In May's 'mid-term-break' from 22 October - 3 November, we decided to take advantage of the time she had off and of Mr. Bill's ability to take a break from his hectic travel schedule, and take the train to, in, around, and back from Switzerland. (then during 30 October thru 5 November we'll be in London (Bill has a Conference, Nov 1-3) & also visiting a (Europe Dinghy sailing) friend at Oxford, then Bill's off to meetings in Phoenix on 6 November and May's on her way back to Paris to go back to school.
Here's a bit of a mini-index, if you want to skip-to:
Geneva Lausanne Zurich Trains hows & whys of "sliding contact" what can the train people learn from the airline people French-Swiss-Comparison(s) one other technological revelation
First we went (on Sunday 24th) to Geneva on the TGV from Paris. Geneva's a great town - Bill had been before on business, but this was a chance to experience the environs on a considerably wider scale than when he walked around town about 4 or 5 years ago. We wandered the better part of the waterfront on foot on Sunday afternoon - and it was overcast & cool, but no rain. We lucked out here - since it rained all day the next day.
Along the waterfront - and on one of the 'walkways' that extend into the lake/harbour, they have erected a small sphere, that in the 'general nature of things' acts as a "Sun". Now - that said, recognize that in the greater Universe the relative size(s) & distance(s) between our earth and our sun is pretty spectacular. So what they've done is using this "Sun" as the centre, then in four places around the harbour / lake, along the walk-ways, they've erected smaller, similar 'spheres' to represent the earth and some other planets - and approximate relative distances, so the viewer can get a feeling for the scales / relative distances. Sorry - wish we had a picture of one of these - but I guess we don't. In any case it's a great concept and around something like the harbour, it's easy to always see the "Sun" and get some feeling for the immense scale of just our solar system, much-less galaxies & universes.
The second day, we took a bus-tour, first of the town area(s) (shot of one of their many town-parks) then out into the countryside and in & around the "international" section where the World Intellectual Property Organization is, the International Red Cross & Red Crescent, the International Labour Organization, parts of the UN, the International Telecommunications Union, and many many many other 'International" organizations make their headquarters here - such that almost 40% of the population of Geneva is not local.
One of the other things we stumbled upon, while walking
along the waterfront (actually looking for a bathroom) was a Museum of
telescopes,
time-keeping devices,
solar-system-models
and other such things. It is in an old home with wonderfully brilliant
wooden floors, and very well preserved.
This was a MOST EXCELLENT find - and free!
And here's something I'd heard about, always fantasized I'd invent, thought sounded like an excellent 'service' to the public, but never seen one of. It's an "Automated Grocery Store" - put some coins in and this robot gets whatever you want? - There's a cold side & a room-temperature side, - lots of choices - they even have cat food!
Lausanne - walking tour - Tuesday 26th:
While "in-transit" on Tuesday from Geneva to Zurich, we
stopped off in Lausanne, another great Swiss city, and walked UP UP UP
the hill from the trainstation. Along this walk there was a group
of scaffolding workers taking apart what appeared to have been a snowboarding
or skiing run down the centre of this little street that wended it's way
up & down the hill. I think if I'd been a street-side merchant
I'd have feared for my shop window. Also there was (apparently)
a bowling alley being disassembled, as pieces of bowling machinery were
scattered about the streets. We thought, fondly, of our friend Fanki
Tong, a 470 dinghy sailing friend from Hong Kong who now lives & works
in China as a manufacturing consultant, but used to work (in China)
for the US / Germany company "Brunswick" that makes bowling alley equipment.
Eventually we wandered down the hill and along the lake
to the "Olympic Museum" - impressive array of items, but not nearly as
large or extensive as we both imagined it might be.
They have a nice university here - which we stopped to look at and admire the architecture
The small port-area with slips for big boats that stay in the water, as well as for dinghies, was one of the best laid-out & kept-up that we'd seen. Some 470's, 420's, 505's, Flying Dutchmen, as well as the usual array of HobieCats were in evidence. However, as in most places we've visited & found dinghy clubs, it seemed, sadly, that most boats were there collecting dust & debris, rather than well taken-care of & sailed on a regular basis. I guess this is typical of boating in all parts of the world, that people own & store them but sail them less often than they sale them, and for that reason, I guess - dinghy sialing is not nearly as popular as some of us would like the think...
As we left Lausanne we happened by one of the better of the Subway/Train musicians we've ever heard. He is an accordin player, and his name is "Alexander Kalatschov" and we bought his CD (which is DDD) and very good - Bach's Toccata & Fuge amongst others.
We also have a CD from a local Paris group that I'd heard one-time, three guys with Guitar and Pan-Pipes. Then May heard them one time - and bought their CD- they're also excellent.
Zurich - Wednesday & Thursday:
Back on the train in late afternoon, we went on to Zurich, which is the largest town in Switzerland. Also the heart of it's banking and insurance industries.
Interestingly enough, though, the town is only home to about 160,000 full-time residents - including those at the Zurich University & the Zurich "technology" college - often known to foreginers as "ETH". This college ranks right up there with Stanford, MIT, Waterloo, Wollongong as one of the top Computer Science universities the world-over. Obviously it also excels in other science curriculums too.
While going over to the tour-bus area one day - from the train station, we passed-by several hundred bicycles parked there at the station (these people DO RIDE bicycles). One particular bi-people / tri-cycle caught our eye. It's called a "Twike" and it's pretty spectacular bike. May thinks it has an electric motor, but Mr. Bill thinks it's just people-powered. Here's some Pics: May-posing beside it. Interior NamePlate
On Wednesday we went on an all-day-bus-cable-car, cable-car,
cogwheel-train,
boat & bus tour of "Mount Pilatus" - appx 7000 feet / 2320 m - the
tallest thing around. And considering most of everything to the north
is 'almost' flat and everything to
the south is the "Alps" this was one
spectacular trip / tour. The various modes of transport, too,
broke up the trip & made it quite worthwhile because of the different
aspects of the viewing & such.
The views from the
top were obviously tremendous - though it was cold, the clear day &
bright sun yielded a day that the tour guide said was one of the best she
remembered in recent times.
We were treated to a parachutist's launch from right new where we had lunch, he sailed off into the valley - never to be seen again. However, I can well imagine this would be a wonderful way to see this part of the world, from your own parachute, the quiet and wonder must be spectacular. We 'assume' he may have landed at a nearby airport - but I guess there's no telling.
The two cable-car rides were great, revealing views that
were great. The cog-wheel train ride down was almost an hour, and
also great for it's differing views of the other side of the mountain from
that where the cable-cars are on, so in on etrip one got to see both sides
of this mountain, which ic rare on any trip.
Then on Thursday morning we went on a 2-hour city-interest tour, and saw a lot, and listened to a tape of the history of the city. After the city tour, we spent some time in the Swiss cultural museum, right next to the train station.
One of the marvels of Switzerland, to us, is that most
of the museums are very well kept, very clean & modern, but also free
to the public. Admittedly Switzerland doesn't have the plethora of
art & museums that Paris has, but it is interesting that they support
them at no
cost to the viewing public, whereas most French / Paris
museums & attractions charge a fee.
One of the characteristics of Switzerland that we thought
interesting is that only about 30% of people own their own homes, most
rent from banks, insurance companies, city collectives, and a few private
individuals. Another interesting item was that many city-dwellers
can rent a patch of land in the country for a 'garden'. THis are
quite interesting, and each little plot of land has a little house to store
things in (but they are quitck to tell you that spending the
night there is not allowed).
Switzerland is an interesting country in that they have several native languag(es): French in Geneva & surrounds, "Swiss-German" in Zurich, a version of Roman in a very small part of the country, and even in another part of the country - Italian.
In any case we REALLY enjoyed our little jaunt, we certainly intend to come back and some future time - perhaps for a bit of snowboarding & such, and hope that this trip will help us make better decisions in the future about where & when to go hither & yon.
I would personally rather return here than paris, I feel the people are more genuine, the clutural museums & attractions better arranged & offered & presented (and most have English - whereas in Paris you find almost no English explanations in most of the attractions). Plus there's the obvious opportunity for both winter sport as well as hiking & mountain biking in the summer. - Definately on our list of "must return to & do this & that"...
Some generic things:
Trains: This is, by
& large, my first (yeah, read that again FIRST) experience with train-travel.
Yes - by no means 'trains' (be they subways, KCRs (above-ground trains)
and the odd train to Shenzhen & Guangzhou) in my 10 years or so in
Hong Kong were the order of the commuting day, by and large I'd never really
used one to 'travel' - Now May and I had been on several short excursions
(one to Renes & St. Malo a few weeks back (2 hrs on TGV; then 1 hour
on inter-city), but this trip included a total of about 20 hours of train-travel,
and I must say this is definately more civilized than either planes
or cars. Some "Bill Observations" about trains: (at least in
this part of the world:
I think that our first experiences on trains were in / around Paris - and the one thing that the Paris / northern France area has is almost no hills or mountains of any kind. This is France's vegetable garden, and it's obvious why trains were developed / flourished here from need (to get the produce to market(Paris). Also, economically the developers of the train system(s) didn't have to "do" a lot (not many tunnels, not much fill, not many tall / long / expensive bridges. Which means that the train investment community invested, and got quick returns because the development was easy (as compared to the south of France / Switzerland / Alps where there is a lot of grade, a lot of tunnels, etc.).speedy - more so than cars, and lots less hassle (don't even need a license) comfy - WAY more than planes (more foot / table / etc. room) flexible - many trips, each day, to wherever you want to go in Europe versatile - first class / tourist class / bicycle class (yes - you can take your bike) vibrates & moves - (So Ms. May can get her hourly nap on any travel-segment) convenient - comes / goes right IN-TO the 'heart' of most cities (not 40 miles out like the average airport) Immigration nice - (rarely have anything more than 10 seconds at a border crossing) cultural - train stations are a definate plus in culture / architecture / local life-style / scenery, and even, to some extent cuisine scenic - this is the real winner - if you drive you don't have time to look, if you fly, you're too far away - if you train - you get the moving panorama of the local countryside & the local cities and it is a tremendous way to travel / daydream / (attempt) to work
This could also be one of the reasons that France leads a considerable global effort at high-speed trains (TGV) because they've got a LOT of basically flat ground on which to build, operate & develop the rail, electric, road-bed, and other 'systems' that are required for the extensive very high-speed systems they have. Additionally - unlike Japan (another country that leads the world in high-speed-trains), France has no discernable earthquakes, something that hasn't helped Japan in it's quest for high-speed-rail-traffic.
The TGV is truly amazing. Having ridden it, now,
several times - I'm amazed at their ability to keep vibration and motion
in general to a minimum. This train we're on now is not TGV
and the random motion is considerably more noticeable. For the engineering
reader one of the TGV's abilities to dampen vibration so effectively is
the "TGV-Specific-bogey-system" (the wheels under the ends of the carriages)
that puts only one axle under the end of each carriage, as opposed to the
more normal two axles under the end of each carriage. Additionally
they use larger wheels of lower mass, as well as extensive shock-abosorber
systems and linkages between the carriages. All these items together
manage to virtually elimate vibration and make for a ride even smoother,
quieter, and with less vibration that the Boeing 747-400's that I spend
so much of my life on.
On of the things that I wonder about, however, in these high-speed trains is - that there must be some limit to how much power can be transferred across that 1 square inch or so of contact between the moving-train's pantograph and the suspended electric-cable above the train. If these things are going 100 - 200km an hour and that's a 'sliding contact' I have this (probably erroneous) perception that at some speed the electrical & physical characteristics of one piece of metal sliding on another (or maybe it's carbon on the train's pantograph), are going to limit the ability of trains to go any faster. - However, I'm sure one or more of the physicists in the audience will tell me I'm wrong, won't they?
NOW - if the train guys can just learn a few things from the airline types:
(this particular 4h 20 min ride has a dininig / club car but no food, no service, not even a snack-cart (yes - we should have done a better job of checking that particular aspect out) May's finishing off her wafer-crakers, and I've managed the majority of a bag of almonds that have some coating on them, we have about a 100 ml of water left and about 1/2 of a 500 g jar of excellent trail mix - however, I suspect that the McDonalds in the train station in Paris will be our first port of call when we arrive in about another 2 hours.better air-conditioning in-seat music - 20 channels in-seat power for my laptop and/or in-seat video better reading light(s) food served either in the dining car or at my seat
IF we are "lucky" there might be a snack/drink machine
on the platform at the next stop - we do have a pocket-full of French change
- but the last stop was definately in the middle of no-where, so there
were no snack / drink machines on the platform...
O.K.- so we only spent five days here in Switzerland - but there are definite differences:
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| drivers | aggressive / assertive / maniacs | pleasant, personable, courteous |
| Cell phones in restaurantes | all the time | either turned off or when it rings the user goes outside |
| sidewalk cleanliness | dog droppings by the dozen | clean as a whistle |
| pay for toilets | mostly marginally clean | cleaner than a whistle |
| food in restaurants | fair to great - a 'bit' expensive | good to great - 'more' expensive |
| groceries / produce | a 'bit' expensive | 'more' expensive |
| gas (for cars) | more than US - about same as Auz | more than France or Auz |
| Tourist Information Centre: | Pretty useless - primarily because of lack of English | Almost everyone in all three cities & in the train stations & hotels speaks English (as well as a plethora of other languages |
| Dial-up connection to Motorola or UUNet for e-mail from hotel | useless in cheaper hotels (to say nothing of funky connector | useless in cheaper hotels (to say nothing of funky connector & weirdo voice-mail sysem |
| Tour Bus Operators / Staff | fair at best - not terribly informative or helpful | excellent in all respects |
| Peach Iced Tea | Excellent | Excellent |
| pay-for-toilets | $0.35 US - regardless | girls $1.30US; guys $0.75 - $1.25 US |
One other tremendously important technological revelation - especially valuable to the comp-u-geeks out there:
YES, DEFINATELY the new Apple PowerBook
G3 Laptops Battery if TRULY TRULY TRULY the most ASTOUDING FEAT of the
late 20th century.. - I literally did two full days of computing - plus
this entire web-page, plus countless e-mails and so-forth and STILL have
(so I'm told) 1hour 30 minutes battery juice left and I'm still trucking
right along here (Yes - two batteries - but this is really really REALLY
REALLY REALLY the most amazing battery life of any laptop EVER - especially
any laptop I'VE EVER OWNED, and thought I'm sure there are lots out there
who like Intel & such - I don't think ANYTHING in the Intel environment
can even
come CLOSE...
