Tonight was the Full moon hike of the running group in Brugg. It was quite cold but luckily perfectly clear weather. The moon took awhile to come out, but we had brough plenty of lights so that was no problem. The hike lead up to Hapsburg with a couple of stops along the way for some swiss history learning. With fantastic tales about poisoning, and the like. Once we got to the top a big camp fire was waiting with plenty of cervelat (bratwurst), speckbrot (bacon bread, who thought that up), and gluhwein (hot spiced wine). Unfortunately we had to cook the cervelat ourselves over the fire using a wooden stick. I say unfortunately because everytime in my life I have tried to cook hotdogs on a stick, I have ended up with a black crusty shell, and a cold gross center. This time I was a bit luckier in getting a well cooked center, but the surface was definitely quite well burnt. With enough mustard any failures in cooking can, however, be corrected.
After eating and drinking we continued along our walk back to Hausen where we enjoyed a coffee and then took the bus back to Brugg. All in all a fantastic night with really friendly people. I also got a bit of education on the usage of the formal and informal 'you' in german. So in mountains or forests (while outdoors/adventuring), at certain restaurants, at certain festivals it is perfectly acceptable to speak with complete strangers using the informal. While not entirely that long ago people used to speak to their grandparents with the formal. I cannot even imagine.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Lenzerheide Redux
Today I went skiing at lenzerheide with a couple friends. We managed to catch the 630 train from zurich and were skiing by 930 or so. The weather was amazingly good as was the snow and temperature, consequently my face and especially my lips are throughly burned.
After the first run we managed to lose one of the guys who started with us. We had a series of (mis)communications, texts, and moving around before, evidently, he lost his phone and the lift-attendant found it. Needless to say we never saw him again, but did manage to get his phone.
We had lunch at the Alp Lavoz lodge and enjoyed the half-price food making it quite reasonable to eat but not drink on the mountain (Aelpermacaroni : macaroni with cheese, ham, potato, and apple sauce was only $8)
We set out in the afternoon and it was going well but the runs had become quite mogulled out. So we managed to ski from one side of the valley to the other using a nice ski-route going under the road. The other side was nearly empty and even more beautiful. The top gondola actually treks a little bit onto the other side of the mountain so you can see fantastic views of the alps without ski-lifts, tracks, and houses interrupting. There was also a 100m or so unlit tunnel you had to ski through which was really cool.
After skiing a few of us went to dinner at Papa Joe's. I ordered and split "The Big One" a 3/4 lb burger with coconut, bananas, cheedar cheese, and the usual fixings. One of the guys with us was from sweden and upon seeing it asked what size that would burger would be in america, a normal, a small? We do have a little bit of a bad rap with food.
All in all a fantastic day
And the ski track
http://www.mountaindynamics.com/en/sdmap.php?tid=3173
After the first run we managed to lose one of the guys who started with us. We had a series of (mis)communications, texts, and moving around before, evidently, he lost his phone and the lift-attendant found it. Needless to say we never saw him again, but did manage to get his phone.
We had lunch at the Alp Lavoz lodge and enjoyed the half-price food making it quite reasonable to eat but not drink on the mountain (Aelpermacaroni : macaroni with cheese, ham, potato, and apple sauce was only $8)
We set out in the afternoon and it was going well but the runs had become quite mogulled out. So we managed to ski from one side of the valley to the other using a nice ski-route going under the road. The other side was nearly empty and even more beautiful. The top gondola actually treks a little bit onto the other side of the mountain so you can see fantastic views of the alps without ski-lifts, tracks, and houses interrupting. There was also a 100m or so unlit tunnel you had to ski through which was really cool.
After skiing a few of us went to dinner at Papa Joe's. I ordered and split "The Big One" a 3/4 lb burger with coconut, bananas, cheedar cheese, and the usual fixings. One of the guys with us was from sweden and upon seeing it asked what size that would burger would be in america, a normal, a small? We do have a little bit of a bad rap with food.
All in all a fantastic day
Lenzerheide Skiing
Widget powered by EveryTrail: GPS GeotaggingAnd the ski track
http://www.mountaindynamics.com/en/sdmap.php?tid=3173
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Geneva Auto Show
Today I treked over to Geneva to see the Auto Show there. It was much much bigger than the portland autoshow, and tons of car companies I had never heard of before. Additionally they put almost all the non-car companies (oil, rims, tires, brakes, and other generally boring components) in one room so it could be avoided if one so wished.
One of the more surprising aspects was that many of the car companies hired students from the Geneva area to work the booths, which while good for the students wasn't so good for the car show goer as they didnt know much about the brand, the specs, or anything that couldn't be learned by reading a little pamphlet.
The most interesting exhibit I saw was the Tesla Motors display which fortunately was manned by actual employees who were quite knowledgable and clearly loved what they were doing and throughly believed they were going to change the world.
Seeing this company and speaking with them was really helpful in identifying one the elements that I think has caused so many american companies to be successful. The belief or in many cases the delusion that if one works hard enough they can change to world. I mean specifically with tech companies. The dream of Gates was to have a pc on every desk in the country which at the time was recklessly optimistic if not completely crazy. I am not sure, but I guess it seems that here people are much likely to opt for the well-thought out, predictable, safe business plan. In many cases I guess that is probably better, but not nearly as fun and very little chance of flipping the world on its head
One of the more surprising aspects was that many of the car companies hired students from the Geneva area to work the booths, which while good for the students wasn't so good for the car show goer as they didnt know much about the brand, the specs, or anything that couldn't be learned by reading a little pamphlet.
The most interesting exhibit I saw was the Tesla Motors display which fortunately was manned by actual employees who were quite knowledgable and clearly loved what they were doing and throughly believed they were going to change the world.
Seeing this company and speaking with them was really helpful in identifying one the elements that I think has caused so many american companies to be successful. The belief or in many cases the delusion that if one works hard enough they can change to world. I mean specifically with tech companies. The dream of Gates was to have a pc on every desk in the country which at the time was recklessly optimistic if not completely crazy. I am not sure, but I guess it seems that here people are much likely to opt for the well-thought out, predictable, safe business plan. In many cases I guess that is probably better, but not nearly as fun and very little chance of flipping the world on its head
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