We summitted

On one of my previous posts, I asked for people to contribute their ideas for cooking green beans (thanks to Erica and Kate for responding). The reason I did that was because I wanted to find out if the way I made it a couple weeks ago was indeed a correct way. I made it the way Kate described:

"...as for the green beans i´m boring and just boil them until they seem the right texture... then add a little chunk of butter for good measure?"

That's exactly the way I did it, yet at lunch, Dirk said they weren't good. I said they tasted fine to me but then he said that they should taste good for everyone. (By the way, I'm not saying Kate's way is wrong, just that maybe I did in fact do it wrong, but that's unlikely.) This didn't put me in a very good mood the rest of the day. Maybe I'll try something different next time.

On Thursday, I woke up to some splendid fog throughout the valley below the house. I'm particularly proud of the second picture. It might deserve getting blown up when I return home.





On Friday, the main work of the day was working in a trench. As the snow was melting, a pipe broke for the drainage at the other stall. It was a long morning of carrying 30-40 foot long pipes down a hill and then filling the trench back up with dirt. It was exhausting. As Dirk says, all the work I'm doing now is training for when it's hay-making time.

Friday evening I made my way to Basel. Alyssa and I planned another Super Awesome Swiss Weekend, this time XIX. On Saturday we made our way down to Geneva where we spent most of the day wandering around looking in the windows of shops we'd never set foot into. We joked that we were there for a summit meeting, because that's about the only time you ever hear about the city. I was also surprised to hear that the UN is based there. I always thought that it was in New York.

Edit: So I did some research and my good friend Wikipedia tells me that the UN's International Territory headquarters are in NYC. So I wasn't wrong at all. There are offices of the UN in Geneva.

They also have a really tall water fountain. Fast facts about the water fountain:

-It can be seen from the air as you fly over the city at 33,000 feet.
-132 gallons/second are pumped to a height of 459 feet, leaving the nozzle at a speed of 124 mph.
-At any one time, there are 1,489 gallons of water in the air.





That's the only evidence I have of being in Geneva.

Today, we walked around Basel and sat on the riverfront of the Rhein. It was pretty lazy.
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Train Travel

I am going to miss train travel so much when I leave. Think about it. I can get onto a bus here in my tiny village of Hemberg, and I can go anywhere in Europe. It might take awhile and cost a lot of money, but eventually I could get to Moscow or the far reaches of Northern Scandinavia. The US is not that connected. Sure, we have the Interstate System, but just think of all the pollution that causes. A lot of the rail lines in Europe are powered by electricity, yet that electricity still has to get made at power plants so I know it's not a perfect system yet.

I also really like my travel cards. I have a German BahnCard 25, which takes 25% off of most fares. I enjoyed that card but I like my Swiss Rail Card a lot more...it saves me a lot more money. I have what's called the Halbtax and the Gleis7 card.

Halbtax:
The Halbtax card cuts any fare in half, just like that. It also can give you discounts on certain gondolas and ships.

Gleis7 (Gleis Sieben): This card allows me to travel for free, on any train after 7 pm. I have used this card many times, specifically for forays into Germany. I'll go to Basel in the evening and stay with either Debbie or Alyssa, and then get into Germany. This saves me about CHF 35 each time.

With the combination of these cards, the trip to Geneva on Saturday cost a quarter of what it would cost the average tourist. We used our Halbtax cards to get there in the morning, which cost about CHF 33. Then we went back to Basel after 7 pm so that trip was 'free'. I am very happy that I elected to purchase those two cards (which are on one card, but are two different things) when I came to Switzerland, they've saved me a LOT of money.
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On my walk home from the bus stop tonight, I was listening to music. Suddenly this flashy red sports car flew by. I immediately recognized the sidepipes and contoured lines as my favorite car, a Dodge Viper. Thinking that it had gone ahead on the road and out of Hemberg, I was happy to discover it at the school. It was dropping off a kid at the boarding school. The Viper's plates were from Liechtenstein. I gawked.









Enjoy the show,
Jon