Arctic Temps

It was absolutely freezing today and the arctic chill is supposed to continue for the foreseeable future. While the cold weather should be good for the snow conditions up in the mountains, it definitely makes you wish that you didn't have to leave the apartment.

The weather was a bit "warmer" this weekend, but that didn't provide much motivation to go outside and be productive. It was snowing up in the mountains, so we cancelled our plans to ski on Saturday and instead reaquainted ourselves with the couch.

Last week it snowed in Lausanne, a phenomenon that typically happens a handful of times a year. While the snow didn't really hold up on the sidewalks / streets, it still gave the trees a nice winter look.

More snow is forecast for this week. Given the freezing temperatures expected, perhaps it will hold up a bit better.

Chatel

Yesterday Emilie and I went to Chatel, France, for a day of (downhill) skiing. Chatel is a little more than an hour from Lausanne by car and is part of the Portes du Soleil ski area, which spans both Switzerland and France.

I took the following photo shortly before we arrived. It's definitely been a great season in terms of snowfall -- much different from last year, when there was very little snow and unseasonably warm weather.

It snowed for much of the day, which resulted in plenty of fresh powder but also made the skiing very tiring. Fortunately, there wasn't much wind, so it never really got overly cold. Plus, the weather kept a lot of people off the slopes, so it was relatively empty.

We stopped for a late-afternoon lunch at a restaurant at the base of one of the runs. The owner, "Babeth", loved attention and seemed to be of the opinion that, in addition to a lunch, her customers were also looking for a performance.

She sang, danced -- often with reluctant patrons who were too nice to say "non, merci" despite being in ski boots -- and was a particularly big fan of disco music. But at least she seemed to be enjoying her job, albeit while likely embarassing her teenage daughter, who happened to be a waitress there.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a picture of the "entertainment". But I was able to track down the restaurant's website, which includes a large section devoted to Babeth herself (here's the link).

After lunch it was more or less a white-out as the snow started to come down much harder. We kept going for another couple of hours, but the conditions deteriorated pretty quickly and exhaustion also started to creep in.

X-country in the Jura

 

This weekend Emilie and I headed back to Emilie's mom's place for some more cross-country skiing. My x-mas gift this year from Emilie was a set of skis, boots and poles, so we're planning to get as much use out of them as possible. Plus, the snow conditions this year have been great, so we might as well take advantage while it lasts.

Unlike during our last visit to the Jura for New Years, this weekend the weather was beautiful with lots of sun. Heres a photo that I took during Saturday's outing.

On Sunday we skiied an area that I hadn't been to before: Bellefontaine. It was nice to get a bit of a scenery change, particularly since the area was much more open than normal allowing for plenty of sunshine.

The snow wasn't as nice on Sunday -- a bit icy and unforgiving -- but the nice weather made up for it.

French Speaking?

Last year during my visit to Montreal it more or less felt like the French that everyone was speaking sounded nothing like that which is spoken in Switzerland and France. Even slang and figures of speech aside, the pronunciation seemed very different and largely unintelligible (at least for me).

While watching TV last night I came across a French Canadian program that was playing on TV5 (a French language channel). It was pretty funny to see the subtitles given that for the most part it was simply a transcription -- rather than a translation -- of what was being said.

It's somewhat comforting that native French speakers outside Canada also struggle (at least somewhat) with Quebecois French and benefit from subtitles. I guess this is analogous to an English language program with thick British, Irish or Scottish accents that utilizses subtitles when shown in the U.S.

La Scala

While the highlight of Sunday was definitely our visit to La Scala to see Don Giovanni, the performance wasn't until early afternoon so we had some time see some more sights beforehand. The followiong is Castello Sforzesco, a castle that dates back to the 15th century and was the former residence of the Duchy of Milan.

Next we visited Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a "double arcade" shopping area that was built in the 1860s. We didn't go there to shop, though, and instead just walked around a bit and admired the architecture.

Our final stop was the Palazzo Reale to see a couple of art exhibitions -- the first with works by Paul Cezanne and the second with works by Artemisia Gentileschi. While I was familiar with the former's work, I wasn't with those of the latter, who is considered one of the great painters of the Baroque period.

The following is her most famous painting -- Judith Slaying Hodofernes -- which was supposedly influenced by a similar themed painting by Caravaggio.

After finishing up with the exhibitions, we grabbed a quick lunch and the headed to La Scala. Here's a picture that Emilie took of me standing out front -- if you look closely, you can see that I'm wearing a suit (albeit not one of my new ones). I'd been told that the dress code is very formal (coat and ties required for men), so I didn't take any chances.

Here's the view of the stage from our seats before the performance. Technically, we were in one of the private balcony rooms with two others. I'd never seen an opera from a (semi) private balcony before, so this was definitely an experience.

And here's the view of rear of the opera house taken from our seats. It really was impressive to see in person. And while a lot of people had told me beforehand how spectacular a venue it is, I think that it still exceeded my expectations.

The performance was very good, though it was a bit long -- 3.5 hours including a 30 minute intermission. During the intermission I took the following photo from the main floor and was subsequently scolded by an usher. I knew that pictures weren't allowed, but a lot of others were taking them so I figured that I'd go for it as well.

If you look very closely at the third balcony to the left of the stage on the first level, you can see Emilie. She's the one who appears to be reading the program or looking at her phone.

My favorite part of the performance was that there were multimple times when the singers were off state and in other parts of the theater (including inside the main rear balcony). It really added to the experience.

After the performance we had to rush back to the hotel for our bags and the head straight to the train station for our return trip to Lausanne. Here's a building with interesting external decor that we passed along the way.

Exploring Milan

On Saturday we spent most of the day exploring the city, as we had less free time to do so on Sunday. Our first stop was the Santa Maria delle Grazie, which houses Da Vinci's famous painting of the Last Supper.

I had always assumed that the painting was framed and in some museum, but it turned out that it is a massive 15 ft x 29 ft mural on a wall in a monastery. It was very impressive to see in person, but apparently the painting has required a significant amount of restoration given the medium involved.

We spent the next couple of hours visiting a number of churches in the city, including Saint Ambrose and St. Maurice. I liked the latter, in particular, given the beautiful paintings throughout the interior.

Next we visited the Duomo, whose construction began in 1386 and took roughly six centuries to finish. We unfortunately didn't make it up to the walkway on the roof, but it was still pretty impressive to see from the ground level.

As seen in the picture below, the dark interior contrasted heavily with the white marble exterior. I particularly liked the large paintings that hung between the many columns.

Following a late risotto lunch, we spent the balance of the afternoon shopping. And, for once, it turned out to be me who was actually doing the shopping. After five years of wearing the same suits, an upgrade was long overdue. And thanks to Emilie, I found two nice ones.

While heading back to the hotel afterwards, we stopped at a museum to see a special exhibition of some of paintings by the French artist George de la Tour. My favorite was St. Joseph, which was on loan from the Louvre and demonstrates the artist's mastery of the depiction of light within a dark setting.

And here's a photo of La Scala, which we passed by after leaving the museum. It was nice to finally see the famed opera house after hearing so much about in preparation for the trip.

Milano

 

Tonight Emilie and I took the train to Milan, where we're spending the weekend. And while I've been to the Milan train station a couple of times before (for transfers), this is my first real visit to Italy's financial capital.

 

The highlight of the weekend is going to be a Sunday afternoon trip to La Scala, Milan's famed opera house. Otherwise, we plan to do some sightseeing and perhaps some shopping as well given that it's currently the sales season.

 

To be honest, I'm not sure exactly what the main sights in Milan are. And while doing a last-minute Internet search on the train, I found the following blurb on Wikitravel (based on an Italian saying) that compares Milan to Rome:

 

"Rome is a voluptuous woman whose gifts are very apparent, while Milan is the shy, demure girl whose treasures are plentiful, but discovered in time."

 

I guess we're going to need longer than a weekend...

 

Given the early evening departure and three-hour train ride, we didn't arrive until late. Here's a photo that I took of the Duomo -- Milan's gothic cathedral -- during the walk to the hotel. It was very impressive to see while illuminated at night.

 

Happy New Year

The New Years weekend at Emilie's mother's in France was very nice. We cross-country skied each day and otherwise just relaxed. Nonetheless, all the French speaking was exhausting for me. Fortunately, though, I've drastically improved my "I didn't quite follow what you just said, but am just going to smile and nod my head like I did" body language.

The snow on New Years Eve was pretty soft due to some rain in the morning, which made the skiing exhausting. At least there's a lot of snow this year, though. The whole area was blanketed.

For New Years Eve we had dinner with a number of Emilie's aunts and uncles. The main course: fresh oysters from Brittany that were shucked by Emilie's mom.

The snow conditions were much better the next two days, which made the skiing a lot more fun. On New Years Day we went in the late afternoon and finished just before sunset, allowing for a nice picture.

To wrap things up, here's a photo of what Emilie had for dinner last night: escargots. This is one "delicacy" that I definitely can't stomach. Though I'm sure they just taste like garlic and butter, the thought of eating snails disgusts me.

Back in Switzerland

My week in M.B. for x-mas flew by, but I was able to spend a lot of quality time with family and friends. And the great weather continued throughout the trip, which made for a nice x-mas present.

Here's a picture that I took during the return flight to Geneva shortly before landing. The warm, sunny weather was definitely behind me, as evidenced by the dark clouds and fields covered in snow. Apparently it's been snowing for the past couple of days.

We're spending the New Years weekend at Emilie's mom's place , so shortly after returning to Lausanne we headed across the border to France. It should be a mellow weekend, though the combination of x-country skiing and non-stop French-speaking will no doubt exhaust me.

As seen from the picture below, we arrived at Emilie's mom's place to find snow everywhere. The storm of the past few days blanketed the walkway from the street. If it snows much more, Emilie's car probably won't be visible in the morning.

An MB Sunset

Since my arrival on Wednesday, I've been welcomed by some real Southern California x-mas weather: sun with temps in the 70s. It's a nice respite from the cold, snowy weather back "home" in Switzerland.

Another benefit of being back in M.B. is seeing some "real" sunsets, which, by my definition, consist of the sun setting over the ocean. Here's a shot from the front of my friend's place. The setting sun itself wasn't visible, but we still had a nice view.

White Christmas

 

The past two days we’ve had a bit of an early Christmas gift – snow. It’s not very common to get snow in Lausanne – perhaps 5-10 days each year – so we’ll have to enjoy it while it lasts. Here’s the view from our apartment.

Le Fabuleux Village

 

Before dinner on Saturday we met up with Emilie’s sister and her husband in Evian. While there we walked around the downtown area, which was decorated in a mixed Christmas / Halloween-type fashion as part of an annual Le Fabuleux Village (ou la Legende des Flottins).

I don’t really know the full story behind the village, but it basically centers around some mischievous elves and gnomes that live in the Alps and come down to Lac Leman every year during the winter to rest on the shores of Evian in a village of driftwood. During one November, Santa Claus was doing a training run over the lake and crashed because of a squabble amongst some of the reindeer. The elves and gnomes swam out to save him and every year since Santa has returned in December to see the friends that rescued him.

It may sound a bit corny and convoluted, but its a very popular story with the kids and the many driftwood sculptures on display were pretty interesting.

Raclette

 

Tonight we had dinner with Emilie’s family in La Chappelle d’Abondance, a small town in the French Alps not far from the Swiss border. Thanks to a winter storm, it was snowing for much of the drive and provided a nice holiday feel.

In traditional Savoyard fashion, the group decided to go with Raclette – basically a cousin of fondue in which a massive wheel of cheese is slowly heated on one side and the melted portion is routinely scraped onto everyone’s plate alongside some charcuterie, steamed potatoes and other vegetables.

As “luck” would have it, Yvain and I sat adjacent to where the Raclette “machine” was ultimately set up. Thus, we had the hottest seats at the table – both in terms of the actual heat radiating from the machine and the pressure of scraping the cheese onto everyone’s plate before it melts too much.

Given that I was busy serving others throughout the meal, I didn’t have a lot of free time to actually eat. Instead, I basically found myself stuffing my face in the brief breaks from serving everyone else. It made for a fun dinner, though, and I think that I’ll be much better prepared for the next time we have Raclette.

The Multilinguist

 

I’m always thoroughly impressed by someone who can speak many languages fluently. After doing my best to learn Spanish in school and French in Switzerland, I can attest first-hand how difficult it is to (attempt to) master a second (or third) language.

While riding the train the other day, I sat across from a guy who definitely was linguistically gifted. Over the course of a 40-minute train ride, he switched effortlessly between English, Spanish, French, German and Italian while speaking with various people on the phone.

Typically, I would have been annoyed by someone talking on his mobile for a prolonged period while on the train, but in this case I was so impressed by what I was witnessing that I didn’t even care.

Praha - Day II

We began Sunday with a funicular ride up to the top of Petrin hill in order to get a nice view of Prague from above. At the top of the hill is an observation tower that looks a bit like the Eiffel Tower, so we decided to walk up the 299 steps required to get to the top in order to have the best possible view.

The observation tower indeed offered a beautiful view of the city, with Prague Castle on the left (top photo below) and the Charles Bridge as well as the Old Town to the right (bottom photo below).

On our way back down the hill we stopped at the St. Nicholas Cathedral, which dates to the 13th century (at least in part) and is known for its recognizable belltower.

I liked the interior -- particularly the view of the massive dome from below.

Next we visited the Josefov, Prague's Jewish Quarter, which includes a number of sites related to the country's Jewish history. It was interesting to see but very sad as well given the devastation inflicted by the Nazis during WWII (less than 3% of country's Jewish population remained after the war).

We spent the remainder of the afternoon walking around and enjoying the scenery / architecture. I think Prague is definitely one of the more beautiful cities that I've seen.

We passed countless buildings with interesting facades like the ones below.

We decided to grab an early dinner rather than roll the dice on airport / airplane food. On the way to the restaurant, we walked back across the Charles Bridge. I assume that one has to get up pretty early to see the bridge without anyone else on it.

There were a couple of puppeteers performing on the bridge and I was really impressed by their skills. They had music playing and the puppets were perfectly sychronized to the drums and guitar.

While we didn't end up getting traditional Czech fare for dinner (as appetizing as goulash sounded), we at least decided to go for a traditional Czech drink -- beer. According to our cab driver from the first night, the average Czech drinks around three beers a night (I have no idea whether this is actually true, but did "confirm" via Wikipedia that the country has the highest per capita beer consumption in the world...). Na zdraví!