Boston

Boston gives the impression of an enjoyable city, with a mixture of "old" and new. Let me concentrate on the "old". Boston is proud to be the home of many "Firsts" in the United States: first public park, first public school, first university, first library, first subway/metro, first integrated church (where whites and blacks could pray together), oldest baseball park... Then, upon asking when these firsts happened, you get reminded immediately how young this country is, how little history there is. The metro clearly has an old feel to it.Still Boston played an important role in the American Revolution, and the walking tour called "Freedom Trail" gives a great account of this role.

Boston is closely related to the Kennedy dynasty. No wonder that we got to see a lot of Kennedy places, including his memorial and the "domain" on Cape Cod. In town, the walking tour included a stop at the restaurant where John proposed to Jacky.

I suppose a must in Boston is to visit Harvard. It gives a strange impression, again of this mix between the "old" and the new. Let's start here with the new: the tour guide pointed to the dormitoriums and places where Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Ban Ki-moon, Matt Damon, and John Kennedy used to hang out in Harvard. There are around 20000 students annually. I was quite impressed that, even though tuition fees are very high at around 50000 dollars a year, many students pay a much reduced amount, thanks to the huge university endowment. Still only around 7 percent of those who apply end up studying there.

As to the old, Harvard was founded in 1636. The tour guide (a female) was very precise in recollecting when women were first admitted at Harvard, first given a full Harvard degree, or got the position of President. But, when asked about the admission of black students, she could not give any answer... We got to hear some other interesting stories though. One relates to this statue of John Harvard - apparently the third most photographed statue in the US after the Statue of Liberty and the Lincoln Memorial. Among the three errors on this statue, the most unbelievable one is that the statue does apparently not depict John Harvard himself.... Indeed, all the drawings and portraits of John Harvard were distroyed in previous fires of the library, long before it was decided to build a statue. There are many theories about who the statue is, but one thing is certain - it is not a John Harvard.

The other interesting story was about the Harvard Library, named after Harry Widener. This Harvard alumni was wealthy and went on a book-buying spree in Europe in the early 1900s. On his journey back to America, the ship he was travelling in sunk - he was on board the Titanic. All the books were lost too. His mother - wealthy as well - then offered to build a library in memory of his son. She attached three conditions: 1) the exterior walls of the library must not be moved, otherwise the money she gave Harvard would go to the city of Cambridge, 2) there needed to be a room in the library where the ghost of his son could go and read books, and 3) every student at Harvard needed to learn and pass a swimming test, because she believed that had her son known how to swim, he would not have died... The last requirement was discountinued after this rule was judged discriminatory against physically-challenged students.

Let's finish with a little quizz. Look at the picture below and try to guess which two-word famous expression it illustrates...

You got it: time flies !

Switzerland - best of??

On certain special occasions, you have to show the best of your country to visiting dignitaries. That's what happened in early September when we held a work meeting in Montreux. This is probably the most scenic (well actually the second-most, after Geneva) place in Switzerland, with the lake, the vineyards, the mountains. Obviously, the weather was fantastic - some of my colleagues even swam in the lake.

Then, Switzerland is mostly associated with chocolate, excellent chocolate. So there we go and visit a chocolate factory, Cailler. The factory is more than 100 years old and still making profits - although not as much as in some recent years, because of an unfavorable redesigning of the packaging. We all learn about the history of chocolate, its content, and we wee a small production line.

Of course, the tour finished with a stop at the shop. Some colleagues almost compete to buy the most chocolates. It is certainly good for the economy!

Besides chocolate, Switzerland also has the best cheeses, with "Gruyere" being right there at the top. So, there we go to visit the Gruyere castle. After a guided tour, we have a small lunch where we taste the famous "Gruyere" cheese and listen to speeches by the local authorities. Good to hear that local politicians do speak English, have a good sense of humor, and manage to raise the level of their speech and make it appropriate for our international guests.

Then, on the way for lunch, still a typical Swiss moment with the throwing of the flag and the playing of the alphorn. I would say it is hardly possible to organise a more typically Swiss week-end than this. Still I must admit that I enjoyed it very much...