Hotel International Au Lac Lugano Reprise

Hope this is not too boring but I just found some more pictures of our old-fashioned European-style hotel.  There is an old disused funicular railway next to the hotel, quite a few people walk up and down those steps.  Next to the funicular railway is Piazza Luini and the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli, which is located at the end of Via Nassa, the town’s main shopping street.  Piazza Luini is the last of a string of small piazzas that join Via Nassa with the lakefront.  Looking out from the first floor balcony at the bar (at the corner of the hotel, see above, and below), the top half of the building across from our hotel was amazingly decorated. A bus that was painted to look pixelated parked outside the hotel all day, it was some kind of cultural affairs/tourism office.  Cherry trees were blossoming all over town – spring is in the air.

Easter Eggs and Bunnies

At our hotel, we were provided with colorful easter eggs for breakfast.  We also received a gift from the hotel – La Colomba (“the dove”, a traditional Italian easter cake). The cake with an outline of a bunny formed by sugar powder is quite effective.  Easter gives the Swiss another chance to indulge on all things sweet or chococlate-related.  There is really no need for Lindt to advertise with their golden bunny-mobile.

Hotel International Au Lac Lugano

The main train station in Lugano is on a hill, and is connected by a short funicular railway to the city center.  Our hotel is located at the end of Via Nessa, the main pedestrian-only shopping street of Lugano which is parallel to and one block from the lake front.We stayed in this hotel during our 3 nights in Lugano.  It is a family-owned hotel, now run by the fourth generation.  The corridors were decorated by paintings done by friends of the hotel.  It even has a room exhibiting some of the equipment used at the hotel in the past.  The restaurants were staffed by men who was attentive in an old-fashioned way and seemed to have worked there for their entire life.  The food was not great but the ambience was rather retrochic-unique. Recommendable.

Easter Weekend: Neuchâtel to Lugano – Part 2

After the St Gotthard’s pass, the first town was Airolo which was still covered in snow.  We saw long lines of vehicular traffic near the entrance of the tunnel on both sides – Easter traffic.  A couple of tiny churches perched on the edge of the mountain.  Can you see one in this picture below ?  It was all downhill from Airolo to Bellinzona (Ticino canton’s captial), and then Lugano.  The whole trip took about less than 5 hours and we arrived at around 3pm.  Lugano is a beautiful town on Lac Lugano surrounded by lush green hills.  More on Lugano in tomorrow’s post.

Easter weekend: Neuchâtel to Lugano – Part 1

Easter was my first 4-day long weekend and Lugano was our first trip out of this area.  It was a four and half hour train ride with a change at Olten.  We each bought a half-fare pass (demi-tarif) which made the first class train fare do-able.  Wide leather seats that recline a little, they were more comfortable than my furniture at the company apartment.

These pictures were taken on a moving train through its window.  In many pictures, you might see a haze which is the reflection of my camera or at least the metallic rim of the Lumix’s lens.  A matt black camera body would have alleviated this problem – one advantage of my Canon S90.

It was mesmerizing to watch the scenery whiz-by.  The vegetation changed dramatically as we passed by farmland, alpine meadows, and snowy valleys.  After Lucern, the train began its ascent from around 200 m above sea level to reach the north entrance of the tunnel at Goschenen.  Along the way, the track double-backed on itself at least twice to gain altitude.  The highlight of the train ride is the passage across the Alps through the St. Gotthard’s Pass tunnel.  The tunnel is 15 km long (about 8 minutes train ride) and rises to about 1145 m before descending toward the south end at Airolo.  There was plenty of snow on the ground at both ends.  My watch has an altimeter which provided live altitude readings.

Bvlgari is here

While we were driving on the east side of Neuchatel, we drove by a building with Bvlgari written on top.  It has a clock with the Bvlgari trademark bezel outside, we assumed that they makes Bulgari brand watches in that building.  After all, Neuchatel is in the heart of the watch-making region of Switzerland.  We passed Gucci Watches the other day.  After checking the address online (Rue de Monruz),  it turns out to be a factory that makes the brand’s perfume.  I wonder if they have a factory store – doesn’t look like it on the outside.

Incidentally, my employer also have their flavor department in a building located in that part of town.  Here is a concentration of discerning noses. 

Descending Chaumont Video

Here is a seven-minute video of the entire descent from Chaumont to La Coudre on the funicular railway.  Hope you enjoy the ride.

The photos posted in the last few days were taken from this tower which is located next to the funicular station house.  At the top of the tower is a lookout platform where the trees cannot block your view.  THe platform offered a great view but it is not for those with vertigo.

100th-day Index and Statistics

To commemorate the 100th post which occured earlier this week, here are some blog statistics:

There are a total of 101 posts, 95 comments, 15 categories, and 24 tags.  Comments in facebook don’t show up here and are not counted. The blog received a total of 2,270 views as of today.  The busiest day received 68 views on Thursday, December 3, 2009 on which day was posted Cabana or cabaña / Things In Life.  Not all views were directed to this post, however.  The chart above shows the number of views per week since we started the blog.  It looks like our blog’s popularity is on a slow decline.  I guess the blog’s novelty is wearing out among some of the readers. But I also know that I have loyal followers who re-visit the blog regularly and I sincerely thank you (you know who you are) = ).

The post view ranking below does not necessarily reflect the popularity of the post as some posts have been up longer than the others.  But it does give some indication.

You can revisit all our posts by clicking on the title.  Enjoy !

Title	Views
Home page	741
The Different Values of HSBC	187
About Chris & Sue	96
Louis Vuitton / Solari di Udine	59
Bluefin tuna-1	46
Oh-Toro from 680-lb bluefin tuna	44
Temporary Home Sweet Home	34
Neuchâtel, Switzerland	34
A Bad Day	31
ETRO Relent	28
vacation food porn #1-#4 recap	28
Christmas Bash / Nor’easter	24
“gristly, slithery, slimy, squelchy, cru	23
More Different Values of HSBC	22
Our Christmas Dinner 2009	21
The Fifth Avenue of Playa del Carmen	20
Sunrise at Edgewater	20
Louis Vuitton / Super Flat First Love	19
vacation food porn #7-#11	19
Vegetables in My Kitchen	19
Adventuras de Chris y Sue	18
Moving Across The Pond	18
Airborne Food Porn: LX23 from JFK to GVA	18
First Post from Europe	17
Bluefin tuna-1-3	17
I ♥ NY: Moveable Type @ New York Times B	16
Christmas Party 2009 #1	16
La Crêperie de Grancy	16
vacation food porn #17-#21	16
Neuchâtel Food Porn: Lakeside #1-#5	15
Chinese Menu Translations	14
Diptyque ✻ 34 Boulevard Saint Germain	14
High Line: Star Architecture	14
Even More Different Values of HSBC	14
Hotel Beaulac at Neuchâtel	14
My New Camera	14
Maps: Playa del Carmen	13
Lausanne, Switzerland	13
High Line: I ♥ NY	13
Playing With Food	13
Moving Out of Edgewater	12
A Room With A View	12
under construction !	12
Bluefin tuna-1-2	12
New Appearance for the blog ?	12
Six days at the Riviera Maya	11
High Line: Style Details	11
A Temporary Means of Transportation	11
The Resort: Royal Hideaway Playacar	11
A Most Beautiful Drive in Iceland	10
Banana Flambe – Betty Don’t Die	10
NYC food porn: Telepan #1-#5	10
Minimalist Graphics	10
Bar 13 @ NYC Part 1	10
Honmaguro Oh-Toro from Mitsuwa	10
Tunisian Takeout	9
Riviera Maya Scam #1	9
Our Old Cars: #1	9
Jet Lag / Lost In A Moment	9
Packing Up Edgewater	9
Lausanne at Night	9
High Line: Dusk, You and Me	9
Landing In Switzerland	8
Lakeside Restaurant at Hotel Beaulac	8
Traffic jam @ EWR	8
Snow Day in Edgewater	8
How Overpriced are Electronics in Europe	8
High Line: Shadows and Silouhettes	8
A History of Chocolate in Neuchâtel	7
La Coudre – Chaumont Funicular Railway	7
Hotel Deseo, Playa del Carmen	7
Swiss demographics	7
The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner	7
The Cube – one of my workspaces	7
Haute Cuisine without Mao Zedong	7
Aquarium at Hotel Beaulac: Part 2 of 4	7
I ♥ NY: Cityscape Video	7
2010: What Matters Now	7
The Geography of Bliss: Happiness Scores	6
Aquarium at Hotel Beaulac: Part 1 of 4	6
Resignation / I Don’t Like Mondays	6
Hello world!	5
Riviera Maya Scam #2	5
Cabana or cabaña / Things In Life	5
I ♥ NY: High Above Bryant Park	5
CBGB OMFUG is now DBGB	5
Dangerous Quotes	4
eyeCandy #1: Super Fluids	4
NYC food porn: Telepan #6-#10	4
Subscribe to Many More Excellent(?) Adve	4
WordPress beta	4
NYC Food Porn: DBGB #1-#5	4
New Theme stays !	3
Aquarium at Hotel Beaulac: Part 3 of 4	3
Panorama at Chaumont: Part 1	3
Bar 13 @ NYC Part 2	3
Panorama at Chaumont: Part 2	3
Google’s dominance and vulnerabilities	3
High Line: Chelsea Market	2
Wild Life at the Royal Hideaway	2
vacation food porn #5 and #6	1
Louis Vuitton / Super Flat Monogram	1
Pattern Recognition recognized	1

Panorama at Chaumont: Part 2

The satellite map shows the La Coudre-Chaumont funicular railway (faint white line up the mountain) and the surrounding areas.

The pictures show Neuchâtel downtown, football stadium (that happens to sit on top of the town’s only shopping mall – La Maladiere) and neighboring towns (last two photos) – Hauterive and St. Blaise.  These pictures can be stitched together to form a panorama but my Photoshop CS3 is installed on my PC which is still in storage.  Oh well.

Panorama at Chaumont: Part 1

First, this is my 100th post.  I was going to create a special post to commemorate this surprising event – but too busy in the last few days.  Frankly, I did not expect myself to keep up with posting on the blog so semi-regularly (once every 2 or so days) and for such a long time (I started in late November 2009).  Back then, I was in Edgewater staring at NYC across the Hudson.  Now, I am in Neuchâtel looking across a lake at the Alps.

These pictures were taken at Chaumont from a tower at the top of the funicular railway.  The view was breathing taking.  Bracing the chilly swiss mountain air, we snapped as many pictures as we can bear it. They were intended to be stitched together to form one or more panoramas.  The weather on that day was cold and fairly variable with rain and sun, hence the rainbow.  The Alps were not visible due to the low rain clouds. You can see some of the snowy peaks just beneath the clouds in the second but last picture.  The lighter colored-vortex in the middle of the lake is caused by a river that flows into the lake from the left.  More pictures tomorrow.

La Coudre – Chaumont Funicular Railway

Funicular railways are common in Switzerland due to its hilly terrain.  I believe it is one of their favorite civil engineering activities beside building tunnels.  There are at least three funicular railways in Neuchâtel.  Two of them were used mainly for commuting to a higher part of town from the town center – nothing to write home about.  The third one is built for sightseeing.  Sue and I went for a ride on a windy cold sunday afternoon.

Views from the top in tomorrow’s post.

The Cube – one of my workspaces

The Cube is the brand new building that houses my employer’s research and development deaprtments, many of which were previously scattered in various parts of Europe.  My office is not in the Cube but I spend several days a week in here.  These pictures make the place looks like an evil, sinister laboratory where zombies break out or where James Bond fights a villainous army plotting to takeover the world.  In reality, they do take security super-seriously, i.e., facial scan and double doors that would not allow more than one person to pass at a time.

The Cube is located on the shore of Lake Neuchâtel.  The glass walls and ceiling act as a massive canopy under which are situated several mini-buildings, connected by one and other by inside footbridges.  It is a bit like the Winter Garden under the World Trade Center in NYC.  In the summer, a shallow reflecting pond is filled in front of the building (drained as shown) and lunch can be eaten al fresco.  A reading room with double height ceiling is located at the corner of the building on the higher floors.  There are also many coffee corners designed to encourage creativity and social interactions.   Brain teasers, logic games are placed in various public meeting spaces, where workers can chat, drink coffee and smoke.  It is a very well-designed space to work in.  Too bad I cannot take pictures inside.

Aquarium at Hotel Beaulac: Part 4 of 4

How many different species can you see in this photo ?

Ciao.

Aquarium at Hotel Beaulac: Part 3 of 4

We spent our 4-day Easter weekend in Lugano.  So I will be posting lots of pictures from there.  In the mean time, I will put up the remainder of the aquarium pictures.  Earlier posts from the series are here: Part 1 and Part 2.

The creature above looked very busy as each of its little tentacles were constantly waving about.  While colorful fishes are pretty to look at, it is the invertebrates that really makes an aquarium exotic.

I ♥ NY: High Above Bryant Park

Before I left NYC, I visited an ex-colleague who works in an office that overlooks Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan.  His office, facing east on the 31st floor has floor-to-ceiling glass window. Chrysler building, NYC Library, Empire State building, and Bryant Park’s ice-rink in Christmas are all in full view. The vista is breathtaking.