T̶w̶o̶ One p̶e̶r̶p̶e̶t̶u̶a̶l̶ ̶e̶x̶p̶a̶t̶s̶ immigrant settling into home country number five.
They spread it on sandwiches by the gallon. They slather it on pretzels by the kilo. But apparently, the Swiss are just not consuming enough butter. Their butter levels have become so dangerously low, in fact, that the Swiss Butter Council* has decided to intervene. To increase local butter awareness, the SBC has implemented an … Read more
We spent the day before the cow fights in Sion, a lovely little Valais city not far from Martigny. The main attractions (beyond the charming downtown walking district) are multiple picturesque hilltop castles which overlook the city. Gluttons for punishment that we are, we hiked up to two castles (one of which is technically a … Read more
The New York Times picks up the Swiss Black Sheep story (obviously inspired by me). Also, violence erupted at a protest in Bern over the weekend. Check out the latest edition of the Carnival of Cities. Looking for a fabulous night out in Zurich? I highly recommend this exciting art opening coming up on November … Read more
Ranoma’s victory (in the 500 to 600 pound category) Martigny Cow Fighting – Ranoma’s victory from zurika on Vimeo. Two cows escape the ring Martigny Cow Fighting – the escape from zurika on Vimeo.
It’s fall in Switzerland – you know what that means, right? Time for the farmers to start entertaining themselves (and others) with their cows. Not to be outdone by last year’s desalpes, this past weekend we headed west to watch Cows Fighting in Martigny. What’s that, you say? You’re not familiar with cow fighting? Well … Read more
Midsummer Night’s Knitter asked me a while ago if I had any advice for someone moving to Zurich. While I certainly don’t feel like an expert on the subject, I suppose I might have some useful things to suggest after 2 years here. At least I should, shouldn’t I? I mean, it would be pretty … Read more
Last Sunday afternoon we headed down from Murren and went to visit the Trummelbach Falls. This is a series of waterfalls roaring through a mountain, runoff from the melting glaciers of the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau. It is truly spectacular. The dim lighting combined with our puny little camera made it impossible to capture even … Read more
And now for a more beautiful side of Switzerland… this weekend found us back in one of our favorite destinations, Murren, where we stayed at the Hotel Eiger. We paid a bit extra for a ‘superior’ room, which was superior, I imagine, only in the fact that it came attached to a balcony with a … Read more
So today I open my mailbox to find a brochure from the good old SVP (the Swiss political party of black sheep infamy). I decided to flip through and see what new and improved bigoted scare tactics they were using in the run up to the election. I didn’t have to flip very far.This young … Read more
In this part of the world, you’ll notice that many people’s mailboxes sport stickers that say things like “no advertisements, please”. That’s all it takes to avoid a box full of Werbung (ads and leaflets). Mass mailings from political parties and charities still come through, but nothing else. Less junk, save a few trees… who … Read more