What is that strange brightness?

We heard that the winters here could be brutal, with weeks on end of no sunshine.  Our last snow was a month ago, when the meteorologists were predicting "40% chance light snow, no accumulation."  We got 4 inches. 

Since then I have been agitating to get out on my mountain bike and explore the mountains.  For the last 3 weeks the forcast has been "37-42 degrees, partial sun" but we would never get above 27, and we never saw the sun.  That is, until the last 3 days.  It's a balmy 45 degrees!

We headed outside to play baseball.  Sleeves optional.  Our neighbors must be totally confused with the screaming, running on bases, and a bat that looks nothing like a cricket bat.  We played football (american style), football (european style), grilled hamburgers, and hung out on the back porch admiring the sunset.  You don't realize how much you miss the sun until you stop seeing it.  Tommorrow they are forcasting 50 degrees, and they better not be teasing us!

Don't even get me started about the cell phone...

Tom has now taken an assignment in Paris, and is gone most weekdays. Now we have a problem. No Tom, no cell phone, no GPS. It is not that Switzerland is hard to get around without a GPS, it is that it is IMPOSSIBLE to get around without it. Roads are not marked, highway entrances don't tell you which direction you are going, and there are traffic circles everywhere. Remember the scene from "National Lampoon's European Vacation?": "Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament". Been there, done that.

I have been dreading this day for months. I obsessed over the choice of phone, and did extensive research with the help of technical articles far and wide. I narrowed down my choices, and headed off to the local electronics store with 2 hours, ID in hand, and money. I thought I was ready.

Cell phones in Europe are not "locked", so any phone works with any plan. There were over 60 phones begging to be fiddled with at the store, with all the descriptions in German. I quickly decided which phone and thought I was through the worst of the hard sell by the vendors. Nope, we're just getting warmed up!

There are 4 main vendors of the cell service in Switzerland, with a endless buffet of plans to choose from. Do you surf, do you talk, do you SMS? Where do you travel? Where do you like to call? Now figure out exactly how many GB of memory transfer you will use, exactly how much you will talk and text each month and you can decide what plan you need. Talking can cost per total numbers of minutes that you talk, or per call not lasting more than 59 minutes. Do you ever use your phone to Skype? Uggh, I need to make an excel spread sheet to choose.

I made my decision, and the staff seemed very pleased, and off we go to ring it up. I hand over the requisite residency permit, and watch the staff work. There were phone calls, there were consultations with managers, there was visible pointing at me with wild hand gestures. Apparently, when you are a foreigner, it is not enough to give your address and the legal documents saying that you are allowed in the country, you need notarized statements stating that you really live at your given address. I looked at my watch nervously, kids will be home in 1 hour, 15 minutes. I can rush home, find the file, and return. I think I have a piece of paper that might just get the job done. I'm off.

I return short of breath, ready to close this deal. Here we go again! Calls, consultations, disparaging looks from other vendors. Do I have something in my teeth? Why is everybody staring?

The cell phone vendor does not like the fact that I only have an "L" permit, a limited residency permit granted because we arrived toward the end of a calender year, not the beginning. At first, they were talking $1,000 Swiss franc down payment. The decision came down that they only needed $300. Small problem though. This store sells the phones and the plans, but they do not take down payments. I have to go to another cell phone store, give the deposit, get a receipt, and return back to store #1 with the receipt. Ok, but I have no GPS yet to find this store.

Now I am determined. I WILL get this done, come hell or high water. I flew out of the store in the general direction of the new store, bumbled my way there (hey buddy, not necessary to honk, I'm a little lost), and arrived to give my deposit. I was assured by store #1 that someone in store #2 spoke English.

"Gruetzi! Tut mir lied, Ich sprechen kein Deutsch. Sprechen Sie Englisch?" (Hello! I'm so sorry, I speak no German, do you speak English?)

"Nein". They take my ticket number from my hand, throw it into the garbage, and call for the customer with the next ticket number.

My Yankee assertiveness training took over, I stepped between the approaching customer and the sales associate and bumble my way through an explanation of deposits, L permits, receipts, and presented the magical debit card to prove they will get a commission from working with me. Amazing how money talks in any language!

I call the girls while returning to the original store. They are fine, long multiplication is no fun, but the homework is getting done. I am overjoyed. I can visualize that phone in my hand, deftly guiding me through Europe.

Here we go again. Third set of copies of my permit, passport, heated phone conversations, and the sales associate says "I'll be right back" and he darts off to the other side of the store.

I stand there for 45 minutes. Other associates ask me what is happening. How the %$** am I supposed to know? I have to admit, I was very amused watching the older Swiss men leer at Britney Spears videos while I was waiting, but this is getting insane. My sales associate runs back, another phone call, another excuse, and I did understand "I have a migraine, I need coffee" from his phone conversation. Apparently the fax machine was broken, and in a store filled with electronics, they had no back up fax. He used a scanner and e-mail to get the paperwork sent.

Long story longer...It took 4 hours 15 minutes to get a cell phone. I am, however, surfen and skypen to my hearts content. My new friend Fiona says that I am very lucky. Women who do not have full time jobs usually are not allowed to have a cell phone in their own name. Did I mention how honored I feel?

I will never get used to some things!

My daily pilgrimage to the grocery store is filled with all sorts of new discoveries.  Who knew that $4.50 a gallon for milk was a good price?  How do you choose from 20 different types of extra virgin olive oil?   My discovery yesterday was a shocker...

Yes, that is marinated horse steak.  They also had horse "jerky" if you would prefer.  The butcher down the street advertises horse meat from the USA.  It is truly nauseating. 

Speaking of nauseating, I will never get used to all the cigarette smoke.  It is a great mystery of how the Swiss are so healthy and have a longer average life span than the USA but sometimes it seems like everybody smokes.  In the train stations, instead of there being a designated smoking area, there is a designated non-smoking area (a little glass room).  Switzerland, in general is exquistely clean, but they don't consider cigarette butts trash.  Here are the train tracks.

There are cigarettes for sale everywhere, including all the vending machines.  Speaking of vending machines, I recently saw a new addition to the merchandise:

 Yes, tucked next to your ciggies is your pregnancy test.  "Maybe baby" translates into any language!

My Christmas Present

Tom gave me the one thing I really wanted for Christmas, tickets to the Mercedes CSI FEI World Cup in Zurich.  Yes, ladies and gentleman, that is a fancy name for a very fancy horse show, specifically show jumping.  I have been to a lot of shows over the years, but this one was by far the most elaborate, richest show I have ever seen.  What do you expect when your sponsors are Mercedes and Rolex?   Here is my latest top ten list:  how American and European horse shows differ.  Before all the men log out of my site, there were monster trucks too!

10.  Spectators - The stadium was about the size of Bobcat arena in Charlotte, and it was at least 90% full.  Not too shabby considering tickets started at $100 swiss francs each.  People came in their furs and watched 14 hours of show jumping. 

9.  Food - Not a chicken nugget, hot dog, or french fry to be found folks.  There were full service bars, and champagne corks flying first thing in the morning.  The concourse food was steaks, pasta, and waffles with fresh vanilla cream or strawberries.  One end of the arena was reserved for the guests of the sponsors.  They enjoyed a typical European three hour dinner served on crystal, silver, and fine china with white glove service.  It was pretty amusing when the horses would kick up sand on their tables.   

8.  Exposition - One of the highlights of a good show is good shopping.  I couldn't afford anything.  No t-shirts here!  "Deep discount" fleece vests started at $100.  I got my boots polished for free, I guess that is something.  There were pony rides for the kids, and they were NICE ponies, not like the ones at local carnivals that are a few days away from the glue factory (ok, that was a little harsh!) 

7.  Flowers - The back wall of the arena was covered in Gerbera Daisys, and all the jumps were surrounded by arrangements.  I counted over 200 dozen roses in the dinner area.

6.  Betting and Prizes - There was a betting program.  You could bet on the outcome of a class or the collective results of a country.  The odds were constantly put on the jumbo-tron.    For the competitors even the amateur classes were very profitable, 30k of prizes to be split among the top 10.  The winner of the preliminary FEI Rolex round split $250k and the winner got a Rolex.  The winner Sunday will get this...

5.  Awards - They received those awards with much fanfare.  There were dancers, huge flags (the horses did not appreciate them much), and check out how the awards were brought into the ring...

The minature horses in the back were smaller than Buster, and the Fresians were stunning. 

4.   Paparazzi - Yes, these riders are celebrities, and there was paparazzi everywhere.  I was getting a major case of  "lens" envy with the length of those telephoto lenses.  This guy caused the biggest stir.  He is a Swiss hero, one heck of a rider,  and he acts like he KNOWS he is hot stuff...

3.  Difficulty - The course was designed a little too well.  Only 4/40 horses went clean.  These riders really need to school some water elements.  (ok, that is the last real horse talk I will use).

2.  Pooper scoopers -  In typical Swiss fashion, the "unmentionable" horse deposits magically dissapeared.  There were men in suits and ties that rushed around like ball boys at Wimbleton.  You could have eaten off the ring floor. 

1.  The Show - There was a "Great Britain Show" in the evening, starring the Calvary of The Queen of England.  Sounds very boring, huh?  Now add in a comedy, monster trucks, and horses doing routines to Coldplay, Katy Perry, and Trans Siberean Orchestra music, and we got ourselves a real show!  There was rock music with bagpipes, a clown dancing with a truck that looked like a mouse, motorcycles and fireworks.  I have no idea what they will think of next!





Now that's not something you see everyday!

We recently headed out to the Zurich Zoo when we were caught in a crowd of people.  What is going on?

It's a penguin parade!

One of these guys nipped at Samantha, proving, yet again, that there is no such thing as OSHA in Europe.

It was positively surreal.  We had a lot of fun playing with the baby penguins too...

And check out the look on this penguins face.  I know he is thinking, "what is up with her?"

A zoo in the snow has very interesting sights.  This is not something you see everyday!

or this!

This zoo has it all, including lots of play areas for children who have had enough of sight seeing.  True to Swiss form the playground equipment is made of  natural products.  This playground is a mock-up spiderweb, and Nicole is caught in the cocoon.

They have a petting zoo too.  Momma, I can relate!

Check out the "binky tree" in this area.  These are where they display the pacifiers after the goats snatch them from unsuspecting toddlers. 

I hope we will visit again with our family and friends who come here.  Now if you will humor me for a moment, I would like to include a few of my favorite pictures from the zoo.  I really like playing with my digital SLR.  I hope you enjoy them.



And as my father would say, "that's all, folks!"

Where in the World are the Betor Girls?

Imagine a place with a towering silver geodome, surrounded by replica countries including Italy, France, England, Norway, and Germany, all ruled by a mouse.  Where are we? 

guess again!

 We went to Europa Park, Germany's largest theme park.  This park is now 35 years old, and it is a blatant copy of the Disney Parks, but some attractions they actually did nicer, with a lot of things that you would never see at Disney, mostly because it is too dangerous. 

The park is located in the middle of a small German town called Rust, and as far as I can tell, the town exists purely to support the tourists.  Just outside the main gates are hundreds of private homes turned into miniature hotels.  The park closes the second week in January for a three month holiday.  We visited during their last week, and it was empty.  Desolate.  Quiet.  No better time to hit the roller coasters!

Our favorite exibit was the Space Mir Station.  You walk past a replica Russian Space Station and enjoy a pounding techno-beat while you board a indoor/outdoor revolving roller coaster.  Sometimes you took the hills forward, sometimes backwards, and we rode it multiple times...

There were many more large roller coasters there, but they were closed for the season.  We enjoyed the "Pirates of Bavaria" (a lot more realistic than Pirates of the Caribbean), Universe of Energy/Dinosaur ride, a haunted house, an indoor roller coaster identical to Space Mountain, and to top it all off, there was a mulled wine kiosk at every corner. Sometimes, however, you have to slow down and enjoy the important things....

This park would never survive in the States.  It was a OSHA nightmare.  Check out the heating! 

and look at what the girls did with a elephant...

There was snow tubing on ice that plowed the giggling children into a wall.  The girls spent hours on the mechanical bull.  You can take the girls out of the South, but you can't take the South out of the girl!

They even got to try out some real circus acrobatics.  They aren't going to win prizes any time soon, but they had a lot of fun!

That's a lot harder than the Wii!

I would highly reccommend this park during the winter, as long as you are prepared with umbrellas and motrin!

Happy New Year!

We have always been pretty low key when it comes to New Year's celebrations, and this year was no exception. We knew that there was a large fireworks show in downtown Zurich, expected to draw 200,000 people and start at midnight. Sorry, I turn into a pumpkin by that time.

Instead we woke to the house shaking, and lights flashing into every window. Was Switzerland suddenly in the middle of a war? Unlikely. Nope, it's just how everyone celebrates here. We lost count with 7 different groups of neighbors shooting off large fireworks. That was only one side of the house! The church bells rang for 30 minutes, people were standing on their rooftops. There we were, the dopey Americans in our jammies on the porch. Even the local Aldi sells massive four foot long fireworks. It was a pyromaniacs dream.

They have interesting New Years traditions here. New Year's Eve is known as "St. Sylvester's Day" and the last person to rise out of bed in the morning is supposed to awaken to the shouts of "Sylvester!". We did not partake in that tradition, but any tradition that includes baked products, we're in !

On January 6th, or "three kings day", you buy a "Dreikoenigskuchen" at the local grocery store, a ring of buns with a buttery sweet topping. In one of the buns is a plastic king, and whoever finds the king and does not require a trip to the local dentist is "king for the day" and everyone has to follow their command. Samantha was king, and here she is ordering her sister to bring her a napkin, with a appropriate look of disdain for all who are not royalty.

This is a lot like an Epiphany cake, except they sell these rolls with the crowns, and people wear them around. Tom got one at work too, but he already tells everyone what to do!

In Germany I saw two different sets of children dressed like the wise men, distributing gifts early in the morning January 6th. Apparently it is a two day holiday in Germany. I am willing to go along with another holiday, especially if it includes baked goods!