Work trip

E's lab group had an outing! It started with the lab group touring a thin film materials factory in Liechtenstein. E loved the tour and was especially impressed with one of their robots, but the littles and I skipped it. They wouldn't have had the patience, it would have made a long day for them, and we would have had to wake up very early. Instead, we met up with the group along the way and went with them to tour the Altes Bad in Pfafers and see the Tamina Gorge.

It was very cool. The tour of the old baths included information about how people reached the hot springs back in the 1500s (they had a treacherous elevator, which E's colleague pointed out must not have helped the rheumatism they were hoping to cure) and how the buildings and infrastructure have changed over the years. Then we followed the gorge to to the source and heard the story of how a few years ago hikers were caught in the caves by a flash flood and had to rely on the old wooden flood doors to hold.

Guess who got to hold the camera in the bus on the way to our next stop?

 

Did you guess? Here is a self portrait, in his signature style.

After the gorge it was on to a winery where we were given a tour and then had a delicious dinner, with a dessert buffet that the littles are still talking about. It was the best meal we've had in months, and we learned that L is crazy for seared scallops and any kind of mousse.

It was raining off and on, but we were very lucky. The rain cleared during the tour of the cellars so that I could play in the vineyard with L and keep her busy. It also stopped raining in time for the entire group to run to the train station after lingering over dessert and wine.

E's co-workers were all incredibly friendly, helpful, interesting, etc. I was enjoying myself so much that I forgot events like this are usually torture for me. Lots of interesting things were said. For example, there seems to be a significant difference in parenting styles between French-speaking (described, confusingly, just as "French") and German-speaking Swiss. The French style is not universally admired. However, the American style might be considered even worse. When I asked about the American parenting stereotype there was a nervous silence until someone finally offered that Americans are considered too protective. We are okay, though, because we let L taste the wine at dinner.