Norway

A cool post i found. If this doesn't sell you on Norway's beauty, nothing will.

http://www.vimeo.com/17404191

Sigg Bottles

In all the towns, walking trails, atheletic centers, mountain passes, and random travels, I haven’t seen a single SIGG water bottle here. Nalgene bottle for that matter. While the swiss are good at carrying their own bags to the strore (whether they do this out of waste reduction or that the grocery stores only provide smaller ones is worth of a master’s thesis), they don’t see the need to use reusuable water containers. Sure, I’ve seen them in the climbing stores, outdoor stores, and tourist stands, but I’ve never seen one outside of a store. Compare that to Missoula in the '90s, when everyone had a coffee mug or a nalgene with stickers (Raft Moab!, New Belgium, Petzl, Patagucci) dangling from a $17 locking carabiner clipped to their Dana pack. Or my cabinets at home, where I had at least a dozen (some used and abused, some just in a gay color) Nalgenes.

They use PET bottles here--they just buy one and use it for the day. Or stick their necks out into the fountains to drink. Perhaps bpA is just a fad in the states. They recycle everything. I’d like to think that they do it because it’s the right thing to do, yet somehow I’m convinced a lot of people do it simply due to the price of garbage bags (you don’t pay trash fees here like in the states. The nominal fee for your dumpster seems cheap, but it costs $3 per garbage bag when you buy them at the post office) Yup, most things are recycled so the trash bags stay somewhat empty.

What you end up with is stinking garbage for a few weeks since the bags take a while to fill up with actual trash. I end up bringing our meat packages and scraps to the local train trash bin. The locals laugh. I like to share the stink.

Still, it it better to recycle all plastic in the country or actually use products over and over again? Recycling plastic is still using plastic. It's still cradle to grave for the most part.

Sigg bottles are the one item I can think of, however, that actually costs the same as it does in the US.
Snapple? $5.80 a bottle. Starbucks hot chocolate –  $8.70. Regular old coffee? 5 dollas. Ben & Jerry's for $10 on sale? What? They say that once you get your swiss banking job, these prices won't mean a thing. It's all monopoly money, right?

The Eiger Sanction

Our school has a chalet in Wengen, a town the is perched above the Lauterbrunnen valley. Think of a valley floor with steep steep walls. Yosemite. Zion. Then there’s a shelf, still under the tree line, where someone had the bright idea to start a community. It’s relatively car-free. Taxis and golf courts are the norm. From there, there are trains and gondolas that head straight up again, for another 1000 feet or so to the top of a ridge that travels straight into the alps. Just when you think you’ve gained some elecvation, the eiger, the monch, the Jungfrau stand there laughing at you, thousands of meters higher than you, right stark in your face. Pretty neat.

Good skiing in Wengen, so they say. And it’s home to the Lauberhorn—the downhill race that rivals kitzbuhl and others.

From the ridge, you can hike to Klein Sheidegg ,the little hamlet where you can stay the night, eat Rosti, buy souvenirs, see where the EIger Santion was filmed, or get on yet another train to the Top of Europe, as it’s trademarked. It’s about $160 to take the train up. It goes through the EIger, crazy as that sounds, and ends up on top by the Jungfrauhoch. Way up there with an ice cave and other tourist items. Sounds great. Sounds too expensive to be shoulder to shoulder with other camera-yielding tourons.

I’ll be back.

Hrvastka

Dream Houses

Arnold and his satisfactions

is you is or is you ain't my constituents?

Similar to western countries – this November will mark yet another time to act civic and democratic. Today, some local town or cantonal folks were campaigning. What better way to get the locals on your side than, dare I say it, offer them some schnitzel. Well, I can’t vote but shitfire, we had two brats today and sure pretended like they were our men for the future.

In the states, it’d take a lot more to sway my vote. If Ralph Nader gave me a kalbwurst, sure I’d vote for him. Here, I didn’t even know the candidates names or platform when I left the tent. But my mustard-stained napkin held the name of my new favorite political hero…

Night Owls

Burning off the hours In front of the national gallery

London calling

Quick trip to london. Very impressed. Flew on easyjet for under a hundred bucks. Stayed at the Walrus, near the bridge and across the river from the clocktower.

I've been in Suisse too long. These sandwiches were an absolute bargain...

Tokyo Fixed Gear. A great bike shop

Chinatown

Museum of Natural History. It was stunning: the building, the exhibits, the history. 

Our man of the cloth--the evolutionary cloth--Charles Darwin. His statue had an appropriately  commanding view of the museum.