Current mood:

tired

Another update
So I had the occasion last week to travel to Basel Switzerland for Business. I took a bunch of photos (http://www.tigerknight.org/~jeanie/gallery/ the switzerland photo gallery is off the main page) while I was there and have already uploaded them. (Yes I know I need to do my NZ photos but they're overwhelming right now in light of having just moved to Austin TX - but there are some up in my new photo gallery so if you follow the link you'll see them as well).

I read something in a blog this weekend that reminded me of something I noticed in Switzerland. The writer, mentioned how he climbed up to the top of Moro Rock in California(350 stairs) and on his way down he saw a bicyclist climbing up carrying his bike and the writer asked the bicyclist in shock whether he was planning on biking down. The bicyclist said "People will steal anything if you don't lock it up."

This reminded me of Switzerland because bikes are very prevalent in Switzerland. Tons of people use their bicycles to get around town and commute to work. Even on the campus of the company I was visiting there were huge on-site bike parking lots and the bikes had little license plates with the company name on it that were assigned to different employees for their use to get to and from home or around campus.

This is pretty nifty as is the bike lanes and the bike specific traffic lights. But the thing I found even more interesting was that rarely did one lock up their bike. I saw one single bike with a bike lock on it in the city. They park their bikes adjacent to the curb of the street with a huge line of bikes like you might see outside a motorcycle bar. None of the bikes are locked to anything, the seats are still on the bike, the tires still attached. There is no fear that the bike will be stolen. This is just not done. Switzerland is a land of the honor system from the bikes without locks to the purchase of tram tickets that rarely get checked by the tram driver (I never was asked for mine) to the jewelry shop windows displaying their wares (expensive jewelry and watches) in unbarred windows all night long.

I loved Basel and definitely want to go back at some point. It's also right on the border of France and Germany so I had the luck to have dinner in France one evening and lunch in Germany one afternoon so 3 countries in 3 days. Of course no one stamped my passport (we weren't stopped any of the times) so I have no proof (except the extra weight I gained from the delicious meals).

Now I just have to get over my jet lag which hasn't been easy.