October 2011 - Switzerland

Go straight to the pictures

My trip to Switzerland was good.  There was some confusion with my airline reservations, but I got there and back ok.

I flew into Zurich.  I made it through customs in record time.  It probably took about a minute.  (Best customs ever!)  I got my bag at baggage claim and left.

This trip I was staying with a friend at her place in Flawil.  However she was working when my plane landed (45 minutes early) so her mother picked me up from the airport.  After dinner at a nice Italian restaurant, I met my friend a her place.  I got to relax a little while, then off to an Aikido class.

I wasn't originally planning to do Aikido while in Switzerland, but my friend suggested since I was here, I might as well.  She mentioned it to her instructor who liked the idea so much, he asked me to teach a portion of the class.  The class was fun.  It was a small class so I got to work with everyone.  After class we all went to a place called the Gecko Bar where I had a slight translation issue ordering a vodka cranberry....

Short blurb about language in Switzerland as I understand it.  There are several, but the main ones are German, Italian, and French.  About 7 million Swiss speak Swiss-German.  (German, but not really.)  When you go to a restaurant, the menu could be a combination of  French, German, Italian, and occasionally English.  Many people speak English.

I ate well while in Switzerland.  I had various Italian, German and Swiss dishes.  I don't think I can pronounce any of them though aside from the Raclette and Tortellini.

I did a few touristy things.  I went to the Säntis.  From the summit (weather permitting) six countries can be seen:  Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Lichtenstein, France and Italy.  I did the short boat cruise on Lake Zürich.  I went to the Rheinfall.  I walked up some tower which I totally forgot to get a picture of.  Though I did get a few pictures from the tower.  I also went to Bora Sauna in Germany for Halloween.  (They don't really do Halloween in Switzerland.)  They had a Halloween special.  We did 5 different types of sauna:
  • A normal one for 20 minutes
  • “Chainsaw” 4 guys come in wearing hockey masks, one with a toy chainsaw.  They cut off the head of the “tall” guy which turns out to be a block of ice.  They throw the ice on the stones.  Then they wave towels.  That makes it VERY hot.
  • “Snowstorm”  Safety goggles.  Snowblower with soap bubbles.  More towel waving.  Salt rubbed into skin.  Flogging with wet birch twigs (vasta).
  • “Halloween Story”  More towel waving.
  • Midnight sauna - Guys in witch hats, more towel waving  Probably the hottest one.

After each sauna you can towel off, shower, or go into the adjacent lake (temperature 10 °C).  I went into that lake 4 times more than I said I was going to.  (I originally said I wasn’t going in at all.)  However, after Chainsaw and Halloween story I was able to stay in the lake a few seconds longer.  After Midnight sauna I took a cold, outdoor shower... which was much warmer than the lake.  I didn't get many pictures of Bora Sauna.  (Cameras aren't "appropriate".)  The only picture I did take was one of my wrist.  The Bora "watch" is currency.  The pink wrist ban identifies me as a participant in the Halloween event.

Some observations about Switzerland

  1. They're "fanatical" about security
    1. To access wifi I need to enter a 16 character passphrase
    2. For online banking you need an 8 character minimum password, with at least 1 number and 1 special character, and a 6 digit pin number.  After entering the password and pin on the web page, a text is sent to your phone.  You enter the pass code sent to your phone on the web page and now you have access to your account.  To pay a bill, select the bill, another pass code is sent to your phone.  Enter that code to verify this is bill you want to pay
    3. My debit card won't work with some machines because they're expecting a 6 digit PIN.
  2. When saying goodbye, and possibly hello, the correct order is right cheek, left cheek, right cheek...  Unless they're German, then it's right cheek, left cheek.  I'm not sure if this is for both men and women.
  3. Swiss-German is not German.
  4. It is easy to enter Switzerland.  Leaving to return to the US, not-so-much.

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