Leve had told us the night before about the Red Bull Flugtag going on downtown Luzern, around Lake Luzern. Brett had seen these this even on YouTube videos before, but I had not even heard about it. Apparently, people create these large objects and run them off a platform over the water and hope that they fly. The object that flies the most meters over the water is the winner. Sounded like a good time to me! First, Leve wanted to take us to the big Migros not too far away from our flat. We had to get a few groceries, and he wanted to be able to show us around. We were looking forward to it, because even though it's a grocery store, not being able to read the labels of what you are eating is kind of confusing. At least this way, we could ask him where something was and he would be able to point us in the right direction.
The large Migros is as close to a department store that I've seen. They have mainly food, but they also have bedding, bathroom things, kitchen things, a small pharmacy, make-up and odd-end stuff. Leve first showed us where the bedding stuff was. We got one large pillow, a pillow case, and a flex sheet. We asked him where the regular sheets were. It took awhile to explain because I guess in Switzerland, they don't use sheets. They use the first flex sheet to cover up the mattress, and then a blanket; nothing else in-between. Oh well. We'll get by. Leve said we could keep using his blanket because it was extra and he didn't need it, so that was good.
On to the food. In Migros, the food is upstairs and the juice, water, soda, make-up etc. was all on the first floor. They have escalators going up and down that are just a moving ramp, no stairs. This way people could bring their carts up them. They also are designed to not roll backwards. Once on the ramp, you can let go of them and they will not move going either up or down. It was really cool. Upstairs it looked like any other grocery store... Fruit, veggies, samples of fruit, a bakery, cereal, jelly, Nutella, cans, meat, dried meat, milk, unrefrigerated eggs... Wait, what? Then we began to notice. Most things that would normally be refrigerated in the States, was not refrigerated over here. Some of the milk was refrigerated, but most wasn't. We asked Leve what the deal was. He said that they get shipments of food in daily and that just like in nature, eggs are not refrigerated right away, so they aren't here either. When you get home from buying them at the store, then you put them in the fridge so they last longer. Also, the milk is all ultra-pasteurized, so again, it can be refrigerated once brought home for taste preference. Another example was that a lot of the meat, like deli meat was not kept cold. The raw un-cooked or un-cured meat was refrigerated though. It was really interesting to see all the differences.
Now, the question I have been waiting to ask someone since we got here. Why does all the food have two dates on them? Which was the expiration date? Why did it matter to have two? I took the opportunity to ask our grocery tour guide, Leve, these exact questions. There are two dates on their because the first date is the last possible day the grocery store is allowed to sell the food and the second date is the date it goes bad. These dates weren't very far apart... maybe about a week, depending on the type of food. As I began to study the food packages now because I now understood what the two different dates meant, I noticed that a lot of the food doesn't last for weeks, or months. Leve said because they don't use preservatives. Wow, this was a crazy eye-opener.
On to our next lesson, Actions. Actions are sales. Usually, really good sales. They have to put something on Action when the first date on the product is that day or sometimes the day before. So, that way people will buy it, use it in a week and no food goes wasted. Leve taught us how to look for Actions and told us about certain Actions that happen once a month. When those specific things are on Action you want to grab as much as you can store, because usually the food without the Actions is very expensive. This would be a lot easier if the freezer wasn't the size of a tailgating cooler.
He showed us around the rest of the grocery store and we were off with our items. We wanted to get out as soon as we could because the Red Bull Flugtag started at 1:15pm. We took the bus home, Leve road his bike, and as soon as we got home, put all the groceries away, sat down for a quick lunch and took off again. We headed down town together on the bus.
This place was so crowded! I had no idea it was going to bring in such a crowd. We got some free beach balls, we found a good spot and then we enjoyed the show.
Leve and I getting ready for the next float to fly off!
They would play their song of choice before they started pushing their float across the platform. Some would dance, some would do flips and other put their game faces on. After they crashed into the water, they would measure how many meters it traveled. They had a large projections screen up that would show them crashing in the water in slow motion. It was hilarious. Some floats flew a little bit, others just took a crazy noise dive into the water.
Example of one that took a straight nose dive.
This one did really good! I can't believe how far it went. The judges loved this one. Also, it was funny because most of the songs that the participants chose to dance to before they "lifted off" were American pop songs. We only heard a few German songs played.
This one didn't last that long, but it was hilarious to watch.
Clearly, I was very excited.
The judging deck. Right in front of them was the Lake.
This one was a complete fail. Still fun to watch it just smash straight into the water.
We were starting to get hot, so we moved into the lake. We finished watching the show about knee deep in the cool lake. It was very refreshing. There were actually quiet a few people doing the same. They had a front row view of the floats smashing into the water.
After they were almost over, we thought we would get a head-start out of there so that it wasn't too crowded. On the walk back, we were all startled by a surprise show from the Swiss Air Force. They made two laps around the lake. We caught some pictures of them their second round around because the first round, we didn't even hear from coming until they were right next to us and then, oh yeah, we could definitely hear them.
Then, they came up right next to us....
It was so loud, but great to see so close.
Then, after we got our hearing back, we continued our walk. I saw a horse statue in one of the parks. I asked Leve if it was okay to climb on it, and he said no one would care. Yay!
First, I needed Brett's help to get on the horse. I tried jumping onto it, but fell off. The people sun bathing in the park I'm sure got a good laugh. Then, once I got one the horse, realized that it was extremely hot. I burnt my butt! This is why you see me with my legs on top of the horse and not at the sides. I was trying to sit still for the picture, but it was pretty difficult as this metal-type horse had been in the sun all day and was waiting just for me.
Well, that was our very busy Saturday. Tomorrow, I look forward to enjoying yet another quiet Sunday.
No comments:
Post a Comment