Fondation Gianadda

This posting is being written on my ipad on the plane from Geneva to London. We are too soon on our way back to California. And it is too soon to think about the work that awaits us at TSR.

Yesterday we took a decidedly grown up day. We took the train to Martigny, a small, rural, agricultural town in the beginning of the Valais where there is a wonderful museum, Fondation Gianadda.  It was built in the fifties by the parents of a young man who died young in a plane crash. The building is mid century modern concrete with clean lines and a large open central concert area with galleries surrounding and above.

The main exhibit was of portraits from the Pompidou in Paris. There were about one hundred portraits by and of familiar and not so well know artists and including sculptures. There was a wire Calder self portrat sculpture hanging above a Bronze Brancuzi. There was a painted portrait of Picasso as a very young man engaging the viewer with his piercing eyes even then before his great career. There was a very strange Marcel Duchamp portrait that initially looked like a nude woman with blond flowing hair but upon closer inspection it was a rear end with breasts and long flowing blond hair?? There were portraits in every style from two centuries. In some cases it was surprising to see portraits by artists who were not known for that genre. My guess is that at some point everyone has to do "bread and butter" work.

In addition, this little museum had a car collection dating from the earliest powered vehicles from mostly European  auto makers. Some looked like horse drawn coaches missing the horses with engines so tiny we could hardly find them. 

The day was warm and sunny so we went out the back door of the museum to see the gardens. There was a garden in full spring bloom with several large and interesting sculptures. We learned that Martigny was largely built on Roman ruins. The city has done a great job of preserving some of the ruins. Even apartment buildings were built on piers on top of Roman ruins. Walking by, one could peek under the building and see the stone outlines of an ancient home of a wealthy Roman family.

Returning to Lausanne we stopped by to see the grandkids once more and tell them we were leaving and that we would be back soon.
This posting is being written on my ipad on the plane from Geneva to London. We are too soon on our way back to California. And it is too soon to think about the work that awaits us at TSR.

Bad, Bad, Leukerbad

Yesterday Jed took the day off from work and took us and the kids to the thermal baths in Leukerbad. Helga, his wife, is still traveling for work, and Marcelle, our au pair, is visiting her parents in the Netherlands.

It was a two train, one bus journey to the high mountains of the Valais. Leukerbad is touted as the most voluminous reserves of thermal water in Europe having continued uninterrupted since Roman times. We went to a massive spa center with as many as ten pools of varying temperatures including a huge kiddie pool with a large play structure in it and a lap pool among others.

I went off to swim in the lap pool as I have missed my biweekly swims at the TSR pool. Steve and Jed took the boys to an outdoor pool where the warm mineral water felt gloriously soft within the backdrop of snow covered mountains. The boys played and swam joyously. There was a jetted area and fat pipes pouring water overhead. There was a tunnel leading from indoors to outdoors. There were five floors of pools, most leading to outdoor decks and some to eating places. The elevator showed floors zero-two as well as minus 1 and minus two. There were hundred of lockers divided into groups of 100s. Being Sunday, it was very crowded mostly with Italian tourists. I was the only woman in a one piece bathing suit. There was lots of exposed skin for better or worse.

Auke was in thrall with the high slide in the kiddie pool. He could barely climb up the steps but nothing stopped him. As we stood at the bottom to catch him, he emerged from the water laughing and saying, "again, again"! This child is fearless.

Steve and I are on the fourth day of our marathon babysitting weekend. To paraphrase, "Fatigue, grandparenting is thy name." Friday we picked the boys up from school at 2 pm. and took them to Pully Port. The little train in the park has not started for the season yet but we found much to do in the playground. Several hours later we were back to our house for dinner. Jed took them home about 9 pm. Saturday we were on duty from noon to 7pm. Our neighbor and her child took us to the Tropiquarium where we saw crocodiles, penguins, exotic birds and it had another great playground. Yesterday was Leukerbad and today duty begins again at 2pm but first Jed needs our help at 7:30 am getting them off to school.

Needless to say we sleep very well at night. We have enjoyed our time with the boys and Lausanne has so many places for kids that it will be quite a while till we are bored with the venues. Today we will take them to Ouchy. This area of Lausanne is along the lake. There are many docks for sailboats and a steamboat that stops at several towns along the lake, another great playground.

It is difficult to believe that almost three weeks has passed since we arrived and we are homebound in two days.

Late addendum: After we dropped Tern off at school we thought we would go to the market. I was making soup for dinner and needed a can of chopped tomatoes. There are only two grocery chains in Switzerland. Both carry everything from household items to fresh fruit & veggies. We were at the closest market at 8:15 am. To our surprise it did not open until 9am. We went a couple more blocks to the other market which opened at 8:30. Markets open late and close early, by 6 pm or 7 pm. They are open only a half day on Saturday and not at all on Sunday. The Swiss believe in having a life, even for the grocery clerks.

View From Our Dining Room Window

It hasn't taken long for our daily patterns to change, and the new normal to feel good.
We wake up later, shop at the market everyday, walk or ride busses everywhere, see our grandsons almost everyday, have lunch at various cafes, and eat dinner much later.
We haven't yet carved out a life for ourselves outside of our kids but we will. There hasn't been time yet. I know I must bring more comfortable walking shoes since by evening I feel like I've walked a marathon. Again I am grateful for hiking at TSR and for Denny's body pump class which is very popular here. It is not a surprise that Europeans do not have an obesity problem like ours. We do not miss driving.

We shop at the market daily as we only buy what we can carry. We each take a backpack and a large plastic reuseable grocery sack, but it is a long climb uphill to home. We limit canned goods, and it is a big decision whether to buy the 6 or 4 pack of toilet paper, for space rather than weight. We are also restrained by the size of our very small refrigerator  and our miniscule freezer. There we can just about fit one container of fabulous Movenpick ice cream, an ice tray, and a small poulet.

Food, restaurants, clothing, gasoline, are more expensive here than in the US. If one could live on wine, bread, an local cheese, one could live very reasonably. Though we are enjoying these things our diets require additional items. Fruit and veggies are quite high and things that are commonplace at home are difficult to find here, like limes or ground turkey or a small ceramic teapot at less than 50 Swiss francs.

 I am glad so much of the meat comes in packages with pictures as well as words. There is a picture of an animal on the meat or cheese package, a  little chicken or a cow or a lamb or a horse. Yesterday I wanted to make a turkey loaf. It ended up being a chicken/ pork loaf as turkey was not to be found.

I am making a list of items to bring back here when we return. There are things that I wish I could bring but weight makes it unreasonable. There is no such thing as boxed stocks for making soup. The only thing availabe is Knorr boullion cubes. My kids bring home Skippy peanut butter when they visit the US. I will bring Dove soap bars. We will definitely bring home our winter clothes and return with summer clothes.

The forsythia and magnolia trees are blooming. The past two days have reached 70 degrees. We have had only 2 days of rain in 2 1/2 weeks. Life is excellent.

Swiss Banking

We are trying to open a bank account. Not the secret Swiss numbered kind, but just a regular bank account on which we can draw. This is important for several reasons besides being able to withdraw funds to pay for groceries and restaurants. Without a bank account you can't get a cell phone contract or a transit card for busses and trains. 

We were advised to go to the main Post Office in Lausanne. This was an interesting experience. The PO not only does the ususal thing with mail but also sells scarves, candy bars, cell phones, ipads, office supplies, gummy stickers for windows, etc. The USA should take a lesson in diversifying to stay solvent.

There were two clerks in the section near the electronics and no customers so we started there.  As soon as we opened our mouths the first woman ran to the other woman as she had more English. They continued to consult each other throughout our transaction. After a while we made them understand that we wanted to open a bank account and not buy a cell phone. There was a lot of paper work which we signed and other papers which were mailed to us where we had to declare we would not avoid US taxes by banking in Switzerland.  

Steve went to the bank today to get a credit card for this account.  After a protracted conversation with the teller she finally asked where he worked. When he told her he didn't have a job and was retired she said he can't get a credit card.  He could get a debit card but he had to wait for that to come in the mail.  When he asked combien du jour (how many days would that take) she was clueless.  So we wait.

Last night we had our first petit soiree. We invited our two neighbors for un verre de vin. Christelle, from the third floor, who is a psychologist in private practice, and Anabelle from the second floor, who is a lawyer (most recently taking our case of appeal) and her 4 year old daughter, Gabrielle attended. Steve made guacamole which they loved and we had three kinds of nuts and chevre with baguette. 

It was a lovely hour and we learned more about our neighborhood like where the good Italian and Chinese restaurants are that do not break the bank. We learned about our landlord who is very old and if you complain to him that the hallway light is out he blames your children for causing the problem. He never comes to fix anything. Earlier in the day Steve changed the light bulb on Anablelle's landing. She was thrilled.

In keeping with the small world concept, it turns out that Gabrielle is at the same school as Tern and the kids know each other. Anabelle has organized a visit to the zoo this Saturday for us three adults and three kids. That should help us get through this weekend. Sunday Jed will stay home from work and is taking us to the hot springs. So though I know we will be exhausted being in charge of the two kids from Friday afternoon through Monday morning, it is nice to know we will have other more experienced adults around.

Now I am going to cook a couple of dinners so we will have in our tiny fridge what we need to feed everyone for the weekend.
Bonjour et adieu,
Anita

Week 2, the Laundry

After two days of rain (not complaining, just stating) the sun is out in full force. It is still cold, about 40ºF, but the sun off the Lake and the snow in the mountains is almost blinding.

We decided to use our free coupons to the "Let's Go" gym today. There was a 9:30 Body Pump class and between me and the reception lady we convinced Steve to try it. It was interesting enough to take a class taught in French that I am familiar with, but poor Steve who didn't have a clue what we were doing or what came next, and of course the weights are in kg so that was another layer of discovery. The instructor was kind and helpful but mostly all he could do to help Steve was to use sign language. We all had a good time and could hardly wait to find the patisserie when we were done. It turns out that that gym is really too far from home so we will have to try another branch that is closer.

And now as the title of this posting states, The Laundry. The laundry is one of those cultural things that is unique to each country. Our little multi family house has a laundry room in the basement. Since we are on the first floor (which is really the zero floor) going to the basement (level -1) is not too far to go. Is is a daylight basement so it is not too gloomy though when Tern followed me down there yesterday he declined to go back when the wash was done.

There is one small Meile washer for the three families. There is a magnetic key to start the process. One programs in prepayment then holds the key until it accepts your payment. You pick the desired program and it goes for between 54 minutes and and hour and 34 minutes. When it is done you need the magnetic key again to restart the power to the machine and then can open the washer door.

As for drying, the dryer is bolted shut. It seems no one cares or wants to use it anyway as there is a drying room adjacent to the washing room. This drying room is strung with lines for hanging clothes. There are even a couple of windows that open. One must remember not to wash all the towels at once or if it is a rainy day it can take 24 hours for them to dry. Also using fabric softener is a must or the towels and your T shirts become dry in the form of cardboard.

We learned yesterday that our visas to stay for 6 months were denied. The Swiss government thinks we do not have a good enough reason to stay beyond the normal 3 months of a tourist visa. Steve is investigating getting employment here and our upstairs neighbor is a lawyer with, I hope, good connections. More about this later.

For now I am meeting my boys at the park in Lutry. Steve is off to meet his contact at IMD, the business school at which he has given a lecture.
Until next time.
Anita

Week 1 & 2

We have been in our delightful apartment in Pully, a suburb of Lausanne, for a week now and it is beginning to feel like home. It is a two bedroom, 1 bathroom (with a toilet for those who know of our previous Lausanne abode), with living and dining rooms and good size kitchen. The apartment is high on a hill and has lots of windows facing Lake Geneva and the Alps and is sunny and bright. We are the first floor of three floors of this house built probably mid 20th century. We have two small balconys facing south to view the snow capped Alps across the Lake in France. And there is a ferry boat from here to Evian in France.

There is also a small children's playground adjacent to our building which is perfect for the grandkids. The neighborhood is gorgeous. There are many multifamily houses but also many older, large, beautiful traditional homes with stunning small gardens. There is even a forest within walking distance. It is quiet, and only a short walk from Jed & Helga's apartment. Fortunately, we have lived on Drovers Close for 10 years and hiked with Kathy & Harmony and are in shape. The walk from here to the kids is only a half mile but the same as walking down & up Longmeadow, perhaps a little shorter, but not less steep. And here there are many steps.


Now that you have background I can return to the beginning. We have actually been in Switzerland for almost two weeks. After our long journey here we stopped overnight in Pully to drop off some luggage and meet up with our friends, Laura & Steve Gilbert, who travelled from Charleston to join us. The next day we all took off for a skiing adventure in the Alpine towns of Crans Montana. The weather was cold but sunny and warmed up each of the five days we were there. The two Steves and Laura went skiing and I went snowshoeing. I couldn't find the raquette (snowshoe) trails at first so spent the first day snowshoeing on the ski trails. That was a challenge. When I did find the trails they were through the peaceful and beautiful woods. We managed to burn lots of calories, enough to indulge in a traditional fondue.

We have spent several afternoons with our brilliant little boys. Auke is now talking and Tern knows everything in three langauges. They exhaust us but are so full of energy and fun. Starting Friday we will need to gather all our resources as their au pair, Marcelle, is off on Friday and Monday, Helga is in the USA, and Jed must go to work. I think it will be a busy weekend for us. We must get paid extra for the overtime.

In preparation for our upcoming duty we interviewed gyms today. We went to three and have not decided which to join but one gym has given us free passes for one day. We are going to try their body pump class tomorrow. I have finally talked Steve into trying it.

Yesterday was the first day of rain and since Helga has already left for Minneapolis, Jed wanted to go in to work and Marcelle is off on weekends, we decided to take Tern and Auke and Laura & Steve to the Olympic Museum here. It took two busses and when we got off the last bus there was a sign that the Museum is closed for renovations for a year. That was disappointing, but did not dampen Tern's spirits as he was happy as a lark (or a Tern) to ride the next three busses to get back to our apartment. There is lots of space here for the kids to roll around on the floor and play.

Last night we had Jed & Helga, Tern & Auke, Marcelle, Steve & Laura over here for Jed's 40th birthday celebration. It was the first birthday we have celebrated with Jed in many years and was wonderful.

Thank you to all who are playing "Words with Friends" with me. I am enjoying the games and knowing I am still connected with you.

More later.
Anita