includes: Schaffhausen, Zürich Street Parade, Bellinzona, CERN, Klewenalp
It's really hard to find the time to write everything down. The hard copy of my travel journal has been extremely neglected. I have perhaps 40 bits and pieces of paper, maps, transit passes and business cards kept from my travels awaiting to be properly pasted into it. I am ridiculously behind typing things out here as well so I often try to cut corners.
The corners I usually cut include mention to the things I've been doing in Switzerland. But of course, I'll make a small "notable mention" list right now.
Schaffhausen
July 29, 2011
My very first day in Switzerland, before I could even sleep off the jet lag, I set off on my first Swiss adventure to a town called Schaffhausen in the North of Switzerland. Get ready for something that sounds like a lie:
In Schaffhausen is the Rhinefall, Europe's largest waterfall by some unknown criteria. What about the waterfalls in Plitvice Lakes National Park? I don't know. I have no idea. Tourist trap? Maybe be so but it's free to see it and it makes a nice day trip. No need to do something silly like take an expensive boat ride to get closer.
Zürich Street Parade
August 13, 2011
Happens the second Saturday in August and is the largest electronic music parade in Europe since Love Parade ended in 2010. Partying in the bright streets all day in fantastic costumes? Don't mind if I do.
Maybe I even packed specific accessories from Canada just for this one event. Why not.
Drinking in public is legal in Switzerland and is in no way a taboo. Unbeknownst to most Europeans, this is not the case in Canada and it awes me every time I see anyone crack a beer on the train. So it goes without saying that closed toed shoes are a must because the streets are littered in broken glass (which in true Swiss fashion, is promptly cleared up by sunrise the next day).
It is a fantastic time.
Bellinzona
October 16, 2011
On the way home from Sofia, Gordon and I stopped in Bellizona to run around in the castles and run around in the sunshine.
CERN
November 26, 2011
If there is a anti-particle to the "Zürich Street Parade" it is certainly the CERN facility located on the opposite end of the country in Geneva. If you know anything at all about modern physics, then this place needs no introduction.
Free tours are conducted here. Free anything is hard to come by in Switzerland so you can easily embrace the fact that something so significant offers a free tour. Our tour was conducted by a hunchback little man with a comb-over that was as ferocious as a lion. However, he was as knowledgeable as he was crooked. Unfortunately due to lack of sleep/zoning out and moderate understanding, I understood about 60% of this tour.
What kind of engineer am I?
Hiking in Klewenalp
The onset of winter in Switzerland can be described as "foggy with a chance of fog". Hip hip hurray because if you hike up past the fog, there is some lovely sunshine to guide your swiss hiking. If you so happen to past onto a deserted ski mountain town (Klewenalp) that has not yet opened for the ski season, then so be it. Just be on your toes in case this becomes the scene of a zombie invasion.
If your German hiking friend offers you camembert cheese and your Slovakian friend offered you strange canned meat, be sure to eat more than is polite. Hiking snacks also included hot tea in a thermos and chocolate.
It's really hard to find the time to write everything down. The hard copy of my travel journal has been extremely neglected. I have perhaps 40 bits and pieces of paper, maps, transit passes and business cards kept from my travels awaiting to be properly pasted into it. I am ridiculously behind typing things out here as well so I often try to cut corners.
The corners I usually cut include mention to the things I've been doing in Switzerland. But of course, I'll make a small "notable mention" list right now.
Schaffhausen
July 29, 2011
My very first day in Switzerland, before I could even sleep off the jet lag, I set off on my first Swiss adventure to a town called Schaffhausen in the North of Switzerland. Get ready for something that sounds like a lie:
In Schaffhausen is the Rhinefall, Europe's largest waterfall by some unknown criteria. What about the waterfalls in Plitvice Lakes National Park? I don't know. I have no idea. Tourist trap? Maybe be so but it's free to see it and it makes a nice day trip. No need to do something silly like take an expensive boat ride to get closer.
Zürich Street Parade
August 13, 2011
Happens the second Saturday in August and is the largest electronic music parade in Europe since Love Parade ended in 2010. Partying in the bright streets all day in fantastic costumes? Don't mind if I do.
Maybe I even packed specific accessories from Canada just for this one event. Why not.
Drinking in public is legal in Switzerland and is in no way a taboo. Unbeknownst to most Europeans, this is not the case in Canada and it awes me every time I see anyone crack a beer on the train. So it goes without saying that closed toed shoes are a must because the streets are littered in broken glass (which in true Swiss fashion, is promptly cleared up by sunrise the next day).
It is a fantastic time.
Bellinzona
October 16, 2011
On the way home from Sofia, Gordon and I stopped in Bellizona to run around in the castles and run around in the sunshine.
CERN
November 26, 2011
If there is a anti-particle to the "Zürich Street Parade" it is certainly the CERN facility located on the opposite end of the country in Geneva. If you know anything at all about modern physics, then this place needs no introduction.
Free tours are conducted here. Free anything is hard to come by in Switzerland so you can easily embrace the fact that something so significant offers a free tour. Our tour was conducted by a hunchback little man with a comb-over that was as ferocious as a lion. However, he was as knowledgeable as he was crooked. Unfortunately due to lack of sleep/zoning out and moderate understanding, I understood about 60% of this tour.
What kind of engineer am I?
Hiking in Klewenalp
The onset of winter in Switzerland can be described as "foggy with a chance of fog". Hip hip hurray because if you hike up past the fog, there is some lovely sunshine to guide your swiss hiking. If you so happen to past onto a deserted ski mountain town (Klewenalp) that has not yet opened for the ski season, then so be it. Just be on your toes in case this becomes the scene of a zombie invasion.
If your German hiking friend offers you camembert cheese and your Slovakian friend offered you strange canned meat, be sure to eat more than is polite. Hiking snacks also included hot tea in a thermos and chocolate.
