It is Friday night, 2 days before I leave for Switzerland. It feels a little surreal that soon I am leaving for Europe for 5 weeks ...
12pm local time (5am Central): I am sitting in the Amsterdam airport waiting for my transfer flight to Geneva, Switzerland. My 7:30pm flight from the U.S. was pretty uneventful. My seatmate turned out to be a Medtronic employee working for the Technical Communications group — the people who write the device manuals. We hadn't met before, but I have worked with a number of other people in her group. What a small world!
It's probably a good thing that I had 2 hours to transfer between flights. I think my flights were on completely opposite sides of the airport, so it took me a while to walk to the other side. I wasn't in a hurry, so it was no problem. I looked in the some of the shops on the way - I think it's really funny how you can buy all sorts of flower bulbs in the airport ...
9pm local time (2pm Central): I made it safe and sound to my apartment and got settled. I must have been pretty tired on the plane to Geneva since I remember the plane taking off, and the next thing I knew they were serving drinks. Someone from the apartment rental company met me at the airport, showed me the basics of the town of Morges where I'm staying, and took me to my apartment. The owner (who spoke some English) showed me around the apartment — it's a pretty nice 1 bedroom apartment. I especially like that it has laundry inside the apartment.
I unpacked my stuff and then went out to get cash, a bus pass to commute to work, and some groceries. The ATM asked me whether I wanted 100 or 200 CHF (1 CHF is about $1), so I said "200". I got one 200-CHF bill. Crap. What the heck am I going to do with a 200 CHF bill when the most I have to pay at any one time is 30? I crossed my fingers and hoped that the grocery store would take it for a 30 CHF purchase. They did, thank god (especially because it was the ATM in their store that gave it to me). At least I noticed the reusable grocery bags for purchase before going through the line and realizing that there no free bags! Then the rail station where I have to buy the bus pass closed right as I got there.
I had dinner at this pizza place — a neopolitan-style pizza (if you've ever had Punch Pizza in Minneapolis, kind of like that), then went back to the apartment to get the wireless working and see if there was anything on TV. Unfortunately, the only English channels are CNN and CNBC. Right now, a French-dubbed version of "Die Hard" is on. ;-)
It's about 9:30pm, about time for bed. Hopefully I won't wake up at 3am, but I'm not holding my breath ...
Day 2: I didn't wake up at 3am. I woke up at 1am. And the wireless internet isn't working. <sigh>
Eventually I went back to sleep and got up with my alarm. I decided to try the bus first once before buying a pass. I'm glad I did. The bus was kind of a mess (mostly my fault). I got to the bus stop at the right time, but then the bus driver didn't want to sell me a ticket because he thought I was trying to go somewhere in the town of Morges (which wasn't true). Then I got off in the right place only because the driver noticed I didn't get off. Then nobody I knew was around when I arrived at the Medtronic building, so the secretary gave me general directions and I wandered around until I recognized names I knew. Unfortunately, I got information through e-mail the previous night about where to meet someone in the morning (while the wireless wasn't working). But, it all worked out.
The work day went fine. It was a little weird that nobody I directly work with on the project was in the office today. The manager had a customer visit, the marketing person is out on paternity leave right now, and everyone else is scattered around Europe. However, people were very helpful to show me where everything was and take me to lunch in the cafeteria and coffee. I'm borrowing the workstation of the guy on paternity leave, which is working well right now. It took me a few minutes to realize European-style keyboards are more than extra keys compared to American ones (for example, the Y and Z are reversed, and the punctuation marks are all in different places). Although I'm sure I could change it, I find I can pretend it's a U.S. keyboard and it works OK. I touch-type pretty well, so I try not to pay attention to what the buttons are labeled.
I decided to walk home after work. The bus only comes once per hour, so I decided to give walking a try and see whether it made more sense than the bus. The walk was about 20 minutes, not bad. The bus passed me on the way home, 12 minutes behind schedule. I was glad that I walked today.
I watched a little skiing on the TV (World Cup — in French), then decided to get a few things at the grocery store for dinner. It's good that I didn't go any later, since I realized as I was leaving that it was closing time (6:45pm). Now I'm watching some classical music program on the TV while writing this. The wireless is still flaky ... hopefully the computer help desk people can fix it tomorrow.
This time, I didn't wake up at 1am, instead I didn't go to sleep until 1am.
In terms of surviving in a foreign country, today was pretty uneventful. I knew that I had to get dinner groceries by 6:45pm (and was able to break my 100 CHF bill while there), figured out that the grocery store was closed on Sundays, learned the difference between "bonjour" and "bonsoir" (good day vs. good evening), and got the apartment Internet connection working. I can't take credit for the last one, though — after I called the ISP support people (who didn't speak English and didn't transfer me to someone who did), I stopped by the Medtronic IT helpdesk, where the support person looked at my laptop, agreed it wasn't a problem with my computer, and lent me an Ethernet cable to use instead. Problem solved! So, now I am sitting in the doorway to the livingroom typing on the laptop because that's how far the cable reaches from the far corner of the bedroom.
I also researched going skiing on Sunday. I plan to go to Verbier since it's pretty accessible by train and about 2 hours total from where I'm staying. Also, the snow amounts are low this year, so you have to go to higher elevation to get decent snow. I thought about spending the weekend, but there's not much of a discount for multi-day passes, and the price of the train ticket is less than a hotel room. If I want to go skiing again, I'll just go next weekend! I can take the 7am train and arrive in Verbier about when the hill opens, then get an evening train back. Unfortunately, it's not going to be cheap — probably $70 for the pass, $60 for skis, and $75 for the train. But, it beats skiing in Minnesota. ;-)
Today was kind of a long day at work. I was in the building until 7pm ... definitely later than I wanted. I had a department meeting (from Minneapolis) until 6pm, then I booked a train ticket for skiing on Sunday (while I had access to a printer), then I was about to leave when I got a voicemail from someone in Minneapolis, so I decided to take care of that, and then I got an e-mail from someone else in Minneapolis that I also wanted to take care of. All of a sudden, it was 7pm! At least I had bought an apple at the cafeteria for a walk-home snack. ;-)
I finally got around to taking pictures of the apartment. They're not great, since it's dark most of the time that I'm here, but they give you an idea of what it looks like. It's in a really old building (hundreds of years?) with a little patio outside the front door and a view of a courtyard (which I couldn't photograph because of the lack of light).
The end of my first week at work ... it's kind of hard to believe that I've been in Switzerland only 5 days. Somehow, it seems a lot longer than that. After dinner, I decided to make a quick stop at the grocery store to see if there was anything I needed/wanted for the weekend, and to check out ideas for things I could buy later. I am amazed at how much shelf space is devoted to chocolate, desserts, and cheese fondue! I guess you can really learn something about the culture by visiting their supermarkets ...
After dinner, I went for a walk by the shores of Lake Geneva. I liked seeing the lights along the shore and across the lake in France. I didn't try taking a picture because I knew there wasn't enough light to make it work. I went around the shopping area and checked out a few restaurants to try sometime. Then, I gave my parents a pleasant surprise by calling them through Google Voice on my computer. I think it's pretty cool that I can call the US — from anywhere in the world using an internet connection and my computer — for free. Unfortunately, that doesn't help with the time difference. ;-)
According to the www.wunderground.com, the temperature in Minneapolis right now is -1.7 deg C (29 deg F), exactly the same as Lausanne, Switzerland. That is a really weird coincidence. Generally, it's been cold for Switzerland, but warm compared to home — highs in the 30s, lows around freezing or a little below (judging by the frost that I've seen while walking to work the past few days). It's warm enough that I don't mind being outside, but it's not so warm that I want to just hang out outside. Also, I find that I'm a lot less inclined to wander around at night since it's dark when I leave work. That's how it is when you travel in winter ...
The highlight of my day was that I finally figured out where to buy good cheese — at the farmers' market! I didn't have any big plans for the day, just "maybe see Lausanne". I slept in some, bought stamps at the post office, and visited the farmers' market which is in the main shopping area every Saturday. You can buy all sorts of stuff — meat, cheese, vegetables, bread, flowers, clothing, and flea market junk. The selection is pretty amazing. Only problem is, there's no cash register, which means it's not obvious how much something costs if you can't understand for sure what somebody is saying. It's really intimidating to shop in this way with people who don't speak English. I found 3 techniques that seemed to help:
I used #3 to buy some cheese. The seller was giving out samples and seemed nice, so why not? The woman bought 2 pieces of cheese and gave a 100 CHF bill (oh, shit, cheese can't cost that much here, can it??), but then she got about 70 CHF in change. So, I gave a 20 CHF bill for my 1 piece of cheese and got 10 CHF back. I still have no idea how much exactly I bought, but hey, it's really good, so whatever.
I decided to spend the afternoon in Lausanne, a Madison-sized city that's about 10 minutes away by train. I originally thought I would be staying in Lausanne and was disappointed at staying in Morges instead, but in the end, I think I'm glad I'm in Morges. If nothing else, I think my commute from Lausanne would a train ride + the 20 minute walk I do now. Lausanne is a really interesting city — it's built into a series of hills that kind of reminds me of San Francisco (though maybe not as tall) and Siena, Italy (much smaller but similarly old).
I wandered around the old city area, walked through the cathedral which had a GIANT pipe organ and these cool painted sculptures that until recently were outside. I really wish there were an organ concert while I was here; I would totally go.
I also spent a few hours at the Lausanne City History Museum. I liked the museum & also that it provided a nice warm quiet place for me to sit and rest for a while (it was almost empty). I learned that Lausanne was created geologically as a series of moraines (piles of rock and gravel left by a receding glacier) — like Wisconsin!, it was founded societally by the Romans, and the main part of the old city was founded in the 1200s. Before the Romans, there were people living in the hills but nobody in the flatter area near Lake Geneva.
I think my favorite part of walking around the city was looking at the big bridges that span the valleys, allowing people to cross from one side to the other without having to go way down. I also saw "Olympic Stadium" on the map, so I thought it would be cool to see an Olympic Stadium. I eventually found it by a combination of posted street maps & bus maps every so often and dead reckoning (I didn't have a map) only to find that it wasn't an actual Olympic Stadium, it was just called that. Bummer. By then, I was tired and wanted to go home. There was a bus stop nearby, but unfortunately I had forgotten to buy a return transit ticket earlier, and the machines only took cash, and I couldn't figure out which kind of money fit in the slots (neither my cash nor coins worked). So, I ended up walking most of the way back to the train station. I was pretty tired by the time I got back, so I packed my stuff up for Sunday and then went out to dinner in Morges.
IT'S SKIING TIME!!!!! Before I left, I had decided that one thing I definitely wanted to do was to go skiing in Switzerland. I brought my ski clothes and planned to rent skis when I got there. I decided to go to Verbier because (1) it was easily accessible by train and (2) due to general lack of snow this year in Switzerland, the conditions at other resorts with lower elevation were not that great. I had set my alarm for 6am but was awake off and on all night, I think from both excitement and nervousness about getting there correctly. I was relieved when I showed up at the train station around 7am and saw other people with skis! They know where they're going! I took the 7:05 train from Morges to Martigny, where most of the train got off and transferred to a smaller train to go to Le Chable. From here, we went across the train tracks to the ticket station, and there you bought your lift ticket. The gondola extended from Le Chable all the way through the town of Verbier up to the first area for skiing. A nice older man gave me something and explained it to me in French (which I didn't understand) but turned out to be a 50% coupon! So, I paid 34CHF for my ticket. Yee ha! I rode up the gondola with a few other people. I was further from the door with another guy. When we got to Verbier, the others let him out but didn't get out themselves. I quickly realized that they were continuing onto the ski area so I hustled out of there pretty quickly. I had reservations for skis and it took me a little while to find the rental store, but it wasn't too bad once I asked someone for directions. The rental people couldn't find my reservation, so they just set me up there. I got a pair of 163cm Dynastar skis and size 24.5 boots (both are 1 size smaller than what I currently wear, but I was pretty sure they were properly sized for me).
So, properly geared up, I headed up the gondola. I studied the map looking for a beginner run that I could try out the new skis. It took me a while to find one at all, but then I found one at the top of a 2nd lift after the gondola — a really interesting lift that takes a right turn partway through. So, I head up. At the turn, it looks like everyone is getting off. Hmmm. What's going on? I get off and look at the map. It turns out that the lift takes people up from 2 different points. Crap. Now I need to do an intermediate run at the beginning (i.e. equivalent to expert run in Minnesota). And it's icy. Well, there's no time like the present to see what the skis feel like! Actually, the skis worked pretty well. They felt similar to my skis, but probably a little better. And other than some occasional numbness in my feet, the boots fit pretty well, too.
I spent a few runs in the area kind of by the main lift — some of them in good condition, some of them already a bit skied off (at 11am). So I decided to start heading across the hill to see what I could find. I was VERY careful to make sure there was an intermediate run everywhere I went. I didn't want to end up somewhere I didn't think I could get out of. I found I didn't have trouble with the intermediate runs, but some were easier than others (no surprise). I thought some of the middle runs were really nice and not too crowded, so I spent a decent amount of the day there.
Verbier is completely above the tree line, which I had never done before. What that means is that the trails are largely marked by the grooming patterns. If it's not groomed & has moguls, then it's off-piste. I had heard that the best part of Verbier was the off-piste skiing. Now I understand why — there are off-piste areas EVERYWHERE. Including some around big rocks where I have no idea how the people actually skied in those places ...
I thought this was the craziest thing ... a number of the lifts have a conveyor belt that you use to get on! There's a little gate that tells you when to move into the loading area, and you push yourself off, and then the conveyor belt brings you to the middle where you get on.
There are ski areas in 4 valleys around Verbier that are all on the same ski ticket. The crossover point into the next valley said "ski touring, experienced users only". Then I heard a couple girls say in English, "you can ride the gondola down". Thank God. (don't worry, I wouldn't have gone if I had had to ski down). It wasn't quite like it, but it reminded me of Heavenly's Gunbarrel trail (double-black diamond mogul hill on the bottom part of the hill that most people, including me, ride over). I rode the gondola which an older man (English?) and someone I assumed was his ski instructor. By now, it's 1pm, and I'm getting hungry for lunch. I previously stopped for a water break and had to pay 4.50 CHF for a ~16oz bottle of water. Ouch. Should have brought my own. The ski instructor mentioned that Siviez, at the bottom of the hill, had good food (usually the higher you are, the more of a rip-off it is). So, I decided to go there for lunch. I had a ham and cheese sandwich on a baguette and the waitress gave me 2 glasses of water. That hit the spot! But, the skiing wasn't good there, so after 1 run in the area, I went back up the mountain.
By about 3:30, I could tell that I was getting tired — I started at 10am. I decided to start heading back to the main lift. It was good that I started when I did, since the last few runs to the gondola were nasty. They were really icy and really crowded. Not a good combination. I fell at the end of one run, then decided to take a break so I could get ready for skiing back. I thought the gondola was around here somewhere, but where is it?? After sitting for a couple minutes, I realize I'm right next to it! Oh, that makes me happy — I don't think I have the legs to do many more runs like the one I just did. I fell because I lost my balance, something that I would have recovered from earlier in the day. I had been thinking about quitting, but that sealed it for me.
Overall, I enjoyed skiing at Verbier. I think I saw most of the hill with decent skiing that I felt confident I could handle. The conditions were ok but not great (only a few runs were nasty-icy by Minnesota standards). The convenience factor (without a car) was definitely a plus. If I were in Switzerland again, I would go back to Verbier. It's really not for beginner skiers, especially right now because most of the beginner runs are in the lower elevations. Not sure whether I will go back next weekend, but I'm glad I went.
I returned my skis, wandered around the town of Verbier, and got a really good ham and cheese crepe at "The Milk Bar". The name intrigued me ... I couldn't resist. Unfortunately, the crepe mainly awakened my appetite, but I managed to make it home without starving (nothing at the train station looked appetizing and I had an emergency granola bar just in case). There was a group of English-speaking people next to me on the train. Eventually, they were talking about falling on your coccyx while snowboarding, so I told them about Ken's Azz Padz. ;-) I got home a little after 8pm, had a nice big snack of cheese, crackers, tea, and a clementine, took a shower, and started to catch up on my blog. ;-)
I was pretty tired this morning, but overall I feel pretty good after skiing yesterday. I had lunch with my old colleague Sachin, who used to work with me but moved into the Marketing group and now is in Switzerland. It was good to catch up. I developed this HUGE head cold today, maybe my body's way of payback for burning the candle at both ends for the last week. I came home and made my shrimp with feta and tomatoes recipe for dinner. I bought the ingredients a few days ago — I like that it doesn't require many ingredients (not much point in buying tons of staples for a 3 week trip). I think I overcooked the shrimp (I hate electric stoves!), but otherwise it turned out fine. I usually make it with couscous, but since I was at the grocery store near closing I couldn't search for the couscous, so I bought small ABC pasta instead (hey, it's small and wheat-based ... close enough).
I decided to do some laundry after dinner, since I'm running low on clothes. The washer cycle was 2 hours, so I'm glad I started at 7:30. I also had to iron a shirt for tomorrow. There was an iron in the apartment, which was brand-new in the box. I pulled it out, filled the water tank, then turned it on. A few minutes later, I wiped it on the ironing board only to realize that it had a plastic covering on the iron part! That ranks pretty high on my "stupid things I've done this trip" list ... luckily I was able to peel it all off without destroying the iron. Now I'm watching "The Mummy Returns" on TV. The plot is thin enough that I mostly understand it even while dubbed ... !
My cold is somewhat improved but not going away yet, and I sneezed a bunch at work. But, that's life. I'm taking it pretty easy tonight — finishing laundry, catching up on photos, etc. After I came home from work, I found this TV program where they were playing "The Rite of Spring" by Stravinsky. I watched for a few minutes, then had to go to the grocery store before it closed. When I got back, there was another show describing the work, which was pretty cool.
Today felt pretty cold — I had to wear my hat while walking to work today, and if it had been much colder, I would have liked having my long underwear on. On the other hand, that's nothing compared to the 2 feet of snow my family got in Milwaukee! Yikes!
Unfortunately, I missed one of the items on my shopping list from yesterday, so I had to go back to the grocery store today. I didn't get out of work until 6pm, so I went to the store directly from work, otherwise I might not make it before it closed at 6:45. I was really happy to go past the paper products aisle and find some real Kleenex for my nose! (European toilet paper is really scratchy) I also decided to treat myself to some Swiss chocolate. ;-)
I've got the Transformers movie on while typing ... it's only moderately interesting (maybe it would be better in English than German, but who knows?).
I felt like I was beating my head against the wall for a few hours today at work, but I think I figured it out eventually. The person whose cube I was borrowing is back from paternity leave, so I think I will have to find other arrangements. The admin ordered me a "docking station", but when I looked at the work order today (which I hadn't seen before), I have this nasty feeling that I might get the docking station but not any of the stuff that makes it useful, like a monitor or keyboard. We'll see.
I had leftovers for dinner, watched some ski jumping on TV, then left the TV on Eurosport while doing some Internet surfing. Now billiards is on. They've played a few different types of games, and it looks like sometimes the goal is to keep the balls out of the pocket. Heck, I can do that! (no, I'm sure it's much more complicated than that ... if nothing else, the competitors are wearing bow ties, it must be fancy!)
My second (and final) weekend is coming up. I'm still thinking about what I might do this weekend. It's supposed to be about 50 deg F, which is really warm. I might do some sightseeing in the towns around here, or I wonder if I can rent a bike somewhere and go for a ride? I remember seeing a rack of them at work but I'm not sure how you get one ...
P.S. I figured out that I was watching a snooker tournament on TV, a form of billiards that's pretty popular in Europe.
My docking station was waiting for me when I arrived at work today. It came with all the expected parts — docking station, monitor, keyboard, mouse, power supply. So that's good. It was even a U.S.-spec QWERTY keyboard, though admittedly I like the touch of the European one I had been using a lot better. It's a lot better than typing on a laptop, though ...
I decided to attempt to get the wireless internet service working again. I called the local ISP helpdesk from work, navigated through the menus in German until I found a real person who luckily spoke some English. Since I wasn't at home (no phone there), he could only give limited help. He said something about a number on the back of the box. After I got home, I found the MAC address on the box and attempted to figure out where to put it in the machine. I only found 1 place that had a name like "MAC address", and unfortunately that place hosed up both the wired and wireless connections. Yikes! Eventually, I was able to retrace my steps and get it back to where it was. I think I give up trying to troubleshoot it.
I bought a few things at the grocery store after getting back from work (since the store is open until 8pm on Fridays). I passed a group of teenagers (high school age) coming out of the shopping center with a bunch of liquor bottles, presumably to have some fun this weekend. It was a little disconcerting because they were clearly under the drinking age in the U.S. (yes, I know Europeans have different rules about alcohol than we do). I went out to dinner at this restaurant a block from my apartment which I walk past every day. It's a small neighborhood place, about 12 tables. When I walked in, there was no hostess/waitress around, so I walked to the back where there was 1 small table without a "Reserved" sign on it. I'd been seeing the "Fondue Quattre Fromages" sign all week, and I decided it was worth trying. The fondue was quite good, and I also had some local Morges white wine with it. I could tell it was a local place, since half the people in the restaurant knew each other, and everyone spoke French except me (there was one couple who switched between English and French). The waitress (and I'm guessing the owner) was a little rude towards me, but I think that's what I get for being a non-French-speaking tourist. Also the service was really slow, I think I was there 1.5 hours. At least I got to read the local paper while I was there; I learned that Silvio Berlusconi (prime minister of Italy) allegedly had another affair with a young woman, Australia is getting hit by a cyclone, and Zsa Zsa Gabor is in the hospital.
I went for a walk after dinner, and I can tell that the weather is getting warmer since I didn't wear my hat and I wasn't freezing cold. It's supposed to be really nice this weekend. Tomorrow, I'm thinking of getting a 1-day train pass for the area and seeing some of the local towns.
Today was a good day. Except for the part where I couldn't find the train station to get home. But that's the end of the story.
I took a brief trip to the Morges farmers' market this morning and bought some apples, lettuce, a baguette, and a chocolate croissant as a treat. I would have rather done this kind of shopping tomorrow, but unfortunately all of the stores are closed tomorrow. I got to the train station just a few minutes before the train left, so that's good.
I decided to create my own tour of Lake Geneva. My plan was to take the train to Villeneuve at the far end of Lake Geneva and visit some of the towns on the way back. I got to Villeneuve about 11am and walked around the town a bit. I saw some old houses and a little church (they were holding an organ concert on Sunday, too bad it wasn't today!). I went to the lakefront and sat down and ate my croissant. I watched these guys fishing with the biggest poles I have ever seen, and I had a lot of fun watching the ducks and seagulls and swans. There were mallard ducks but also several types I hadn't seen before.
There's a path that extends along the lakefront for a long way (no idea how far it goes). So, I walked along the lake to Chateau de Chillon, which is a very old (almost 1000 years) castle. It's situated on a small island on the edge of Lake Geneva. The location was on a key trade route between Italy and France, so they were able to have a lot of power by taxing the trade through the area. In the Middle Ages, the Duke of Savoy (who owned the castle) would travel constantly to visit his different properties and make sure they were well-managed. Imagine being on the road all the time! The castle was built over several hundred years, with a series of buildings around 4 courtyards, each with a different purpose. I really liked going through the entire castle, ending in the "keep" at the top of the tower.
I felt sorry for the prisoners they kept in the basement, who couldn't see out of the castle. It also turns out that you can have your wedding reception in one of the halls (seriously).
After the castle, I kept walking along the path to Montreux, the next town over. It seemed like most of Montreux was out on the promenande along the lake, taking a stroll. Montreux has been a tourist trap for several hundred years. I hadn't had a real lunch yet, so I looked for something to eat. I found a "tea-room" where I bought some food, which got me a table where I could look at the street and watch the pedestrians and traffic. The food was a rip-off (8.50 for a small sandwich and tea), but it was nice to get warm. When I left, I realized I was still hungry, so I stopped at a Walgreens-type store and bought a bottle of water and a chocolate bar. I figured that was enough to get me until dinner.
I wandered a bunch around Montreux (the shops closed not long after my snack, so there wasn't much to do inside). I was walking behind some women when they entered a church. I looked at the sign and realized that it was a Catholic church and that mass would start in a few minutes. So I decided to go (why not? I have nothing better to do anyway ...). Catholics have a standard mass format, so I could tell what was going on, more or less, without being able to actually understand it. It was a pretty simple mass attended by about 50 people. I actually knew one of the songs — the Alleluia! I think the priest was Filipino — he was definitely imported from somewhere in Asia. I guess I'm not surprised, considering that participating in religion is much less common in Europe than the U.S..
After church, I went to the casino. ;-) I just looked around but didn't go onto the casino floor (I didn't care that much and I think — but not sure — that they were checking IDs). At that point, I decided to start looking for someplace to eat. I decided on an Italian restaurant, where I had this amazing pumpkin pasta. I think I might have gotten ripped off slightly (I paid almost as much for bottled water as for a glass of wine while it looked like other tables got tap water), but it was really good. After dinner, I decided to head back to the train station. The problem was, I thought I knew where it was, but I actually didn't. I had come into Montreux on foot, and although I had found the train station while walking, I misremembered where I had seen it. I found the train tracks easily enough ... but where is the train station? I walked near the tracks and found a train station ... the next station over, which had 1 train per hour that had just left. Crap. So, I headed back the other direction towards the main area. I saw signs for parking for the train station but not the station itself. Where the hell is it?? I'm going in circles! I went past the restaurant again ... ARGH!! I finally went back to the lake where I knew could find a map of the town so I could find the train station. I found the map, and it said to walk a way down the promenade, then go uphill but not on a particular street. I turned uphill after a block, and all of a sudden a I saw a big staircase with a bunch of people coming out of it. Is this it?? YES!!! Unfortunately, I had to wait 30 minutes for a train and then change trains in Lausanne. I was a little worried that there wouldn't be a connecting train, but it turned out OK. I was relieved to make it back to my apartment and have a nice cup of tea. ;-)
Plan A for the day was a bust, but Plan B turned out pretty well, so it was OK ...
In the morning, I cleaned up the apartment and made scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast ... yum. My big plan was to rent a bicycle for the day using a bicycle-rental service similar to the one in downtown Minneapolis and ride the "wine route" to the west of Morges. I had it all set — the post at the bike rental said I should go to the cafe near the train station and get a day pass for 6 CHF + 90 CHF deposit on credit card. I went there and said in my best (ahem, bad) French, "I would like a velopass for 1 day", and I'm not sure what the guy said, but he talked very rapidly and didn't sell me the pass even though I pulled out the proper amount of money. I'm not sure what happened, and unfortunately I'm lost in French if anything goes wrong. I can guess my way around written French and in a restaurant (there are only so many questions a waiter will ask), but after that, it goes downhill fast. So, I went back to the apartment to sulk for a while and then went for a walk.
Actually, the Plan B walk turned out to be a lot better than I expected. I went to the lakefront and walked west from the town.
I quickly ran into "The Trail of the Trout", a nature trail partially sponsored by Medtronic, and decided to take it. It led me partially through river areas (public land?) and sometimes around people's houses and fields. It felt like I was hiking at home, except sometimes the path wasn't too obvious. At times, I would have liked having my hiking boots on instead of street shoes!
After about 2 hours, I came to a town called St-Prex, which had a beautiful view of Lake Geneva.
My plan was to find the train station (and a bathroom), then wander around the town until the train arrived. By this time, I was unmotivated to walk back — I was tired, and it would be dark by the time I arrived if I walked. I found the train station without too much trouble, but the bathroom was another story. There were no "WC" signs, and all the doors were locked when I went around the building. All except for one, which when I entered, a woman looked at me funny so I said "bathroom", and she said, "this is a private residence". Oops. (I guess I should have known better, I had previously seen ads for renting space above the train station). I saw people walking into the grocery store a block away, so I tried that next even though I knew the store was closed. It turned out that there was a tea-room in the same building. And a bathroom! So, I bought this fantastic chocolate dessert and sat there for a while to warm up. The train came once per hour, so I decided to walk around the town for about half an hour and then catch the next train back.
St-Prex is a cute little town with a church that was originally built in 652 AD and a town wall erected in 1234. This is the original north gate to the wall. It was a good end to my afternoon trip.
I came back to the apartment, talked to Ken for a while, made some chicken-zucchini Thai curry for dinner, and am attempting to get caught up on pictures and what I need to do next week since it's my last week here. The time has gone really fast, as I expected it would.
Not too much interesting today ... I had lunch with a marketing director who I used to work with in Minneapolis, and I found someone to give me a tour of the Medtronic manufacturing facility, which I'm really excited about. Medtronic only has 2 production device manufacturing facilities worldwide (the other is in Puerto Rico), so it seemed like an opportunity I shouldn't pass up.
I'm starting to wrap up my stay here — both from a work and home perspective. What do I need to do before I leave? Should I buy any more food? Tomorrow, I need to figure out whether I can give the landlord my key on Friday night before I leave. Otherwise, I need to haul my luggage to Medtronic and leave the key there — doable but less convenient. The husband speaks English ok, but the wife doesn't. So, I figured out how to say "Can I leave the key here on Friday at 5pm?" just in case I talk to the wife tomorrow morning.
GO PACKERS! (no, I did not get up in the middle of the night to watch the game)
The landlord said I could give him the key Friday evening, which is nice. That will definitely make my life easier. I also booked my train tickets to leave Switzerland. I had to book one to Milan using the Swiss website and pick the ticket up at the train station after work, and use the Italian website to book one to Cinque Terre to meet Ken. I had heard they didn't take American credit cards, but it worked OK. I have to pick the ticket up at a self-service station when I arrive in Milan. That shouldn't be a big deal.
I had an ostrich steak (I think that's the right word?) for lunch today at the cafeteria. It sounded interesting, so why not? It was pretty good and tasted quite a bit like beef. My lunch was so big that I wasn't too hungry for supper, so I just had some eggs and bacon.
It's a weird feeling to be almost leaving here. I don't really want to start anything new because I only have 2 more nights left ...
I realized in the afternoon today that there was no way that I would get done everything I wanted to before I left. I think I would need at least another week (probably 2) to really get done everything I wanted to. I guess, in the end, I'm not surprised. Everything always takes longer than you think it will. ;-)
I'm doing my final bit of laundry tonight. We're having a team dinner tomorrow night, so I don't know when I'll get home. I packed a few things tonight, just so I'd have a little less to do tomorrow night and Friday morning.
Today, I got a tour of the manufacturing facility. It was pretty cool to see the device manufacturing in action. The manufacturing process is a combination of automated and manual processes — I think the manufacturing process used to be really manual, and over time they've been figuring out which processes make sense for a person vs. a machine to do. They keep good records of who did which step to which device, to ensure that good traceability of the entire process. I felt a little like a bull in a china shop — the spaces are a little tight, and I felt like I was going to bump into people. The manufacturing facility is a cleanroom, which means you need covers over your shoes, a lab coat, hair covering, mask, gloves. That's more stringent than when I've been in operating rooms (though I'm not allowed to touch anything in either situation).
We had a team dinner in Lausanne at this brewery in the evening. I remember walking past it when I was Lausanne the first weekend. We had good beer and good conversation. Unfortunately, I got home at 10:40pm and had to pack, so I went to bed after midnight.
Well, I made it out of Switzerland in one piece. And my big suitcase is going back to the U.S. I think.
I got up earlier than normal so I could finish packing. I realized that there was no way everything I wanted on vacation was going to fit. So, I put everything on the coffee table and started getting rid of stuff. Do I need mousse? No. Soap? No — it's in the hotels. Extra shampoo? I kept 1 small bottle and sent the rest home. My suitcase is still a little on the heavy side, but I think it's manageable. I then had space to bring my nonperishable food left from my apartment. It seemed like a shame to throw away my clementines, apples, crackers, granola bars.
Then, I go to the post office to mail my suitcase. I fill out the customs forms (it takes a while) and go back. The woman disappears for a while ... then someone else who speaks some English tells me that they can't accept my package because they need authorization from the U.S. Embassy because the value is over 100 USD. Shit. So, I haul my suitcase back to my apartment, go to work, and write a fax to the US Embassy in Bern, Switzerland. After 4 hours, I decided that I should call and see what's going on. I talked to someone in Homeland Security who told me that those rules apply to non-US citizens and that I can ship my personal goods home and bring some additional purchases back. That was helpful but she wouldn't write a note or a letter to help explain this. So, I dug around the Customs website, printed a few pages and used Google Translate to put them in French. I went back to the post office after work, showed them the pages I printed out and the forms I had filled out before. This time, they took the suitcase and eventually finished processing it. They weighed it but only charged me the amount of a small package — so it cost 60 CHF instead of the 130CHF I expected. I hope I filled out the customs forms appropriately. I think I left my 30 USD in my wallet in the suitcase, too, because now I can't find it. Oops. Lesson learned: don't assume that the foreign post office knows U.S. regulations, and bring copies (in their language) of the appropriate information.
I bought a sandwich at the train station (not very good), got on the train in Morges and took it to Brig, the end of the line. My train to Milan was supposed to leave in 10 minutes, so I didn't dare get more food or a bathroom stop. While waiting, I saw a sign that had the car numbers for each train, and I saw that my car #5 was loading in a different section, so I went over there. When the train arrived, I didn't see a sign for which car was which. So I got on, watched a few people go towards their seats, and then wandered down the aisle and saw a car #5 sign. Yes! I found my seat no problem and made it to Milan. Then, I picked up tomorrow's tickets at the self-service device and walked the block to my hotel. I figured out to turn the Italian TV back to English (since some of my coworkers had told me it was possible), so it's nice to actually understand it! Only 2 more train rides tomorrow and I can say hi to Ken in person!