Wednesday, December 10, 2008

A New Addition to our Menagerie

Well we have a new addition to our menagerie. Joining Cesar, Chester and Zoe is Charlie.

Charlie is a 4 year old Tinker horse, we are now the proud "semi-owners". He is boarded here on the farm with us. His owner ran into some difficult times paying the boarding fees. Amy has been taking riding lessons at a farm about 10 km from here. So we worked out a deal where we pay half of his boarding fees, he gets to stay here on the farm and we get to ride and work with him when ever we want.

Tinker horses, also known as Gypsy Vanner in the US are draft style horses, bred to pull wagons call vardons. These vardons are wagons designed to be lived in, like the ones gypsies would use. Although their bloodlines are still uncertain, they are related to the Clydesdales. You know those famous Budwieser drinking, football playing horses from the Super Bowl commercials. Well, Charlie doesn't kick field goals, but he is a sweet horse and hopefully I will begin to ride him. Amy will start riding him this week.


Friday, September 12, 2008

Amy learns to "drive"

I will admit prior to moving to Switzerland I don't think I have touched a horse since that pony ride at Kristen Kip's 5th birthday party. I think there are pictures laying around some where to prove it...me crying for the entire 5 minute excursion. I guess you can say I am pretty much a city boy, not much cowboy in this here blood. Therefore, the edited version of Amy's riding lesson is from the city boy's perspective. Enjoy!!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Hiking in the Swiss Alps Sept 7th 2008

This is a map of the hiking trip we took this past Sunday. The map was generated with the tracking feature of the GARMIN GPS unit, overlaid on a GOOGLE MAP. Click on the green triangle at the bottom to see the direction and elevation along the trail route. You can also click on the title to go to the full view of the trip, statistics, zoom in and out, etc. Pretty Cool!

Hiking Trip above Aigle 7 Sept 2008

Widget powered by EveryTrail: GPS Geotagging

Friday, September 5, 2008

Our Roommates?

Here is a video of the horses we live with on the farm.  There are 17 horses on the farm and they go out daily for some exercise before the riders come.  Here is a video of the first group heading out for their morning romp in the fields and some grazing.  They are absolutely beautiful!
Boubi is the first one out, then Hardy, next is Tonner (my favorite, the big brown and white tinker horse), then Akuba and Aricof (they are best pals), and finally Senor. 

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover...or its Stench.

I just returned from a week in Singapore, an island nation of about 4 million located 85 miles north of the equator at that southern tip of the Malay peninsula. I have a colleague, in the office here in Switzerland from Singapore. Upon learning I was headed to his home country for business, Eric began raving about the Durian fruit. 

"Oh you have to try Durian when you are in Singapore. Its the King of all fruit", he said while salivating at its thought.  For a couple of weeks leading up to the trip Eric kept on me about the Durian.  Finally, I promised him I would try his beloved fruit while visiting his home country.  "Just one thing, don't be put off by the smell.  Really it tastes nothing like it smells", he said.  I assured him I would not be put off by the smell, as I understand this concept of foul smelling, but good tasting.  There is a saying here in Switzerland "The stinkier the cheese, the better it tastes".  Some of my favorite cheeses smell pretty bad.  

During my last evening in Singapore, I told my host, I wanted to try Durian.  He thought I was joking at first, but then was pleased to find out I was not.  We grabbed a taxi from the hotel and made our way to one of the small Durian fruit stands set up in the parking lot of the restaurant district.    Durian is in season about every four months and we were lucky, as we hit the season right at its peak.  The fruit is highly prized in this part of the world for its high nutritional value and complex flavors.  The fact that it takes ten years for a Durian tree to bear fruit also adds to the mystique.  There are a number of different variations of the fruit, we would be sampling the sweet and the bitter versions.  Upon getting out of the cab the smell hit me, and we were still a good hundred feet or so from the 
stand.  The smell is a blend of rotting dumpster and day old
 vomit, very organic.   Not only is the smell less than appetizing, Durian is visually intimidating.  It is about the size of an American football covered with inch long spines and weighing between 5 and 7 pounds.  You have to hand it to the guy who first tried eating Durian, he was quite adventurous.  The fruit looks completely alien, from the dangerous spines to the fetus like insides.    Upon ordering our fruit, one of the workers grabbed a couple of plastic chairs from a stack and unfolded a table for us.  With a machete he cut open the fruit and placed it in front of us.  

Wow, the smell really hit me and my eyes started to water as I tried to maintain my composure.   Another colleague with me from Switzerland, Didier, did not even try to stay composed, he was wincing at the stench.  Inside the  halved fruit, are a few large seeds about the size of an avocado pit covered in a slimy skin.  Between the slimy skin and the seed is a custard like filling, the prize if you will.   We started with the sweet one first, I grabbed one of the seeds and quickly stuck it in my mouth sucking the meat off the seed.  It wasn't the smell that got to me as much as it was the odd custard texture.  It slides around your mouth as you try to coral it with your tongue to swallow, then spit out the large seed.  Ah, it wasn't that bad, but it wasn't that good either.  As promised it tasted nothing like it smelled, rather nutty and sweet with after note of onion.  I was ready to try the bitter one now, Didier on the other hand was done no more Durian for him.   The bitter Durian was quite different than the sweet.  It was more floral, less sweet and absent of the onion after note.  Of the two I preferred the bitter.  Come to find out many Durian aficionados also prefer the bitter over the sweet.  I would have to say, I had no strong feelings either way regarding the "King of all fruit", it neither delighted nor disgusted.  I am sure it is an acquired taste.  

Saturday, July 26, 2008

My Personal Tour de France: The Freedom to Ride

As a kid I remember watching the Tour de France on the television show ABC's Wide World of Sports, before any of us new the name Lance Armstrong. It was an event that captured the imagination of a 10 year old, and was the impetus for the incessant pleading for a 10 speed bicycle. I received that bicycle the following Christmas. It was a tan Centurion, a small racing seat and black handlebar tape. I remember barely reaching the toe clip pedals. For those of you who know my Dad, realize it was bought for me to "grow into". I couldn't wait for the Christmas holiday to end, so I could ride my new bike to school and show it off. For the next 6 months I rode my bike to school everyday. On 86th Avenue, between the stop light at Oakhurst road and the Circle 'K' was my own personal "L'alpe d'huez" to conquer. Looking back it was only a small hill, maybe a couple hundred yards long and rising maybe 30 to 40 feet, but for a 10 year old with an imagination it was the King of all mountains. I struggled up it every day, testing my gear shifting abilities. That tan bike was more than just transportation to and from school, it was freedom on two wheels. That bike opened up the world beyond 86th and 125th, it took me to Dino's Pizza, the arcade and across the Park Boulevard bridge to Redington Beach. That summer, the one between elementry and middle school, my friends and I planned our own tour. Myself, Doug S., Rick B., Jason S. and Chris B. set out to leave the neighborhood behind. We made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, put Kool-Aid in our water bottles and packed some Snicker candy bars for our epic ride across town. We had to climb that hill on 86th Avenue then pass the High School where we flew down "Cemetery" hill. We then ventured where none of us had gone before without our parents in a car...Tyrone Boulevards pass the Mall. We sat on the curb and ate our sandwiches and Snicker's bars. From there we headed to old Saint Petersburg and across the Central Avenue Bridge into Treasure Island. Ahh the beach, we pulled our weary bodies off the bikes for a quick dip in the Gulf of Mexico, then it was back on our bikes down Gulf Boulevard. It was there with a strong head wind, the group began to struggle. Rick, Doug and myself had 10 speed bikes with drop bars and gears, Jason and Chris were on small one speed BMX bikes. Chris was really struggling, as he was the "big" kid of the group, you know the stocky kid who plays catcher. It was here that we employed our learnings from watching the Tour de France. Rick was always the strongest of all of us, he took the lead breaking the wind for the rest of us. We put Chris in the middle to make sure we didn't leave him behind. So with Rick pulling, Chris safely tucked away in the middle and me and Doug following up the rear we made our way back to the neighborhood. It was with that trip our small world had expanded, and with that ten speed bike I had found a new freedom.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Le Tour de France: L'alpe d'Huez

One of the first thing we did upon arriving in Switzerland was plan a week long trip in France to follow the Tour and ride our bikes through the Alps, however at the last minute our trip was cancelled by the organizers with whom we had planned our travel. After failed attempts to rebook with other bike touring companies we decided we would go it alone. The Tour de France is the most famous bicycle race in the world, spanning 2,200 miles over 23 days. The TDF was started in 1903, like with so many great ideas, as a publicity stunt...to sell news papers. For both Amy and I to watch this epic bicycle race live was an opportunity of a life time. Being only a 3 hour drive from the most epic stage, of the most epic race in the world, we would be crazy not to go. So with all of the hotels fully booked and not really sure where L'alpe d'huez was (thank goodness for GPS) we set out for France with our tent and sleeping bags.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Finding a New Rhythm

Here in the Romande region of Switzerland, food and drink take on a significance greater than mere sustenance and hydration.  One quickly recognizes the differences in perspective between this region of Europe and the US. The most obvious difference is the emphasis or even obsession with quality over quantity. You won't find the "Cheese Cake Factory Trough" style portions nor the mega thick 56 oz steak. Instead you will enjoy modest portions of local perch from Lake Geneve, fresh seasonal vegetables and grass fed beef. As mentioned in my earlier post, local cheeses and artisan breads accompany  
just about every meal. Another significant difference is the dining experience. Patience is revered and meal time is to be taken leisurely, sit down style, with friends or colleagues.  Yes just like every where in the world you will find the 
ubiquitous "Gold Archers" of McDonald's and Starbucks, but they are the exception not the norm. You will rarely see people eating in their cars or walking around with a cup of Starbucks coffee. A "cafe" is to be taken in a cafe with friends (and often times a couple of cigarettes...that is another blog). Here there is a rhythm to dining-out. At first this "rhythm" seems very slow and often frustrating for those of us use to the North American style restaurant model, where to survive waiters have to turn as many tables as possible to make a living off of their tips. Here the leisurely tempo of the meal is expected  and the wait staff are paid a salary or livable wage that doesn't require them to hustle for tips. The first impression upon arrival is "wow the service here sucks, I have been waiting 15 minutes to pay my bill", but in reality it is just a different perspective. a waiter would never bring you your bill without being asked, as this would be perceived as very rude. A meal here, even in the most modest of restaurant, will take at least 90 minutes. The rhythm goes something like this: We start with an "appertif" (a drink) almost all lunches and dinner begin with a glass of beer or wine (the drinking age here is 16). This is followed by your "entree" or salad, then the main course with another drink, next the dessert, then the coffee. Interestingly, here you don't take your coffee with your dessert, I received a very strange look from my waiter the first time I asked for coffee with my dessert. As if he were saying "Puffffff... monsieur this is not the rhythm, please follow the rhythm".

What is it about this rhythm and why such reverence for food, drink and the meal time experience? If you excuse my broad generalizations and unsubstantiated opinions, I will hypothesize. The Swiss have a strong culture of agriculture, and being such a small country much of the population is in close proximity to the food they consume. Two fifths of Switzerland lies in the Alps where cultivation is not possible, therefore farm land, crops and vineyards can be found in, around and close proximity to population centers. Over 40% of Switzerland's land area is cropland. Although only 5.5% of the Swiss work force work in the agricultural industry, most of them either live, work or commute near a farm, a vineyard or some cropland.

This is unlike the US where our vast plains in the west and midwest produce the majority of crops and live stock. The closest I came to seeing my food produced is during cross country flights at 30,000 feet. I think it is the proximity to the food production, the ability to observe the rhythm of the harvests and the close ties to their culture of agriculture that give the people of this area the appreciation the wonderful food and drink of the land. After 6 months here, living and working amongst the fields and cows, I too have come to appreciate this rhythm.
(Above: A wheat field next to my office, across the road they are growing corn)

Monday, June 30, 2008

Life in Switzerland June 2008

It is hard to believe we have been here for almost 6 months already.  After more than 4 months in temporary corporate housing we moved to our own place in the small farming village of Savigny.

LIFE ON THE FARM:
We are renting a 3 bedroom apartment in an old farm house built in the late 1800s.  It is a wonderful place surrounded by rolling hills, farmland and fields of wild flowers  Most of our neighbors are dairy farmers with milking cows, goats and sheep.  The dairy farms here are muc different than the industrial dairy farms in the US.  Most of the Swiss dairy industry is supported by small family run farms with no more than a couple dozen cows per farm.  Each village has their own milk collection point where the local farmers can sell their milk to the local cooperative for processing.   The cows here have it good, they spend the spring an dearly summer in the lower lands and then move up into the mountains to graze on flowers and herbs later in the summer.  Angeline, the owner of the farm where we live, was a professional horse jumper and trainer.  Now she boards 16 horses here on the farm, we have met most of the owners as they come to ride a few times per week.   Angeline is dutch, in her mid-fifties and pretty much runs the farm herself.  She is up at 5am muking out the horses' stalls hualing feed and shoveling manure.  Click here to view more pictures of the farm

SWISS FOOD AND DRINK:
As we live in the south west section of Switzerland, known as the French or Romande region, we have an opportunity to enjoy a wide range of great cheeses, breads and wines.  Like the dairy farms, the vineyards are smaller family run operations.  This section of Switzerland is known for their white wines.  Before arriving here I was not much of a white wine drinker, but the dry crisp wines produced here have made me a big fan.  Obtaining Swiss wine outside of Switzerland is pretty difficult, since the Swiss consume more wine than they can produce.  We live about an hour train ride from Gruyere, known for their cheese, we spent this past Easter visiting the fromagerie and learning about how they make their world famous Gruyere cheese...oh yeah we did our share of sampling.  Probably the food I love most is the bread.  The bread here is amazing...I don't think I can ever go back to store bought sliced bread.  The small village bakery is walking distance from the farm, so we have fresh bread every day! Yum!  Click to view more pictures of Gruyere.

TRANSPORTATION:
The Swiss are incredibly efficient.  The public transportation system, although highly subsidzed, runs extremely well.  My first experience taking the train...I am sanding on the platform waiting for the train to arrive at 8:04.  The clocks on the station platform have second hands, and sure enough just as the clock is striking 8:04 the train pulls up.  I thought thsi was a fluke, but it was not, this happens 95% of the time.  The trains are clean, timely and fast...oh yeah and a bit expensive, it will cost you twice as much to take the train or bus as it will to drive.  However, it will also take you twice as long to drive your car.  The roads here are tiny, even the highways (known as motorways / autoroutes), are two lanes each way.  If there is an accident the Swiss Police close the highway and the alternate route usually takes you on some one lane farm road that snakes through the hills and villages, doubling your commute.  Aslo, the city streets are set up to give the priority to the buses.  There are specific bus lanes that cars are not allowed in.  This allows for the buses (which are powered by electricity ) to run as efficiently and as timely as the trains, while making it inconvenient to drive your car.  It is smart governing...if you want people to take public transportation, make it as easy as possible.  If you want people to not drive in congested areas make it a pain in the ass.  So other than commuting to work, we try to walk, bike or take public transportation.  

BIKING: 
The Europeans are obsessed with the bicycle.  From commuting, to recreation, to racing, it seems like everyone owns and rides a bike, it is engrained in the culture.  It is common to see a two year old child on a small pedibike (a small wooden bike without pedals) that the child straddles and pushes with their feet.  You rarely see a child over the age two being pushed in a stroller...they are usually pushing themselves along on these miniature bicycles.   There are bike lanes every where and drivers are very courteous to cyclists (unlike LA where Amy had a Coke bottle thrown at her during her bike commute to work).  From the farm it is easy to get out on the small farming roads and ride for hours without seeing more than a dozen cars.  We have made a number of trips on our bike...we will get up early choose a destination like Bulle, Bern or Fribourg and ride there, have lunch and then take the train home.  In early June we road 180 km around lake Geneva.  Bike racing is amazingly popular.  The Pro Teams race almost every day some where in Europe.  We spent 5 days in May following the Tour de Romande.  This week is the Tour of Switzerland and next month is the grand daddy of them all the Tour de France.  In between there is the Tour of Italy (aka Giro Italia), the Tour of Spain (Veulta Espana) and many others.  Click here to view more pictures.   and here for even more cycling pictures.

SUNDAYS IN SWITZERLAND:
If you ever come to Switzerland and arrive on a Sunday, you will think you travelled back in time.  The Swiss have held on to the strong tradition of resting on Sunday.  Most Businesses (except bakeries and restaurants) are closed on Sundays, so you better plan your shopping for Saturday.  Sundays are amazingly quite, with everything closed there is no reason to get in the car, therefore the streets are pretty dead as well.  Sundays are a time of rest and recreation in Switzerland.  The lake is usually jammed with people walking or enjoying a picnic.  The hiking trail s and bike paths are full of families enjoying the day together.  And with the long days (it is light here until 10:30 pm ) you will see people on their verandas grilling out and sipping wine.  Our Sundays usually consist of a long bike ride in the Swiss Alps or along the Rhone River.  Click to view pictures of Sundays on the Farm.