Why the top of my blog "Swiss" heavy is

Before my posts come, you have noticed certainly that Swiss "things" are prominent on my blog. This is because I am proud to be Swiss. Very proud. It has not always been so. Actually, there were times were I was not proud at all to be Swiss.

But as one grows older, things are seen in more moderate way. And taken cooler.

Switzerland is landlocked. And the Alps and Jura mountains shielded us from bad things and agressors. And this probably made that our minds were "landlocked" too.

And when I came back after my first two years of foreign experience, at the age of 23, I was suffocating. I could not identify myself anymore with these "people". I had seen the world, I had seen suffering and problems and all the Swiss worried about were trains running 3 minutes late. At that time, in the mid sixties, there was no unemployment, everybody had work. Except the employees of the unemployment office. They were at work but had nothing to do. And so I left my country soon again.

And for a long time, I did not worry about my country and not even care. But perhaps being away from it and having been influenced by "foreign" people who had been to Switzerland, I started to see things in a different way.

Of course, we have this horrible right (almost extreme right and strongest) wing party with its awful leaders (and one in particular) who want our country to be landlocked. And yet some of those leaders are filthy rich by doing business with the whole world.

And, of course, we have stupid votes like the anti minaret vote.

Or the head of the Department of Immigration who recently made racist statements.

But we also have legalized prostitution and euthanasia. Being gay or lesbian is almost no problem (but it can still be a problem) anymore.

Yes, we are known to yodel, to make cheese, chocolates and watches. But we are also very strong in "high tech" with two "Ecoles Polytechniques", one in Zurich and one in Lausanne. Where some important discoveries have been made.

And we have two absolute great ladies in our government. Our Minister of Foreign Affairs is absolutely fantastic and has worked very hard for Switzerland to have an important presence in world matters. Our Minister of Economy is also our President and will most probably receive this years "Swiss Humor Award". Because she burst out laughing when she had to reply, in Parliament, to a motion of the above mentioned party.

Many more things make that I am proud of my country. And that's why the the top of the blog is "Swiss" heavy.

First, most prominently, a photo of Montreux, my hometown. A "sexy" town throughout the year. But definitely the most "sexy" town in the world during two weeks. In July when the Jazz Festival is on.

About "Swiss things". There I put headlines that cover a particular subject or happening concerning Switzerland. Or they are of special interest. And I add always a comment or statement. Either amused, puzzled, funny, nasty or serious. I suggest that you take time and read these "things".

And then "swissworld". In my opinion, the best site to get information about my country. 360 degrees. If you visit this site, you will discover what Switzerland is and has to offer. And also see why I am now proud to be Swiss.

Post Scriptum (posted on May 1): Following "Trotters" comment, I have shifted most of the links described above to the right column of the blog.

Trains; their (my) dreams, their (my) stories

I have posted already several times about trains. Trains always had a great fascination for me. Normal, when you live in a country which has an efficient train system. And when you started traveling on a train at the age of 6. Alone. But that is another story I will tell.

Of all the trains in the world that have ever existed, the most mythic is certainly the "Orient Express". On its journey from Paris to Istanbul, Kings and moguls traveled. But also, sometimes, spies and Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot had to solve a murder case during the journey. The train has been the star of many movies. There is a preservation society which has revived this train and now you can enjoy a trip from Paris to Venice. At a prohibitive cost. Which means that my dream to take this train will probably never come true.

However, it did once and partially. We have a trade fair in Basle and one of my suppliers (I was then a decision maker in a company) invited its customers to attend this fair. And to make it special, we did not just get a free entry to the fair and then the obligatory presentation of the supplier with sandwiches. No, They took us in the morning by train from Lausanne (two hours trip) and back in the evening. With saloon and dining cars (picture above) of the Orient Express attached to the regular train. Breakfast in the morning including champagne. Five course dinner in the evening. Absolute first summit class. Whilst I was enjoying my meal, my mind started to drift off and I wondered of which country I was the King. An extraordinary experience.

Less lush, but still lush enough to be enjoyed were the "Trans Europe Express". This great trains crisscrossed Europe until the 1970's I made many trips with them. A few times even in first class (At that time I could not afford it all the time, today I travel exclusively in first class on trains). Taking a TEE was always something special.

When I was living in South Africa, I never had the chance to take the train above. The "Blue Train" traveling in 3 days from Johannesburg to Cape Town. Two reasons: Long booking in advance needed and the cost (again). But I took the train from Johannesburg to Lourenço Marques (today called Maputo) in Mozambique. I remember the lovely dinner whilst we were moving through Eastern Transvaal and then coffee, brandy and cigar on the open terrace car at the end of the train.

Making a journey with East African Railways was quite an experience too. Single bed cabin, with own lavatory. Traveling from Kampala to Nairobi. With a gentle knock on my cabin door at 5 o'clock in the morning: "Good Morning Sir, here is your morning tea". British inheritance.

Why should I bother to take a plane from Kumasi to Accra in Ghana, spend money for a hotel, do my business, spend more money on a hotel and fly back? Well, I did. Until the day a flight was canceled. Troubles, because it was a must that I attend a meeting. What to do? Somebody suggested: "Why don't you take the sleeper?". I did and from then, I never flew to Accra again. Ghana Railways had this superb overnight trip. You slept good (of course, in a first class cabin), you did your business and took the train again in the evening. And saved the hotel money.

And so, over the last 40 years, I have spent hours and days in trains (besides Switzerland and the countries above also in Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Norway). Soon, I will travel on the train above. In Sri Lanka. When I leave for good I will travel on the intercity from Vavuniya to Colombo.A days journey through this lovely country.

And then, probably having finally (perhaps) a period of rest and (perhaps again) retirement I will start to plan for two train trips I want to do since long: The Trans Siberian from Moscow to Vladivostok and the VIA from Toronto to Vancouver.

The Power of Nature, the Weakness of Man

Sometimes, nature does something that looks impressive.

Or even beautiful.

But it can have also a dark side.

Since days, European Airspace is closed. No flights. And nobody knows how long it will last. The airports are empty.

The aircraft are grounded. Are they happy to have some rest? They, surely, are happy not to have to fly through the ash cloud covering the whole of Europe.

What to do? Well, if you want to travel within Europe, you can take the train.

But can you really when you see signboards like this?

Guys, do something about it. I worry. I fly on June 4th. That gives you enough time. To face the Power of Nature!

Here is some "technical update":

Ash cloud over Europe deepens air travel chaos

Sunday, April 18, 2010
LONDON: Europe’s air travel chaos deepened on Saturday as a huge cloud of volcanic ash spread southeast across the continent, halting more than three in four flights and stranding thousands of passengers worldwide.

European aviation agency Euro control said no landings or takeoffs were possible for civilian aircraft in most of northern and central Europe because of the ash spewed out by an Icelandic volcano, which was still erupting.

It expected only 5,000 flights in European airspace, compared with 22,000 on a normal Saturday. On Friday it said there were 10,400 flights compared with the usual 28,000. “Forecasts suggest that the cloud of volcanic ash will persist and that the impact will continue for at least the next 24 hours,” the agency said in a statement shortly after 0900 GMT. The plume that floated through the upper atmosphere, where it could wreak havoc on jet engines and airframes, is costing airlines more than $200 million a day and has thrown travel plans into disarray around the world.

The disruption is the worst since the Sept 11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001, when US airspace was closed for three days and European airlines were forced to halt all transatlantic services. The volcanic eruption appeared to be easing up on Saturday but could continue for days or even months to come, officials said.

There was no quick end in sight to the travel chaos, which coincided with the end of the busy Easter holiday period in Europe. France said Paris airports would remain closed until at least on Monday morning, and Italy extended a shutdown of its northern airports until then.

British Airways, hit by strikes last month that cost it around $70 million, cancelled all Sunday’s flights. Europe’s biggest tour operator, TUI Travel, said it was cancelling all trips until at least 0800 GMT on Sunday.

Disruption spread to Asia, where dozens of Europe-bound flights were cancelled and hotels from Beijing to Singapore strained to accommodate thousands of stranded passengers. In Singapore, a major transit point for Europe-bound air traffic, 22 flights were cancelled early on Saturday, Changi Airport spokesman Ivan Tan told Reuters.

“We don’t know where to stay,” said German citizen Dirk Kronewald. “Singapore hotels are full.” American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp, said it was able to operate flights to and from Spain and Italy but had cancelled 56 others to and from Europe, the same number as on Friday.

Benches

Many of you know Susanne and her blog with magnificent photos. She is a professional photographer and Swiss like me. And not living in Switzerland either.

Since quite some time, there is a "thing" going on between us. About benches. A long time ago, when she showed the first picture of a bench, I mused that for me it should be time now to sit on a bench. Since then, Susanne posted several photos (of course, all beautiful) of benches. And every time when I commented, she said that I was to young to sit on a bench.

Perhaps. But the fact is that this year, I will be 67 years old. And officially retired since close to two years. I have not been very successful at it. But then, today, at my age, people are younger. And our life expectancy is higher.

And I still am only 35 (in my mind). And as I am eating LifeTea (based on green tea) tablets, I expect to come to the physical age of 100. Well, perhaps a year or two less because of my smoking. By all means, right now, no time to sit on a bench.

But sitting on a bench, eventually, I will. And then I have a dream: I would like to be like Forrest Gump (my most favorite movie with Tom Hanks) and sit and just talk on and on about my life.

With a good box of Swiss chocolates.

Grandfather, Father, Son

"Crazy" people have always existed. And always will exist. I put CRAZY in hyphens. Because I mean it in the positive sense. You have the bad crazy, but I am not talking about them.

There is people who believe in something. Like all those "crazy" mathematicians and physicians who "play around" with their particle accelerator of the CERN institute in Geneva. They do something which we, the common mortals, don't understand. They are searching for something and we don't really know what. They do. And, one day hopefully soon for them, they will find it and scream "Hallelujah".

I admire them. Because of people like them, the world has been progressing. I admit, sometimes in the wrong way. But thanks to these searches of a quest, we have many comfortable (and sometimes uncomfortable) amenities.

In Switzerland, we do not lack of such "crazy" people. Like the Piccard dynasty.

Auguste Piccard was an eminent Swiss scientist.

In 1930, an interest in ballooning, and a curiosity about the upper atmosphere led him to design a spherical, pressurized aluminum gondola that would allow ascent to great altitude without requiring a pressure suit. Supported by the Belgian Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS) Piccard constructed his gondola.

On May 27, 1931, Auguste Piccard and Paul Kipfer took off from Augsburg, Germany, and reached a record altitude of 15,785 m (51,775 ft). During this flight, Piccard was able to gather substantial data on the upper atmosphere, as well as measure cosmic rays. On August 18, 1932, launched from Dübendorf, Switzerland, Piccard and Max Cosyns made a second record-breaking ascent to 16,200 m (53,152 ft). He ultimately made a total of twenty-seven balloon flights setting a final record of 23,000 m (72,177 ft).

In the mid-1930s, Piccard's interests shifted when he realized that a modification of his high altitude balloon cockpit would allow descent into the deep ocean. By 1937, he had designed a small steel gondola to withstand great external pressure. Construction began, but was interrupted by the outbreak of World War II. Resuming work in 1945, he completed the bubble-shaped cockpit that maintained normal air pressure for a person inside the capsule even as the water pressure outside increased to over 46 MPa (6,800 pounds per square inch). Above the heavy steel capsule, a large flotation tank was attached and filled with a low density liquid for buoyancy. Liquids are relatively incompressible and can provide buoyancy that does not change as the pressure increases. And so, the huge tank was filled with gasoline, not as a fuel, but as flotation. To make the now floating craft sink, tons of iron were attached to the float with a release mechanism to allow resurfacing. This craft was named FNRS-2 and made a number of unmanned dives in 1948 before being given to the French Navy in 1950. There, it was redesigned, and in 1954, it took a man safely down 4,176 m (13,700 ft).

And that is when Auguste’s son Jacques, also a scientist, came in:

With his Trieste submarine (proper name: bathyscaphe) able to reach depths of 24,000 feet, Piccard and his colleagues planned on an even greater challenge — a voyage to the bottom of the sea. On 23 January 1960, Piccard and Lt. Don Walsh reached the floor of the Mariana Trench located in the western North Pacific Ocean. The depth of the descent was measured at 10,916 meters (35,813 feet); later, more accurate, measurements in 1995 found the Mariana Trench to be slightly less deep at 10,911 m (35,797 ft). The descent took almost five hours. The bathyscaphe carried no scientific equipment and no experiments were conducted; the mission's purpose was merely to prove that the depth could be reached. The descent progressed without incident until 30,000 feet, when the crew heard a loud crack. They continued the dive, however, finally touching down in "snuff-colored ooze" at 35,800 feet.

When they reached the featureless seabed, they saw a flat fish as well as a new type of shrimp. Marine biologists later disputed their observations, claiming that no fish could survive the 17,000 psi pressure at such depths. Upon discovering cracks in the viewing windows, Piccard cut the voyage short. After only a 20-minute stay on the bottom, they began dumping ballast for their return to the surface, and the damaged vessel returned to its escort ships without incident in three hours and 15 minutes.

As we say: “Jamais deux sans trois” (Never two without a third), there is now Jacques’s son Bertrand. He is a medical doctor psychiatrist. He has always been attracted by the air (Grandfather oblige). His dream was to travel non-stop around the world in a balloon. After first unfruitful experience were he had to land in the Mediterranean Sea a few hours after take off, he succeeded.

On 1 March 1999 Piccard and Brian Jones set off in the balloon Breitling Orbiter 3 from Château d'Oex in Switzerland on the first non-stop balloon circumnavigation around the globe. They landed in Egypt after a 45,755 kilometre flight lasting 19 days, 21 hours and 47 minutes. In recognition of this accomplishment, he received awards including the Harmon Trophy, the FAI Gold Air Medal and the Charles Green Silver.

He could have rested on his laurels. But his urge to do something else drove him on.

In 2004, he co-announced a project, in cooperation with the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), for a solar-powered, long-range, one-seated glider named Solar Impulse. The project is dubbed "a great human adventure". He has financial and technical backing from several European firms, so it looks as if the Solar Impulse will be a European craft, not a Swiss one, despite scientific support from the EPFL. The plan is to circumnavigate the globe with several pilots in relay, flying above cloud cover during the day and at lower altitude at night sometime in 2012. In April 2010, Solar Impulse made its first long test flight in Payerne, Switzerland.

He is known for his flamboyant declarations, using expressions such as "the Invisible Hand" (la Main Invisible):

• "I went in search of new ideas blowing in the wind, to try and live better on Earth in my roles as doctor and human being."
• "Consciousness is perceiving one's soul."
• "Welcome to those who believe in the power of dreams and who would like to join me in my exploration of life."

And I think that it is statements like these that make “crazy” men go on with their discoveries.

There is a lot more to say about the Piccard's. The net is full of it if you are interested.

(Data on the Piccard's exploits contained in this post are from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia).

Mountains

Of course, I am mountain boy. Or should I say a mountain man, as I am grown? I am not a Yeti. Because they are only in the Himalaya Mountains. Which are much higher than the Swiss Alps.

I know my Alps very well. Because when I was in the army, I was doing most of my service in Alps region.

I saw the beautiful Matterhorn close to Zermatt and, probably, our "show off" mountain.

I also saw, but never climbed (I would not be fit to do so) the Eiger with its famous (or infamous?) North Face which attracts so many climbers and were many of them lost their life's. Because they did not listen to the people from "there". When they say it is not good to go on a particular day, then you better stay put. Because these people from there, they feel it. They are attuned to the mountain.

I have been walking in the Alps (as far as my "technical" capacity would let me do it), I have crossed glaciers and I just sat on a peak (not very high ones) and looked into the far. As much as this is possible in the Alps.

I also have been flying in the Alps. With small aircraft.

But in the last years (many years), I have been crossing the Alps in big airplanes. Because, if you want to land in Geneva, and you come from the South, you always cross the Alps. And have a spectacular sight. If you have a window seat.

I love my Alps.

Jazz on the 5th, Nr. 23

It is about time that I put something again of my favorite big band. As I told you before, Woody Herman and his orchestra have "shared" my life since 50 years now.

What you see here is from the famous "Jazz Casual" TV shows of Ralph Gleason.