Mountains

Besides chocolat, clocks and order, Switzerland is of course also well known for its mountains. Last few weekends I have been lucky enough to finally do some hiking. Good thing of Lausanne is that it is strategically located in between the rough and high Alps and the more roling and moderately high Jura mountains.
For some reason, the Swiss don't consider a mountain finished until they've built a train on it. As a happy result, I can easily reach some of the most beautiful hikes in about an hour. Needless to say I've now discovered that, and I'm intensively taking the opportunity.

So far I've been in the Alps once (4 hrs, 1400 >> 2000 meters):And in the Jura twice. Once for a hike close to the French border (5 hours, 1000 >> 1100 meters (easy)):
And last weekend for a heavy one up a large canyon (6 hours, 800 >> 1400 meters):
Good weekens spent with the hiking mates from former french-class!

Alice

Alice? Alice? Who the f*ck is Alice?


Alice is actually A Large Ion Collider Experiment (so far for cool abbreviations...) and is one of the humongous experimental installations at CERN. CERN in turn is the large particle accelerator near Geneva, which is located in an underground circle with a circumference of 27 kilometer!

A few weeks ago I was in the lucky opportunity to visit the Alice experiment. I'm not going into any details behind the science; mainly because I have no clue what it's actually doing. I can tell you though that looking down at the machine 50 meter down the ground was very impressive. Here some extra pictures for you to get an impression:

Satisfaction

The Clash already sang about it decades ago: fighting the system is pointless. Usually I try to not be bothered with bureaucracy. This week I had to act twice though. And, to my surprise: I succeeded only using the french language.



Act 1.
Situation: Mail from the electricity company, whether I can grant them permission to take the monthly payment from my Post-account.
Issue: Rather than the Post, I have a jetset bank taking care of my money.
Solution: Visit office and use my best french to ask for a replacement of the form.
Result: We got it!

Act 2.
Situation: Mail at my old apartment from the residential insurance company. They have received my change of address.
Issue: They have changed my old address to my old address.
Solution: Send email in french asking for a second attempt to change address.
Result: New policy within a day and appologies.

Ah, the sweet taste of victory. The Dead Kennedys knew very well what that was like!

Le Tour

The Tour the France is said not to stop for anyone. With that in mind I left home early this morning to head for todays finish-town; ski-resort Verbier. I was not the only one. The one hour wait for the cable-car at Le Chable should have made me suspicious: what a circus!

A preview of the finish area

This days race was one of the few mountain races, with a final ascent just before the finish of around 800 meters. For those not into cycling: this was one of the days where the final winner could make the difference (or, in cycling-terms: a day when the men would be separated from the boys).

So, after arrival, I slowly started making my way down the mountain to find a spot where I could relax and wait for the riders to pass. To put this in perspective: this was four hours before the actual passing of the Tour. Luckily I found a great little slope, with food and drinks nearby. Not too long before others noticed too!

The Norwegians sent a delegation to cheer for Thor

So after enjoying the sun for four hours, the Tour was finally there! As if the mountain was just flat, Contador raced by first. Not unexpectedly, though it was good to see my personal favourite Andy Schleck was not too far behind. Now I'll just have to wait for one more week to see who will make it in the yellow jersey to Paris. Contador clearly made his mark today.

Alberto Contador on his way to the finish

Montreux Jazz

If you're a snob, you like jazz-music. If you like jazz-music, Montreux Jazz is the yearly pelgrimage to make. Last few weeks the festival has been going on. Yesterday I teamed up with my former french-classmates, and went for a visit. The headliner for the night was Prince. Tickets were only 480 francs (around 300 euro or $450), so we skipped. Luckily, for the not-so-rich-and-famous, there's also a free program, which even more luckily consists of mainly non-jazz artists.So, that gave me the opportunity to see my first very enjoyable Swiss band, The Rambling Wheels (I'd say: Franz Ferdinand). Unfortunately, this weekend was the last for this year. Next year I'll be taking the train a bit more often.

Visitors

This weekend I had my first visitors: Wouter and Marlies were in Lausanne from Friday to Tuesday. This was a great opportunity to see the city and its surroundings as a tourist.

Conclusion: there's a lot to do here in and around Lausanne!

Luckily, Wouter brought his fancy camera along, so here some impressions for you to enjoy:

View of Cully. This village is part of the Lavaux wine-area, which is a Unesco heritage site.


The Chateau de Chillon (Chillon Castle), a very beautiful and well-conserved medieval castle. Located very close to the city of Montreux, well known for its jazz-festival.


The Olympic torch, at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne. The International Olympic Committee resides in Lausanne. I'll try to write some more about that soon.


Waiting for the tiny train at the tiny station in Caux to bring us up the huge mountain.


In the train, on our way to the Rochers de Naye.


On top of the >2000 m Rochers de Naye. A very spectacular mountain, and a very spectacular view; unless it's clouded.

A well deserved beer after a weekend full of activities!

End of the touristic slide show. Thanks to Wouter and Marlies for the pictures.

Recycling 2.0

A good Dutch citizen knows:

• glass goes in the glass bin
• paper is handed to charity, so they can make some money
• organic waste goes in the smelly organic waste bin
• batteries and paint are handed over at the chemical waste bus
• metal is picked up by people who tend to be a bit shady

and only what is left goes with the trash. Here in Switzerland Recycling 2.0 has arrived:No more environmental concerns when having a Nespresso now. I'm gonna get me one of those!

60 m2 > 6 m2

After 2 months of camping in my tiny 6 m2 apartment, I was happy to move to my new place this weekend. From now on I'll be living in a little palace at the Place Chauderon. As you can see, the interior is still a bit minimalistic:
The location in the middle of the city center and the view of the lake compensates a lot though:
And this moving keeps my body in shape too! When biking home from work, I have to climb up the hill an additional 100m. Maybe I should consider joining the Tour de France next year...

A Dutch gathering in Paris

This weekend I visited my good friend Judith in Paris. Not surprisingly I had a very good time; Paris is a beautiful city after all. And the good thing of having someone who knows the city, is that you get to see the not so standard things. Take for instance this beautiful view of the Notre Dame from roof of the Institute du Monde Arabe (that's Institute of the Arab World):Knowing the city has more advantages: knowing what's happening! So suddenly I had a chance encounter with great Dutch band De Kift. The Wageningen-crew will all know the band, as they used to frequent the late Unitas. In Paris they were, more upscale, playing the theatre of the Cité Université:
I was curious to see the reaction of the french crowd to this punk/folk/world music group. Let me just summarize by saying the crowd went nuts. 4 encores, dancing, yelling; these guys fit right in. Needless to say I had a good evening. For you to enjoy: a little piece of 'Orenmens' live in Paris:

Tic Toc

Swiss clocks are well known for their accuracy. Rumour is, Swiss society is too.
Last few days, I have experienced this is not a rumour. Yesterday during lunch I called SwissCom to arrange internet in my new apartment. This morning at 6.40 the mailman knocked on my door to deliver my new modem. Goodmorning, sometimes you can be too accurate...

A happy marriage

For you who didn't hear the news yet: last week I signed the contract for my new apartment! For now no news yet about the new place, but as soon as I move in I'll promise / warn you I will flood you with information and pictures that will make you jealous. For now, I want to tell you a different story: After signing the contract, I suddenly share a bank-account. This is not because the apartment comes with a wife. No, suddenly I share an account with my landlord...
Apparently, there's a whole banking industry that accommodates the safe storage of deposits.

And the great thing about these accounts: they are just like in a traditional marriage! I'm providing the money and the significant other is deciding when I can touch the money.

I've been thinking for a description of this system in one word, but for the moment only the word "Swiss" comes to mind...

Unidentified Edible Objects

Ok, so you don't need to tell me that I'm lazy. Truth is, pre-cut vegetables are just very convenient when trying to prepare a quick meal. And besides, a single guy like would never have the chance of mixing this many kinds of vegetables without letting half of it rot away in the fridge. The Dutch Albert Heijn understands my needs, sporting a huge range of internationally themed pre-cut vegetables. My Swiss Coop is also trying, though here the choice is limited to a Chinese and an Oriental mix. Visual inspection showed that the Chinese mix was mainly cabbage, so the choice for the Oriental mix was from now on quickly made.

Hmmm, the last few weeks I have been enjoying several good stir-fried dishes! Only one thing kept bothering me. The Oriental mix also seemed not completely cabbage free. To be more precise, the mix contained a dark somewhat rubbery cabbage variety that was unknown to me.


Needless to say, I picked it out and threw it away.

But these kind of things bother me. Being from a cabbage-culture, I couldn't believe I didn't know this type. So, when I bought my Oriental vegetables today I decided to check what I was dealing with. Well, not cabage apparently...

Last few weeks I have consistently been throwing away the most exquisite ingredient of my Oriental vegetable mix: Judas Ear mushrooms.



So from now on I'm enjoying stir-fried dishes with extra bounce. Now that I know I can't throw it away anymore....

Bon appetit!

Je m'appelle Daan

Today I had my first French class! No English allowed, so one and a half hour of stammering and stuttering. Luckily we are all in the same situation, so only little embaressment.Today was mainly devoted to getting to know each other. We're 12 people, and we're a pretty international bunch, ranging from Iranian, Indian to German and Danish. Hopefully it will not only be educative, but also enjoyable. Tomorrow lesson 2!

No adventures today

Wow, all hell broke loose:



I'll be sitting next to the central heating for the rest of the day.

Efficiency at last

Today, while taking a random tour on the campus, I realized that for the last month I've been taking a gigantic detour to bike to the lab.

Apparently these crazy Swiss have dug a tunnel under the campus, which allows me to save at least 5 minutes each way! It's a bit of a scary place that I have to pass, but I think I will find the courage to do so.


Hmmm, now I'll have to think what to do with the extra 10 minutes a day....

Random Supermarket Question

Saturday I was in my supermarket. As I was thirsty, I was standing in front of the beer-isle, thinking what brand of beer I was going to try this time. Suddenly I was approached by a woman.

Woman: Excuse-moi, je peux vous demander une question?

Daan: Uh, uh, oui, uh, uh, pas de problem.

Woman: Oh, we can also talk in English. Can I ask you a question about beer?


She spotted the connaisseur right on!

Daan: Yes, that should be no problem.

Woman: I am having very important guests tonight, and they drink beer. I never drink beer, so I don't know anything about beer. But now I need the best beer I can get. Price is absolutely no issue.

Daan: Do they have certain preferences for a type of beer, or do they just prefer normal beer.

Woman: What is a normal beer? I never drink beer.

This woman was clearly from a different league...

Daan: If people ask for a 'normal beer', they usually expect a pilsner. A very normal, average beer would be the Kronenbourg 1664. I do advise you to serve bottles, rather than cans.

Woman: And this is impressive enough?

Daan: Well, if you want to really impress your visitors, you can always take the Belgian beers that are on the other side of the isle. That's heavy stuff though! But your visitors will sure be impressed.
Woman: Thank you very much, I'll go for that.

I hope her visitors were happy. I went home where I enjoyed myself a nice German Paulaner Hefe Weiße. Cheers!

French for beginners

Sweet, I'll be starting a 'French for beginners' course soon. At least, I think... Here's the message I got:

Module de français

Bonjour,

Nous avons le plaisir de confirmer votre placement dans un groupe du Centre de langues selon les modalités ci-après :

Module semi-intensif (FR)
Groupe : FR semi-int A2 II E
Horaire : Lundi de 16:15 à 17:45 | Mardi de 16:15 à 17:45 | Mercredi de 16:15 à 17:45 | Jeudi de 16:15 à 17:45
Salle : CE2447

VOTRE ENGAGEMENT : Nous vous rappelons que l'inscription à un module du Centre de langues est un engagement ferme à le suivre régulièrement et dans son intégralité. Il peut arriver qu'un cas de force majeure vous contraigne à y renoncer : nous vous prions de nous en aviser au plus vite. Important : deux absences non excusées impliquent une exclusion immédiate du groupe.

Vous pouvez vous excuser par email ou téléphone ou directement auprès de votre enseignant-e.

En vous souhaitant beaucoup de plaisir à suivre cette formation, nous vous adressons nos salutations les meilleures.

Centre de langues EPFL

Deep down the message I also found the English translation... Good thing is, the A2 level is already a little bit advanced (third level), so I'm not starting completely from scrap.

The Berg Sans Nipple

What? The Berg Sans Nipple? What sick topic will this be...
Don't worry, nothing weird going on here.

Yesterday I went to see my first concert in Lausanne. And so this was by the band The Berg Sans Nipple. Pretty cool they were playing here! It was not the first time I'd seen them (Jasper and Jeffrey may still remember their performance at the obcure Rhâââ Lovely Festival in 2004) and that was really good.Yesterday they played at Le Romandie, which is a cool place since it actually consists of one of the arches of Le Grand Pont, the big bridge here in Lausanne.

Again they played a very good show, short though... Probably because they weren't the main act of the night. The headliner was so bad though that I left during the 4th song. I just couldn't stand it any more...

The end of cool

It took the bike mechanic almost two weeks to fix my bike. Apparently bike tires are hard to get in this country.

But, now my sweetheart is back and every day I take her for a little spin to work.

Ain't she sweet?

Unfortunately, I did have to make a though decission. The roads here are populated by big cars that tend to abruptly change direction to where I am on my bike. Saturday I therefore surrendered, went to the bike store and bought a helmet.

There's no denying: I look like a dork...

30ºC

Even the park is too warm to stay for a long time...

Ascension Day

Today is Ascension Day (Hemelvaartsdag), which is an official holiday in Switzerland. The scientist I am, this didn't stop me from going to the lab for a few hours. Nor did it stop my fellow scientist / lab members. I usually like working on holidays and in weekends, because these are quiet days and I get a lot of things done.
Only problem today: all canteens, restaurants and other vending places were closed. Not unexpectedly, this resulted in a lab full of hungry grumpy scientists. That left us with only one option: have lunch on the terrace of Le Skipper.

Hurrah for 28 degrees celcius and French gastronomic influence!

Small laundry, big laundry

I put them all in the washing machine and then let it nicely spin (for the non-Dutch people on this blog: it's a well-known Dutch song). Tonight was my weekly night-out to the laundry shop.
So far I've always been lucky to live at places where a washing machine was present, so I am still getting used to the situation. Doing laundry at Lavanderie de Simplon is easy, quick and close to home though.

1. Insert dirty laundry, soap and 5 francs (that's 3.33 euros or $712.14)
2. Incubate 45 minutes

3. Transfer laundry to dryer and insert another 5 francs
4. Incubate another 20 minutes

And then... add 10 more centimes to open the door. You didn't think there was no catch involved, did you?

Safety training

My new employer is clearly a technical institution. Today I had to show up for safety training, and wow, that's serious business here.

After an hour of First Aid talks, finally what I was coming for: FIRE TRAINING! You bet I was ready to extinguishing some fire. And you can imagine my disappointment when I found out that the EPFL geeks have an actual fire training simulator. So, no real fire, just aiming the extinguisher at a screen.

Exit excitement... Enter nerd universe.

Lausanne >>> Rotterdam >>> Lausanne <<<

No more traveling for me for a while. After only 10 days of Lausanne I spent my last 5 days in Rotterdam again (congrats again Iris for defending your PhD!). From now on I'm fully concentrating on becoming a model Swiss citizen.
So no more urban Maaskade view, but back to rural mountains and small village Switzerland.

And not to forget, back to work!

EPFL, here I come!

Weekend

I decided to keep the first weekend on my own in Lausanne to be a weekend of relaxation and acclimatisation. So no reports here of earthshaking achievements or ambitous activities.

Yesterday I did walk around the city a bit though, doing a bit of shopping while trying to find my way around. Now that I've been in the centre a few times I'm starting to already know my way around quite well. Which in conclusion just shows that the city is just not very big.

This afternoon I continued relaxing, by having a coffee at the pier, while reading a nice book. Not to make you jealous, but I had to make the picture on the right. Everytime I see the mountains I'm still stunned how beautiful they are and how abrupt they suddenly end at the other side of the lake. Mabe you've also noticed the clouds, right now I'm happy to be home watching the rain poor down.

Still up for tonight is my trip to the laundromat. Adventure can also be found in the most common things!