Europe is a foreign country

I am on vacation in Switzerland and trying my hand at Blackberry blogging. So I am sorry for an mistakes.

Things are different here.

People smoke everywhere (though less than in the old days).

The butter is much better.

I get severe train envy.

And here in Switzerland, mountains are everywhere and so is the cheese.

A Danish Experiment in Self Government -- Part I

When in Denmark, I somewhat surprised our hosts by saying that the first thing I wanted to see was "Freetown Christiania".

The town is a small self governing enclave in Copenhagen. The site of the town is in what was once the defensive fortifications of the city. The forts were obsolete, but the military continued to use the barracks until 1972, when the shut the base down. Soon, some hippies moved in and established their own community.

The hippie spirit still survives!

The old buildings were occupied and redecorated to reflect the free spirit of the new residents. No cars are allowed in the town, so people get around primarily by bicycle. Many bicycles are manufactured and/or modified in the town itself (one of the major business was a bicycle company). The bicycles are custom manufactured to have cargo spaces or turned into tricycles that can carry extra people or goods. The bicycles are very popular and you see them all around Copenhagen.

As you would expect in such an enclave, there were an abundance of artists and other creative types, and their work was very much in evidence.

Views from the Bellagio Lakefront

No comment necessary.

A few thoughts on Zurich

To get to and from Lake Como, we passed trough Zurich. The main train station in Zurich really is the cross road of Europe. When sitting there, you see just about everyone and all kinds passing through.



These guys though were there in abundance on Saturday.




They are fans of Swiss soccer club Grasshoppers (of Zurich). Apparently, that Saturday was their last game in their old stadium. A new stadium build in connection with the Euro 2008 soccer championship is opening. The fans were in a good mood and heading off to the old stadium.

Later that night, we ran into a few Grasshopper fans on the train. They were carrying seats taken from the stadium and boxes. When they opened the boxes, I saw they had grass inside, apparently taken from the stadium. So somewhere in Zurich right now is a backyard with seats and turf from the old stadium.

More Pictures from Italy

Bellagio is the tourist center of Lake Como. The lake itself is "Y" shaped and Bellagio is on the tip of the peninsula where the two legs branch off. The area has long been popular with English tourists, most of the English you hear in Bellagio has the old middle class English accent.

Bellagio, right off the ferry terminal.


A hotel in Bellagio

A street in Bellagio, looking down from the upper city toward the lake front.

My mother in law and me sharing some proseco.

A street in Bellagio

More to come.

A few more vacation photos

Alex and Christian clearing customs at Zurich


Hungry yet?

A view of the historic center of Griante, Italy, where we were staying.

Cadenabbia-Griante, as the ferry pulls away.

Bellagio, the tourist center of Lake Como, as we approach on the ferry

More to come

Some more vacation pictures

My kids loved Italy as they were able to eat pasta every meal.

And drink juice mixed with sparkling mineral water (or tickle water as my son called it)



Everywhere you looked, it was beautiful.

Back from Vacation

I just returned from a vacation to the Lake Como region of Italy. An incredibly beautiful place. We stayed in the small town of Griante on the west side of the lake. The town has about 700 residents and 800 hotel rooms. Most of the tourists were Germans and British, I doubt I heard an American accent there.

An incredibly beautiful region where the mountains seem to sprout up from the shore of the lake. The lake had been surrounded by the villas of the wealthy,

plus hotels and houses for the rest of us.

The towns, such as Bellagio (the famous tourist center) hug the hills along the shore.

The easiest way around was by boat. The kids loved it, being able to eat pasta for every meal.