Went to Schilliger to pick up some gardening supplies for the patio. They have chickens, roosters, ducks, pheasants and budgies.
Saw the biggest, fluffiest chicken evar!! and a very ambitious rooster half he size.
Tag: land of cheese and chocolate
SI swimsuit models vie with Swiss scenery
The scenery couldn’t be better: the medieval chateau of Chillon, the waters of Lake Geneva and, lolling on a rock in the foreground, bikini-clad model Kate Bock. Bock and another skimpily attired model posed for photos in and around the lake for American magazine Sports Illustrated’s 50th anniversary swimsuit issue.
The annual issue, described by Vanity Fair as a cash register in the shape of a girl, went on sale on Tuesday, annoying feminists but pleasing others, including the canton of Vaud’s tourist office. The office and Switzerland Tourism rolled out the red carpet for the magazine when it sent its photography team and cast of bikinied models to Switzerland for six days last August for on-location shooting.
“This project is a unique opportunity to present at a large-scale international level some of our major sites, such as the chateau of Chillon and Lavaux (the Unesco-designated vineyard area overlooking Lake Geneva),” Andreas Banholzer, director of the Vaud tourist office said in a news release issued on Tuesday.
An estimated 70 million readers of the swimsuit issue, published between the American football and baseball seasons, will see glimpses of Lake Geneva scenery — behind the bathing belles at the centre of attention.
Bock, from Canada, and Genevieve Morton, a model from South Africa, posed in the town of Vevey, in the vineyards of Lavaux and on the shores of the lake and in boats on the water. Morton even provocatively posed topless, with one arm strategically placed to avoid revealing too much, on a sailboat in the middle of the lake with the Vaud Alps in the background.
Meanwhile, near Zermatt, American Emily DiDenato modeled a two-piece swimsuit in front of Switzerland’s iconic Matterhorn. The issue features the likes of Kate Upton, Tyra Banks and Christie Brinkley who posed for shots elsewhere, in such places as the Cook Islands.
More fallout from that stupid, xenophobic vote.
In a tit-for-tat retaliation, the European Union has frozen research grants for Swiss universities worth hundreds of millions of euros and suspended the involvement of Switzerland in the Erasmus student exchange programme. A spokesman for the EU announced the freeze on Sunday, a day after after Bern announced it had refused to sign a deal opening labour market access to Croatia, the ATS news agency reported.
The Swiss government said it was unable to ink the deal because of the February 9th referendum decision to scrap the freedom of movement of labour agreement with the EU and impose immigration quotas.
But Brussels considers that Horizon 2020, an 80-billion euro research and innovation programme spread over seven years (2014-2020), and Erasmus, are tied to the free movement of people accord, ATS said.
The freezing of research and educational programme funding was earlier feared by Swiss universities and student groups both in Switzerland in the EU. Lausanne’s Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) said it faces losing 80 to 100 million francs a year in research grants. ETH, the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, faces a similar cut in funding.
When Horizon 2020 was launched in January, the Swiss government said it expected to create 8,000 jobs from the programme.
Last Thursday, the national union of students in Switzerland (VSS) and the European Students Union sounded a warning about the potential impact of the Swiss immigration vote on the Erasmus programme. The European Union approved a 14.7-billion euro budget for the Erasmus programme from 2014-2020, including exchanges for education, training, youth and sport.
Insert [I TOLD YOU SO] here.
(Reuters) – The European Union said on Sunday it has postponed negotiations with Switzerland on its participation in multibillion-dollar research and educational schemes in the latest fallout from a shock Swiss vote in favor of immigration curbs. The decision follows Switzerland’s announcement that the result of last week’s referendum on immigration means that it will not be able to sign a labor market pact with new EU member Croatia on July 1 as planned.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has warned that the narrow Swiss vote to restore quotas for migrants from the EU in breach of an accord with Brussels, would have “serious consequences” for relations between the wealthy Alpine nation and the 28-member union surrounding it.
In one immediate consequence, the EU’s executive Commission said it was postponing talks on Swiss participation in both the EU’s 80-billion-euro ($109 billion) Horizon 2020 research program and its 14.7-billion-euro Erasmus+ educational exchange program. Both schemes cover the period from 2014 to 2020.
A Commission spokesman said there was a close link between Swiss participation in Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ and the planned Swiss agreement with Croatia as the EU schemes involved the free movement of researchers and students.
“The protocol (with Croatia) has not been signed yet. Given the circumstances and in the absence of a clear political signal to do so, upcoming negotiation rounds have been postponed until Switzerland signs the protocol,” he said.
Swiss government spokesman Philipp Schwander said earlier on Sunday that Switzerland could not sign the labor market pact with Croatia in the agreed form “due to the new constitutional provision provided by the February 9 vote.” He said Switzerland was still keen to seal the deal with Croatia in a way that took the vote into account and did not discriminate against Croatian workers. The referendum, backed by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), has sent Swiss diplomats scrambling to contain the damage in Brussels.
This is perfectly normal and I love it
Switzerland is a land of dog owners. It is commonplace to see people with dogs in restaurants, shops, etc. There is even a class of bus/train tickets for them. In this case, people were simply walking over the huge mutt lying across the bus aisle and nobody cared, least of which the dog :-)
Working for a chocolatier rocks
… cause, you know, luxury chocolate staff Christmas presents :-)
Morges Christmas market
I was looking forward to going to the Morges Christmas market, even though I had heard conflicting opinions about it. I was very happily surprised. It’s a nice mix of the Montreal Salon des Metiers d’Arts and the Wimpole farm Christmas market. It was also fairly big, with several places I’d have spent more money than would be sensible.
Pictures here: https://www.flubu.com/blog/pictures/morges_dec_2013
Medieval fair at Chateau Chillon
Katy, Bean and I went to Chillon yesterday, where we met up with Ryan, Sally, Zoe, Eamonn and Sally’s mom. The kids had a blast, and the adults followed in bemusement. We had mulled wine, ate in the castle hall, watched some dancers and had a good explore of the place. Bean went on a pony ride (which started off well but he didn’t like the ending, when the horse sped up and he started slipping off) and on the ferris wheel at the christmas market. Good day, but would have been better if I weren’t falling ill in the meantime.
All pictures here: https://www.flubu.com/blog/pictures/chillon_dec_2013/
Montreux Christmas Market
I went to scope out the Montreux Christmas market this Sunday. It was good, but I’m happy I went on my own because it was elbow-your-way-through-the-crowd packed! Katy would have growled at people and bean would have gotten bored with not seeing things (and driven us mad wanting to eat all the sweets in sight!)
All pictures here: https://www.flubu.com/blog/pictures/montreux_dec_2013/
There was a lot of food to be had. Seriously, lots of food!
Plus, you know, this:
An almost-Scottsdales :)
We found a garden center that is alllllmost perfect. It’s >this< close. It's called Schilliger, and it's only about 20 minutes from our place. Katy said that on some points, it's better than Scottsdales (!) so you know that has to say something. The only problem is that it doesn't have a cafeteria, only vending machines :( Still, the xmas display is impressive!!! And they have parrots!!! and hamsters!!! and toys!!! AND THEY HAVE LEMAX CHRISTMAS VILLAGE GOODIES!!!!
All pictures here: https://www.flubu.com/blog/pictures/schilliger_nov_2013