Evian mineral water... my bottom

Lovely Sunday morning, and Krishan and myself headed to Evian les Baines (France) on our bikes. Now, here is a question. If there is the same distance from Evian to Lausanne as from Lausanne to Evian, how is it possible that when you look at the french side from Lausanne you do not see any building (although you can see the town) but when you look back from Evian you can see buildings on the swiss side... optical ilusion?!? I tried taking pictures but the beautiful quality (not) on the Iphone camera did not allow me to show you what I mean.

And we landed of the beaches and run for cover.... erm... excuse me. Wrong story.
Krishan decided that he wanted to have a crepe and see the water fountain where you are supposed to drink mineral water. So, naturally, first things first. We went for the Crepe. Right next to Evian-les-Baines Hilton hotel (in the hope that we would see Paris, lol)

Hun, you need to try this too. Perfect breakfast crepe for hungovers: egg, bacon, cream, cheese and ham. Delicious!!! and a chocolate one as dessert (damm, did not take any pics of them, totally worth it).

We had to ask the waitress for directions on how to get to the fountain and to be honest, what would you think if you ask for directions and the person asked says: "oh, I don't know" (and then goes ahead and tells you how to go with distances in mtrs and all).

We followed the instructions and, et voila, 4 minutes later (by bike and uphill, yous for you to imagine how big Evian is) we were at the fountain.

Best of all. There was a queue of people with empty bottles of Evian mineral water to get them filled and take them home.

And we did the tourist thing

And here is the thing: you'd expect the water to taste better/different/something

Well....no. Same taste as on the other side of the lake. I am starting to believe that Evian mineral water is just tap water in a plastic bottle.

So after finding that out, we made it back to Lausanne.

Round trip: 2 hrs with tourist visit and crepe on top. Not bad for a Sunday.

Getting a house...what a joke

As I have spoken to quite a few of you, this story might sound familiar.

To everyone that has lived in the UK, finding a house is as easy as rocking up to the lettings agencies, tell them what you want, put the money and move in. Easy.

Here you also have agencies... and that is where the similarities end.

So when Celeste was here she "volunteered" to find a place for me. Off she went to the Regis (as lettings agencies are known in this country). So after visiting a couple, she calls me to say that she got a list of properties and we need to start calling people. My reply: get the agencies to call for you. That is what they are there for, right? WRONG!!!

Basically, the only thing the Regis do is hol a list of available properties (which normally is pretty out of date since all properties are gone) and it is your job to go and call the contact names for wach property yourself. That could be the actual tenant, the concierge or someone that happens to be available for that property. And that is to arrange a viewing.

Once you decide you want the place, you apply for it. Since there is more demand that places available, the list of people applying for a property is inmense. Chances of getting a place: pretty slim.

So in our search, I found this apartment in a converted farm. Lovely place let me tell you. I went to the regis. Again the list of "interested" people is as big as a pack of 500 A4s.

Me, being a dodgy spaniard as I am, tried jumping the queue. I got to offer a paid trip to Spain for the 2 guys in the agency... and they refused. You have to admire their integrity (try that in London and you get anything you want. Nothing that cannot be solved with a good old brown envelope).

Anyway. I did not get the place. And getting one can take a long time (some of the guys at work were looking for 1.5 years).

I hope I get it faster than that.



Hun, you cannot imagine how much I thank you for all the effort you put into it.

More pics of my first day.

First days are really hard...

...and I do not mean at work.

My move from Uk to "Swissland" was, to say the least, a bit exhausting.

As last days go, mine was as hectic as anyone else's. The plane was leaving at 6 AM on Sunday 27/7 from Heathrow T5 with about 50 Kg of luggage (obviously, including the essentials like the Xbox and the bike).

We had a choice, leaving on the last tube (too much luggage for that) or catching a cab. Second option was a winner by a mile. Crossing London from East to west is not a 5 minute ride. What meant that Celeste managed to clock almost 2 hrs of sleep and yours truly about 40 minutes.
So, 1 hr after we got on the cab we arrived at T5. Very shinny let me tell you. But nothing (and I mean absolutely nothing) was open. We should speak to BAA's management coz they are missing a huuuuge business oportunity here.

Anyway. You have to love BA (or Air France, Swiss Air and every other decent airline). Ryanair/Easyjet would have charged me the moon for the excess luggage. BA did not even look at the weight. Way to go. I swear. Now that I do not have to fly from Stansted to anywhere, I am using nothing but decent airlines. In the end you pay almost as much (if not more) with the so called "cheap" airlines. Well, cheap they are indeed. But who cares. I am not flying with them anymore. That is a promise.

Let's continue. With the amount of sleep I had on me, I sat in the plane and did not even get to see the take off (not to mention the landing). I woke up when people were walking out of the plane. I remember to have said: "5 more minutes please!!!" Obviously did not work and I had to leave the plane like everyone else. Sleep counter is up to almost 2 hrs.

I believe swiss passport control have more important things to do than checking people's papers. Twice that I landed in Geneva, twice that I have not even stopped to show the Id.

Special mention here to the twat on oversize luggage in Geneva airport. You DO NOT slam a bike bag on top of a pile of luggage. (Note to self: always videotape when I am carrying sports equipment to show the insurance company why I am making a claim).

After leaving the airport, I got on the swiss train to Lausanne (service levels pretty euqal to the train services in UK...NOT). And the view... you are going around the lake... first taste of what the scenery is around here... I can get used to this easily.

And so I arrive to Lausanne. While I am waiting for Nabs to come and pick me up from the station (coz I do not have a clue where I am going to be living) I get to listen (my french is very very very very limited) to a gentleman that loves biking and has gone around Spain, France and Italy on his bike.

By now it has been 2 hrs sleep in 1 1/2 days.
Drop all the stuff in my new (and temporary) studio, grab the rucksack with the Xbox and go for a walk... for a few hours, carrying the Xbox, the power supply, the games, the controllers...
No wonder that we arrived to Nabs's place a few hours later and while I was sitting on the floor I fell sleep. I have to say, I never felt so comfortable sleeping on the floor. Then again it was more exhaustion that anything else (although a few days later, while I was waiting for the delivery of some furniture for nabil, I fell sleep again on the same spot on the floor. That corner in the living room has something, I swear).

getting to the end of the day and being refreshed by the amount of sleep (2 more hours I believe) I went off for a bike ride along the lake.

For all of you to know, the studio is about 3 minutes away from the lake (10 seconds if you do it by bike since it is a very steep downhill).


And I found this...







Best of all... it is real summer (OK, not as hot as in Spain, but close).

After all the excitment of the day, I could not do more than fall sleep like a baby. What can I say? it had been a long day in the end.

Switzerland... why not!

As many of you might already know, I have left London.

And it is all to my bad habit of saying "...why not!". One of these days I will get into trouble for that. But what can you do, huh?

All started on the Monday after the Gatecrasher Summer Sound System (Defenitely going again next year without a doubt). I get a call from Pablo asking me if I'd be interested in going to work in Switzerland. "What are you talking about? Switzerland? Why would I want to leave London? I love the place".

Well, the job offer was too good to say no. But best of all, Switzerland is spot on in the middle of Europe. A stone throw away from everywhere as you can see on the maps.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108900855917059326281.00045468e881c424a0088&ll=46.529816,6.631966&spn=0.165575,0.307617&z=12

Well, it has been the hardest thing to do (sorry Hun, but you know I had to take the job). But it was not so much for the job, but the change of scenery. I needed to do this (although I might end up creating a habit of moving countries).

It has been almost 10 years in the UK. I considered London my home. And I will miss it. But there is so much to discover out there...

I will start uploading pictures as soon as I have a computer (first time in a loooong time that I do not have one... and feels so weird!

Disclaimer for spanish readers:

Perdonad si lo escribo en ingles. Intentare escribir en español tambien para q no os creais que no os quiero. An algun momento intentare escribir en frances, pero todavia no se decir mucho.