Episode 15: July 2006
In contrast to June, the month of July was a much calmer month. In fact, the month of July was almost entirely all about me (Neal). Because I’m so great? Well, yes, and because Deb was traveling pretty much the entire month!
As you may recall, we ended June and began July by spending a weekend in Paris. Of course, we also ended last month’s entry with a little bombshell of news: we are moving to the U.S. later this year! So, not far into the month, Deb took her first trip to Midland, Michigan – our future home – to get an introduction to her new job. Deb’s trip was two weeks long, and she decided to meet as many U.S.-based members of her team in Michigan and Texas. From what Deb’s told me, it sounds as though her trip was a baptism of fire, to put things lightly. Basically, she found out that she is inheriting a fairly inexperienced team with extremely low morale. This is a group of people that has, for some time, been very improperly managed and so their current state is not surprising when considered in that light. Anyhow, Deb had plenty to do while in the U.S. and by the time her two weeks were up she was more than ready to come back to the relative calmness of Switzerland.
While in the U.S., Deb took a trip on our company’s corporate shuttle to our largest North American plant in Freeport, Texas. (Useless fact: Dow Chemical’s plant in Freeport is the second largest chemical facility in the world, surpassed only by BASF’s plant in Germany.) There, Deb met some of her direct reports and key clients. She also got another taste of the wonderful (?) Texas summer. Being along the coast, Freeport gets a “nice” mix of unbearable heat, suffocating humidity, and humongous mosquitoes that swarm. Yikes!
While she was in Midland, Deb also made time to reunite with some of our friends who live and work there. She also spent some time getting used to the town again. For those who are curious, Midland is somewhat the epitome of small-town U.S.A. The town has about 40,000 people and is a two-hour drive north of Detroit. Midland is part of a tri-city area along with Bay City and Saginaw, both of which are larger than Midland. Pretty much the entire town of Midland centers on Dow Chemical, as the company is headquartered there (along with its joint venture Dow Corning) and is the largest employer. Dow’s third largest chemical plant is located in Midland, though it is a fairly disadvantaged location and is not a hot-spot of investment at the moment.
Despite its small size, Midland does have pretty much all the basic necessities that we need. The town is quite affluent, thanks to the large population of educated Dow Chemical worker bees. Sure, Midland is no Zurich, Switzerland, but it is a town that we are very familiar with and one in which we already have a social network. So it will be a change in lifestyle, but we are definitely prepared for the adventure!
While Deb was traveling, I worked a lot, as I have a habit of doing in general and especially when Deb is away from home. During the weekend that Deb was away I decided to try something daring. Thanks to the impressive number of bicycle riders in Switzerland, the roads are well-equipped for bikers, with most of them having bike-only lanes. Thus, it is possible for a bicyclist to ride around Lake Zurich. In fact, many people do on a regular basis. So, I decided to go for it. The ride is about 70 kilometers long and is by far the longest ride I have ever attempted by, oh, about 60 kilometers!
I started on Sunday at about 7 am. Yes, that’s right, 7 am. I started so early because I wanted to avoid as much road traffic as possible. I calculated that I would be riding for about 4-5 hours (with breaks) so I wanted to ride while the roads were relatively clear. The first half of the bike ride was okay. The roads are relatively flat, and I was enjoying the mild weather. However, about half-way into the ride I began to get a bit annoyed. You see, during the past winter, while we were trying to learn to snowboard, I took a nasty fall on my tailbone and bruised it pretty good. (A friend of mine thinks I suffered a hairline fracture, but I have not bothered to get it checked out because there is really nothing a doctor can do to heal it.) Anyhow, because of the injury, I start getting a dull pain in my bum after long stints of sitting on a hard surface. Well, my bike seat is not exactly well-padded and, needless to say, after about three hours of riding my ass hurt!
By the time I hit the 50-55 kilometer mark, my caboose was on fire and I threw in the towel. Luckily, I stopped at a major train station and was able to haul my bike on a train back to our suburb. In the end, I felt a nice sense of accomplishment for making it so far on my bike, but I was a bit disappointed in not being able to finish, as my legs were up to the task.
Outside of bike riding, I tried as much as possible to stay out of the sun. In general, July was a bloody hot month in Europe. In Switzerland, we had temperatures routinely in the 30 degree Celsius or higher range (that’s about 90 degree Fahrenheit). Not only are those temperatures unusually hot for Switzerland but they feel even worse when you have no air-conditioning. On the same day I did my bike ride around the lake, I also joined some of our friends to watch the World Cup final, complete with Zidane’s head-to-chest-butt. Needless to say, it was pandemonium after the match as every Italian was out in the streets waving their flag. Now they have something to brag about for the next four years!
On the weekend that Deb returned from the U.S. we spent some time relaxing and letting Deb decompress after her travels. But we also made time to test ourselves yet again on our bikes. This time, one of Deb’s friends, Vicki, invited us to go with her and her partner on a ride from her house to a lake on the other side of the hills around Zurich and back. The ride was about 65 kilometers. Personally, I saw this as my chance at redemption and was definitely up for the challenge. So, we drove over to Vicki’s house and hopped on our bikes. The ride was relatively flat – though we did have to climb some tough hills, by our standards – and we reached the lake in good time. From there, we rode around the lake, stopping for some lunch and a swim, and headed back. As before, my injury began to flare up after about 40 kilometers but I pushed through and we finished the ride in about 6 hours. Despite our legs aching for a couple of days, it was well worth it!
The following weekend was a pretty relaxed one. We spent one day with Dad and Julie, visiting a mountain called Stockhorn, which is located close to Interlaken in the central part of Switzerland. We took a cablecar up to the top of the mountain and then hiked down to a spot where we could catch the cablecar back down. The day we were there, a group had organized – get this – a half-marathon up the mountain. Runners were punishing themselves by not only running 13 miles but doing it up a fairly steep incline. I was getting tired just watching them!
The next week, Deb was off again for a business trip, this time to Singapore to do the hand-off for one of the parts of her now-old job. Knowing it would be her last business trip to the Pacific for a while, she made the most of Singapore’s great bars, restaurants, and shops that time would allow.
While Deb was away, I worked long hours again, but I also did a bit of scheming. August 1 is sort of like Independence Day in Switzerland and the country is always on holiday that day. Long ago, Deb and I decided to make the last weekend in July a four-day affair by taking one day off of work, as August 1 fell on a Tuesday. Before Deb left for Singapore, I told her that I would arrange a trip for us but refused to tell her where we were going. When she got back, I surprised her with an arranged trip to Belgium!
Okay, okay, I know what you are thinking. Belgium is not much of a surprise, Neal. Well, actually, it is because Deb has wanted to go to a couple of places in Belgium for some time. I arranged for us to fly from Zurich to Brussels, rent a car, and then drive first to Brugge, a city that is known as the Venice of the north. Brugge is a quaint, canal-laden town in Belgium that is smaller and less touristy than Venice. Throughout the trip, I had arranged for us to stay in a couple of bed-and-breakfasts, and our spot in Brugge did not disappoint. It is a very romantic city, with beautiful architecture. We were also thankful for Belgium’s reputation as a good-food country, and we found the eating to be very good no matter if we were in a restaurant or a pub. We spent two days in Brugge enjoying the sights, walking around the town, and relaxing as much as possible.
From Brugge, we traveled to Antwerp. Along the way, we stopped in Ghent for lunch and to take in the main square of the city. (In our opinion, Ghent is not a must-visit city, but it is a nice place to catch a bite to eat and take a couple of pictures.) In Antwerp, we again stayed in a bed-and-breakfast. This one was a funky hotel that claimed to have a minimalist design and monotone color selection in each room. We stayed in the “mocha” room which was, as advertised, sparely decorated and was almost entire white except for the mocha-colored tiles in the bathroom and the mocha blanket on the bed.
Antwerp is known for its artsy atmosphere, including its fashion, its shopping, its museums, and its diamonds. We decided to experience all four. For fashion, we went to the city’s fashion museum which puts on display a different designer’s collection every so often. Normally, the displays are for show only, but we were very lucky. For the showing we saw – a collection by Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto – the museum had a “ready to wear” theme in which visitors were free to pick and choose particular outfits to try! The entire collection on display was for women only, so I was excluded from giving the exhibit a go. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures, but Deb tried on a couple of funky Yamamoto designs. With each design, the curator told us the story behind the outfit and what was going through the designer’s head. Personally, I have never looked at fashion in such a light – jeans are jeans, right?! – and found the whole thing really interesting. Deb loved the opportunity to try on “high fashion” and get a sense of the designs and the fabrics.
The next day, Deb and I took advantage of Antwerp’s shopping scene and bought a few clothes – Deb more than me! As we walked along the streets, we took a side trip through Antwerp’s diamond district. About 80% of the world’s diamonds spend some time of their life in Antwerp. You would not know this, however, by walking through the diamond district. It looks like a regular, quiet neighborhood. The only signs indicating that there is something special going on is the high concentration of Hasidic Jews – apparently, they are very big in the diamond trading business – the large number of well-hidden surveillance cameras all along the roads, and the occasional person walking along with a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist (which we, unfortunately, did not see). To help us understand more, we took a tour through the Diamond Museum where we learned about how diamonds are formed, mined, and cut. We even viewed some masterful diamond art – behind very think glass, of course.
Having hit all four highlights of Antwerp, we then set off for Brussels. I have always wanted to visit Brussels again because my first visit to the city was not a good one, and I left unimpressed by the city. I thought that maybe I had just had a bad experience and that the city was not that bad after all. So, we made the short trip from Antwerp to Brussels. Looking back now, I must admit that my first impression of Brussels was correct. In fact, we recommend to all those people who may someday travel to Europe to skip Brussels. While the food in Brussels is pretty good, the city is far too touristy and it really does not have that much to offer. The main square of the city – known as the Great Place – is a very nice venue but can be viewed in about 30 minutes. Another attraction is the Manneke Piss, a statue of a boy peeing water. Again, this site is fairly anti-climatic – I thought the statue would be huge but, in fact, it is about a foot tall – and takes all of 30 minutes to see. One interesting tip we can add is that, if you are in Brussels, you should try to find the female version of the Manneke Piss, known as the Janneke Piss. She is not nearly as popular as the male version.
After a full day in Brussels, we drove back to the airport to catch our flight to Switzerland. Though we ended July with another vacation, the month was thankfully calm – at least for me – and that’s a good thing given that our move to the U.S. is fast approaching. Until next time, we wish you a good month of August. For those of you who have air-conditioning, thank your lucky stars and think about us the next time the weather is scorching hot!
