Bilingual or Bust

The following is from the current issue of SwissNews. It is a good thing I won't be here much longer.

Thinking of applying for a Swiss passport? Better brush up on your German, French, Italian or Romansh first.

The Swiss Senate recently backed the House of Representatives by voting not to grant citizenship to anyone unable to communicate proficiently in one of the four nationally recognized languages, according to the Zurich daily newspaper, the TagesAnzeiger.

Good language skills are important for integration, said Roberto Schmidt, member of the Christian Democratic Party (CVP) from Valais. Therefore, he added, it is right to strengthen the citizenship law.

Not only will applicants need to demonstrate their lannguage skills by passing a verrbal language test, but also their "integration success". And according to a report on World Radio Switzerland (WRS), foreign nationals who don't integrate could even lose their residency permits.

WRS said the Senate backed a motion suggesting foreigners who "are clearly not going to meet those conditions" of integration and language proficiency could have their residency permits revoked, and be forced to leave Switzerland.

The Federal Cabinet is in the process of defining what exactly "integration" means.

I am about as integrated in Switzerland as an ice cube is in the oven.

Cascades Du Herisson hike

(l'Eventail falls in all its glory - a glory we didn't see. I grabbed this picture off the internet.)

Today we hiked the Cascades du Herisson in France. Roughly translated, the waterfalls on the Herisson river. Lac de Bonlieu is the source for the river at 805 m (2641 ft.) and drops 280 m (920 ft.) in only 3 km (2 miles) by cutting through narrow gorges and forming four pretty cool waterfalls; Saut Girard (35 m / 115 ft.), Le Saut de la Forge, Le Grand Saut (60 m / 197 ft.) and finally l'Eventail (65 m / 213 ft.). In between these falls are numerous cascades.

It was best to start downstream and hike up. The first fall - l'Eventail - wasn't far and the path there was wide and smooth. The river's water flow wasn't real strong, but good enough to impress. Seeing these with winter snow melt would be really cool. From here the trail got steeper, but it was well maintained and wasn't difficult. Steps were either man-made, roots of trees or carved from rock. (Left: l'Eventail from below and from above.)

The next fall - Le Grand Saut - we could only view from on top. The trail leading to its base was closed. The trail actually led you behind the waterfall, but the trail had been eroded away. Too bad, it would have been neat to walk behind the falls. By the time we reached the top we needed a break and there was a nice place for us to rest and have lunch.

(The next three pictures: on the way to Le Grand Saut.)
(The next two pictures: atop Le Grand Saut - looking upstream and looking back downstream.)

Upstream from Le Grand Saut was a smaller fall called La Gour Bleu. It wasn't real tall; maybe three or four times my height.

After La Gour Bleu was Château Garnier. It was a weird looking fall, but its pool was deep.

We halted our hike at Le Saut de la Forge. We didn't go all the way to Saut Girard. Parker likes hiking too, but after 2 hours buckled in the car and another couple of hours in the kid carrier, he was getting a little cranky. Springtime will be a good time to see this place again. We'll catch that last fall then.

Blinded Parker

Parker did a little modeling for me yesterday. I wish I could have set this shot up, but it was just the right place and time of day. The sun coming through the blinds made for a cool picture.

Olympic Museum in Lausanne

Today was nice, but a little cold, so Kathleen took the day off and we went to Lausanne to visit the Olympic Museum. It was okay, but not much in the way for little kids. They didn't allow cameras inside. There wasn't much to take pictures of anyway, but still this was a bummer.

The best exhibits IMO were the Olympic torches and medals dating back to the 1936 games in Berlin. You could view each torch and each medal up close. My favorite torch was from the 2000 Sydney summer games. The gold, silver and bronze medals for both the summer and winter games were on display. I liked the 1998 Nagano winter games medals the best. I would have liked to have a picture or two of these.

There were some works of art on the museum grounds. I thought he racing bicycles was cool. There was also a high jump bar setup showing the record height. Dang it was high! Well over my head. And there was a Vancouver 2010 torch you could hold as well.

The boys had lunch with Kathleen today

Since Payton is still on school break this week, us boys went to have lunch with Kathleen today. We ate at a small family Italian restaurant in Le Locle that I actually like. It has a diner-like atmosphere and the food is pretty good.

Parker finally got a free hand at using a laptop. His brother doesn't let him touch his. Parker is always watching him waiting for an opening. What Payton knows at 5, Parker will know at 3.

Fortunately on the way home I was able to slip by a heavy Swiss security check point. They must have went on a cheese and wine break or something. They're serious about their check point facilities here. These block houses could stop a tank. Actually these are WWII defensive positions. I come across them occasionally while driving in the mountains. They're positioned to defend the road while ground troops would defend assaults up the mountain side. An attacking tank would have to come up the road.

Sommet du Moléson

This week and next is a 2-week school break for Payton. I needed to get out of the house and so did Payton. I called up our friend Christa and asked her if I could trade her Parker for her two boys so that they, Payton and me could go on a day trip. She agreed.

I can see a mountain from our house and have always wanted to go to it. Today I did with the boys in tow. Today we went to the Sommet du Moléson.
The summit raises up to a height of 2002 m (6600 ft.) and offers a great view of the Swiss Alps, the Burnese Alps, the greater part of French Switzerland and even Mont-Blanc south on the Italian/French border. To get to the summit we first rode a funicular part way up and then switched over to a cable car. The ride up took maybe 20 minutes or so.
Up on the summit there are no trees, just grass. I don't think this is because of the altitude. It is probably due to wind and very little soil. It wasn't windy for us and was in fact a very nice sunny day. The observatory/restaurant is the jumping off point. From here there are trails following the various ridges and trails heading down the mountain in many directions.
You can see the observatory/restaurant above. The summit of Mt. Moléson is on the otherside and to the left. We headed there next. The path up doesn't look like much in the picture, but it was taking my breath away. Not so for Payton. He hoofed right up it talking to me and all the while eating a brownie.
The summit is clearly marked. I took a picture of all four of us. See, I really did go along. There wasn't some camera floating in the air following three boys around on a mountain top.
The picture above is on the far side of the summit. The little cross in the background is on the top of the cliff face you can see in the first picture. There is a narrow trail following the ridge down to it - if one wanted to hike there - we didn't. We had seen enough and wanted to go back down.

Down where we started our ascent was a toboggan run - Swiss style. We all wanted to ride. This run was more like a downhill roller coaster. Payton likes to go fast and a good thing too. So do I! I taped our second run down. Payton and I rode together. Devin and Lucas rode by themselves. We each got in four runs.

Before we leave the mountain, here are just a couple view shots from up on top.

On the way home we punched in a McDonald's command to the GPS. We were all kind of hungry. On the way there we passed by a lake with some ruins of some sort on an island. I thought it looked pretty cool so we stopped long enough to snap a few pictures. Afterward it was McDonald's and then home.

Fete des Vendanges

Last weekend was Fete des Vendanges (Grape Harvest Celebration) in Neuchâtel. It is a big deal every September. There are a lot of grapes around here and in Switzerland. Grapes mean wineries and wine. The festival lasts the whole weekend running into the wee hours of the night. there are lot's of parades, confetti, drink and food. There are also carnival rides. We didn't bring our camera the day we took Payton to the rides, but our friends emailed us couple they had taken. This was Payton's most adventurous ride; one of those space needle type rides. He liked it a lot.

Happy Birthday to Kathleen

Happy birthday sweety! Today was Kathleen's birthday. I gave her a card I couldn't read, grilled her a steak, didn't bake the potato long enough and baked her a cake - a 4-layer cake to boot.

Typical afternoon picking up Payton from school

Everyday Parker and I go pick up Payton from school. We get there early; mostly so I get an easy parking spot. Right next to the school is a park where all the school kids go to wait for their parents. This park is empty when Park and I get there. Since Parker is walking he likes exploring the playground.
Parker likes swinging on the swing. There isn't a baby swing so I sit him on the swing and push him back and forth all the while holding on to him. It's swinging to him - he's all smiles.
Parker likes when his big brother takes him up into the big playset. There is a tunnel to crawl through and best of all a big long slide at the end. He really likes Payton taking him down the slide.Ten to fifteen minutes after we get to the park, Payton and his classmates come running out of school. Most days I have chocolate milk waiting for Payton. He likes this and to have a snack of some sort. All the kids are hungry. If they see one kid with food they try to become their best friend to get some.
Parker tries his best to follow his brother around. Payton mostly plays with his friends, but he doesn't totally ignore his little brother. This doesn't matter to Park. He watches Payton's every move.

Ah, just a typical day picking Payton up from school.