Wild Thangs
So, it's wild season here in der Schweiz, which means the menus are presently full of 'wild' meat. This means mostly one of several varieties of deer, apparently, along with wild pork, which I guess means there are wild boar running about Switzerland somewheres. Deer is quite popular here - they serve it in the company canteen here all the time. Ack. Not my favorite. It's a great motivator for learning my German more quickly - so I can be more successful at the 'guess the mystery meat' - and then avoid it - game. Scott's a bit more adventurous than I, of course, in the meat arena generally.
Speaking of food, we finally went to an authentic Swiss restaurant, and ate 'typical' Swiss food. Scott had Wiener Schnitzel and pommes frites (good veal here, if you're into politically incorrect meats), while our two friends and I had the ever-popular fondue. Wow, it was sooo good, but just tasting it feels like an added inch on your bum...it's obviously calorically quite dense, especially when you add the large bread cubes into the mix. And it was practically flammable, it had so much Kirchewasser in it. We also had Crepes Suzette prepared tableside for dessert, also chock full o' Grand Marnier. But oh, was it all yummy. And expensive, of course - as everything is here. For the four of us, the tab came to CHF 340.00.
Well, we finally bought a car - or are in the process of buying one I should say. Go ahead and laugh at us, but we bought a Subaru Impreza wagon - we love that AWD. And even while living in Europe, we can't be bothered with the potential repair issues for a European car, and fall back on the Japanese reliability. I was raised on Consumer Reports, so sue me. It's a 2005, snow white - not really a safety color for the Alps, when you think about it, but I guess we'll live dangerously. But y'all will LOVE this process of buying a car...especially those of you who have lived through my enraging car-buying experiences of the past. We contacted this guy recommended to us, who owns a 'garage' here - essentially a car dealership, with a service department. He personally sells Renaults at his establishment (no thanks on the French or Italian cars, sorry), but he is getting us the Subaru. But get this, he comes to ME - yes, comes to my place of business to meet with me about the car. After a couple of phone conversations about what we wanted, he sourced the car and figured out all the costs, etc., and then came to my workplace to go over it with Scott and I. Then he came back again for me to sign the paperwork. And he hooked me up with an insurance broker (originally from Scotland, been en Suisse for lo these many decades) who got us insurance after shopping around for the best rates. So next, Marco (our garage owner-new friend) will come for yet a third time to my office, to pick us up and drive us to our new car. It will be clean, full of petrol, have its licence plates and highway sticker paid for and already on it. We'll already be insured, and the insurance guy will also help us to get our Swiss drivers licenses. And I'm sure you're all thinking I'm paying some huge premium for all this service, but in fact, we're not. It's a service this garage guy offers, and the price of the car would be the same as if I walked into the Subaru dealers myself, with a fist full o' francs. Everyone here unanimously tells me, without a shred of doubt, that I am paying a fair price for the car, and that the in-person service is not costing extra. Indeed, the insurance is also extremely reasonable, and was scrupulously sourced by our Scottish-Swiss-new-friend. And all this without either of us lifting a finger. How pleasant is that?!
(Working with the Scottish guy reminded me of one of my favorite old jokes: What's the difference between the Rolling Stones and a Scotsman? The Rolling Stones say, "Hey, you, get off of my cloud!"; the Scotsman says, "Hey, MacCleod, get off of my ewe!!")
I'm getting spoiled by all this service - we got our household, liability and health insurance this way too - the insurance broker guy came to my office to go over the proposal he had put together and to get my signatures, and then I was insured. And, again, for a fair and even low-ish price. The German instructor also comes to my office to teach Scott and I German. Lordy, I'm gonna go soft doing things this way, then how will I be able to deal with the sharks in the US car and insurance industries?? Maybe we'll just stay here forever.
Scott's off hiking in the Alps today with his friend Will, so maybe we'll get some photos or reports about it. This weekend, the Herbstmesse starts, which is essentially a fall festival here in Basel. There are four different locations around the city that will have booths and rides and all of that fun stuff. It goes for two weeks, so we're going to hit that for sure. I expect to find some yummy food that they only serve at fairtime - like the Swiss version of funnel cakes maybe. And hopefully some groovy shopping as well, love the markets here (the shops are good too, but the outdoor markets are fab.) And for now, I'll keep avoiding the wild menu and stick with the meat I can identify - like chicken.
Speaking of food, we finally went to an authentic Swiss restaurant, and ate 'typical' Swiss food. Scott had Wiener Schnitzel and pommes frites (good veal here, if you're into politically incorrect meats), while our two friends and I had the ever-popular fondue. Wow, it was sooo good, but just tasting it feels like an added inch on your bum...it's obviously calorically quite dense, especially when you add the large bread cubes into the mix. And it was practically flammable, it had so much Kirchewasser in it. We also had Crepes Suzette prepared tableside for dessert, also chock full o' Grand Marnier. But oh, was it all yummy. And expensive, of course - as everything is here. For the four of us, the tab came to CHF 340.00.
Well, we finally bought a car - or are in the process of buying one I should say. Go ahead and laugh at us, but we bought a Subaru Impreza wagon - we love that AWD. And even while living in Europe, we can't be bothered with the potential repair issues for a European car, and fall back on the Japanese reliability. I was raised on Consumer Reports, so sue me. It's a 2005, snow white - not really a safety color for the Alps, when you think about it, but I guess we'll live dangerously. But y'all will LOVE this process of buying a car...especially those of you who have lived through my enraging car-buying experiences of the past. We contacted this guy recommended to us, who owns a 'garage' here - essentially a car dealership, with a service department. He personally sells Renaults at his establishment (no thanks on the French or Italian cars, sorry), but he is getting us the Subaru. But get this, he comes to ME - yes, comes to my place of business to meet with me about the car. After a couple of phone conversations about what we wanted, he sourced the car and figured out all the costs, etc., and then came to my workplace to go over it with Scott and I. Then he came back again for me to sign the paperwork. And he hooked me up with an insurance broker (originally from Scotland, been en Suisse for lo these many decades) who got us insurance after shopping around for the best rates. So next, Marco (our garage owner-new friend) will come for yet a third time to my office, to pick us up and drive us to our new car. It will be clean, full of petrol, have its licence plates and highway sticker paid for and already on it. We'll already be insured, and the insurance guy will also help us to get our Swiss drivers licenses. And I'm sure you're all thinking I'm paying some huge premium for all this service, but in fact, we're not. It's a service this garage guy offers, and the price of the car would be the same as if I walked into the Subaru dealers myself, with a fist full o' francs. Everyone here unanimously tells me, without a shred of doubt, that I am paying a fair price for the car, and that the in-person service is not costing extra. Indeed, the insurance is also extremely reasonable, and was scrupulously sourced by our Scottish-Swiss-new-friend. And all this without either of us lifting a finger. How pleasant is that?!
(Working with the Scottish guy reminded me of one of my favorite old jokes: What's the difference between the Rolling Stones and a Scotsman? The Rolling Stones say, "Hey, you, get off of my cloud!"; the Scotsman says, "Hey, MacCleod, get off of my ewe!!")
I'm getting spoiled by all this service - we got our household, liability and health insurance this way too - the insurance broker guy came to my office to go over the proposal he had put together and to get my signatures, and then I was insured. And, again, for a fair and even low-ish price. The German instructor also comes to my office to teach Scott and I German. Lordy, I'm gonna go soft doing things this way, then how will I be able to deal with the sharks in the US car and insurance industries?? Maybe we'll just stay here forever.
Scott's off hiking in the Alps today with his friend Will, so maybe we'll get some photos or reports about it. This weekend, the Herbstmesse starts, which is essentially a fall festival here in Basel. There are four different locations around the city that will have booths and rides and all of that fun stuff. It goes for two weeks, so we're going to hit that for sure. I expect to find some yummy food that they only serve at fairtime - like the Swiss version of funnel cakes maybe. And hopefully some groovy shopping as well, love the markets here (the shops are good too, but the outdoor markets are fab.) And for now, I'll keep avoiding the wild menu and stick with the meat I can identify - like chicken.
posted by Swizzies at 10:35
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home