BERN part 1.

i was a little "BERNt out" on lausanne and needed to get the heck out of here. perhaps it was being sick and staying in my apartment for 3 days straight. but one of my goals has been to take advantage of being in europe and to see as much of switzerland as i possibly can during the year.

i had the urge and felt like spending the day by myself, so i took an early train to Bern. there were two museums of interest- both recently built, as well as the old town. i'm sure there's more to see there, but it was a perfect agenda for a pretty cold wintry day.

stop #1: zentrum paul klee (renzo piano)

walking approach

main entrance to the museum

it was a longer walk than i thought, but i'm very glad that i walked. i wandered through some residential areas, quiet on a wednesday morning, and eventually found some farm fields and then spotted the highway and with paul klee center right behind it.  no wonder they never show that view in the magazines!

honestly, the outside is sort of hideous. looks like a giant alien emerging from the ground.  but the lobby spaces are gorgeous... and ooh the models!

museum cafe- the wood makes this space a
warm contrast to the exterior

the sun finally came out and created
a more dramatic view.

stop #2: historisches museum bern (:mlzd)

maybe not the most beautiful formwork, but
a great display of process

this museum has a recent addition that i had to check out. by the time i got there i was too tired (still getting over a cold) and had spent too many CHFs at the paul klee museum to go in. next time i have a visitor maybe i'll drag them along... the einstein exhibits look cool!  anyway, what is great about the exterior of this building is the interesting concrete mix they used giving it a very yellow/sandstone look. also the formwork they used is very evident, you can see the plywood sheet seams and texture.

the best part of this addition for me was the outdoor public space which features a huge glass wall reflecting the historic part of the museum as well as the streetscape.

new addition and old museum

subtle asymmetric stairs.  beautiful!

bike season opener!

it all happened so quickly...

i have been researching my options for purchasing a bike since mid-January.  i was a little frustrated by the lack of a used bike market here... there is one nearby shop selling used bikes but the guy told me that the Swiss love to buy new things. not old things. there was another option i explored: www.ricardo.ch which is sort of the craigslist of switzerland, however items are sold by auction which makes it difficult to test ride a bike before purchasing. of course i thought about buying another bike, but the thought of having to move 2 bikes after this year (potentially from different countries) was overwhelming, as were the prices. (its switzerland!)

i put it on the back burner for a while.

i'm not exactly sure how much time my dad spent packing up the bike, but surely i owe him for doing such a great job packing it. on monday i received a giant box in the mail with this inside:

i was able to pick up a bit of grease from a local motorcycle shop. a few hours later, as some of you might have been following the progress on facebook, and saw the final result:

i realized i didn't have a water bottle, and with a ride scheduled for wednesday, i decided to take a little ride to a nearby bike shop i read about on english forum, (a great resource for all things Swiss) The Bike.  it is true that the owner is not only an english speaker, but is from wisconsin as boldly displayed by his gb packers sweatshirt.  hopefully soon i can join their thursday night ladies rides- need to get my biking legs back first!

the past two wednesdays i've been lucky to bike with a couple of the gals here, marieke and chantal, for some rides along lake geneva. hopefully we can be ready for some alps rides soon.  (yikes! i realized i've never biked in mountains!)

until next time, here's a glimpse of the lovely lakeshore near morges. (we also biked past the medtronic facility just outside of morges)

tilt.

Just met with Caroline at Espace Tilt in Renens. Excited for new possibilities and new connections!

before/after

speaking of catching up... some things have been getting out of control! since the price of a men's haircut is 35 CHF (~$35+) and experiencing the inability of the swiss to cut asian hair (even when english speaking) we decided to invest in some new hair clippers, and a new look for Howie. of course we waited until the 'fro' was in full effect:

and voila:

looks nice and clean, and most importantly, so easy!! now if only i could do the same for myself...

catching UP!

hoping to catch up on some posts this weekend! howie just finished a 48 hour "integrative exercise" (he slept only 2 hours in the last 48... not good!)  in a bit i'll wake him up and we will go out for a walk and some food, bring him back to normal life away from IMDland.

meanwhile, i was busy making a timeline of my entire life to bring to my session with the psychoanalyst this morning. did i tell you IMD is providing this for free to partners? (PDE- personal development elective) its a good opportunity to use this year to reflect on the past and present situations as well. i've been so busy the past few years, its nice to stop and think about where i've been and who i've been. the hope is that being more familiar with myself, more self-aware, will help me to grow this year and to leave the IMD year with excitement and energy for the future.

with that, my friends, i leave you with this treat:

national geographic made a real life floating house
inspired by the movie "Up"

see more at: http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/upinspired-floating-house-14?xg_source=facebook

edible rabbits.

easter is coming, and apparently the swiss are nuts for chocolate bunnies. i was a bit horrified today walking into migros to this giant display and large brown plastic bunnies hanging from the ceiling. well, just another excuse to eat more solid (or not so solid) chunks of chocolate!

p.s. for our 4 day easter holiday, howie and i are going to ticino, the italian part of switzerland.  supposedly there is great weather and amazing food on the other side of the alps...

hazy winter.

living near a lake has reminded me so much of living in chicago. of course so many things are different, but living just a few blocks from such a large body of water with beautiful lakefront paths really means that life is focused around the water. every run or walk is along the lakeside, and hopefully some biking soon!

but winter has been interesting with this lake. on a clear day there are beautiful, majestic mountains that look as though they're within reach. sometimes i think i could swim to them, and then i remember what a horrible swimmer i am... but throughout the winter there is a constant fog over the lake and many days those mountains that are so close are not even a tiny bit visible.

at first one might feel an urge to fast forward to summer when we are promised to have clear skies and swimming with mountain views. but after watching the lake and the sky change from day to day i've come to appreciate its mystique and moodiness.  many shades of grey, blue, purple and sometimes beautiful pinks and oranges during some amazing sunsets.

here are some photos i took with my phone on a recent run (an amazing run, btw), just before the skies ripped open and it started to pour.  this may/may not have had something to do with me getting sick almost immediately after the run...