Alinghi 5

What's that funny name you ask? Team Alinghi is the current defender of the America's Cup, the oldest active trophy in international sport. It's presented to the winner of the prestigeous regatta race of the same name, which began in 1951 (predating the modern olympics by 45 years). Though the race is so old, it's only been run 32 times by my count, every 3-5 years it seems. This is because the defender must be challenged by another yacht club, something that has become more common in recent decades. Following USA's past dominance, Team New Zealand was a strong contender and holder of the cup in recent years, but in 2003 after a controversial rule change allowing team sailors to hail from countries other than the the team's sponsoring nation, Switzerland's Team Alinghi took the "Auld Mug" for the first time. Here the cup is on display in Lausanne on Swiss National Day, August 1, 2009.

Two years ago, upon a challenge by Team New Zealand, Alinghi once again prevailed in the America's Cup at the contest in Valencia, Spain. And next year, Alinghi will face the USA's Golden Gate Yacht Club in a yet-to-be-disclosed location. The Swiss are more than excited about the event and yesterday launched the Alinghi 5 on Lac
Lèman here at Lausanne's Port d'Ouchy in honor of Swiss National Day. Supposedly the largest boat yet to sail on the lake, it's a huge 90 foot catamaran so big that a giant Russian helicopter (the biggest and most powerful in the world) had to lift it onto the lake. Can't take credit for these two photos, but they add to the post a bit I think. There are some other pretty cool shots of the lift at this link. To get a look at the massive ship, I ventured down to the lakefront yesterday morning to see what I could see.

Mostly I could see tons of people. But I did get some good looks at the ship, none of which I did a very good job of capturing on camera. Here you can at least see the crowds of people and all the smaller boats that were following along behind the Alinghi 5 like little ducks or something. Finally, the ship headed out to deeper waters in the center of the lake and raised its sail before turning West-Southwest for Geneva. You can barely see the helicopter and little (daredevil) biplane above the ship that were in on the action too. In the background are the mountains behind Evian, France. As it was VERY sunny yesterday morning, it was also very hazy across the lake. The view is the best just after a storm when the clouds have lifted.

Last night around dusk the fireworks began to celebrate the Swiss national holiday. With all the regulations around here, you'd think fireworks would not be excluded. But it seems any three year old pyro with a few francs can buy and set off whatever he wishes. Besides the terrific display of fireworks shot from ships in the middle of the lake, random people and children setup their own Roman candles and other "completely safe" crackers in the midst of the crowds without any regard for others' eardrums. With my luck, I was certain to soon be blasted in the face with some errant firecracker, so I moved back to my nice little terrace viewpoint with my cone of Mövenpick ice cream before calling it a night. Random fireworks continued throughout the night, so Sunday afternoon now calls for a nap. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

Monday Evening

Not too much to report so far this week. I made it through my first quarter at my new client last week, so it was great to have a relaxing weekend. But it was still productive. As all of my furniture has now been built (thanks, IKEA), there was quite a mess here in the apartment. So I ventured out to the Coop City, which is one of the two larger grocery chains locally. They have other wares too, like vacuum cleaners. I promptly purchased the cheapest one I could find and made it back to the apartment on the bus before whipping this place into shape.

Just when you thought this blog couldn't get any more exciting, I'm about to blow your mind. Besides the new vacuum, I also got a couple nice long runs in this weekend (watch out October half marathon), found a new and improved grocery store around the corner with Cinammon Toast Cruch (though called something like CinniMinis here and without nearly enough sugar), discovered the ability to rent movies on iTunes, found a nearby theater where I'm going to see The Hangover featuring Wilkesboro's own Zack Galifinacus (sp?) sometime soon (in ENGLISH!), juiced up the blog a bit with a slideshow of last Sunday's Tour de France visit, ate a jambon/fromage/spinach crepe and some locally-renowned Mövenpick ice cream, and had my ears lowered. Nice little non-eventful weekend never hurt anyone.

Today was back to the grind. But we are comforted this Monday with the possibility of having Friday off. As it's August 1, my client is closed for Swiss National Day. My firm doesn't officially grant this as a holiday, but as long as things go well this week, Thursday is the new Friday (for this week at least). Perhaps I will spend the time figuring out what Swiss National Day is all about. Or maybe I'll just celebrate July 4th again.

Le Tour De Lance 2009

Last weekend I took to the hills...here called the Swiss Alps...for a little cycling action. Its first year coming through La Suisse, the Tour was winding up the mountains near Verbier in the canton of Valais. Verbier is a famous ski resort town best reached by gondola. But the riders took a different approach. We had an awesome time, one that would only have been better had Lance been the leader coming around the switchback instead of his teammate Contador. Take a look.

Italia for the Weekend

So the weekend of July 4...took a little trip down to visit the Southards in Brescia, Italy. We celebrated by visiting Verona for the day on Saturday before coming back to Brescia for cheeseburgers (Italian-style, of course!) and Budweiser (sold in 3-packs?). It was a great time, and many thanks to Mark and Dana for hosting. If you have a few minutes, check out the slideshow I put together at carolinasalut.slide.com.

Movin' On Up

So, for those of you who voted (none, I believe, since I have yet to disclose the whereabouts of this blog to anyone I know) and said that I wouldn't keep up this blog beyond one week, you are hereby out of the competition. Although it's been two weeks since the last post, I'm back. And better than ever.

This weekend was a tremendous success, but I'm absolutely exhausted still. It began on Friday (as all weekends do of course) when my shipment arrived from the US. Peanut butter, Easy Mac, Folgers...your basics. And I didn't feel bad for the delivery man, who had to carry the multiple boxes up the four flights of stairs. This, because I knew what was in store for me the next day.

On Saturday morning, I boarded the 8:28am train to Allaman, which is this little town about 25 minutes west of Lausanne toward Geneva. There sits the greatest tourist attraction in all of Europe: IKEA. It was packed when the doors opened at 9am. But by about 11am, I'd gathered up enough items to max out my new little UBS Maestrocard for the day. The Swiss not only like to save your money from others, they like to save it from yourself.

Courtney and Rene Leuenberger arrived not long after this to help me unload the big red van that IKEA rented to me for a couple hours. And up the stairs we began. Boxes and boxes later, my apartment was a disaster zone, but one with furniture. Hours and hours even later, my apartment was still the single largest repository for used cardboard boxes this side of the Atlantic, but it had a bed and a sofa. This, my friends, I consider a great success, considering when I moved in just over a week ago, there was me, my three suitcases, and a single-sleeper air matress.

Le Deck Terrace

Yet another cell phone picture, but you get the intended idea from the background. Breathtaking. On my first day in Lausanne (as soon as I got to my hotel and began unpacking, at which point I'd been awake at least 24 hours), my new senior manager called. The team was heading to a going-away party for the outgoing partner, so I tagged along to meet some of my new co-workers. After the velodrome (like roller derby, but with bikes) and a winery tour complete with tasting (half-glass samplings...sheesh), we ended up at this restaurant east of town. Of couse, the picture does not do the joint justice. That's France on the other side, near Evian. We can't figure out why they bottle the water here, since you might as well just drink out of the pristine glacierwater of Lac Lèman (Lake Geneva to us Yankees). After Le Deck, which was too crowded to get anything more than a quick drink, we headed to a terrific restaurant where we were served at least five courses in less than one hour. What a day for my first in Switzerland. The foie gras was not bad.

Movenpick WC

Very exciting. Here is my bathroom. There is no mouthwash or lotion or shampoo/conditioner, only the blue soap in the bottle attached to the wall, which is apparently all-purpose. It's in the bathtub/shower as well. Do you like the rubber ducky?