La Tribune de Geneve

Here’s the link to the article in La Tribune de Geneve. A friend is doing a translation into English for me, and I’ll put that up when it’s done.

The article is really well done, although he misquoted me on the last sentence by leaving out my negative. I actually don’t see myself staying in the US in the future… if only just for a while.  

The web page also doesn’t list the name of the reporter. For the record, his name is Henri Della Casa.

Enjoy!

Thrift is the New Terrorism: A Cheapskate’s Guide to Airport Security

Not so long ago on a continent far far away….

The train schedule in Zurich was different from the train schedule in Geneva, so I missed my train and tried to stay in the train station overnight instead of finding a hostel last minute. Four ass-hole harassers later and with the promise of no sleep at all in my near future, my plan got thwarted when they closed the train station in the wee morning hours, so I was stuck with 1) renting an ungodly priced room for half the night assuming I could find one on a holiday weekend, 2) getting on a train (any train) asap or 3) staying on the street. Too expensive, maybe, out of the question, respectively–so, I opted for the latter, and the train ended up making one measly connection in a country that wasn’t on my Eurail pass, so I had to pay out the nose for the penalty fair. 

THEN! When I finally made it to Duesseldorf for the my plane to England, security wouldn’t let me through, because I accidentally left a very dull, kitchen knife in my purse from my packed lunch. I’m sure it didn’t help that it fell through the ripped lining of my purse either… or the fact that the hole was very small, and I had to rip the lining of my purse further to get it out. Something about carrying a concealed weapon?!?!? And sewing it into the lining of a purse!??!! Dunno. ::looks innocent:: So much for saving money by making my food.

Muenchen riecht nach…

Muenchen smells like …

 

…beer, meat and bread. Punkt. Even bread can smell reminiscent of beer because of the yeast content.

 

Then there’s the smoking. Everyone smokes here. In the US we have vending machines for water, soda, candy, etc. Here, they sell cigarettes.

 

Outdoors, it smells of fresh air all the way from the airport to Marianplatz. You can smell the plants, the cool air from the mountains. The smell of sweet, ripe fruit permeates the areas around the vendors. The air is rife with pollen. I left the windows in my apartment open for four days now, and there’s very little dust to be seen. If I did that (and I do) in downtown Boston, all of the surfaces in my room will be covered with filmy, black dust within 48 hours. And that makes me start to wonder how Germany, Austria, and Switzerland all rank ahead of the USA for the lowest lung cancer mortality rates. Hmm.

 

Now I’m hungry…. the question is whether or not I want to chew my carbs.