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Renault: And what in heaven’s name brought you to Casablanca?
Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
Renault: The waters? What waters? We’re in the desert.
Rick: I was misinformed…
From Casablanca, Warner Brothers, 1942, possibly the greatest movie of all time
Well make no mistake, if you take the ferry across Lake Geneva (Lac Leman) from Lausanne, you’re going to Evian-les-Bains and you’re probably going for the waters. Unlike Rick who found himself in French Morocco.

You leave Ouchy, which is here

Ride the ferry across the Lake, a 30 minute journey

Arrive here at Evian-les-Bains, no sign, just a small port. And no passport controls!
Evian-les-Bains is a small resort town on the French side of Lac Leman. During the low season (like now), many of the shops and restaurants keep short hours or are closed for the season.

Here it is, the Evian Visitors Center!

Except its CLOSED like 2/3 of the places around here…
The Evian (bottled water) story is well documented. Guy drinks water from spring. Liver and kidney maladies ease. Doctors recommend said water to patients. Other guy who owns the spring fences it off and begins to sell said water. Voilà, Evian bottled water!

The historical plaque telling the story of the Source
Of cors, in the US, Evian is sold as a luxury, premium water, bringing with it its own snide remarks and jokes while in the rest of the world, it’s just another bottled water while in France, it’s just called “water”.

This is the source of all Evian water!
And if you live here, you can help yourself to this water, free of charge.

Just pull up with a buncha bottles and fill up! Everyone here does it.
There’s also a second tap on the other side of the pump station called the Source des Cordeliers.

Thirsty thirsty thirsty…

The pumping station at Source Cachat and the Source des Cordeilers runs 24/7 and all you have to do is bring your own bottles to fill up. Twas true, I’ve seen it and done it!
Mmmm. Nothing beats free Evian!!

Did a day trip to Lucerne. It’s only an hour away from Zurich via SBB. It’s an city with a preserved old town, a lake and surrounded by mountains.

The famous (and reconstructed) Chapel Bridge in Lucerne

The old town on the opposite shore of the lake from the Hauptbahnhof.

There’s a Farmer’s Market each Saturday. Free cheese!

The facade of the old hauptbahnhof, in front of the new one

Bern is the capital of Switzerland and is roughly half way between Zurich (money!) and Geneva (self-important, overpaid bureaucrats…). Since I’m on my way to Lake Geneva, I thought I’d stop over and check out this UNESCO World heritage city.

The figures on top of the Parliament building



The building looks like a concert hall, not a hall of politicians!
BTW, “rathaus” means “town hall”. If they only knew how easily that would apply to San Francisco City Hall!

The famous clock…

With the guy that rings the bell on the top
The old part of town has remained pretty much the same since it was rebuilt in sandstone during the middle ages. Most of the buildings have shops and boutiques and lots of fast food inside, just like the buildings of the middle ages did. It gives it a Disneyland vibe, especially when the tram rumbles by.

Here’s the postcard shot of the old city

And the Disney-feeling main street

complete with leftover Carnival musicians!
The Old Town had a neat feel for the first 30 minutes but there’s only so many times you can see a kabob place or a McD’s. This part of the city is the big draw here. Once you get outside of the old town, it looks like a very expensive, well kept city.

I like corner houses!
BTW, Bern means “bear” in German and they have five of them as mascots near the tourist center.

Don’t interrupt while he’s drinking
Speaking of drinking, the legal age for beer and wine is 16 and for liquor it’s 18.
There’s not much here and instead of staying overnight, you can visit here on a day trip.

Well, it’s not really “中環” but just plain “Central”. Except here it’s just a stop where 6 tram lines collide. Not a station, just a sign and a spot on the map.

Some things you should know if you ever decide to visit here.
•Food is HELLA expensive. Booze is too. Think of the Redwood Room as your regular hangout with their prices. It’s like that.

•Beverages (as in comes in a bottle) costs CH3.50. For a bottle of water or a bottle of Diet Coke (500ml). Anywhere except the grocery stores, where it’s a bit more like it should be (cheaper)
•Did I mention that all the stores are closed on Sunday except for the stores connected to an airport or railway station? They’re open and since they’re the only game in town, that becomes the hottest place to be! On Sunday. That’s not just a Zurich thing, it’s a Swiss thing.
•Lodging is hella expensive also. It’s Manhattan level prices here. The friggin’ hostel is CHF30+ a night for a bunk. Again, like Manhattan…
•The Swiss Federal Railways. Almost JR like efficiency and density. They don’t play silly tunes on the platform though. This IS Switzerland!

•Canton (county) Public transit is a mix of buses and trams. Strangely enough, the fleet here is clean, safe and punctual. They run on something called a “schedule”. Now for those of us who live in San Francisco, this is a foreign concept (or something of fantasy that doesn’t involve purging the entire second floor of Silly Hall). This is what a “schedule” means outside San Francisco when the word is applied to transit:

schedule |ˈskejoōl; -jəl|
noun
a plan for carrying out a process or procedure, giving lists of intended events and times : we have drawn up an engineering schedule.
• (usu. one’s schedule) one’s day-to-day plans or timetable : take a moment out of your busy schedule.
• a timetable : information on airline schedules.

•Best of all, good Cuban cigars are hella cheap! A Ramon Allones Specially Selected sells at the La Casa del Habano for CHF10! Convert it yourself and you’ll see that’s half the price they are in Hong Kong, the other source for good quality Habanos.
Almost makes a CHF14.00 Big Mac Value Meal worth it! BTW, you get 30 minutes free Wi-Fi with that…

AKA Zurich HB

When you come in from ZRH, it takes all of ten minutes! All the trams and trains collide here so this is a building you will become very familiar with. It’s the largest train station in Switzerland and its major hub.

Traveler’s Tip: Free Wi-Fi?? What is this thing you call “free”? Even at the Hostel, they charge! The only place I’ve found so far with free Wi-Fi is McDonald’s which offers 30 minutes per day with purchase. And boy are these prices NUTS!! CH3.90 for a medium Coke?? And don’t even ask how much REAL food is elsewhere…
On the other hand, it’s very pretty here…and clean and safe!

Have I mentioned how much I luurve Japanese advertising? This was on the walls of the major train/subway stations during my last Japan visit in November. So loooong ago!!

It’s an advert for the Japan Economic Times (日本経済新聞), a publishing group that seems to be the Japanese counterpart to Dow Jones.
But the WSJ dun have advertising like this!!

So tonight I went with some frens to HK Disneyland to watch the Xmas parade and the fireworks.

“Sir, the mouse has been playing in the radioactive waste and is rampaging through the park”
The Xmas theme was all over the park. Here in Hong Kong, they say “Merry Christmas” which is the correct greeting/salutation during the Christmas season.

Beeeg treeeee
The actors were all in Xmas getups too

Now which one of use resembles an elf?
It’s not a Disney visit unless you take in the fireworks show. Here in HK, there’s a big “waaaaaaaah!” at the climax of the show.

…waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!!!
Unlike the other mickey mouse land in Anaheim, things here are not a complete rip-off. And the food is pretty good. Check out this spread. It was really good and it was only HK$130 per person for a party of four!

mmmmm taste the value!
According to one of my frens, unlike the other Disney parks, the characters don’t wander the park to camwhore randomly. Instead you go to a special area, queue and take pix that way. So much for random pix. There’s a really big fountain in front of the park that has the Moby Dick whale as its theme. Naturally, that’s Donald going down with the ship…

waaaak waaaakity waaaaaaaaaaaak waaaaaaak waaaaaaak!
And naturally, what HK experience is complete without the omnipresence of the MTR?

請小心月台空隙

So I get the question: “why do you do it”?
I can look out the window and see thing like this, that’s why.

Or like this

Somewhere over Alaska on SQ15 en route to Seoul Inchon
Because most of my flight, this is what I saw.

Of course, this is how flying SHOULD be. But not if you fly a US carrier!
Also nothing beats SQ service! That’s another reason…

From my last night in BKK…twas Model’s Night!!