A visit from the man
As I may have mentioned once or twice before, my nephew -- the one and only -- came to visit me this last week. My nephew, sister, and brother-in-law were in Italy for a little bit more than a week, then on Wednesday they took the train up to Sion, where I met them with a rental car. Sion was a convenient place to meet because it is fairly close to Italy (only 3 hours from Milan by train) and it is right in the middle of Valais, which is one of the most beautiful parts of Switzerland.
Valais has been described to me as "Texas of Switzerland" by some of my colleagues, which has some truth to it. First, it is a fairly large (area-wise) canton that is not heavily populated. Second, Valaisians tend identify as Valaisians first and Swiss second. Finally, they love cows. When I visited Switzerland a few years ago, Serge took us all to Valais for an evening in a small chalet followed by a day of cow fighting, and I loved every minute of it. I wanted to recreate the experience as best I could for my sister, but as it is not cow-fighting season, I could only come close.
Fig. 1: This photo is from my trip to Switzerland in 2004. You can tell it's an old photo because my hair is far thicker and luxuriant. And, yes, those cows in the background are fighting.
We stayed at a small cabin, Gîte l'Ermitage, that had been recommended to me by a friend. I don't have any pictures of the outside, but here's a pic of me and the man kicking it inside.
Fig. 2: Alexander with his favorite Unkie. He called me "Pau-Pau."
Although Valais is notorious for having good weather with lots of sunshine (even during the winter), we hit it at a pretty awful time. There was an intense fog that made driving nearly impossible, and the temperature hovered around freezing. As my Sister et al had just arrived from sunny, relatively warm Italy, the cold weather was a real shock. They brought a "snow suit" for Alexander, but it was clear that his true Californian nature made him very uncomfortable wearing it.
Fig. 3: Me and little Nanook of the north.
I was hoping that we could hang around Valais the next day and do some "alpinism," but it was just too cold and too cloudy so we drove back to Lausanne. As there isn't a whole heck of a lot to do in Lausanne in November, we mainly just wandered around the city, checked out the public parks, and hung out at my sweet new pad. Vince took a bunch of pictures with his very nice camera and posted some on his picasa account; here are a few that I took.
Fig. 4: As there were no bathtubs in any of the hotel rooms they stayed in, this was Alexander's first real bath in a long while. Since I didn't have any bath toys for him to play with, he entertained himself by eating soap bubbles.
Fig. 5: The evidence.
Valais has been described to me as "Texas of Switzerland" by some of my colleagues, which has some truth to it. First, it is a fairly large (area-wise) canton that is not heavily populated. Second, Valaisians tend identify as Valaisians first and Swiss second. Finally, they love cows. When I visited Switzerland a few years ago, Serge took us all to Valais for an evening in a small chalet followed by a day of cow fighting, and I loved every minute of it. I wanted to recreate the experience as best I could for my sister, but as it is not cow-fighting season, I could only come close.
Fig. 1: This photo is from my trip to Switzerland in 2004. You can tell it's an old photo because my hair is far thicker and luxuriant. And, yes, those cows in the background are fighting.We stayed at a small cabin, Gîte l'Ermitage, that had been recommended to me by a friend. I don't have any pictures of the outside, but here's a pic of me and the man kicking it inside.
Fig. 2: Alexander with his favorite Unkie. He called me "Pau-Pau."Although Valais is notorious for having good weather with lots of sunshine (even during the winter), we hit it at a pretty awful time. There was an intense fog that made driving nearly impossible, and the temperature hovered around freezing. As my Sister et al had just arrived from sunny, relatively warm Italy, the cold weather was a real shock. They brought a "snow suit" for Alexander, but it was clear that his true Californian nature made him very uncomfortable wearing it.
Fig. 3: Me and little Nanook of the north.I was hoping that we could hang around Valais the next day and do some "alpinism," but it was just too cold and too cloudy so we drove back to Lausanne. As there isn't a whole heck of a lot to do in Lausanne in November, we mainly just wandered around the city, checked out the public parks, and hung out at my sweet new pad. Vince took a bunch of pictures with his very nice camera and posted some on his picasa account; here are a few that I took.
Fig. 4: As there were no bathtubs in any of the hotel rooms they stayed in, this was Alexander's first real bath in a long while. Since I didn't have any bath toys for him to play with, he entertained himself by eating soap bubbles.
Fig. 5: The evidence.Currently, I don't own a TV, radio, or much in the way of entertainment, so the only after-dinner entertainment available was a deck of "Uno" cards. A little history: I haven't played Uno in years, but my sister and I used to play all the time when we were little. Although I have often been accused of being too competitive about things like this, I should mention that Sophia's dedication to Uno runs so deep that she was caught cheating (for the first time) when she was only 4 years old. We take these things pretty seriously in our family, and even though we hadn't played in years, I knew this time would be no different. Vince, on the other hand, does not respect Uno. He protested that it was a "game for kids" and that the winner was "entirely determined by luck." He was as dust beneath our chariot wheels.
The final score sheet from the game is pictured above. First, I would like you to notice that out of 11 hands, Vince won exactly none of them. To paraphrase Spinal Tap, "How much worse could he be? and the answer is none. None more worse." If the winner were indeed determined by luck (as he claimed), the odds of him losing 11 hands in a row would be an incredible 86 to 1. As well as Vince has done (up to this point) in integrating into the greater Sangiorgio family, he really needs to step his game up if he wants to sit at the grown-ups' table again. Getting back to the score sheet, though, you'll notice that "Star" (that's Soph's Uno "handle" from way back) built up a fairly strong lead before "Paul" (that's me) snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a stunning last-minute comeback. I don't really expect you to be impressed, but I just want you to know what your dealing with when you come play Uno in my apartment. Bottom line: when you come to Lausanne, you better bring it. The Uno deck is waiting.
The final score sheet from the game is pictured above. First, I would like you to notice that out of 11 hands, Vince won exactly none of them. To paraphrase Spinal Tap, "How much worse could he be? and the answer is none. None more worse." If the winner were indeed determined by luck (as he claimed), the odds of him losing 11 hands in a row would be an incredible 86 to 1. As well as Vince has done (up to this point) in integrating into the greater Sangiorgio family, he really needs to step his game up if he wants to sit at the grown-ups' table again. Getting back to the score sheet, though, you'll notice that "Star" (that's Soph's Uno "handle" from way back) built up a fairly strong lead before "Paul" (that's me) snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a stunning last-minute comeback. I don't really expect you to be impressed, but I just want you to know what your dealing with when you come play Uno in my apartment. Bottom line: when you come to Lausanne, you better bring it. The Uno deck is waiting.
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