4th of July - Swiss "Yes We Can" Party

Cindy and I were at Farnsburg with friends Cindy Rocha, Melissa Enge and Georg Imanidies. They had a BBQ, Californian wines, and a blues band for an evening of great food, fun,and company.

-- Post From My iPhone

Melissa and Georg

Cindy 1

Cindy 7

The Cantbeat Band

Happy Birthday USA!

Vacation in Heyere

A Vacation in Hyères

Cindy and I spent a week in the southeast French city of Hyères.  We arrived in Nice and rented a car for the two hour drive to the apartment we rented at the Villa      L'Alycastre

breakfast on the terrace
a view from the terrace 
Hyeres city sign - Les Palmiers
a view at night

A Weekend in Ticino with Cindy

A Weekend In Ticino with Cindy

After a bit of research in the Osterie d' Italia book we found a small Osteria named Ul Furmighin that also has rooms upstairs in a small hill town called Sagno.   Arriving at 20:30 on Friday after winding up and down a few narrow spaces between houses that are euphemistically called streets, we realized that what we were looking for was right in the main parking lot of the town.  If you've ever wondered why Italians love the Fiat 550, all you need to do is drive through a few small hill towns.   

We walked into a very small restaurant with a large table in the middle, a wall sized fireplace (equipped with two chairs inside to warm up) on the left and a kitchen on the right.  The two guests were talking and called for Anna, the chef.  We confirmed our reservations and went upstairs to set our bags down and freshen up.  By the time we were downstairs we found our places set and some lardo and bread set out.  As we sat down, Cindy struck up a conversation in French with the waitress and I did my meager best in Italian.   The other couple there joined in and we started a long evening of talking and joking.   We started off with a mixed salumi plate(including Fidighela) and an amazingly fresh salad with local ingredients.  Our main courses were brasato di bue (braised beef) with special red corn polenta found in Ticino.  For wine we had a fantastic red wine by Agriloro in Switzerland called Sottobosco.   We later found out that Maximo and his wife bought our wine for us.  For dessert I had a pepper goat cheese that was one of the best cheeses I've eaten in a long time.   Beautiful thick rind that was soft and pliable with a faint yellow cast.  Inside it was dry and slightly chalking with crushed pepper corns.   It was made a few hundred meters away by Anna's husband's family.   Cindy had a wonderful apple tort with lots of cinnamon.  After some limoncello, bay leaf liquor and some grappa - we ended a very long evening of talking and enjoying the company of those in the restaurant.  

The next morning we slept in until 10 or so.  We went downstairs for a light breakfast (coffee, sweet bread with honey and homemade preserves) and planned our day.  We decided to visit one of the high mountains (Mount San Salvatore)  near  Lugano via a gondola and hiking.  Unfortunately - it was closed until March 15th.  So off we went for a hike along the lake to old town Lugano.  We ate at a great restaurant called Bottegone del vino in the old town near the main square.  After lunch we continued our walking through the old town.  We stopped at an antiques fair - Cindy found a brass box for a colleague at work and a foot rest for her house in California.  We headed back to Sagno.  In the evening we walked through the town and watched the sunset.  What a spectacular sight.  

We headed back on Sunday via the back roads (read paved goat trails) that took us around the lake and over the hills to Lago Maggiore.  We had lunch on the lake and continued home to Basel.  We arrived tired, but very relaxed after a wonderful find in Ticino.

Looking up at the Church and some of old homes

Sunset overlooking Switzerland and Italy

Entrance to the Osteria con loggio

Some beautifully lit buildings in the village

Panarama from the hill over Sagno

Useful address - how to get a human voice at a company and bypass the computer....

http://gethuman.com/

It was just another sign along the road...

Yesterday I was driving to Epinel, France.  I hadn't been there and was on that side of the Vosge mountains so I decided to travel up (actually down the Moselle River - it flows north like the Rhine)  As I was driving I saw small sign that said American Cemetery.  So I took the off ramp and drove up the hill.  Arriving at the gates it was a bit of a shock - going from a dirty French road to a manicured driveway through tall pine trees.

Driving into the empty parking lot, all I heard was the wind.  There was no one else there.  It was quite unsettling.   Walking to the large, white marble building, I was struck how clean everything was.  And it was big.  You can't see the crosses until you walk to the front of the monument.  And there are a lot of crosses-5,225 in fact.   The cemetery is for those Americans killed primarily from the 7th Army that moved from the south of France.  There are four Congressional Medal of Honor recipients buried there.

After all of my time here, I had never heard of this cemetery.  It was very poignant to walk through and see the names of the American's killed and even more so, the towns in Alsace where they were killed.  

Memorial building

Thousands of marked graves

360 degree view

Basel Fasnacht - not for the thin skinned

Basel Fasnacht makes fun of all things sacred and profane.  You cannot have a thin skin while watching a parade as each clique (with either drum and fife or a full size marching band) has a "sujet" subject or theme of their march.  The subject and then the witty/cutting "so what" is displayed on a lighted "lanterna" that is paraded through the streets.  This year there was the Pope - three times, a half dozen Swiss politicians, more than a few Elvis themes (one the holy Elvis - pope of American culture complete with a huge cortege wagon the size of a house that combined the pope mobile with a pink Cadillac), Paris Hilton, mosquitoes, and finally, a Chinese food theme, showing various fake animals in a hundred small cages worn on the top of the musician's hats towered over by a 15 foot high ape with an exposed brain and a man on top with chop sticks.  It can be way over the top. 

It is important to remember the history of Fasnacht.  It originally was Carnival with the Dance of the Dead.  After Reformation it was driven by the guilds who primarily were Protestant - the Pope has always been fair game.  This is a letting go of a lot of pent up energy so to speak.  The raucus all hours of the night partying and confetti throwing is in exact contrast to the usual quiet and polite Swiss culture.  The absolutely spotless streets are covered in bottles, trash and 5 inches of confetti that looks like a rainbow snow storm.  Thursday morning 04:00 the city was turned back to the street sweepers and those who bring order to to our lives here in Switzerland.  

Lanterna in the form of Nazi realism describing the "pure" Swiss person as a parody on the worlds view of extreme Swiss nationalism.

Lanterna showing the Pope and a conservative Swiss politician who are not in favor of Fasnacht frolicking 

An interesting quiz - artist or ape...

A link to a quiz - was this an artist or an ape who painted these pictures

Basel Fasnacht (Carnival) Starts Tomorrow

Tomorrow the Basel Fasnacht begins.  This is the largest annual event in Basel.  I'll be adding some pictures.

The history of Fasnacht has been recorded back to 1376.  The original Fasnacht carnival was modified by the Reformation and the powerful craft guilds.  

For those who would like to participate from afar, here is the Fasnacht parade webcam page.  The Morgenstraich starts at 4:00 a.m., so those who are interested at 19:00 on the West Coast you can click and watch.

One more idea...

Watching the primary feeds on CNN. Weird - I'm more interested in
Obama and McCain than Clinton. But Hilary is winning due to the
women's vote. What happened to all of those 18-24 yr olds that are
supporting Obama?

Back from Lyon

Was in Lyon over the weekend with Cindy.  We visited her friends Micheal and Silvi.   They and their children were wonderful and we were able to enjoy a relaxing weekend. The food was typical Lyonnaise and delicious. We went to church on Saturday and ended up sitting on the alter as the church was packed.  It was one of the most vibrant churches I've seen in a long time - everyone sung include a portuguese group that sung the profession of faith in a form of harmonized Fado.  Just beautiful.  On Sunday we visited the old town and several churches - I've included some of the pictures in this post.

Sunday Dog Market - people picking up puppies and adult dogs 

there wasa fox terrier there asking why I wasn't taking him home...

We visited L'Abbaye Saint-Martin d'Ainay the oldest church in Lyon, built in 1107.  

Mosaic from Abbaye

Floor of the crypte at the Abbey

Nave of the Cathedral

View from the Basilica on a very windy Sunday

For lunch on Sunday we went to Le Bistrot de Saint Jean in the 5th arrondisement.   Had a typical lyonnaise food (salad lyonnaise with frisee, lardons, poached egg) chicken fricassee, tripe gratin, and a slice of grilled foie gras - all washed down with a pot of beaujolis from Morgan.  Yummy. 

We left on Monday after lunch and went back to Switzerland via Lausanne because I needed to pick up my watch from the watchmaker there.