Bergeon

Yesterday (being Friday 21st Feb) we went on a field trip to Bergeon and to visit a clock and watch museum in Le Locle. We had a wonderful experience at Bergeon with the sales manager sharing some interesting information but even better was the absolutely devine lunch we had a lovely restaurant. Salmon ceasar salad to start, wonderful local wine, delicous chicken main and even chocolate mouse desert. YUMMY especially after the wonderful we are being fed at Champreveyre. It was nice to see the Bergeon show room and see all the latest products to be released at Basel Fair (massive international watch and jewellery fair here in Switzerland held every year), we also have the oportunity to place an order and get some very good prices before the end of our course. However the highlight of the day would have to be the visit to the museum. The whole building /castle is full of clocks from all centuries as well as a few music boxes and whole floor dedicated to watches and there development through time and a wonderful collection of automats also which were truely fascinating to see. As you can tell from the photos there is alot more snow in Le Locle even though it is only 20km from Neuchatel. It was loads of fun the snow kinda looks hard but your foot goes straight through it. Good thing the boys have bad aim and the few snow balls thrown around missed their target.

Life here in Neuchatel has become a bit of a routine which is nice all the same and to add a bit of flavour to the diet we have started going to a near by pub on a wednesday for FR1o pizza night with some of the watchmakers from last years refresher course.

Neuchatel

Well I am slowly learning my way around my new town. Neuchatel is quite a lovely little town with a fantastic lake. The weather here is very misty and as we are surrounded by hills we are nicely protected from the wind. It has been clear enough on a couple of occasions to catch a wee glimps of the alps which are the back drop to the lake!! Can't wait for the clear days of summer, it is going to look fantastic. It has been a little difficult to adjusting to the new ways, shops here are pretty much all closed on Sundays and Monday mornings and only stay open till 6.30pm except thursdays which is 8.30pm. For retailers I think this is fantastic and once you get yourself organised and make sure you have already bought something for sunday night dinner it works just fine. The bakery next to Champreveyres where I live is open from 6.30am till 6.30pm weekdays and is open Sunday morning so every day we pop in there on the way to school and pick up a yummy fresh baguette for lunch.

It has been snowing off and on here since I arrived but it melts again pretty quick which is nice because while the snow is fun it does make it harder to get around. Last week we had a morning where it poored with snow, it was so fun I laughed all the way to school, getting snow in your eyes really hurts! Saw my first squirel in Switzerland the other morning also on the way to school which was fun, it was the first time John (class mate) has seen a squirel so it was pretty exciting. The sun has been out today and took my first walk down the lake edge, it was really nice but I didn't stay long because the temperature was still -1 and it was quite windy so after an hour you can not feel your fingers through your gloves anymore.

I have finally got off my backside and been for a couple of runs over the last couple of weeks which has been really nice and refreshing, great for the sanity. But it is nice to be finally settling into a routine. School is still really great, have had a very taxing week this week. Really bloodshot eyes friday morning and felt like I had been hit by a bus, we have been working on escapements this weeks which requires alot of concentration and microscope work so after six days at school today has been a definate god send to just chill out and have walk made even nicer by the beautiful sun that has been shining all day!!

Besides school there has also been time for a little bit of leisure. Last weekend I went to Robert and Anna's place for cheese fondue (Robert is doing a different course at school) which was the first cheese fondue experience for me. The couple of bottles of wine that accompanied it were also nice and then we headed into Cafe de Cerf in the city which is a bar where alot of watchmakers hang out. Then this weekend it was Hasan's (he is doing 2 year course at WOSTEP with Robert and also lives at Champreveyres) birthday so friday night he had hired out the Champreveyre dinning room and we all had a few drinks, nibbles and listened to some music. Did get to bed not long after midnight though as I spent a few hours saturday afternoon at school.

Off to Le Loche on friday to visit Bergeon (tool supplier) and a private museum collection instead of going to class so this should be a blast! We are now at the end of week 5, quater the way through! Man time flys when you are having fun. Next exam not for another 3 weeks yet, I have been trying not to live life from exam to exam but it is proving to be a little difficult.

Zurich

Well a couple of weekends ago I ventured out of Neuchatel and headed for the big city of Zurich. Hugo (guy from Champreveyres (where I live) he’s from Holand) thought it would be a nice day out and as I agreed we went on our big adventure. Having purchased a ½ price discount train card it didn’t cost as much of a fortune as it might have.

Zurich is a really lovely old city with the main attraction being all the wonderful old architecture. It also has a lot of wonderful old churchs and Chathedrals which we went inside most of them. There is just something special about being inside the beautiful old buildings! At the Grossmanster church you are able to climb up one of the towers which gives you a fantastic view out over the city and harbour. I don’t think it was as far to climb as the Christchurch cathedral but it was just as narrow and we managed to time it well on the way up that we passed some people coming down, one guy wasn’t exactly small and I was thankful to be beside the rail not against the middle. Got some great photos from part way up and the top, unfortunately even the beautiful country of Switzerland people still like to graffiti everywhere which tarnishes the lovely self shot I took. Getting better at those, still need a longer arm though.

Went to the Museum of Switzerland also which wasn’t the most exciting Museum I have been to perhaps Te Papa is more impressive than I ever gave it credit for!! All and all it was a great day and riding the trains is Switzerland is lovely. As Sinnae and Sam may have noticed from the writing on their postcards it is still not completely smooth.