Swimming in the Emme

My last day in Lützelflüh, we decided to go for a swim in the nearby Emme. Fun was had by all.

Full album here.


That's me inside the waterfall

Selected photos from The Emmental

Full albums: Bern, Burgdorf, Lützelflüh


Lady Justice depicted on a fountain in Burgdorf.


The imposing castle wall of Castle Burgdorf


The Emme and the Emmental


Waiting for noon at the Zytglogge


The famous clock


Let your mind wander on the irony of this scene.


View from the top of the Münster. If you look really hard, you can see the snow-capped Alps in the distance.


Stained glass from inside the Münster.


Sculpture of Mary over the body of Jesus


Random building in Bern


NydeggKirch was build on the foundation of the original Keep.


Aare river forms the outer border of the original town of Bern


Sculpture outside the train station in Lützelflüh


Cheese Factory

I ate a piece of parsley

I'm pretty sure it was just supposed to be garnish for my 3 pieces Nürnburger sausages and sauerkraut, but since I hadn't eaten anything green since arriving 3 days before, I thought it might be prudent. It's amazing how much the body can crave veggies when it's not getting any.

Yesterday, i went with my grandfather and two cousins to Bern, the capitol of Switzerland. One of my favorite things about the city is the many beatiful fountains that adorn its streets

Unfortunately, my favorite one of all, the kindlifresserbrunnen (Eater of small children-fountain) was boarded up, probably to do some restoration.


We also got to swing by the Zytglogge, a Medieval clock tower built in the 13th century. It's pretty neat just to look at, but at noon there's a fancy bit of clock-work action and the gold man on the top bangs the bell. This sight always brings a hoard of tourists, but I was able to sit up on an electrical transformer box or something and take a couple of grainy, jerky videos using my camera.

After that, we headed over to the Münster church, a gorgeous Gothic structure, with an amazing piece of artwork at the entrance that depicts the last judgment. We payed 5 francs for the privilege of walking up 343 steps (each about 6 inches high) to the top ramparts, but from the top we were rewarded with an exquisite view of the town and surrounding country side.


Question: for the 4 of you that are actually reading this thing, do you like that I add all these links? Do you actually click on them?

I loves me my castles

Today took me to the old town and castle of Burgdorf. My Grandfather was my tour guide and told me all kinds of interesting facts. The original castle was built in the 11th century, and was continually modified and added onto until the late 16th century.

Apparently, it's one of the earliest castles in the country, and the same family that built it is also responsible for founding many other cities in Switzerland (including the capital city, Bern, where I'm going tomorrow).

I learned plenty of other interesting trivia, took lots of pictures, and generally reveled in the fact that I was wandering through what was essentially a Medieval town. I also got to drop by a bank and pulled out my 1700 swiss francs which, thanks to the depressed dollar, is basically $1700 (shh, don't tell any gypsies). I'm hoping that will last me at least through Budapest... provided I don't get robbed or swindled.

I am hopeless

So I managed to leave my little notebook on the plane. I didn't really have anything written in there yet except for a really cool quote from the book I was reading (I also left the book on the plane). I also lost my money belt with my passports and 300 dollars in cash within the first 5 minutes of setting down my stuff (it was in my bag all along, in a pocket I was sure I checked twice).

So If I loose all contact, look for me in Budapest, because that's the first place I'm going where i have to fend for myself... I wish Kristen were here to take care of me :-(

Edit: A couple people have asked... I did end up finding my passports and my money. It was in a pocket of my bag that I looked in twice before without seeing it.

Sunrise at 30,000 feet

Well, to be fair, we were far enough north that the sun never really set; there was always an orange glow at the horizon. The point is, I was awake to see it... and it sucked.

After waking up at 5am to get to LAX at 6am so that I could have plenty of time before my 8:20am flight to pass through any extra security for international flights (turns out the only thing I had to do was show them my passport. I was at the gate by 6:20)... I boarded the plan to Philly. This flight passed largely without incident, but I did manage to drain both my laptop batteries.

Somewhere along the line I also must have dropped my laptop too hard, because when I went to plug in my laptop to charge it, I noticed a crack on the back panel and a little flap of plastic obstructing the charge outlet. Hopefully it can be fixed with some duct tape and/or super glue, but for now i can push that little obstruction aside.

The flight to Zurich was a whole different story. First off, the plane was a 767 instead of a 737, and the seats were significantly more cramped. To add to this misery, I was seated next to a rather large (though exceptionally nice) man. Further more, he kept trying to get comfortable, but failed miserably, and managed only to bump me each and every time I was on the verge of actually sleeping.

Needless to say, I am quite tired. But I was picked up at the airport by my 2 lovely cousins Tanja and Stefania, and I'm now in the lovely little town called Niederlenz, and I'm going to take a nap.

Packing

Before:



After:



In Philadelphia right now, waiting to board my flight to Zurich. Goodbye USA!

Last day of work!

Yesterday, I closed out my last day at The Scripps Research Institute. Kerri (my boss) took the lab out for a great lunch at Fidel's in Del Mar, and they got me all kinds of goodies:



I organized my notes and my freezer boxes and got next to nothing else accomplished (sorry Kerri), then we headed down to La Jolla Brew House for some drinks and celebrating.



Lots of pictures were taken, some not very flattering, but a good time was had by all (well, I had a good time, I don't know about everyone else). Afterwards, we headed over to BevMo to pick up supplies for Mojitos (my favorite drink), and went home to indulge. my co-worker Yu was very excited about hitting the Hookah, but unfortunately it was being held by one of my roommate's friends, and our attempts to break into his apartment were unsuccessful.

After this failure, some of us decided to head down to Pacific Beach to see some live music. After a lot of roaming, we found some at some bar, but I was tired and the band wasn't very good (thought that might have just been because I wanted to get home).

3 days until Europe... Woohoo!