3 posts tagged “fribourg”
During our trip to Switzerland, I was amused by the many examples of bad translation that we encountered. I nicknamed it 'Swinglish', though N noted that 'Fringlish' was probably a better term, as most of the examples were French to English translations. While not quite on the par of Engrish it made me giggle.
With temperatures decidedly hot in Fribourg, I ventured to the city’s municipal pool, handily located in the old town right along the Sarine river. It’s a very nice facility, complete with a proper 50 meter pool that has a few lanes set up for lap swimmers. Fribourgian swimmers are an odd lot, with few of them serious enough to either get their head wet or wear goggles, though the men are passionate about their teeny speedos. The general lack of speed of the folks in the fast lane helped me practice short sprints as I passed swimmers.
However, lane etiquette was definitely lacking overall, and I’m not sure if that’s an overall Swiss thing or just a cantonal thing. There was a particular old lady who was kicking on her side with fins, who never stopped at the wall to let people pass, instead moving her sizable girth around with nary a glance backward. I had to pass her at one point, and I swear as I did she peed in my direction. How else to explain the sudden jet of warmth that hit me in an otherwise cool pool? It was about that time I decided to focus on kicking forcefully, unfortunately causing the old hag’s hair to get wet. Tant pis, eh?
After a surprisingly relaxed flight, thanks to a dose of prescription drugs, I'm slowly recovering from jetlag with ample Swiss cheese, wine and chocolat. We landed in Zurich yesterday morning, and after a coffee and a shower at N's mom's flat, went into town to hit the H&M sale and buy some maps for our hiking trip. She and her husband live in a gorgeous old building that handily houses the school he teaches at. From their place it's a short hop on one of Zurich's many regular trams into the town center, and it was comforting to see how familiar the places looked. Bittersweet, too, for we learned that his mom's looking to leave Switzerland to be closer to family, so our regular trips to visit her may not come as regularly. Quelle tristesse.
Views from the Zurich flat are nice...
A few photos from the Chasseral, as promised earlier.
