God Bless the United States of Switzerland

I'm still finishing up my blogging on Switzerland. I wanted to share these pictures because I loved what they said about trans-Atlantic culture.

First up, we found this cafe in Geneva called Central Perk. And, if it wasn't entirely clear where they got it from, note the indication that it's "Just like FRIENDS" on the sign. What was fun was that then I found out that there's Wikipedia entry for Central Perk that indicates there's Central Perks in Geneva and in Dubai. Evidently, the guy who played Gunther is the spokesdude for the Dubai version.


Across the street from Central Perk was this skateboard park...


At the main Zurich train station, there was this board to help Starbucks addicts learn where to get their fix...

On the telly, there was a lot of British TV and one show involved a very, very young version of the actor, Dominic Monaghan, who played/plays (he's dead, but that means little on this show) on "Lost"...


Of course, there was the McDrive...

...and evidently they toss old sneakers over powerlines in every culture...

It was strange that it was Duracell that was emphasizing the bunny aspect...


And, finally, I thought this was intriguing. Coop is the dominant convenience store and more in Switzerland. On the highways, they offer Coop Pronto ...


...which is interesting because this is a nation where French, Italian and German are first-languages for sizable populations. What language do they NOT speak? Spanish. So they employ the word "pronto" to sound, well, exotic. Hmm...

New Signs of the Vegas Apocalypse...

I just saw a mouse.

I'm sitting here in a piece of the Toscana ballroom at the Venetian awaiting the all's-clear from my editors at The New York Times after filing some stuff from a John McCain press "availability" that turned out to be about seven minutes and five questions long. So much for the Straight Talk Express in Vegas.

But, anyhow, I just saw a mouse. I big, furry, ugly one. It scampered across the room on its way to some place important. Gross. I tried to find it to show you what the rodent infestation looks like at the Venetian, but he seems to be gone. I did put down a big piece of mozzarella cheese on the floor where I last saw him hoping he'd come back. I guess that only works in Tom and Jerry cartoons.

But it reminded me of something else. Loyal reader/listener Troy in Las Vegas had sent this pic last week while we were on vacation. It's of the metal work on the inside of the glass atrium of at the Palazzo, an area now open for nearly four months. As you can see, someone forgot to remove two big pieces of tape. Nice.


Also, Troy points out, there seems to be a ladder outside leaning against the window. And all of it is still there today when I've looked.


Mice and painters tape is gross and silly respectively. But it's easy to miss. What is NOT easy to miss is that the Trump building, which isn't even open to the public yet, already has a marquee lighting problem. This was taken last night...


So far as I recall, all five letters were fully illuminated the last time I checked. But now the M and P are already out. Weird.

And finally, I have to say that I am starting to agree with Miles about the look of Encore standing besides the Wynn. They're like twins standing in an oddly askance pose. It's as if nobody really stopped to think about what they would look like side by side. What they look like is off-kilter.

Oh, and they just put up the Encore sign. There's no period. It's just Encore with a long script e.


It's worth noting because, really, the whole thing about the period after "Wynn" was that it emphasized some sort of finality. "This is the Wynn - period." Encore, then, ought to have some sort of punctuation, too, to show it's part of the same thought or, perhaps, that it is the next thought. Maybe it should be ". . .Encore," like Celine's ". . . A New Day," which never made any punctuatory (is that a word?) sense. Or maybe -- and this would rock -- "Encore!" At least it would show they're excited about it, y'know?

Education, Vegas Style

My friend Bob just had the supreme honor of having a new Clark County school named after him. It's a really big deal and couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. He's a Vegas native and a community leader in many ways and he's really quite giddy about all this. It's charming to see.

I missed the school dedication (although the governor, two U.S. Reps, four county commissioners, five of seven school board members and a zillion others did make it.) So Bob took me over there on Thursday. It's a lovely place. Here's Bob with his school.

This wouldn't ordinarily be blog fodder except that I was fascinated and amused by the work the students had done to create a timeline of Las Vegas that coincides with a timeline of Bob's life for the dedication event. It struck me that the icons of Vegas are probably a LOT more interesting and fun for kids to play with than, say, the Native American Tribes of Long Island that I had to slog through as a kid growing up in Syosset.

For instance, how about making a model of the Stratosphere? (Bob is pointing at the bubble that indicated when it was built)...

...or drawing the Mirage's volcano...


...and the Venetian...

...the New York-New York rollercoaster...



...or the Luxor!

Certainly, population growth is as much a part of Vegas recent history as anything else...

...but my favorite part was the wall of money surrounding the "Fabulous Las Vegas" sign!

Oh, and this is fun, too. They also peered a little bit into the future, to note the coming $150 million performing arts center where, evidently, overweight children will sing karaoke...


The kids were awful cute, of course. Each one, in anticipation of the school's dedication ceremony, wrote Bob a letter or a story or something. They were all over the school, see?


And the best I saw was this one. It's from Orlando. I have no idea who Sabrina is, but I just love the second-to-last line of the letter...

...when Orlando hopes Bob succeeds in life!!! Priceless!

Food, Glorious Swiss Food!

Yes, there was much chocolate eaten. The most frustrating part, in fact, was that the very best brand of chocolate we found was in a convenience store somewhere in the Swiss sticks, and we just assumed we'd find it again. We never did. It was called Villars. We miss you, wherever you are.

That said, we did enjoy very much our visits to Sprungli, which I discussed in an earlier post. We made it to one that was open late in Zurich on Saturday before we flew out Sunday to, I thought, get some for gifts. Turned out, Miles figured we'd keep this stuff for ourselves. Good idea. We still have two left for a little post-Swiss celebration sooner or later. This was the only shot I was allowed to take...


...because they apparently don't allow photos inside the store. Weird.

Anyone who reads this blog or listens to the podcast knows I've got a serious sweet tooth and I love to snack. That wasn't a problem in Switzerland. Here I am with a lapful of interesting treats including chocolate, some sort of chocolate-coated rice cookies and these little wafer things with chocolate in the shape of the Alps. Oh, and some sort of sugary vanilla milk beverage to wash it down...

Milky Way had this delightful offering over there, too! See this candy-related blog for an exposition on it...


The also sell gum by the, uh, ball...

And here's what we bought that snowy day in Crans Montana when we knew we'd be stuck inside our chalet room. There's some cookies, plenty of bottled water (which actually tasted weird), lots of Coke Light, the name of which tickled Miles, and three things of ice cream in the front there.


Here's what one of the cheese display cases looked like at the grocery...


Perhaps the loveliest snack came in the town of Gruyere (yes, like the cheese), when we stopped in for some raspberries and cream. Love the placemats, right?


There were many excellent cappuccinoes, including this one in Crans Montana...

One of the things we loved about that place was that each coffee order came with this delightful little chocolate cup filled with whipped cream. Here I am eating it with relish...


And of COURSE there was fondue. Once. At the restaurant inside the Hotel de la Foret in Crans Montana where we stayed...



...Although for $20 a person, all we got, though, was a crock of salty melted cheese and two baskets of torn up, day-old sourdough bread.


It wasn't ALL decadence, though. One night in Fribourg, we had a great deal of trouble finding a place to eat where we didn't have to navigate a foreign-language menu or the blank stares of waitresses. We found this handsome spot, a little bakery-deli place.


Here was Miles' delicious sandwich...


And here's my tuna salad with all sorts of other odd things in it...


See? That was healthy! Still, mostly, it was a lot of this...


And I throw in this final photo just to remind you all that, somehow, despite all of this, I am not a big fat cow...

...yet.

The Strip is LIVE tonight at 7:05 p.m. PT

It's the attack of the Vegas reality-TV stars this week -- except that these are actual success stories! We'll have Las Vegas Hilton's $100,000-a-show ventriloquist Terry Fator ("America's Got Talent") on live as well as a taped chat with Trump marketing veep Stefanie Schaeffer ("The Apprentice") to discuss their reality-show experiences and how they led them to Las Vegas.

We'll also recap our big trip to Switzerland and delve into some Vegas news. So join us at LVROCKS.Com at 7 p.m. PT tonight for the live show and chat room. Or grab the podcast version on Thursday.

If you haven't seen Fator before, he's really remarkable. Check this out:

Easter Mad In The Chocolate Capital

I'm still catching up on our big trip and will be doing so all week. Today's lesson is how a country built on chocolate (and illicit banking, but that's not very tasty!) goes absolutely bananas over Easter. This sort of thing...


...was everywhere...

And just like here in America, it was made of the utterly worst, waxiest, cheapest chocolate around. Poor Easter bunnies! Oh, and not a single Peep anywhere to be seen. The JustBorn company has some globalization to do, methinks.

Beyond the candy, though, there were signs of Easter every-frigging-where. Even in random shop windows like Anika's costume shop...

And doesn't a demented Easter bunny just make you want to buy a Swiss watch?

We were relaxing over a not-great cappuccino in Geneva at a cafe called Central Perk -- we'll get to THAT later in the week -- when I noticed this hideous, hopefully seasonal, light fixture...


I actually have no idea what this one is about but it has something to do with something called Biolust.ch...


And here's another that stumped me. It was on a bus. From what I've gathered with help from an online German-English dictionary, it reads: "Easter? We'll be open." But, Bugs Bunny, why the long face?


Maybe it's a depression hotline or something? You know, from someone who got the seasonal blues because the chocolate bunnies were so gross?