Gigli's Page of Stuff

31 May 2007

Barbara and I left Zurich for the USA on 30 May this week. As usual, we shipped our luggage to the airport, so we did not have to schlepp the bags from two trains. The baggage is kept at the "to claim" section of the airport's SBB station where one picks up it with claim checks before checking in. No problems as usual. HOWEVER, this year we were told that they would sell us baggage checks for our use when we returned in a couple of months.

As I went in to claim our bags, the lad… Continue

The southern part of the alpine peaks is a different wold from that in the north. The people there speak some French, some German, and a tiny bit of Romanisch. For some years, I have had a friend, Fred Osterholz, from the USA who makes at least one trip a year to CH, frequently with his friend, Julia. Fred and Julia are very unique friends; they are New England Yankees, not a breed that I ordinarily seek out. They seem to put up with me, so I reciprocate, and over the years, I can count them as… Continue

An Idyller staying Sachseln alerted me to an article in a commuter newspaper about an attempt to put Sachseln even further in the public eye. An outfit called Erotic Planet had asked the town council to allow them to produce a hard core porno film up at Aelggi Alp, a few kilometers from now and site of the geographic middle of CH. The council, in its wisdom, said "no way" to the film company. It felt that Aelggi Alp had enough recognition as it stands. The film folks are now going to ask to f… Continue

With these words, the minister in the Protestant church in Sarnen ended her memorial service yesterday. The place was packed with all sorts of people from Europe and the USA, whose lives she had touched in many ways, and I think she would have been very flattered had she been there, other than in our hearts and minds. Her grand daughters spoke her biography, played music, and gave an eulogy. Her ashes will be placed in the Sachseln church cemetery which is ecumenical. A small urn will also ac… Continue

Berit Greutert died this morning about 0430 local time in the Kanton Hospital in Sarnen. She came from Norway, and always loved her homeland as well as CH. She and Albert had been married 52 years and had lived in CH 40 of those years. They had three wonderful children, Jan… Continue

You can monitor the conditions on the passes here:

http://www.swissinfo.ch/ger/infos_zur_schweiz/verkehrsinfo/index.html?siteSect=490

Most in The Heartland remain closed for now. The Gotthard (about 27 May) is a priority, and they have about 200,000 TONS of snow to move there. Next come the Oberalp (about 14 May) and the Klausen (about 5 June). Then they will work on the Furka (5 June), Susten (19 June), and Grimsel.

Two more men have died on the North Face of the Eiger. Read about this here:

http://tr.im/hSsq

These two well trained men surely must have reached the summit, but like others, died on the way down. The weather is what caused them to die on what a lot of climbers believe is the most dangerous part of a climb, the descent. That part of the effort is when fatigue is the greatest, and the tendency to become careless is the greatest.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/17/europe/swiss.php

And some people have asked me why I would ever move to CH??? Well, here is a reasonably good answer. I know that the Swiss are a bit nervous about a decrease in tourism, but this should take care of that. Even with my arthritic bod, I may have to get out and about, but I will wait until summer. I can only imagine how popular this will be with the Idyllers. So much for cross cultural exchange, right?

While on this topic, let me a… Continue

Everyone seems to be (or will be) affected by the the economy's chaos right now. No matter what you choose to call it, jobs are lost, much less money spent, and less resources are gathered. The Swiss are well aware that what affects the USA will cross the Atlantic and affect Europe and themselves.

Today's Luzern newspaper has several articles regarding this. One deals with the likely fact the tourism (over 90% of the Swiss GDP is dealing with tourism), especially the number of American touri… Continue

This is a Spanish Wanderweg that is not a good idea, especially for acrophobes. You will note that most parts have a cable. Hope this file works for you. It is best seen in full screen.


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You can download this to read it also. I think it better to print it, and then got to www.skincheck to fill it in, attach the picture, and send it.

… Continue

As of 1 May, there is a website created by the Swiss called www.skincheck.ch

It is in German, French, and Italian as are most things here. What it does do is allow one to make a digital photo of any and all skin lesions, moles, etc. Then you fill out a form in one of the languages and send it to the site. A certified dermatologist will check it and get back to you. If it is suspicious, it is up to you to get to a doctor.

This is a part of "Skin Cancer Awareness" here in CH. If this picks up… Continue

Just when you think that you have heard it all, here comes another crazy story (no, not about Eliot Spitzer).

The day before yesterday, it seems that four Korean gentleman tourists decided to take the Wanderweg from Alpnachstad and walk up to the top of Pilatus. In summer, that is a somewhat boring four hour hike. In winter, it is covered with deep snow and has no train service by the steepest cog train in the world. Because of areas of avalanche danger, it is also avoided under these condition… Continue

At tax time, it might interest some to see what Europe and CH pay.

Belgium--58.2% of income
Italy-52.5%
Sweden-49.0%
Denmark-47.5%
France-44.7%
Germnay-41.3%
Austria-38.5%
Kanton Vaud in CH-37.9%
Kanton Bern-34.7%
Basel City-34.0%
Zuerich-30.4%
Kanton Obwalden-25.0%
Zug-24.0%

Now, don't you feel better?

Yep. It is true. Stop by the local 7-11 in Sarnen (ESSO station), and they will fix you up. Sushi has been around for several years in the big cities, but now it has made it to The Heartland. I am still waiting for catfish.

I wrote a blog on the working poor in CH some time ago. The local newspaper had another article on an adjacent topic yesterday that caught my eye.

About 9 % of the population between the ages of 20 and 59 are below the poverty level here. A single person who earns less than 24,000 CHF per year is impoverished. That same person with two children who earns less than 55,800 CHF per year is impoverished. Of that group of 9% there are half that work more than 36 hours per week. basically that mea… Continue

This 29 year old young man suffered a major fall with significant head injury in Kitzbuhl, Austria on Saturday in a World Cup competition. The movie is on my video site here on my page. You can see that he had a focal/generalized seizure immediately. The doctors were at his side in seconds, and he was air-evacuated within minutes. He was placed in an artificial coma until Sunday night, then allowed to awaken, and is alert and talking now. He has no memory of the entire day befo… Continue

Today's Democrat is John Edwards, age 54, born and educated in NC, and a Methodist. His experience is as a US Senator from NC and John Kerry's running mate in 2004. He has 12+ million dollars in his war chest.

His strengths are his energy and his appearance as the embodiment of "The American Dream". His coming from little means to being a millionaire. He champions the workers and is a good speaker. He makes the ladies' hearts beat faster (their words remember). A good… Continue

Today's Democrat is Hillary Clinton, labeled as "The First Lady".They give her age and birth state. They mention that she went to Wellesly College, Yale Law School, and is a Methodist. Her experience lists her being the first lady of Arkansas, the first lady of the USA, and the now senator of NY in the USA Senate.

Hillary's war chest is listed as 50.46 million US$. The paper sees her experience as being an insider in the White House, a competent senator who can cross p… Continue