The Snowman Loses His Head
It took only 10 minutes and 28 seconds from the time they lit the bonfire for his head to explode. According to the locals, that is a fast time and foretells and early and glorious summer.
In Zurich, the snow man festival is their May day and the snowman atop the bonfire their May pole. The day of the bonfire is so special that businesses close at noon. It is actually a two day festival with the first centered around a childrens’ parade and the second the parade of the historic trade societies. Each society used to represent a specific trade, such as bakers, blacksmiths, beer brewers, dairy farmers, wine makers, hatters, milliners, etc. Today the societies retain their historic roots but have become more social societies. Each has its specific costume—most of which are quite beautiful. Gary is a hat buff and he now has a whole group on his wish list.
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The parade from the center of town, complete with horse groups, bands, wagons and all the members of each group takes about three hours and they finish and assemble around the snow man. As they arrive, each group has an assigned place around the bonfire marked by its banner. Of course they all bring along ample supplies of local beer and wine—none, unfortunately offered to us spectators. Consequently, those at the front of the parade, having arrived first are pretty jolly by the time the bonfire begins.
At precisely 6 pm—these Swiss are deadly serious about minutes and seconds—the bonfire is lit and each group has their horsemen galloping around the fire at full speed.. This pyre has a couple of explosive charges that go off as the fire escalates and the snow man is a virtual arsenal of explosives. Charges are blowing off in all directions as the body disintegrates. These are quite impressive explosions with the finale being the head which is loaded with the largest charge of all. When it goes you feel the blast from a block away. Both Linda and I were amazed that the horses didn’t panic as even the smaller blast are full canon charges.
Naturally the weather on that day was the best of the season. It rained on the kid’s parade the day before (which had absolutely no impact on the large crowd). But the sun was so bright and hot on this day that the biggest cheer came from the spectators when the blimp blocked the sun. It was like the Wave at a football game as the blimp’s shadow passed down the throng around the pyre. People are packed so close and so deep, you dare not leave your spot nor could you during the last 45 minutes.
Well, we now know that the Swiss are not always as reserved as they would like to appear. The town rocked for hours after the snow man lost it head. Linda had to catch the train to the airport for a 10 pm flight and said that sobriety wasn’t in fashion.
If you don’t hike, you can’t be Swiss! The trais around Zurich are many and the trips gorgeous even if the buds come out a bit later than we are used to. Nordic poles in hand (a nice help for those of us qualifying for senior discounts) we’ve been off to see a few of the sites.
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Admittedly, it is a tough life. But sacrifice is a virtue.
We are off to Madrid on the 3rd for a five days, followed by 9 days in Sicily. We are back in the States for some time in June. Grandson Jason and his buddy, Kevin come for two weeks in July. We meet our buds Bill and Ginny in Athens for a couple of days in late August and then they will come along to Zurich for a few days. We are planning to see a lot of this beautiful country and its always the same story—too much to see and too little time.
Back to the German lessons
Auf Weidersehen!
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Monday, February 06, 2006
Can you imagine that the language they speak is not written!? In Switzerland, they speak Swiss-German which the "real" Germans call more of a throat desease than a language. While you couldn't prove it by me, SG is quite different from high German. Yet there is no accepted spelling for SG. So at some point, they all learn to read in High German which is the language of newspapers, books and magazines, but they really don't like to speak it. Language schools here teach you high German. Every direction manual you get for things like cell phones, house phones and appliances has its cover in English and its contents in four languages--not one of which is English! Maybe that why when we dial the cell phone our range heats up and when we touch off the microwave Linda's mother answers the phone in Tulsa.
This is the country of absolutes (well, with the exception of the Vodka). On Sundays and after 10, its absolute quiet. The only sound allowed on Sunday is that of peeling church bells which starts at around 10 and continues all day. It is illegal to work on Sundays unless you and your employer have a permit. Most apartment flats have noise restrictions preventing you from nailing pictures onto the walls on Sunday. They also rather expect that life remains quiet around lunch time so that Pensioners (that's me) and babies can have a quiet rest period. I was hoping the reg would pertain to Pensioners and Babes--that too would involve quiet time, unfortunately. They said the Swiss go to bed after 10 and get all hung up with noise. In some of the older apartment house contracts (those with thin walls apparently) it was requested that men sit while urinating after 10 pm.
Our mover joking told us that in Switzerland, the best way to meet your neighbor is with your attorney. We haven't found that but have heard that it is not unusual to invite your neighbors to your party only to have them call the police and complain about the noise once they have drunk your booze, eaten your food and gone home for their early-to-bed.
We do know that this is the most recycled country in the world. Cans must have all wrappings removed, their top and bottom taken off and be crushed flat and then returned to the right drop center (we don't know where yet). Aluminum cans must pass the non magnetic test before they hit their special bins and glass, divided into three colors, can not be deposited in their special recepticals on Sunday (because they make too much noise when they hit the others).
We all have our idiosynchrasies, of course. An our observations are given with a smile. You can get pretty accustomed to these nice little habits. We are just starting our cruise through the plethora of Swiss wines and cheeses. We both thought that Swiss cheese was Swiss cheese and Swiss wines must amount to a 10 acre plot. What a couple of hicks that showed us to be. Attached are some pictures from the flat.
This is the country of absolutes (well, with the exception of the Vodka). On Sundays and after 10, its absolute quiet. The only sound allowed on Sunday is that of peeling church bells which starts at around 10 and continues all day. It is illegal to work on Sundays unless you and your employer have a permit. Most apartment flats have noise restrictions preventing you from nailing pictures onto the walls on Sunday. They also rather expect that life remains quiet around lunch time so that Pensioners (that's me) and babies can have a quiet rest period. I was hoping the reg would pertain to Pensioners and Babes--that too would involve quiet time, unfortunately. They said the Swiss go to bed after 10 and get all hung up with noise. In some of the older apartment house contracts (those with thin walls apparently) it was requested that men sit while urinating after 10 pm.
Our mover joking told us that in Switzerland, the best way to meet your neighbor is with your attorney. We haven't found that but have heard that it is not unusual to invite your neighbors to your party only to have them call the police and complain about the noise once they have drunk your booze, eaten your food and gone home for their early-to-bed.
We do know that this is the most recycled country in the world. Cans must have all wrappings removed, their top and bottom taken off and be crushed flat and then returned to the right drop center (we don't know where yet). Aluminum cans must pass the non magnetic test before they hit their special bins and glass, divided into three colors, can not be deposited in their special recepticals on Sunday (because they make too much noise when they hit the others).
We all have our idiosynchrasies, of course. An our observations are given with a smile. You can get pretty accustomed to these nice little habits. We are just starting our cruise through the plethora of Swiss wines and cheeses. We both thought that Swiss cheese was Swiss cheese and Swiss wines must amount to a 10 acre plot. What a couple of hicks that showed us to be. Attached are some pictures from the flat.
Thursday, December 15, 2005
We are on the move
We are on the move!
The packers arrive on Tuesday, the movers on Wednesday and Barbara, the lady that keeps us clean and neat, on Thursday. So we are getting to the final throes—all too soon. Gary will be doing the necessary pre packing to make sure that we save those items we need for the move and can find the necessary items after we arrive in Zurich.
It’s off to Oslo for Xmas with Scott and family on Thursday, back to Stockholm on Monday night and probably down the road to Zurich on Friday morning or so. Linda wants to finish the year end closing at Nordic Processor to make sure corporate doesn’t slip too many of those year end adjustments into her P & L. We still have to plan the route and stops.
We get to sample the wonderful little Inn just down the street from us: Clos pa Hornet (house on the corner) at which we have dined frequently. Scott, Deb, Nadean and John stayed there when they visited last summer, but we’ve not had the opportunity until now. Where we stay for the last few days of our Swedish stay is still in the planning.
We are guessing on three days driving to Zurich and then we have to hook up with keys to the flat and our goods. Linda will then disappear to her new office and Gary will be left to find the toilet paper, coffee pot and scotch.
The packers arrive on Tuesday, the movers on Wednesday and Barbara, the lady that keeps us clean and neat, on Thursday. So we are getting to the final throes—all too soon. Gary will be doing the necessary pre packing to make sure that we save those items we need for the move and can find the necessary items after we arrive in Zurich.
It’s off to Oslo for Xmas with Scott and family on Thursday, back to Stockholm on Monday night and probably down the road to Zurich on Friday morning or so. Linda wants to finish the year end closing at Nordic Processor to make sure corporate doesn’t slip too many of those year end adjustments into her P & L. We still have to plan the route and stops.
We get to sample the wonderful little Inn just down the street from us: Clos pa Hornet (house on the corner) at which we have dined frequently. Scott, Deb, Nadean and John stayed there when they visited last summer, but we’ve not had the opportunity until now. Where we stay for the last few days of our Swedish stay is still in the planning.
We are guessing on three days driving to Zurich and then we have to hook up with keys to the flat and our goods. Linda will then disappear to her new office and Gary will be left to find the toilet paper, coffee pot and scotch.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
It's Decided--Zurich
It has finally been decided: we are moving to Zurich, Switzerland toward the end of the month and should be formally in residence on January 1! Our new address is Kapfsteig 44, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.
The apartment lease arrived this afternoon and should be on its way back to the attorneys tonight. Now, we just hope that the flat is the one that we remember. After looking at so many over a two day period, it is always possible that we have mixed and matched the details of the various ones we saw. But as we remember it, it has two complete bathrooms, a nice kitchen a fairly large living room, ample dining room and a huge rap around deck that will provide a lot of outdoor living. It also comes with a full two car garage, additional parking for two more cars off the street and ample storage rooms.
Of course life would not be without a hitches. The application for visa requires a copy of our wedding certificate. That is, of course the one document that we did not bring with us to Sweden. Linda is now hoping that the local office of IBM kept a copy for their files. Oh well.
The apartment lease arrived this afternoon and should be on its way back to the attorneys tonight. Now, we just hope that the flat is the one that we remember. After looking at so many over a two day period, it is always possible that we have mixed and matched the details of the various ones we saw. But as we remember it, it has two complete bathrooms, a nice kitchen a fairly large living room, ample dining room and a huge rap around deck that will provide a lot of outdoor living. It also comes with a full two car garage, additional parking for two more cars off the street and ample storage rooms.
Of course life would not be without a hitches. The application for visa requires a copy of our wedding certificate. That is, of course the one document that we did not bring with us to Sweden. Linda is now hoping that the local office of IBM kept a copy for their files. Oh well.
Sunday, October 30, 2005
The next move is still in the talking stages, but Zurich, Switzerland looks like a possibility for a year. Linda needs to have a few details like actual duties and expectations, authority, pay and allowances to be nailed down. Gary is concerned that there is a place large enough within the allowance into which to move all this stuff from Stockholm.
The move would solve the problem of selling the car--we wouldn't have to and let us enjoy Europe for a bit longer. However, Gary still needs to get back to the States for house maintenance and body maintenance duties.
Does anyone have any comments on Zurich?
The move would solve the problem of selling the car--we wouldn't have to and let us enjoy Europe for a bit longer. However, Gary still needs to get back to the States for house maintenance and body maintenance duties.
Does anyone have any comments on Zurich?
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