Travel Blogging XII

On the TGV Lyria somewhere east of Paris: We're back in the EU (the Swiss are not members) and we're headed for a cross-Paris taxi ride from Gare de Leon to Gare Nord from whence the Eurostar departs for London. I don't much like trains that are full, particularly when the people are speaking loudly in several languages I don't understand.

Europe is overrun with Chinese tourists this summer, and Muslims from a variety of places as well - from India and the Gulf, and probably elsewhere, escaping the heat. Given that the Chinese economy is headed into the toilet, it is somewhat surprising that the people are traveling on holiday. 

My guess: the trips were arranged and paid for before their stock market tanked, so they might as well take them as there aren't refunds. If the downturn continues, there will probably be fewer next summer, fewer Chinese that is. The Muslims, who knows?

Guide Geoff's wife Sheila is going to Britain with us as she has to go back to work as a nursing supervisor for a firm doing forensic medicine. We bail out at St. Pancras station but she takes an additional three trains to get home, somewhere in the Midlands.

Throughout Switzerland we didn't have to schlep luggage as the Swiss have a system for groups where the hotel you're leaving sends the group's checked luggage on to the next evening's hotel. It typically arrived before we did. Now on the way home we are our own luggage porters and it is a pain, particularly when moving from one platform to another often entails negotiating two sets of stairs. 

They should have elevators or escalators but few stations have them. We consider ourselves lucky if there is a ramp instead of stairs. Tugging a 40 lb. suitcase up or down stairs is no joy. Ah, well, it is soon over. This time tomorrow we'll be in the arms of Delta and they'll get our checked luggage to Jackson. 

An interesting factoid: Switzerland which is aggressively neutral (not a member of the EU or NATO) is nevertheless a member of the Schengen group within which nobody checks travel docs at borders. The U.K. is not a member, which is why a whole bunch of third world "migrants" are piled up at Calais trying to sneak across the channel into the U.K. where there are jobs. 

The French are mad at the Brits because these people pile up in France in squatter camps. The French blame the Brits for having jobs which lure the migrants to the channel, essentially maintaining an attractive nuisance. The solution is for the French to run those migrants out of there, they are illegal entrants and have no right to be there. My guess: the French don't want to be seen as the villains harassing poor SOBs whose main crime is trying to better their economic situation. 

Later, aboard the Eurostar: The transition through the Gare de Leon to the taxi rank was smooth, and the cab was quick on a Sunday afternoon as most of Paris was either on summer hols or home digesting a large dinner and worrying about the state of their livers. Where they were not was on the Paris streets. We got through Brit passport control and after a short wait, boarded the Eurostar and claimed good seats Geoff had reserved for us. London, here we come.

Quote Of the Day

Scott Rasmussen, writing for RealClearPolitics about the voters' reaction to the presidential primary season now underway.

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different outcome, many voters see a Bush-Clinton match as simply insane.

Anybody favor "same old-same old"?

Travel Blogging XI

Lucerne: Today was our last full day in Switzerland, and was in its own way the equal of yesterday with respect to uniqueness. We hopped a train to Bern, the capital. There we boarded an extremely odd conveyance, a chartered steam tram or streetcar.

Think of a tiny coal-fired steam locomotive no longer than a sedan pulling one passenger car. That was our 120 year old vehicle for touring Bern, using the regular streetcar tracks. We rode around the city for a couple of hours attracting envious stares and hundreds of smiles, waves and grins. Our picture was taken by a zillion cell phones too.

The steam tram makes regular runs one Sunday a month, and does charters like ours. Our group had the whole tram to ourselves. I never remember seeing a photo of such a tram in old scenes in U.S. cities. I was of the opinion we went directly from horse power to electric power. You will soon see photos of the tram on the other DrC's blog, found at cruztalkingtwo.blogspot.com.

Tomorrow we train to Zurich, then to Paris, and finally to London where we overnight. The next day we take Delta from Heathrow to Minneapolis, and then home to Jackson. We've had a great time but I'm ready to go home.

Geoff Cooke does this RR-oriented excursion very well, and is a good guy too. If riding nearly every passenger conveyance that can be considered a train sounds like fun, check out his website
at geoffs-trains.com. Switzerland is superfine too, I love the mountain scenery.

Travel Blogging X

Lucerne: Looming over this city is a mountain known as Pilatus, atop which at roughly 7000 ft. there are two hotels, restaurants, etc. To get there one takes either an aerial tram or a cog railway of such steepness that the cars are built to keep passengers level while the car goes up the mountain at an almost 45 degree angle.

It is supposed to be the steepest cog railway in the world. Our guide, a train buff, says the only steeper conveyances are funiculars, pulled by cables. I believe it. The ride up that mountain is frankly scary it's so steep. Meanwhile Swiss cattle contentedly graze to within a few hundred feet of the summit. Why they don't fall off the mountain I cannot fathom.

We came to the base of the mountain at Alpnachstad by lake ship, this one not a steamer. These lake ships run regular schedules whereby many stops are served by ships hourly - like buses.

The weather is cooler today, somewhat overcast and had rained before we set out. The views up top were amazing. On a clear day, which we didn't have, you can see 72 peaks from the summit.

After an hour or so at the summit we headed down on the aerial trams, a larger one comes down the first long reach, and then a smaller one like that at Disneyland brings us down the long second reach. These were also beautiful rides, and surprisingly unfrightening, not sure why. A city bus brought us the final few miles back to the hotel.

There is an underground mall by the Lucerne train station that must be below lake water level as the lake is within 100 yards of it. We've found things we like there, including a good bakery. Tomorrow we go to Bern to ride a steam tram and see the bears.

Noonan on Public Discontent

The Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan writes about what is wrong with American politics.

What the American establishment has given us the past 20 years is sex scandals, money scandals, two unwon wars, an economic collapse, an inadequate recovery, and borders we no longer even pretend to control.

The party elites don’t have the power they once had. They’ve been undone by a generation of bad leadership. They’re afraid: A monster just came out of a swamp and is lurching their way.

I don’t know what happens with Mr. Trump, but Trumpism? That’s here now—outlandish candidates backed by indignant, enraptured people who’ve lost their judgment. Congratulations to the leaders of both parties: The past 20 years you’ve taken us far. We’re entering Weimar, baby. The swamp figure is up from the depths.

Maybe you see another interpretation for "Weimar;" it appears to me Noonan just compared Trump to Hitler and, by extension, Bernie Sanders to "Red Rosa" Luxemburg.

About Germany

The Economist takes a long look at Germany's current role in the EU. They endorse a view first proposed over a century ago.

It is the same dilemma the historian Ludwig Dehio described after the country was first unified in 1871. Germany became “too big for a balance of power in Europe and too small for hegemony,” he wrote; “not powerful enough to impose its will on the continent, but at the same time powerful enough to be perceived as a threat by other powers.”

Not that they haven't given hegemony a heck of a try in two world wars, something no neighbor is willing to forget.

Weird Geriatric Science

CBS Atlanta reports results of a study of intelligence (IQ) and longevity. As you would surmise, smarter people live longer.

Researchers found that about 95 percent of the link between intelligence and longevity can be explained by genetic influences on both traits.

Researchers say the new study indicates that intelligent people don’t necessarily live longer because of healthy lifestyle choices or access to better amenities, but that their genetic makeup builds toward a bright and long life.

I read the faculty obits from the university at which I labored for 30 years. Darn few die young, many reach their 90s. I hope we can agree that, whatever their eccentricities, most profs are high IQ people.

How Classified? Very

The Daily Beast reports the sort of classified info found on Hillary's private server emails. We're talking stuff from NSA phone and data intercepts and spy satellite look-down photos, some of the most secret material the government collects.

Somebody needs prison time for this breach. I wonder which loyal minion will fall on the grenade to protect Clinton? That none will is too much to hope for.

Travel Blogging IX

Lucerne: When this summer ends Europeans are going to be receptive to allegations of global warming. It has been a humid scorcher in this place where almost nothing is air conditioned.

Our hotel waitress, a hospitality intern, says she's happy it is hot as they had no summer last year. We have had wonderful weather - almost no rain - but tire of sleeping in stuffy, hot rooms.

Today we took the lake steamer to Viznau. The lake ship had side paddle wheels and a beautiful big piston steam engine that was made in 1901. The piston shafts are enormous hunks of polished machined steel, imagine connecting rods so large two strong men could not lift one.

At Viznau we took the cog railway to the top of Rigi. It was very comfortable at 6000+ ft. - cool and dry.  After a soda and chocolate break at the mountaintop eatery, we rode a different cog train down to Goldau where we caught Swissrail back to Lucerne. All of this was extremely pleasant. Now we're taking the afternoon off "for good behavior" and skipping the transport museum option.

The trip is winding down, Switzerland has been as beautiful as we expected or better. I can see why wealthy people choose to call it home; it is orderly, organized, and scenic.

Switzerland seems not to tolerate the social deviance that other nations put up with in the name of individual rights. In Switzerland you have no right to be a pain in the butt to others.

For example, I have seen zero homeless, I'd guess it is unlawful to "live rough" here. The cost of living is high and military service is universal, but there is much to admire, to envy even.

If my comments about prevalent construction cranes left you at all confused about exactly what I meant thereby, the other DrC has a photo of one at her blog. It's in a photo of a church in Fluelen.

More Snark

Instapundit Glenn Reynolds posts a Tweet he got from somewhere:

The earnestly naive Bernie Sanders is who the Democratic party wants to be. The corrupt and venal Hillary Clinton is who they are.

Travel Blogging VIII

Lucerne: Today we crossed the Gotthard Pass from Tirano to Lucerne, although we left the train in Fluelen to board a lake steamer for the almost three hour cruise to Lucerne, at the far end of Lake Lucerne. In the process we traveled from Italian Switzerland to German Switzerland, which you'll know because everything gets obsessively tidy as you cross the pass.

A tip to travelers, the cruise from Fluelen to Lucerne is too long, you'll get tired before it ends. The benches are hard as rock. Comfortable enough for the first hour or so after which your backside gets progressively more sore.

I really enjoyed the cruise from Fluelen to Brunner, I recommend you leave the steamer there and take a train to Lucerne. Coincidentally, the lake steamer docks within a 100 yards of the Lucerne train station so you'll end up in the same place either way.

A random thought, unconnected to the above: Someone must have made the Swiss an amazing deal on 10,000 construction cranes. These are not the portable cranes mounted on heavy trucks, but rather installed on a concrete base at the site, to remain there until the project is done. They have a fixed tower supporting a long arm parallel with the ground and in the U.S. we use them mostly on taller buildings. In Switzerland many lumber yards have one just to move supplies around the yard and load it on trucks. I even saw one being used in Brunner to backup a guy topping a tall tree. A city of any size here has maybe 6-10 of them, even small bergs may have one or more.

It's a Feature, Not a Flaw

Moments ago I was watching CNN International in my hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland. Their talking head, a Brit, said  the U.S. had moved a half dozen F-16s to Incerlik AFB in Turkey to bomb ISIS in Syria next door.

Her disparaging remark was that ISIS was recruiting new fighters as fast as we were killing them. Her strong implication was that was a bad thing. Au contraire, sez COTTonLINE, it's a good thing.

People who wish the U.S. ill are being killed, far from our shores. There is relatively minimal risk to Americans and Europeans who are smart enough to avoid the conflict area.

If the new recruits come to Syria from Europe, North America, or Australia/New Zealand, so much the better. They've won the Darwin Award and maybe 70 virgins. They've improved our societies at the same time, it is a true win-win for everybody. Faster please.

Snark Alert

Blogger Allahpundit posts wonderful snark at Hot Air in response to the news that top secret documents were on Hillary's private email server.

Hillary’s perp walk will be the greatest moment of live TV since the moon landing.

Travel Blogging VII

Bellinzona: We spent two nights in Davos, home of the famous economic conference. Our hotel was outstanding, called the Grischa Hotel, the decor was amazing, the food good too, and the wifi very fast, plus it is across the street from the train depot.

This is our second night in Bellinzona, in the Italian-speaking region of Switzerland. We've dipped into Italy but haven't overnighted there. This region isn't as manicured as the German-speaking regions - different cultures, different mores.

Yesterday we crossed the Bernina Pass, very high and barren. An interesting sighting at the top, a triple line of very large rocks that had obviously been placed across the "navigable" portion of the pass. Each the size of a small car, and staggered so a person could walk betwen them easily, I took them for a tank trap, too massive to climb over or push aside. There was a gap for the rail line, otherwise the pass was obstructed.

We were actually on a Swiss train that ran 10 whole minutes late today ... shock, shock. Mostly you could set your watch by them. Views in the mountains of northern Italy and southern Helvetia are more like the mountainous parts of California. We bussed past Lake Como and noted that it was completely ringed by houses and businesses, a couple of blocks deep - a sad business.

Tomorrow we're off to Lucerne, with a lake cruise along the way. It should be a relaxing day. The really hot weather has cooled a little, to the point where it is just shirt-sleeves comfortable, not at all cold. We both brought coats and have worn them hardly at all.

Orphaned Voters

Instapundit Glenn Reynolds writes a weekly column for USA Today. This week he describes the leadership failure that has led to the Trump and Sanders candidacies. Considering he's an attorney, it isn't bad sociology.

Today's ruling class, from Boston to San Diego, was formed by an educational system that exposed them to the same ideas and gave them remarkably uniform guidance, as well as tastes and habits. These amount to a social canon of judgments about good and evil, complete with secular sacred history, sins (against minorities and the environment), and saints. Using the right words and avoiding the wrong ones when referring to such matters — speaking the ‘in’ language — serves as a badge of identity.

To this ruling class, the rest of the country is sometimes an annoyance or obstacle, sometimes a source of necessary funds or votes, but always the “other” — not our kind, dear. Too ignorant, too unpolished, too unconnected to the right institutions and pieties to really count. With ruling-class Republicans having more in common with ruling-class Democrats than with the people they rule, it’s unsurprising that, as Codevilla predicted in a later essay, millions of voters feel orphaned.

In this election cycle, Trump and Sanders have come forward to claim the orphaned vote. It’s very likely that, this time around, the ruling class will manage to put orphaned voters back in the political orphanage by the rtime Election Day rolls around next year.

But the orphans will still be there, still longing for someone powerful enough to give them a voice. And the politician who will ultimately manage to do so, unless our ruling class does a better job of listening, could be one who will make Trump and Sanders look mainstream.

Ever heard of Kingfish Huey Long? He spoke to this audience.

Jindal Disses Dems

Investor's Business Daily reports some vintage campaign snark from LA Governor Bobby Jindal, who surveys the opposition.

The Democrat candidate in first place is under investigation by the FBI. The Democrat candidate in second place calls himself a socialist, which by the way means he is more honest than the candidate in first place.

The Democrat candidate in third place claims that ISIS was caused by climate change, and he apologized for saying that 'all lives matter.' The Democrat candidate in fourth place thinks that America should be using the Metric System."

And Jindal noted, "This list doesn’t even include Joe Biden. I hope Biden gets into the race. We need some of his bizarre comments. We don’t have enough of that already. Let’s tell the truth here — This crop of Democrat candidates is terribly weak. It’s a joke."

Then, Jindal's kicker: "Also, did I mention Donald Trump?"

Meanwhile, Trump threatens to give the presidency to one of these clowns out of spite.

Perry Stiffs Staff

Former Texas Governor Rick Perry has stopped paying his campaign staff, according to The Washington Post. He may be the first GOP aspirant to drop out of the race. I'd better start writing his bye-ku.

Playing Monopoly

Michael Gerson writes for The Washington Post about Trump bragging how he used the bankruptcy laws to make money.

During the debate, he boasted of taking his investors — who are not “babies” but “killers” — for a ride, utilizing bankruptcy laws to his advantage, then divesting from Atlantic City before its economy crashed. (Snip) Trump plays monopoly with other people’s money, then mocks them as suckers for trusting him.

If Trump publicly calls his investors "suckers," imagine what he thinks of his political supporters' trust. Did you catch Gerson's inside humor about Atlantic City and the game of Monopoly?

Wisdom

Larry Thornberry writes pithy wisdom for The American Spectator, about the Trump boomlet.

Trump may be a symptom of conservatives’ frustrations, but he damn sure isn’t a cure for them.

It's the truth.

An Old Story

Photo journalist April Saul writes for Politico about media not wanting to cover black-on-black murders including those of untargeted bystanders felled by stray bullets. Saul seems to think this is a recent phenomenon, while I have information the press has avoided such stories since at least the 1920s, probably longer.

As a youngster I knew a old fellow who, while not a sworn officer, worked with law enforcement in 1920s Los Angeles. He stated there was an average of a murder a night in "colored town," his words, not mine. These were rarely reported in the paper, he said, although the police were able to solve some of them.

Caveat: There may have been a paper published by blacks for black readers in 1920s L.A. which covered these killings. As a preteen it never occurred to me to ask about ethnic papers, which I later learned were common.