The Rules and the Happy Cows

There is one thing that is always true in Switzerland.
Everything is either compulsory or forbidden. There are a lot of rules, but it makes life simple. You either cannot do it, or you must do it. There is no gray area.

Fountain statue in center of Lausanne

The neighborhood streets are narrow, the cars are smaller than US cars, the spots where cars can park are painted white or yellow. Yellow is reserved for the residents of that street, the white lines are for visitors. It's the honor system. Everyone has a clock card in the car. The hours for public parking are posted. Usually you can park fron two to five hours. You set the cardboard clock on your dasboard with the time you arrive. When an official comes by he can see if you are over your time. I do not know what is the penalty.  Imagine this in the States.

Where Jed & Helga live the street is a two way street but is only wide enough for one car at a time. The solution here was to bring the sidewalk down to street level (no curb) and have one car pull onto the sidewalk until the first car has passed. It is sort of a city version of the pull offs for slow traffic on Hwy 1. It slows down traffic. Pedestrians beware.

Trash has a lot of rules. There are recepticles for each kind of trash on every other street. You must carefully separate glass, cans, paper, acceptable plastics, and rubbish. We have three containers for trash in our kitchen. Jed uses his kitchen deck for trash recepticles. This week we put out the paper trash in a plastic bag as we did not have a paper bag. . Someone emptied our bag and left a paper one for us. 

There are no disposals in our kitchens  as the grey water is cleaned and returned to the Lake. The Swiss are conscious of and careful with the environment. I notice trucks out cleaning the streets everyday. I see men with push carts and brooms cleaning the streets. It is very clean here and the roads are in excellent condition.

Those of you who know the Kaplans well will recall how much we like all forms of ice cream. Actually, gelato ranks number 1, but really good ice cream is a close second. Swizerland has Movenpick which might be my demise. After all, this is the land of happy cows pastured in the gorgeous high mountains all summer with only their bells to keep them company.

A sculpture of the Happy Cow near the Fountain above
in front of a shop selling farm products, mainly cheese.

Movenpick  ice cream is fabulous. It is sold in all the COOP supermarkets. There is even a Salon de Glace, dans centre ville. It is a fancy Ben & Jerry's type shop where all they serve is the creamiest ice cream you can imagine and ice cream specialties. Think rich texture and deep flavor including many exotic ones like Chocolate with Yuzo and Grand Marnier. I haven't tried these yet as I am stuck on the Swiss Chocolate with dark chocolate pieces. Like everything in Suisse, Movenpick  is expensive, but hey, life is short. 

Movenpick also owns restaurants. They also run an international hotel chain in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Only in Suisse does one go from ice cream to hotels.  
Those are really, really happy cows.
Google Movenpick and check out their flavors and resorts.

The most common shops around town after le Boulangerie/Patissierie is Salon de The, shops selling lunettes (eyeglasses), Confiserie/Chocolate shops, Cafes with outrageous prices, and Hair Salons. There are so many hair salons that one would think everyone got his/her hair cut weekly.

I have been down for a week with the nasty cold one gets from one's grandson's runny nose. Zoe arrives this Saturday and I must be well by then so send me your healing thoughts. Nothing else has worked. We have lots of fun and interesting things planned. Stand by.

Did you know that on top of my blog site there is a place to put in your email address? You will get an alert of a new posting if you do this. Since I am not writing regularly you might like to know when something new has been posted.
Adieu for now.
Anita