How many does one town need?

There are about a dozen pharmacies in Morges, which means if you are standing in front of a pharmacy you can usually see at least one other pharmacy. Most of them seem to be small and independent, but one chain has 3 stores within 500 meters (think of Starbucks in Seattle).

Pharmacies normally only sell medication, baby items, and perfume. I don't think there is any medication sold at the average grocery store. Almost all medication is behind the counter, so we even have to ask for something like advil.

Bun's last photo

We went on an adventure to Sion today -more info on that later - and Rowan dropped his bun somewhere. I went back to find it and couldn't, so Rowan and Emily went back to look. They couldn't find it either. The good news is that Rowan has accepted this loss and moved on. Rowan will sleep with "Broken Bun" (his ear was caught in an escalator) tonight and we still have "New Bun" as a backup.

Piscine

Emily and the kids went to a pool in Lausanne on Friday. There are actually a lot fo pools, one of which is about claf high on an adult and the kids had lots of fun in it. It is located next to the lake, so they were also able to play at the beach.

A team to support

I am one of the few people in the office who don't have a favorite team, so I've decided to support the team in Neuchatel. There isn't a team in Geneva, so I think this is the closest team to Morges. I believe there are only two teams in French speaking Switzerland.

I will attempt to go to a game this year, but won't make any promises.

An excellent adventure

Rowan and I went to Lausanne yesterday in search of a new train train store. Rowan enjoyed it because we able to to ride the bus up the hill instead of walking (I wasn't too excited about walking up the hill either.). The store had a wide selection of Marklin HO track and trains and was much easier to navigate than the other train stores we've been to in Switzerland. We came home with a Coop rail car.

The store's web site isn't too impressive, but the owner did tell me to write him with any questions I had.

Secret Votes?

Obtaining Swiss citizenship is very difficult. Citizens have had the ability to vote in secret on whether an individual in their town should be granted citizenship. The Supreme Court outlawed the practice a few years ago, but the practice might be allowed in the future. Here is an article on the subject from the BBC.

Riverboat Adventures

While in Fairbanks we took the Riverboat Discovery on its trip downstream. Overall it was a good trip and we got to see all of the normal stuff (Native Alaskan village, dog sled teams, reindeer, Native Alaskan clothing, bush pilots, and the paddle wheel). The rivers were a bit low, so we had to stay on the Chena, so we couldn't see how it "weds" with the Tanana.

I think the highlight, at least for me, was the dogs from Trail Breaker Kennels. The web site is primarily focused on Susan, but I couldn't find a link that focuses on the dogs.

Rowan enjoyed looking at the paddle wheel and airplane, but didn't seem to interested in the rest of the stuff. Niamh was mostly interested in the goldfish that we brought with us.

Are the Swiss good hosts?

Switzerland is getting ready to host Euro 2008? Here is an interesting article from IHT about whether the Swiss can be good hosts. It will be interesting to see how Switzerland handles thousands of soccer crazy fans.

Alaska Photos

Photos of our trip to Alaska have been posted to our web site. We did not see much in the way of wildlife, so don't expect too much in the photos.