiced wine, hot coco, hot orange juice, hot cider and oh did I mention treats.  Spiced wine was the biggest hit of the day.  After walking around for 4 hours in sub freezing temperatures, the wine was very welcome.  We spoke to some vendors about their art work and took in many "free" samples.  It still amazes me how often the Swiss, French, and Germans give away free treats.  I wish the world would adopt these freebie policies.  I'ms sure violence would decrease and smiles would increase per capita.

Take a look at the pictures....I wanted to take more pictures of all the xmas stands but then I would have looked like a creep (so my wife tells me) but I can try to describe some of them...Xmas ornaments, arts and crafts, xmas lights, xmas stockings, chocolate stands with bars of chocolate, chocolate stands with chocolates stuffed with marshmellows.  Oh wait, imagine the taste of chicago but instead of food, it's all xmas ornament shops, arts and crafty items, and chocolate stands and not just at Grant Park, but in every park around the city.  Definitely a great way to kick off the Holiday Season.


Sehen sie!

Traditional German Dish

Sausage with Pomme Frittes. Hmm.

Three Hours of walking around and she's still smiling!

French Alsace...check!

Next up skiing in a couple weeks, maybe even the ALPS....oh and we move to our more permanent flat on Friday.

Random Schweiz Thoughts...

Terrasse at night with xmas decorations.

This past week was a bit uneventful.  No trips, no adventures, and no misadventures.  The wife and I solidified plans to travel to Strasbourg, located in the northeast part of France, this upcoming weekend.  We also went to one of our favorite restaurants in Zurich, Terrasse.  There tomato soup is one of the best we've had since we've been here and we've had our fair share of tomato soup.  This says a great deal for a meat and meat type guy like myself!

Oh and I also started my intensive Deutsch courses.  Three hours a day for three days and this is what I think I know:

Wie Heisst du?...Ich Heisse Herr Williams, Farah Williams....Mein vorname ist Farah, mein vorname ist arabisch und Mein familiename ist englisch.

Woher Kommst du?  Ich Komme aus den U.S.A aus Chicago.  Chicago liegt im zentro-westenlich von den U.S.A.  U.S.A liegt im Zentro von den Nordeamerica und Sudelich von Canada.

Wo Wohnst du?  Ich Wohne in Zurich in Seefeld.

Sprachen Sprichst du?  Ich spreche englisch und wenig spanisch und lernt deutsch....

So that's it, 9 hours and I can say I'm from Chicago, in the midwest of USA and that the US is south of canada.  The class is actually pretty fun.  We have 10 students and none of them are from the same country.  Which brings us to another interesting point.  People are loyal to their home countries and to their home countries' history.
My class:
Fatlume from Kosovo, Cecilia from Sweden, Bruno from Portugal, Alfred from Nigeria, Sasa from Serbia, Mohammed from Algeria, David from Spain, MaiXia from Singapore and Elisabeth from Italy.

On the first day of class we had to introduce ourselves and when I heard that Fatlume was from Kosovo and Sasa was from Serbia I thought there was going to be some problems.  Sasa is kind of a jokester and he speaks Arabisch, francousitsch, italianisch, Serbiaistch (arabic, french, italian and serbian).  Both he and I lead the class in talking in our native tongues.  I think I received 3 red cards today in class and he received 5.  It's pretty much like soccer, it's a foul.  At one point we had to describe where our home country was relative to surrounding countries and Sasa was just struggling to the point where he and the teacher were yelling at one another.  Sasa was confusing north and south and east and west.  So he would say something like "Serbia liegt sudenlich von Kosovo" and he should have been saying "Serbia liegt nordlich von Kosovo"  Two seconds later the teacher said something that amounted to, maybe it politics that's confusing you, and Sasa in perfect Deutsch said, I speak french, I speak Italian, I speak arabic, politics is not the problem, my deutsch is the problem....The class immediately went quiet and then we started to laugh when Fatlume started to laugh.  It was sort of a historical cultural breakthough....But that's the class and I enjoy adding a little more structure to my day with 3.5 hours of class and 1-2 hours of homework.  Learning the language has come easier than I expected but speaking the language is just proving to be difficult.  Pretty awesome that in a foreign country where there are 8 different languages, I can still manage to be the center of all of the jokes.  But it's been fun and in between all the laughter, everyone helps one another out...as best they can.  Oh so Sasa doesn't speak english but every time he looks my way he says "Farah" probably 15 times a day...pretty odd.

Cecilia from Sweden

Sasa from Serbia

Mohammed from Algeria

Fatlume from Kosovo

We're off to Strasbourg this weekend which is in Northeast France....liegt im Nordosten von France.  Interesting fact about Strasbourg is that during WW1 and WWII,  Germany always tried to annex it but the U.S and allies always placed it back in the hands of France.  Currently, it houses one of the legislative bodies of the EU and has major German-Franco influences, especially since it sits right on the border and has been a part of both countries.  Looking forward to sharing that great experience with you all next week!

Auf Wiedersehen!

Fight or Flight - Lake Lugano - Part 2

Tree lined walking path along Lake Lugano with the city to the left, lake and low level mountain peaks to the right.

Let's see...where were we...ah yes, we had just finished two bottles of wine and I was making my way to the train station to greet the wife as we had a nearly three hour train ride to Lugano.  Lugano is located in Southern Switzerland, in the Ticino region.  Most people might know Lake Como, Lake Lugano is just northwest of Lake Como but on the Swiss side of the border.  Lake Lugano actually flows into Italy as well but everyone that travels to Lugano prefers the nice and neat Swiss side of the lake.   The wife and I were just happy to get out of Zurich and see a new city and some great scenery.  Unfortunately we had to take the late train and it was too dark to do any sight seeing from the train.  But at one point, I have no clue where we were, we were basically on a side of cliff overlooking nothing but bright city lights.  I thought to myself that this would probably look wonderful in the morning.  

When we arrived at our Hotel, Hotel De La Paix, we immediately uncorked a bottle of wine and toasted to Ticino!  Another great thing about Switzerland is that you can pretty much drink anywhere you want. It's not uncommon to see two business professionals sharing a bottle of wine at lunch on a Tuesday or to see someone drinking a beer walking down the street.  The only restriction is that you can't drink and drive and you can't be in the front passenger seat if you're drunk but other than that drink away which I think is pretty fair.  In a town of 55,000 inhabitants 10pm is pretty late, but we set out to walk along the lake towards downtown Lugano.

Supposedly Lugano is the sunniest place in all of Switzerland.  Some call it the Monte Carlo of Switzerland.  For some strange reason bad weather has been following us for the past year or so.  Our wedding weekend Atlanta was 45-50 F when the average typically is 70-75.  I think Lugano was 10F lower than Zurich.  But for us the weather really doesn't matter, we just walk and talk and take in the views.  The first thing we saw besides the lake and mountain peaks was this:

Hotel Splendide - Pretty Dramatic and Daunting...look at the palm trees as well

As I mentioned earlier, Lugano is in the Ticino or Italian region of Switzerland.  Switzerland is pretty much broken down into three regions: French, German, and Italian.  My wife and I have been to Italy and we both felt like we were in Italy rather than Switzerland.  Lugano has Piazzas instead of Platz' and a four story building in Lugano is much more dramatic and ornate than a four story building in Zurich.  Very subtle differences but very large and important.  And yes, they speak Italian in these parts as well.

Seeing that we were so lucky with the weather, we decided to test our Luck at CasinoLugano.  It was probably the oddest scene that I have ever seen in my life (except for a half naked Italian opera singer).  Maybe it's my american bravado, but when I step into a casino I pretty much think of loud obnoxious yelling and screaming something like "Vegas Baby, Yeah Vegas Baby!" or "Always bet on Black baby!"  Well this place was like a library...very quiet very male dominated.  The women were there but they usually stood behind the men holding their expensive hand bags.  I really didn't notice it until my wife mentioned the library feel.  I was too busy blowing through all my Swiss Francs and drinking the spirits while I yelled and screamed, "Lugano Baby, Yeah Lugano Baby!" and "Put it all on Black, let it roll!"  I pretty much went bust in 30 minutes while my wife was up big...so the family was up!   I spent the next hour or so blowing on chips and ushering drinks to the wife.  Gentleman Luck is what they call me.  The family being up, we decided to go home and prep for our day of walking and eating chocolate.  Forgot to mention that small detail, there was Chocolate festival in Lugano this weekend.

These are the views that we couldn't see the previous night...

Peaks in the Background and that's the Lake

That's the Snow-Capped Alps over there.

The wife said my jacket wasn't stylish enough for Ticino...I dress for the weather not for Fashion

I think that's Lido, not Russia where Putin lives.  

Along the way we ran into an old familiar friend....

Papa Georgio?!?!

Instead of just walking along the Lake, we decided to walk along side streets to hit up the Chocolate Fest.  I'm not sure why they even sell Chocolate at the festival because they pretty much give enough free samples away to fill the tummy. 

Taylor doing the not-so-secret sneak out, eating all the samples.

CHOCOLATE!

CHOCOLATE!

CHOCOLATE!

CHOCOLATE! 

After the chocolate festival, we continued to walk along the path until we reached Parco Civico, which I think means Civic Park.  It's actually pretty cool to have a a park sitting right along the Lake.  The pictures don't do the park justice.  I probably should have taken more pictures but then we would have had a Part 3, 4 and 5.

Croissant anyone?

Outside Bar New Orleans

And finally those pictures from the train with a little sun...

I'll leave you with the list we put together on Sunday:

Strassbourg, France

Ski Trips

Berlin

Paris

London

Istanbul

Budapest

Prague

Spain

Portugal

Croatia

Munich

Nice/South of France

Milan

Amalfi Coast

Bling! Bling!  Italiano style

Fight or Flight - Lake Lugano - Part 1

In college, I worked at a bar called Kam's.  Supposedly, it was home of the Drinking Illini as opposed to the Fighting Illini.  It also had a long tradition at Illinois for being a rawdy meat market.   My job....well the first three months, as a doorman, I had to do things that I can't write about in this blog, but let's just say that I would rather host Dirty Jobs than go back to cleaning Kam's, especially restrooms at 2am.  Since Illinois is pretty much a public degree factory, my wife and I occasionally run into someone that I don't really know and they say, "You look so familiar, where do I know you from?"  After a few guesses, my wife will say, "Did you go to Illinois?, You probably know him from Kam's" and then they'll laugh and say something to the effect of yeah, you were the big black scary dude that wouldn't let me in with a fake i.d or that I was afraid of...you get the picture.  My wife always laughs because she says the one thing that surprised her when we first started dating was how gentle and sweet I was.  Wait...I'm not gentle or sweet, I'm a warrior, I could have been cast in 300 as a SPARTAN.   ARRRUUUAH!  After three months I became a head door which basically meant I got to boss people around.  No more bathrooms for me!

I tell this story because I really think it might apply to the encounter I had with my upstairs neighbor.  No we weren't cleaning toilets into the wee hours of the night.  For the past several weeks my wife and I have been laughing at how our upstairs neighbor wears heels ALL the time.  In the morning we hear heels, at night we hear heels, at midnight we hear heels, when she's about to get in the shower we hear heels.  From the previous three thursdays, based on the heels we heard, Thursday nights are big nights in Switzerland and this Thursday was no exception.  We heard the heels at around 8pm and then we were off to dinner and then off to bed.  Well I couldn't fall asleep and then around 130am their was a heel convention.  It was the loudest it's been since we've been here and I was just thankful that the wife was sound asleep.  Friday morning I was tired and hoping to do a little writing and maybe catch up on some sleep that I missed the previous night.  For a few hours everything was going fine.  Then from upstairs I hear music....every 30 minutes getting louder and louder.  At first it was Mariah Carey's greatest hits, then some foreign language ballads, then a couple more hours of music.  I pretty must lost it at BRICK HOUSE.  I like the commodores but at that level and at noon, c'mon man!  Throughout the discotech session, I was emailing my wife, basically telling her that our neighbor must of have been on a drinking binge or something and is now pumping Mariah Carey's greatest hits.

A couple things to note...The Swiss believe in small government but in place of small government they have a million little rules for everything and for the most part, the people know them and abide by them.  Although I don't know what the apartment contract states,  but I believe there's got to be something in there about women not playing loud music for hours and wearing heels all day making noise.  I made an executive decision, I was going to "talk" to my neighbor and maybe reason with her about her music.  It was an executive decision but I was very reluctant, especially since I was wearing my red pajama pants and a hoodie.  My wife and I aren't really the walk up a flight of stairs to ask you to turn your music down type.  I figured she was doing a little day time drinking, which on holidays and weekends, we love to do ourselves.  But enough was enough.

I could hear water running in the apartment, so I figured someone was either washing their hands or taking a shower and maybe one of the other heel wearing bandits would open the door.  Ring...no answer....Ring....no answer.....Ring....no answer....at this point I should turn around but the music is even louder...so I decide to ring again....what happened next just took me by surprise and was straight out of european comedy...one of those movies with a British or Italian actor or any Hugh Grant film.  So the door opens, a half naked man wearing only a towel, obviously just got out the shower.....What the #$%#!   I had no clue what to say, I was embarrassed, I was annoyed, but most of all I was glad my wife wasn't there to see this dude and his six pack abs standing in a towel dripping wet in the doorway.  I seriously thought Ashton Kutcher was going to jump out and say "you've been punked!"

All I could muster up was, "Umm no worries, but your music is pretty loud, but you seem busy, it's ok"  as I tried to step away.  Then he got very swiss, very quickly and stated that the contract says he can play music loudly for three hours between the hours of 7am and 10pm.  Damn contract and he actually knew the rules.  There goes my argument.  Ok, so there goes that angle, guess I'll go back downstairs and listen to whatever music he was going to play.  Then he invited me in for coffee.  COFFEEE?!?! You're half naked and I'm in my pajamas...Oh and I forgot to mention that I was eating some fresh pretzel bread that I purchased earlier in the day.  So quite the scene.  He insisted several times and I resisted several more times.  Then the absolutely crazy got more bizarre.

The door of the apartment next to his opened and a sleepy looking young lady came out and said "AHH, Victor you're home, it's been so long, I didn't even hear you today"   Seriously, you didn't hear his music but you heard us out here talking? So let me paint the picture...I'm in my pajamas and a hoodie, Victor is in a towel and this young lady is in white pajamas and it's about 1230pm on a friday.  But I now had an answer to the Heel question.  Victor said, let's do breakfast and coffee and I said no again but the young lady said, "I'd love to have breakfast"  So I went back to my apartment, completely embarrassed that I bothered my neighbor.  While emailing my wife this story, our doorbell rang.  Uh oh, here we go.

I looked out the peep hole and sure enough Victor is at MY door.  I guess Victor felt bad and decided to offer me a bottle of wine.  After my objections, he just sat the bottle of wine down inside my door and went back upstairs.  So now I officially look like the bad guy and yes the music is still playing very loudly.  So I made another executive decision to change clothes, open the bottle of wine and head upstairs to apologize and have wine for lunch.

Four hours later  this is what I learned.

Victor is an opera singer and was on his way to Valencia to perform for a month.  I listened to his Italian love ballad.
The pajama clad young lady is Olga, Economics student at Zurich University, her and her mom fled a developing Russian Country post Soviet Union collapse.
I prefer Victor fully clothed versus only a towel.
Victor's place has too many speakers
Victor lives in Santa Monica California with his Persian wife.  Spends a few months a year in Zurich.
I witnessed Victor cobble his wife's heels (two pair of boots and some heels) and fly three model helicopters all in a living room.
Olga does't have class on Friday, so Thursday night will always be heels night.


We were about to play Wii, but I had to meet the wife at the train station, as we were off to Lugano.

Tamborine to Jam-out...still in PJ's

Victor choosing some tunes

Olga

The music that led to the Intro

Farah and Victor - Post fight...

Normal Picture...Gym = Puffy Chest

Victor and Olga

Part 2 - Lugano, chocolate and long walks.