Spent the day in the Swiss capital today. It rained a fair piece in the first few hours I was there, but by the end of my visit had brightened up nicely. My guidebook told me Bern is one of the best preserved old cities you'll find. In fact, it's heritage old town is a UNESCO protected site, and it does not disappoint. Below are a few photos I snapped with my phone along the way.
The Paul Klee Museum. The building is as interesting as the art! It's built into the side of a hill, and has three rolling "wave" sections to it. I'll admit I'd never heard of Klee before reading about the museum, but he's Switzerland's most famous artist and the museum has several thousand of his pieces. Nearly half (or more than half) the work he produced in his whole life!
The Old Town, as seen from the riverside. The picture (no picture really) can do it justice.
A band in the market square. They were actually pretty good!
What I think is the Swiss Parliament building, but I never actually confirmed this with anyone (or my guidebook). So it's either parliament, or just some big old building. Either way, enjoy!
So the UN complex continues to surprise. In addition to housing a bank, a Swiss Post Office, a UN post office, a bookstore, a gift shop, at least two travel agencies, several news agents, and the cafeteria, there are several "bars". These bars also serve coffee and pastries and ice cream (Mõvenpick of course), but have wine, spirits, and beer on tap. Some of them are also quite stunning. This morning I had my Café au Lait (which they call a Renversée in Switzerland, and which cost me 2 CHF or approximately $2 CDN) in the Bar de la Presse, which has comfy leather seating and stained glass windows. I've included a photo:
So the first four days of work are really flying by! I'll update my blog this weekend with some description of what I've been doing so far, but for now I'll post some crude pictures (taken with my iPhone) of what I tend to see on a daily basis.
Would all the airport ads be for watches. ALL OF THEM (except for the ones for the banks).
Interesting position... I don't think I've ever heard a US politician take this approach on USA-Israel relations, but then again, Ron Paul tends to take unique positions on almost every political issue!
As Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty mused recently, there are features of the province’s beer regime that make you “shake your head.”
The latest head-spinner is a December decision by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario – later reversed – to block a tiny eastern Ontario brewery from offering home delivery of its beer in conjunction with a prominent Ottawa charity for homeless teens.
Following a complaint from an unnamed brewery, the commission ruled the home-delivery venture must buy its beer from the provincially owned outlets of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario or the Beer Store, jointly owned by three foreign multinationals.
The decision would have killed the nascent venture by Beau’s All Natural Brewing Co. of Vankleek Hill, Ont., and cost jobs and cash for Operation Come Home.
For Steve Beauchesne, Beau’s co-founder, the experience highlights one of the many absurdities of a system where more than 80 per cent of beer sales are controlled by three multinationals – Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd. (owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA(64.27-0.98-1.50%)), Molson Coors Brewing Co. (43.17-0.73-1.66%)and Sleeman Breweries Ltd. (owned by Japan’s Sapporo Breweries Ltd.).
“The way the system is set up unfairly limits access to customers,” Mr. Beauchesne complained. “Molson, Labatt and Sleeman are completely in control of how beer stores look and feel, what products are promoted. They get to control the whole shopping experience and I get none of that control.”
The McGuinty government is pledging to review outdated liquor laws early in the legislative session that begins this week. MPP Grant Crack, parliamentary assistant to the Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister, said the Beer Store’s monopoly will no doubt come up.
“We want to see if there are ways to help [microbreweries and small wineries] by eliminating red tape,” he said.
Ontario has mused before about stripping the Beer Store of its quasi-monopoly. But the McGuinty government shows no sign of going that far.
That’s too bad. After 85 years, the Beer Store is an anachronism.
It’s often hard to reconcile the ad world of beer – the snow-capped mountains, parties and hockey – with the utilitarian factory-like outlets where most Ontarians actually buy the stuff.
There are noisy conveyor belts, bottle crushers and cases of beer stacked on metal shelves in dank warehouses. In many stores, patrons still make their selection by picking from a row of dusty empties on a shelf.
Behind the counter, harried clerks juggle bottle returns and running the cash register.
Forget about tastings, attention-grabbing displays of new offerings or expert advice to help you choose from hundreds of selections. At the 437 Beer Stores, it’s get in line, pay the clerk, get out.
That’s because the Beer Store is designed to deliver beer to consumers in the most barebones way possible. The company’s mandate, according to spokesman Jeff Newton, is to operate on a full “cost-recovery basis.” In 2009, the last year for which the company provides data, the Beer Store posted a small $1.1-million loss on $2.6-billion worth of beer sold. The lower the cost of delivering beer, the frothier the margins for Labatt, Molson Coors and Sleeman.
The Beer Store vigorously disputes the notion that it limits access to its stores, pointing out that smaller brewers pay lower fees than larger ones. It sets upfront listing fees plus continuing service fees to cover such things as storage, display and bottle returns.
Beau’s opts to bypass the Beer Store altogether, selling beer in small quantities through the LCBO, to bars, and directly from its plant, 100 kilometres east of Ottawa. (The LCBO only sells beer in quantities of six bottles or fewer, and so its retail prices are generally higher than at the Beer Store.)
There’s much Mr. Beauchesne would like to do, but is prohibited from doing by law. He can’t open his own stores, he can’t share trucks with other brewers and he can’t easily sell in neighbouring Quebec (only companies that make beer in Quebec can sell through convenience stores where most Quebeckers buy beer). Ontario similarly makes life tougher for out-of-province brewers.
Ontario’s beer business may be an extreme example of regulatory excess. But it’s far from unique. Heavy-handed regulation persists in the media, banking, transportation and telecom industries, stifling competition and protecting entrenched interests.
Consumers lose. Worse, society loses because all this regulation crushes innovation.
I was on YouTube earlier today and got stuck waiting for the end of one of those annoying ads that sometimes appear before the video you actually want to see comes on.
Half Marathon Training Schedule
| SUN | MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | |
| WEEK 1 | Long & slow run | OFF | 4 km | 3 km | 3 km | OFF | 3 km |
| WEEK 2 | Long & slow run 7 km | OFF | 4 km | 3 km | 4 km | OFF | 3 km |
| WEEK 3 | Long & slow run 7 km | OFF | 3 km | 4 km | 3 km | OFF | 4 km |
| WEEK 4 | Long & slow run 9 km | OFF | 4 km | 4 km | 3 km | OFF | 3 km |
| WEEK 5 | Long & slow run 9 km | OFF | 5 km | 3 km | 4 km | OFF | 3 km |
| WEEK 6 | Long & slow run 10 km | OFF | 4 km | 3 hills + 3 km warm up + 3 km cool down | 5 km | OFF | 3 km |
| WEEK 7 | Long & slow run 10 km | OFF | 4 km | 4 hills + 3 km warm up + 3 km cool down | 5 km | OFF | 4 km |
| WEEK 8 | Long & slow run 12 km | OFF | 4 km | 5 hills + 3 km warm up + 3 km cool down | 6 km | OFF | 4 km |
| WEEK 9 | Long & slow run 14 km | OFF | 4 km | 6 hills + 3 km warm up + 3 km cool down | 6 km | OFF | 5 km |
| WEEK 10 | Long & slow run 16 km | OFF | 5 km | 7 hills + 3 km warm up + 3 km cool down | 7 km | OFF | 5 km |
| WEEK 11 | Long & slow run 16 km | OFF | 5 km | 8 hills + 3 km warm up + 3 km cool down | 7 km | OFF | 6 km |
| WEEK 12 | Long & slow run 12 km | OFF | 5 km | 9 hills + 3 km warm up + 3 km cool down | 8 km | OFF | 6 km |
| WEEK 13 | Long & slow run 18 km | OFF | 6 km | 6 km fartlek | 8 km | OFF | 6 km |
| WEEK 14 | Long & slow run 18 km | OFF | 6 km | 4 km fartlek | 8 km | OFF | 6 km |
| WEEK 15 | Long & slow run 20 km | OFF | 6 km | 4 km fartlek | 8 km | OFF | 6 km |
| WEEK 16 | Long & slow run 6 km | OFF | 10 km | 6 km | OFF | OFF | 3 km |
| FINALE! | 21 km RACE DAY |
Sad to be missing this. It sounds like it would be a fun exhibit to explore. Way to get creative Confed Centre! I hope this brings in a lot of new people to the gallery!
A new exhibition at the Art Gallery at the Confederation Centre of the Arts, focusing on beer and hockey, will see the gallery converted into an actual sports bar.
Gallery curator Pan Wendt said the conversion of the traditional art space of the entrance gallery will coincide with Hockey Day in Canada on P.E.I.
"Very soon it will be bar stools and an actual bar," said Wendt.
"There will be big screens, flashy signs and all the things you would associate with a sports bar. Except that kind of mixed in among the usual stuff that would be in a bar there will be art works that relate to both hockey and beer."
During the first week of the exhibit, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., the exhibit will be a legitimate bar, with happy hour drinks served. The show will run from Feb. 4 to April 15.