Beijing Dreams

Although I haven't received word yet, if all has gone according to plan so far, HWMBO and his fellow travellers arrived in Beijing, China yesterday, where they will be lodged for the remainder of their time in China at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA).

Unless there is a major excursion planned, their daily post-breakfast routine will comprise 50-minute courses from 9 am to 1 pm in Tai-chi, Chinese language and Chinese culture. After their lunch hour - actually an hour and a half - they will be involved in various "extra-curricular" activities that will include tours to artists' studios, art galleries, local markets and visits to Chinese families.

Major excursions will include a visit to the Great Wall of China

and various other tours, e.g., the Forbidden City

and the Temple of Heaven, the largest sacrificial building complex in the world.

I look forward to hearing about these exciting adventures!

The Remains of the Day

Amply fortified with more wine samples - one of which I'll likely return to buy - I headed out from Fechy-Dessus towards Bougy-Villars, noticing that the slope above me was also lined with houses overlooking vineyards.

Here's one last view of the Fechys - Upper and Lower! What pretty villages they are!

But there were still lots of vineyards to see and sip at. This particular domain was not one of them, but it was still a pretty sight.

Aha - a vineyard that ticks all the picturesque buttons, with its open courtyard framed by ivy-covered walls!  And yes, this was my next stop!

The tasting was not held in the courtyard of this cave, which has been a family business passed from father to son since 1689 (!), but in a special tasting room on the ground floor of the house. The entrance is shown here.

I tried some of their "unique" pinot grigios and a magnificent assemblage blanc, characterized as a "vin innovatif." Their pinot noir was pretty good too. As with all the wineries I visited that day, the hospitality was exceptional. But this is certainly a winery that I will also return to and be proud to show off to visitors.

Unfortunately, however, time was passing and I had missed the shuttle at this stop

so I decided to continue on to Bougy-Villars, yet another pretty village.

Houses bedecked with vivid flowerpots

and ivy lined the way.

There are also guesthouses for those who would like to spend quality time among the vines.

Having had a very satisfactory day even though I had barely scratched the surface of the vineyards in the region, I headed back towards Allaman to catch my train home. Perhaps the wine had addled my brain enough that I had underestimated the distance I had come. Instead of waiting prudently for the next shuttle, I struck off on my own. Obviously, since I'm writing these posts, I returned home unscathed. But I was also exhausted.

I thought that the exhaustion was brought on by the wine I had drunk until I calculated how far I had walked: 18 kilometers (15 miles)! That may seem trifling to those who are not in their late 60s. But I had to admit that I impressed myself!

More Wine Tasting

On my way up the slope to Fechy-Dessus, I passed by this winery, but did not stop in. After all, it was early steps yet in my hike. Even though one is not expected to - and doesn't usually - drink all the wine one is given (there are little containers provided like the one shown here into which one can spit the remainder or simply empty the contents of one's glass), it's never a good idea to overindulge. Alcohol is dehydrating, after all, and the day was getting hotter.

I also noted this little house with a quaint - and distinctive - window placement.

Looking back towards Fechy, with Lake Geneva in the background, one can see that while the slope is gentle, it is indeed an incline. The Alps are mostly hazy, as is common in mid-Spring.

The vines are still in early growing stages and look spindly and sparse compared to the way they will look in a few more weeks. Most did not even put out leaves until the beginning of May. Here is the center of Fechy-Dessus, which is a beautiful little village. There is even a shuttle stop to the left, just in case I had changed my mind about hiking!

Here is also where I decided to experience my second tasting of the day. One can taste as many wines as one wishes at each stop, so full disclosure requires that it wouldn't just be my second wine!

This beautiful location had the most splendid viewing terrace, with a panoramic view of the region. Best of all, I was their first visitor of the day, so they had plenty of time to chat.

Remember the winery I passed on the way up the slope. Here's another view from the terrace.

As you can see from the photo above, just below the viewing terrace, this enterprising family also had a terraced vegetable garden, still in early growing stages. Here's another view.

Saying adieu to Fechy-Dessus,

I began hiking towards Bougy-Villars, generally in the direction towards Geneva.

What a magnificent vista!

Caves Ouvertes Vaudoises

The annual Caves Ouvertes Vaudoises was held this past weekend. This is a time when the local vintners hold open houses in their wine cellars and invite the population in to sample their wares and - hopefully - buy some. Swiss wines may not be well-known to the world outside this country, largely because they are rarely, if ever, exported. This situation is much to our liking. The wines are excellent and affordable, in some cases, they are almost cheaper than the bottled water that is also popular here. When the weather is glorious, as it was this weekend, it also provides an opportunity to get some fresh air and exercise. Most caves are so concentrated within the wine-growing regions of the canton of Vaud that they are within ideal walking distance of one another.

On Saturday, I decided to visit a region that I had not previously visited. I should explain that locally, several caves can already be found in the village next to mine, among them the winemakers who process the grapes in "my" vineyard, i.e., the vines that are located in front of our apartment complex. But because I regularly cycle through that area and have written about events there before, I wanted to see something different. So I decided to take the train to Allaman and from there take the free shuttles (navettes) up to the villages of Fechy, Fechy-Dessus and Bougy-Villars to wander through the vineyards there and sample the wines.  My plan was to follow the shuttle route so that I could take the shuttle back to the train station.

The plan began well enough. I blithely hopped off at the first stop in Fechy after taking a couple photos from inside the bus.

Then I visited my first cave of the day.

Each participating cave was distinguished by a black and red banner.

One could pay CHF 15 at any participating cave in order to receive a commemorative wine glass and a carrying pouch that one could place around one's neck. The pouch and glass would allow entry and tasting privileges at any of the participating caves. Here is my sampling equipment, with the glass already containing a taste of the vintner's pinot noir. Believe me, that sample didn't last long.

After spending some pleasant moments chatting, learning about the wines of that cave and really impressing a Swiss woman because I planned to hike around the area rather than drive, I left to climb the hill up to Fechy-Dessus (literally Upper Fechy).

Pay special attention to the building with the terrace in the center-left of this photo. There will be more about that in the next post.

China Dreams Update

I have had email messages, Skype chats and - wonder of wonders today - Skype video calls from HWMBO, who is so far loving his time in Shanghai. He did admit to some exhaustion, but looked pretty chipper in the circumstances. He and the rest of the group have been racing around to pack one heck of a lot of sightseeing into two days. Tomorrow, they leave very early in the am by plane for Xian.

He reports that his accommodations in Shanghai are quite spacious. He has an entire suite to himself, although other members of the group have stopped by to use his Skype account to call their own loved ones, after discovering how much less expensive Skype is. He also says that the food has been fantastic!

It's been fun with the time difference. It turns out that there are still six hours between us. But now I am actually six hours behind him, instead of being ahead of him by the same amount of time as usual. So while it is nearly 19:30 (7:30 pm) here, it is nearly 01:30 (1:30 am tomorrow) in Shanghai. I hope that he's getting some sleep!

My "assignment" while he is traveling is to view the French Open tennis matches for him. Yes, the annual tournament at Roland Garros began today. Swiss Stan Wawrinka and Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - who  lives in Switzerland, actually quite close to where I do - both won their first round matches. Unfortunately, my fellow American, Andy Roddick, fell to another Frenchman. Poor Andy is one of many excellent tennis players who have been cursed by having to play tennis during the era of the awesome triumvirate of Novak, Rafa, and Roger, currently somewhat bunched together in that order. Even Andy Murray, who has a distinct lead over Tsonga, the fifth ranked player, is still some distance behind the top three.

Anyway, I'm taking my assignment seriously. Believe me, HWMBO will be checking up to see!

China Dreams

Yesterday morning, HWMBO left Maryland for his Great Adventure. He will be on a study tour in China for the next few weeks. I am sorry that I am not with him this time. Perhaps another time ...

He should be in Shanghai right now, hopefully getting acclimated and catching a breath or two after the long - LONG - flight from Washington, DC to Shanghai, from which I suspect he is not only feeling quite jet-lagged but also very cramped. HWMBO is a tall man (although we both seem to have shrunk a bit in recent years, in my case, two whole inches!). Scrunching those long legs into airplane economy seats for the duration of the flight was likely not the most comfortable situation for him, but I hope that all went well. Interestingly, he and the other members of the group were offered flight upgrades. He didn't take the option precisely because the flight upgrade cost was double that for the entire tour, which also included the economy fare! I hope that he has not had reason to regret that decision since.

If all goes as scheduled, tomorrow he will tour the city - China's most populous and, according to Wikipedia, the most populous in the world - seeing such sights as the Shanghai Museum, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, the Yuyuan Garden and the Bund, among many, many others, I am sure.

On Sunday, the group will visit the city of ZhouZhuang, also known as the "Venice of the Orient" because of its canals. They will return to Shanghai to spend one last night and on Monday, they will travel to Xi'an for the next phase of their journey.

To participate in this study tour, HWMBO had to take courses in oriental art at our local community college in Maryland, which sponsors the tour on an annual basis. He is not taking the tour for college credit, but for personal growth - to experience a new culture, albeit one that is very different to any that either of us has had the privilege of experiencing so far.

I look forward to hearing from him about his experiences. Once he has returned and downloaded his photos, I look forward to sharing them here.

Language Rich Switzerland

According to a recent study from "Language Rich Europe (LRE)," Switzerland remains ahead of other European countries when it comes to multilingualism. LRE promotes multilingualism for more prosperous and stable societies. LRE is a project headed by Martin Hope, who is Director of the British Council and also the current President of the European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

Switzerland may be a tiny country in the grand scheme of things. It is also landlocked, with no direct access to seaports. But its central location on the European continent, where its borders touch France, Germany, Italy and Austria along with a couple tiny principalities, has assured its reputation as a major logistical, cultural, commercial, technological and linguistic axis. Of course, for a very long time, it was also the location of choice for those who wished to keep their foreign assets secure - or secret - for whatever reason and was thus a major financial center. That status has been shaken somewhat in recent years and its infamous bank secrecy has been put through the wringer by countries, like my own, whose tax authorities are very interested in any assets that have not been declared by their owners. [Disclosure: as a Swiss resident, I must have a Swiss bank account in order to function here. As required, I have routinely declared my financial holdings here to the IRS. So far as I know, I am in compliance with the IRS as well as the Swiss authorities. Believe me, the two authorities do exchange such information.]

Although Switzerland has yet to become a member of the European Union and has its own currency, the Swiss franc (CHF), it has concluded bilateral agreements with all neighboring countries. Under the Schengen Agreement, since 2006, citizens of the EU may also pass through here freely. Interestingly, what I have noticed in my own recent returns from the US is that immigration authorities at the airport want to see my Swiss permit and don't give my US passport, which I always have as well, other than a cursory glance. They don't even open it.

There are already four official languages that are spoken in this country, listed in order of numbers of speakers: German, French, Italian and Romansh. German is spoken most widely while French is the principal language spoken in Western Switzerland, where I live. While the majority of Swiss are at least bilingual and many are trilingual in the official languages, very few speak all four. Thus, English is a "bridging" language for most, often chosen by students as a second or third language at the expense of the official languages.

Language Rich Europe aims to promote the harmonious coexistence of local, national and international languages in order to create a more socially stable Europe based on mutual respect and intercultural dialogue. This is an environment that I personally find to be wonderful. I feel very privileged to be living here.   

Greater Geneva

When people ask me where I live, my answer is usually that I live in "the Geneva area of Switzerland," mainly because Geneva is much better known and thus more easily visualized than the tiny village (commune) where I actually reside. In fact, I can now begin using the term, "Greater Geneva, (le Grand Geneve) accurately. Within the last month, this conurbation (and yes, I learned a new word!) of three French departments (Ain, Haute-Savoie and Rhone-Alpes) and two Swiss cantons (Geneva and Vaud) has officially been dubbed Greater Geneva.

While the name itself is new, this agglomeration project has been on the drawing boards since the 1970s because of the large numbers of people employed in Geneva - generally for the international organizations that are based there - but who live outside Geneva canton, either in France or in Vaud. It wasn't until the late 1990s, however, that it took concrete form with the publication of the "Charte d'aménagement de l'agglomération transfrontalière franco-valdo-genevoise" (France-Vaud-Geneva Conurbation Development Charter). While there were many starts and stops along the way, the Charter was signed by the partners in 2007 and the project was officially launched. It allows for the creation of a coordination and administrative level and defines the grand organization principles for the region that are to be achieved by 2030, as shown below.

To be precise, not all parts of each French department or Swiss canton named are actually included within this conurbation. It is only those regions that are in close proximity to Geneva. My village, being located in the western district of Vaud, with its regional administrative center located in nearby Nyon, is indeed included within Greater Geneva.


The area is home to approximately 730,000 inhabitants, 500,000 of whom live in Switzerland. Contrast this with the population of my birth state of Montana, which is approximately the size of the country of France. The population of that whole state is just shy of one million. Despite what might be seen as congestion by my fellow Montanans, this area is a shining example of how humans can co-exist harmoniously not only with their fellow humans from all over the world, but with the native flora and fauna.


I never feel crowded here.


    

Colorful, but brrr ...

I actually took the photos in this post while riding my bike about a week ago. But I noticed this morning that the colza that shows up vividly in these photos has already turned green. So I guess that it's time for me to get cracking. Despite the clouds piled up ominously here, the narrow part of Lake Geneva where I live looks as placid as a backyard swimming pool.

The golden colza fields brightened what would otherwise have been a very gloomy morning. The color yellow, especially after gray days that seem to stretch on forever, always cheers me up. I'm sorry to see that these fields have already gone green, even though the green is also beautiful.

Last evening, some areas of Switzerland reported below-zero (Celsius) temperatures and there was snow as low as 600 meters. I noticed a dusting of snow on the slopes of the Jura this morning and patches are still there. This is as cold a May as I remember during my eighteen years here. But the vines haven't been daunted by the weather and have begun to open their leaves.

Looking ahead to the finished product, this morning I also noticed banners advertising the annual Caves Ouvertes (open wine cellars) scheduled to be held on 26-27 May.

Despite the cool - even cold - weather, Spring is marching inexorably towards Summer.

More May Flowers

Once I had passed through the gates to the jardins and entered the main display area, this was the sight that met my eyes.

I wonder how Mme de Staël would have appreciated how we make use of her fountain and gardens for such events. We may not have the intellects or celebrity of the visitors she was used to hosting here in the 19th century, but these events do help to keep the grounds well-cared for.

Tucked into little corners were colorful displays of plants for sale,

examples of garden layouts that incorporated art,

and floral-themed linens.

Other examples of garden art were scattered about the entrance.

Flowers and ideas for presenting them were everywhere.

But the display that I believe would most have enchanted my grandchildren was this one, with its constant supply of multi-colored bubbles.

Or perhaps even this stand of bonsai.

There were roses everywhere

and with the château as a backdrop, it was a feast for the eyes.

May Flowers

Friday and this weekend marked the annual three-day Flower Market in my village, which is always a colorful way to spend some time, especially if the sun is shining. And shine it did, on Friday, with the day's temperatures reaching record levels for this time of year! So I made my way into town via the shady trail rather than along the very sunny lake road.

As usual, our local château was the site of the expositions

with a detailed plan of which exhibits and exhibitors could be found where.

Even château outbuildings, such as the former stables to the rear of this photo, were utilized

with an eclectic grouping of objets to tempt entry.

The former caves (wine cellars) displayed various floral displays and bouquets,

as well as table settings, displaying caterer's wares.

But the main attractions were to be found in the jardins, which were the formal entry point.

More in the next post ...