Murder Mystery In Idyllic Annecy

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Schwingen In Switzerland

Last week, in idyllic Lake Annecy, France (someplace I’ve visited and posted about frequently) horrific murders took place. The case has generated a lot of intrigue and theories, but remains unsolved. Here’s what is known:

Iraqi-born British engineer Saad Al-Hilli, his wife Iqbal and a woman believed to be his mother-in-law were on vacation near Annecy, France when they were shot inside his BMW.
They were all shot twice in the head at close range.
Al-Hilli’s child, who witnessed the murder was shot in the shoulder and badly pistol whipped, but survived. British cyclist Brett Martin found her stumbling in front of the car and administered first aid. He then left the scene to call emergency services. The BMW’s doors were locked; she was found outside the car.
A second four-year-old daughter survived, taking refuge under her mother’s skirts. She remained there undetected for eight hours after police had sealed off the scene.
The Al-Hilli family had been camping nearby. Mr. Al-Hilli arrived at a campsite earlier in the week, told people that he would be staying all week, then inexplicably checked out the two days later. He switched to the more remote, Solitaire du Lac campsite up the road.
French cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, was also shot in the head at point-blank range. He was a local man who had three children.
The murders took place near the village of Chevaline, which is located about 10 km from Annecy as you climb the mountain on the lake.
No shots were heard, so some suspect a silencer was used.
Investigators found 15 cartridge cases scattered around the car and bullet impacts on the windows.
They were shot with a Luger P08. This highly-distnctive weapon is known for being the Swiss Army standard issue.

Worryingly, the French prosecutor, Eric Maillaud, seems to enjoy the publicity and seek it out. The “professional” nature of the murders led him to speculate that they are the work of an targets of an international contract killer. As someone who vacations and hikes in that area, it is definitely less scary than the thought that there is a mass murderer who strikes at random on the loose, but still horrifying.

Theories put forth by others include: the murders are a result of a family row over money, they are related to Mr. Al-Hilli’s business activities, his political affiliations in his country of birth (Iraq), and French cyclist Sylvain Mollier, may been the real target (with the family stumbling into his murder). Police in several countries are pursuing these theories, although they may take years to solve. This beautiful area will never seem the same.

Eurowhat? Our Introduction To Eurovision

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Schwingen In Switzerland

Most Americans don’t know the Eurovision Song Contest exists. Most Europeans have watched at least a bit of it.

Eurovision song contest (Photo credit: kjelljoran)

Eurovision is a singing contest started in 1956 and is one of the longest-running television programs in the world. It’s a bit like a schlocky, international American Idol in which each country gets to put forth a contestant and they compete against each other.

Developed by the European Broadcast Union, on the belief that music (along with sports) could unite a multi-lingual continent, Eurovision was content for a new technology of television. Today, participants are broader than just the European Union countries; 43 countries take part. Switzerland participates although it is not part of the EU. Former Soviet republics and even Israel participates. The contest is broadcast further Europe, Arab countries, Hong Kong, India, Canada, Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, and Vietnam all can watch it. In fact, the Eurovision Song Contest is one of the most watched events in the world with audience between 100 million and 600 million internationally.

Each country chooses a singer or band to represent their country and they compete against each other. Residents of a country cannot vote for their own country. For example, Swiss cannot vote for the Swiss entrant.

TV Shows We Used To Watch – The Eurovision Song Contest (Photo credit: brizzle born and bred)

Before the days of internet and cable, Eurovision was huge. Today, it faces increased entertainment competition has lost some of its luster. Nevertheless, it is still popular enough that he has learned all about it at work.

Famous Eurovision contestants include:

Sweden’s ABBA, who won with Waterloo in 1974. Olivia Newton John placed 4th that same year.
Julio Iglesias placed 4th for Spain in 1970.
Israel’s Dana International was the first transsexual to win in 1998.
Celine Dion won for Switzerland in 1988 with “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi.“
In 1997, Katrina and the Waves won with “Love Shine A Light” they are best remembered for their 1985 smash hit “Walking on Sunshine.”
Scottish singer Lulu won in 1969, with ‘Boom Bang-a-Bang‘. I can’t explain how France, the Netherlands and Spain also won that year.
The English group Bucks Fizz won in with the song “Making Your Mind Up” and their whip-off skirts.
Sandie Shaw who sang “Puppet on a String” (we’d never heard of it).
Engelbert Humperdink‘s “Love Will Set You Free” is the UK’s entry this year. I think my dad may have an album of his from the 60’s tucked away somewhere.

Dana International (Photo credit: Daniel Kruczynski)

Songs with overtly political messages are banned. Notable songs that premiered at Eurovision include:

“Nel blu dipinto di blu,“ better known as “Volare“ (it didn’t win)
Toto Cutugno‘s “Insieme“, is a song that many Germans still know by heart.
You might remember Gina G’s 1996 dance-pop entry for the United Kingdom, “Ooh Aah…Just a Little Bit.”
Luxembourg’s France Gall‘s 1965 song “Poupée de cire, poupée de son” was a sensation. Written by famous French singer Serge Gainsbourg, it became in international hit. It was one of the handful of Eurovision songs that radio stations played and people bought.

Some countries tend to do well:

Ireland holds the record for the highest number of wins with seven. The even won three consecutive times in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
France, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom are joint second with five wins. Nevertheless, Brits have generally prided themselves on not taking Eurovision seriously and often strike out. It was still poplar viewing in the UK, due in large part to the Terry Wogan‘s cynical commentary. He barely suppressed guffaws over the quality of the acts/presenters and the kitsch. Outraged at the politics behind the scoring system he stopped in 2008 and vowed never to return.

The scoring/winner is likely to change as blocs of countries have started banding together to vote one of their region a winner. This has lead to frustration about the winner’s worthiness. Andrew Lloyd Webber even visited Moscow met Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to ask him to call on all East European countries to refrain from block-voting for each other.

Partisan voting doesn’t seem to be a new phenomenon, Cliff Richard‘s second-place finish in 1968, its now attributed to direct intervention by Spain’s then-dictator, General Franco.

Historically, some countries have done poorly:

Until Finnish band Lordi won with their rock song “Hard Rock Hallelujah” in 2006, Finland had participated since 1961 but never even made it into the Top 5.
Norway has scored no points in four separate contests.
Austria, Finland, Spain, Switzerland aren’t far behind with three null’s.

Many self-respecting musical acts stay away to preserve their dignity. Garish outfits are mandatory and gimmicks used in the contest include:

In 2008, Russian entrant Dima Bilan sang “Believe” while Olympic gold medalist and three-time world champion Evgeni Plushenko ice skated.
Ukraine’s Kseniya Simonova‘s sand-painted clouds, planets and angels in sand while singer Mika Newton howled into a wind machine.
A Moldovan act once included a woman dressed as a fairy on a unicycle and digital gnomes flying across the stage’s LED screen.
Sweden’s Eric Saade smashed through a glass door onstage.

Blue, representing United Kingdom, performing at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 final on 14 May 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Boy band Blue (kind of like the Backstreet Boys) was big in the 90’s. They staged a comeback in Eurovision, while it brought them some attention, it didn’t result in the desired comeback.
Turkey’s Sertab Erener sang “Every Way That I Can” (a song about a woman in a harem in the 19th century, who wants to win back a Sultan that had expelled her) with a troupe of belly dancers performing enthusiastically.
This year, Russia’s song is from Buranovskiye Babushki a girl band whose name translates to the Buranovo Grannies. These singing grandmothers from the Udmurt Republic have an average age in the 80’s. Two years ago, they failed to qualify with the hip hop produced track “Dlinnaja-Dlinnaja Beresta I Kak Sdelat Iz Nee Aishon.” This translates into “Very Long Birch Bark And How To Turn It Into A Turban”.
Austria’s entry this year is by Trackshittaz. I’m not kidding. That’s really their name. They have dancers with their buttocks highlighted with fluorescent paint. Again, I’m not kidding. I couldn’t make that up. They have promised to “learn a little bit of English” before the contest. Will this lead to a name change?
Montenegro’s Rambo Amadeus‘ (no joke) song has a video in which he surprises two topless women with a donkey.

Azerbaijan won the contest last year so they have to host this year. Countries have been known to put forward a lamentable contestant to avoid the expense of putting on the contest the next year. Yes, Ireland I’m looking at you.

Our Basement Bomb Shelter, Otherwise Known As Our Storage Unit

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Schwingen In Switzerland

Switzerland. Swiss Army Knives. The Swiss Guard. Serious Military Defenses. Our Basement? Switzerland’s commitment to neutrality, their position between historic enemies of France and Germany, and the meticulous, rule oriented, precise Swiss nature mean that our basement is a bomb shelter.

All Swiss residential buildings have bomb shelters in underground. Until Swiss law changed at the end of 2012, all inhabitants were required to have access to shelter space. Given the Swiss focus on quality, these are serious, heavy-duty bunkers.

Our apartment is in a building that predates the mandatory bomb shelter law, so our basement’s shelter is on the rustic side. Newer buildings contain way more impressive looking shelters. Ours looks as though it is where the vampires from True Blood sleep during the day. The first time he went down there, he did it alone, at dusk, after a True Blood marathon.

You see heavy, vault-like doors on public parking structures. They serve as public shelters. The parking structures have thick concrete walls. In theory, the shelters have air filters inside to provide fresh air in case of nuclear, biological, or chemical attack. I am unsure if the age of our building exempts us, but there aren’t any signs of air filters in our building. Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any supplies down there either.

To get into our “bomb shelter”, you enter through an old wood door. It doesn’t look as high-tech or safe as the door above, but hopefully we won’t have to put it to the test. You descend an old, windy staircase, past bricked over doors down into the basement.

You can’t exit through this door

It is so narrow and steep that the wall warns “stopping is prohibited, serious risk”.

The basement, ahem, sorry, the bomb shelter is partitioned into sections for each apartment using wood slats. Each partition is approximately the size of a twin bed (give or take a couple of inches).

Some people hide their belongings from view

In French, basement translates to “cave.” It feels a little funny to say I’m going to the cave. Who am I, Batman? While our cave is filled with extra suitcases, beat-up sports equipment and camping gear, many people here use theirs as a wine cellar. A German friend uses his to store cases of German beer.