Impulse

Tired of the Venetian labyrinth, I returned to Murano. The open spaces and soft breeze refreshed me as I toured the shops. Murano is an island of shiny, beautiful things. Stemware, jewelry, sculptures, vases, and even refrigerator magnets for those on a budget. Everything was finely detailed, often with many colors or textures embedded into the glass. The lines are very classic - not at all like the sea creature, Chihuly-style work that wears on me in Seattle.

In one of the shops, I saw an amazing vase made in a old roman style. The material had been infused with some milky substance so that the vase appeared to be made of ivory. Little colored facets embedded in it shown like jewels. It was absolutely stunning - and merely 4,500 euros (about $5,700). So taken with it, I found myself thinking, “4,500 euros isn’t that much. It’s so beautiful. Maybe I should get it.” Luckily, reality settled back in and I continued on my way. Gradually, my resolve weakened, and at a shop at the other end of the island, I ended up buying a set of wine glasses. No, chalices. (pictured above)

In all, I found Venice to be a little disappointing. Once you get over the canal schtick, and visit the usual places, there’s not much to it. I was spoiled by Florence, one of the greatest Italian cities, a few years ago. In comparison, Venice is an quaint little place - good for a few days stay. All that said, if you have a special someone, Venice would be an excellent, and very romantic city to visit together. Which brings me to…

Bregenz is a little town on the Austrian edge of Lake Constance (also called the Bodensee). From one a local castle perched on a hill, you can see the Swiss and German coasts just a few miles away. In fact, the German island city of Lindau is just a 20 minute ferry ride away.

Bregenz is a nice, quiet little town to relax in. As an added bonus, it hosts numerous music festivals during the summer - all of which seem to take place when I’m not there. Last month, they had a New Orleans festival with many artists from that very city flying in to perform (one of whom, Chucky C is a regular). This month begins their largest festival, the Bregenzer Festspiele - complete with operas performed on a massive floating stage (the archive shows how visually striking it is - you must see it).

What was I doing in this little corner of Europe? It all began many years ago with an exchange student from Bregenz that my parents hosted while I was in college. At his wedding last year, I met several of his childhood friends - one of whom I stayed in touch with. My trip to Bregenz this year was to visit my new friend and her son. That was the plan anyway.

Communicating with my friend’s son, all of 7 years old, was amusing as we had no common language. I quickly figured out what “Magst du spiel Lego?” means, and in return, I taught him to properly say “Darth Vader” (this is an incredibly hard name for German speakers - they say it like “Dart Wadah”, a pronunciation which eliminates all of the name’s evil gusto). Apart from these, we communicated primarily with gestures and grunts. While playing chess, one would communicate that the other player was about to make an imprudent move by pointing to a threatening piece of his own and uttering a low “uhh uhh”. One suggested moves by pointing to the relevant squares while grunting in questioning glissando. Approval of a well played move was announced with, “oooooohh”. Primitive, yes, but effective.

Together, the three of us went to the Inatura - by far the coolest natural history museum I’ve ever seen. The motif here is interaction. They don’t put stuffed animals in a glass box, they put them in the middle of the room so you can touch them, walk around them, and really get to know them. (Who knew Moose fur was so abrasive?) All senses are engaged. Some stations allow you to smell something, with a hidden label telling you what you were sampling, while other stations have a tube you put your hand in and guess at what you’re touching. Elsewhere, a wrap-around display describes local avalanches, then simulates being in one. They’ve got a short climbing wall for kids with video monitors embedded in it showing views of the Alps. All these exhibits were great, but I was blown away by the space itself. Rooms are divided by interesting shapes and colors, all with lighting that must have been designed by a cinematographer rather than a decorator. Excellent place.

Though the visit included other trips - a drive around the Bregenzerwald and a memorable journey to Lindau - we spent most of our time hanging out around the house. This perfectly suited me as the trip was sandwiched between a tech writing binge and a trans-continental bicycle race. Just a friendly visit. Between friends. Sure, she’s a beautiful, joyful, intelligent lawyer, but I didn’t have to worry about anything romantic sparking up. We were just friends. And, I was officially Not Dating.

The best time to whack someone on the head is when they’re looking the other way.
What started as a friendly visit became a romantic visit as we completely fell head over heels for each other. For me, it grew out of a story I told her which concluded, “I’ve learned that people come and go from my life all the time. I’ve had people I care about move away, drift away, and even die. They come and go all the time, and there’s nothing I can do about it. All I can do is throw myself into enjoying the time we have together and savoring what we had afterwards.”

And so, I have a new girlfriend. Sure, she lives on a different continent and English is her 2nd or 3rd language - we’re both really enjoying it.

(oh, and in case you’re wondering, according to my cost analysis, Qwest has the best international calling plan and much higher quality than vonage and skype. Also, British Air has the fastest flights from Seattle to Zurich, but costs the most. NWA/KLM is second. United has the best blend of cheap & fast. Oh and Munich, Frankfurt, and Zurich are all nearly equivalent airports in comparison (rating = dollars x hours in transit), but Zurich is a just beats the other two and has more direct trains… umm… you know… just in case…
ok, then).

A friend’s wedding awaited me in Basel, Switzerland. The service was held in a lovely country church outside of Basel, followed by a short reception. Apparently, the Swiss tradition is that anybody who wants to come to the ceremony and reception can - there were folks probably from the local village, business associates, etc. The dinner and party are by invitation only. Being a former housemate of the bride, I rated an invitation.

Another tradition amongst German-speaking people, is that friends of the bride and groom make a mock tabloid magazine about the happy couple - complete with embarrassing photos and stories. The more outlandish, the better, though all in good fun. This magazine was quite multilingual: Half of us, being Yanks, spoke English and no German; the other half, being Europeans, spoke English as well as their native German, French, Czech, or all of the above. It included a crossword puzzle, and a contest for those with the most correct answers. Seeing as the bride teaches English to the locals, this was probably intended to help improve our language skills and to get the Americans and locals to interact more. It didn’t quite turn out that way.

I had been hanging out with two of the brides American friends - all of us type A personalities. We turned our playful crossword into a fierce competition, the three of us pooling our resources to complete the crossword before anyone else. My passing familiarity with German made me the relative expert, so I sifted the German articles, while my teammates divided up the rest. Excitement rose with each successful discovery. By the time we finished, we were as pumped on adrenaline as any athlete and raced to turn in our results. Frantically we ran to find the person running the contest, and proudly handed him our papers, knowing we had achieved greatness. The official politely accepted are papers, smiled, and walked away. “That’s it? Where’s our prize for being first?” It was then that we noticed everyone else enjoying themselves, laughing and chatting, slowly working their way through the puzzle. We took solace in the knowledge that there was no way anyone else could get as many correct answers as we - we had to have perfect scores.

Later that night, we discovered that there was a twelve-way-tie for first place - all perfect scores. The organizers had to draw lots to find who would get the prizes. I happened to be one of the winners, and graciously accepted the award of Swiss candy on behalf of my team.

Which brings me to dessert. The groom loves desert. When faced with the decision about what cake they’d like to serve, the groom decreed that cake was not enough and they must have a “dessert buffet”.

Remember, we’re in Switzerland - where they make excellent chocolate, ice cream, hot chocolate, and all manner of sweet, decadent things. To experience a Swiss Dessert Buffet is to experience heaven. They had wedding cake - chocolate with raspberry filling. That’s Swiss chocolate with fresh raspberries, folks. Following this was lemon parfait, twelve kinds of ice cream, three chocolate mousse - each a different grade of darkness, a strawberry flan-like-thing, and for those from the French side of the country: a mountain of assorted cheeses. The mousse was excellent as was the flan-like-thing. The chocolate ice cream was the best I’ve ever had and brought conversation to a standstill. The strawberry ice cream eliminated all higher brain functions leaving me in a state of sensual bliss. To top it all off, they served the most exquisite Moscato I’ve had, somehow being light, sweet, and tart at the same time. It satisfied any need I’d ever had.

The memorable desert buffet aside, I was really happy to see my friend (and former housemate) get married. She’s so happy and settled.

Some things I noticed about Basel:

• Cool ferry boats - Amidst all of this are the most romantic ferry boats. For 2CHF, you can glide across the river on one. Though they are pleasant and romantic, the thing that drew me most was the engineering. These boats are propelled by the current: a taught cable hangs perpendicular to the river. They ferry has a line from its bow to a free-wheeling pulley on the cable. To cross the river, the ferryman simply sets the tiller so that the boat points slightly towards the far side. The current does the rest, driving the boat gracefully across. Elegant design simplicity. I am such a geek.


• Great shopping - There was more shopping to be had than I’ve seen in most cities. Everywhere I walked, the streets were lined with stores - not just local shops, but big international stores. It was a bit astounding.


• Great night life - This place has quite a nightlife - at 1am, the streets were full of people out for a stroll, in groups laughing, or having drinks in cafes and bars. Young folks congregated along the quay, hanging out or walking along the river. The Barfuserplatz was completely packed: the main street has bars and restaurants with outdoor seating spilling into the street (blessedly pedestrian only), leaving just a bit of room for the throng to migrate up and down. It’s like a huge block party.

I ended up leaving the party early, with many apologies. The following day was my last in Europe for this trip. I could have either spent it sitting in a Swiss café recovering from the party, or hopping the 1.5hr long train back to Bregenz.

Which do you think I picked?