Author: swiftlyswiss

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A “bucket list” suggestion for hikers: Italy’s “Cinque Terre” trail on the Mediterranean coast

I consider myself to be a fairly experienced hiker. My parents took us on regular hikes and camping trips in my youth in California, and then after moving to the east coast, my dad brought us kids along on many backpacking adventures in the Appalachians and other state and national park destinations. I’ve maintained my love of the outdoors as an adult and have tried to pass it on to our own kids, including family hiking outings in the Cascade Mountains in Washington State, Yellowstone, and repeats of my favorite childhood hike, Old Rag in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia.

Living in the heart of Europe has afforded us many new opportunities to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. Regular readers might recall an early post on my first real hike in Switzerland last year, up the Rochers de Naye. I recently discovered (along with my niece Laura who was visiting) an awesome short hike on the Le Selève – our local mountain here in Geneva – that offers one of the greatest views of the Swiss and French Alps one will find anywhere. These hikes were awesome, but I think I just topped them all with a hike in Italy’s “Cinque Terre” National Park along the Mediterranean seacoast in northern Italy. Continue reading →

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Gym membership?? We don’t need no stinkin’ gym membership!!

One of the things I miss from back home in the states is our affordable YMCA membership. I think it was something like $90 per month for the whole family, so we felt pretty good about the value we were receiving. As an alternative, we have found an affordable swimming option nearby and we also get a lot of walking in, even during these short winter days.

But with the kids coming for the holidays, Patrick expressed an interest in being able to maintain his weight lifting routine, and so I assured him that I knew a gym close by where we could go get a lift in. So one day, we walked over to the gym, and I asked the staff member on duty how much would it cost for just a single workout, thinking that maybe it’d be somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 Swiss francs. (Francs are roughly equivalent to a U.S. dollar. It varies from time to time, but that’s how I look at it.) He responded “25 Swiss francs”. I responded, “… you mean for both of us, right?” and he responded, “No, I mean 25 each, or 50 total”, and I responded by saying, “C’est trop cher!” (“That’s too expensive!”), and then turning and walking out the door.

So, being the persevering and flexible types that we are, Patrick and I went about finding a less expensive (moins cher, en francais) alternative. Here’s a video I took of our “plan B”. Continue reading →

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The Fête L’Escalade: Geneva commemorates its defeat of the Savoyards in 1602

Never let it be said that Les Genevois (the residents of Geneva, en français) don’t know how to celebrate a military victory. Some 413 years after turning back the Savoyards in a surprise attack on the then city-state of Geneva, this town goes completely nuts! But first, a little history on the conflict itself. Continue reading →

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A Cure for Oenophilia: Wine Tasting in the Rhône Valley at Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Oenophilia: Greek for the love (philia) of wine (oinos). But oenophilia goes beyond a mere love of wine, it means a devotion to wine, how it’s grown and made and tastes. I enjoy wine. My brother-in-law Cliff and sister-in-law Ellen (beau frère and belle soeuer, en français) are true oenophilias. They recently visited us in Geneva, so we made a point of driving down to the Rhône Valley in southern France, home to one of the most famous wine producing regions in the world. Our destination: the vineyards around the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape between the cities of Avignon and Orange. Continue reading →

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Roman Art, Architecture, Arches, and Arenas Are Arright!

One of the things I like about living in the heart of Europe is that so many beautiful and extraordinary European cities are just a short plane ride away. (See my earlier posts on Paris, London, Dublin, Budapest…) I have a list of cities that I want to visit during our time here, and a couple weeks ago, I crossed Rome off that list.

We spent a long weekend in Rome, and during our stay we walked from place to place, taking guided tours, visiting museums and other tourist attractions, Continue reading →

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If you’re planning to be near Annecy, France, bring your bike

During a discussion we were having about cycling in Switzerland, my friend Leo once asked me “Do you like to climb?”. I looked at him with a puzzled expression. Having done most of my cycling in my home state of Minnesota, I wasn’t aware that “climbing” on your bike was something that people routinely and intentionally set out to do. Finally, I muttered, “I’ll climb if there’s a hill in front of me, but I prefer mostly just riding.” Evidently, a lot of people seek out mountains to climb on their bikes, including my friend Leo. I still prefer a more casual ride, and we found an awesome one along Lac Annecy, near the town of Annecy, France. Continue reading →

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A Photographic Exhibit: Geneva’s Beautiful Fall Colors, Along with Something Kinda Ugly

For those of you who regularly follow this blog, you are certainly aware by now of my gift for fine photography, especially photos of the natural world. In this post, I exhibit a series of photos – and one video – that portray the stunning beauty of Geneva’s fall colors. But anyone with a cell phone can take a pretty picture of colorful leaves. In this exhibit, I aspire to take the art form to a whole ‘nuther level. As you will see, each picture contains beautiful fall colors, but the beauty is juxtaposed with a foreign object that is kinda ugly. And yet, the beauty of the natural colors prevail. In the art world, this is known as “art”. Continue reading →

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My father-in-law is really cool, and I love his place on Lake Superior’s North Shore

This post is dedicated to my father-in-law, who also happens to be one of this blog’s most avid followers. I first met Hal in 1981. In the 35 years that we’ve known each other, I feel like our bond has grown into more than a typical son-in-law / father-in-law relationship. We don’t see each other as often these days, but whenever we do, we always have fun conversations about current events, goings-on in the family, and other more routine matters (like how to make a good 7-Up and brandy). We enjoy cooking together (I shared my world-famous lasagna recipe with him!), taking walks in the state parks near his home, and sitting out on his porch – or better yet, down on the rocks along the shore.

Hal spends Minnesota’s warmer months at his home on the north shore of Lake Superior. I’ve probably been up to visit him a hundred times over the years, and I’ve never gotten used to how beautiful his place is. I was recently up at his home with his daughter (my sister-in-law) Ellen to help take care of a few things, and had the idea that it would be fun to write a brief post, trying to convey what it is I love so much about his place. Continue reading →

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My favorite Minnesota-based rock band, the Loons, rock the Twin Cities Marathon

[A note to SwissSojourner followers: I recently had cause to return to my home town of Minneapolis/Saint Paul for a few weeks. While visiting, I decided that although this blog has been exclusively devoted to my experiences here in Switzerland and its environs across Europe, from time to time I will break tradition and focus on other “non-European” topics or experiences that interest me. This post – and the one that will follow in a couple days – will be of particular interest to my family and friends back in Minnesota.]

Each year, the Twin Cities hosts what is billed as “the most beautiful urban marathon in the United States”. The marathon takes place in early October, when the fall colors in Minnesota are at their peak. Here is a photo I took of some of the runners with about 3 miles to go.

Twin Cities marathpn

These runners are jamming to the Loons at the 23-mile mark!

One of the neat things that the marathon sponsors do to support the runners is to select a number of musical bands, who volunteer their time, to play along the course’s final five miles. This year, my favorite local band, the Loons out of Eagan, Minnesota, were among the bands selected for the honor. Continue reading →

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I learn some German in Berne. Take this tutorial.

We recently decided to take a road trip up to Berne, Switzerland’s capital city.  As I’ve mentioned before, Berne is only about 100 kilometers from our home in Geneva, and yet when you get about halfway there, all the French road signs and the French names of road side businesses disappear, and are replaced with signs in German.  This causes me some consternation, because while I have confidence in my ability to navigate most situations I encounter in French speaking Swiss Romande, my German proficiency is limited to only a very few words that I picked up watching Hogan’s Heroes as a kid.(e.g. “danke” means “thank you” and “sauerkraut” means “sauerkraut”. )

But then, to my utter astonishment, it turns out my concern was all for naught!  We arrived in Berne and I soon realized that I must be some sort of linguistic savant, because I discovered that I was able to understand quite a bit of the German we encountered.  And as a public service to my loyal Swiss Sojourner followers, I offer this lesson.  Continue reading →