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Getting ready here for a long weekend. Tomorrow is the Swiss National Holiday.

This afternoon I went to Germany to buy some olive oil and stuff. On the way I bought an ice cream. There is a stand were they have real homemady Italian Gelato.

But thats not all, I even got an invitation to go dancing with the iceman, at the riverboard, tomorrow night. How about that! :-D

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 09:42:41 AM EST
Don't they sell olive oil in Switzerland ? And going to germany to buy "Italian" icecream is just one of those bizarre ideas that would have made no sense at all 30 years ago.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 09:55:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The Gelato I bought in Switzerland. And the olive oil has a 40% custom/tax on it in Switzerland, so going to buy it in Germany or France I can buy a better quality at a lower price.

And btw. I walked - so no expenses for gas! :-)

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 09:59:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]
And the Gelato was from an icecream stand where you get it on a cone and you can pike the taste you want. So I ate it while walking to Germany.
by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 10:01:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Sorry, I had to chuckle at it.

I think the idea of having a border you can walk across for better shopping is great. Similar to sandanski where several people I know go shopping in Greece, especially for the bread (good in Gr, appalling in BG)

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 10:28:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]
And if I lived within walking distance of germany I'd shop there for bread all the time.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 10:29:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, the bread is not something I need to go to Germany, I have a great backery nearby and I do not eat much bread.
by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 10:31:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]
At present walking from Great Britain to cross a national border presents some practical difficulties.

We would either need to wait for the next Ice Age, to make the Channel and North Sea dry land, or for the United Kingdom to break up.

by Gary J on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 10:35:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Or learn to walk on water. :-)
by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 10:38:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]
<waves from Dublin>

 Or was there an annexation I missed? I've been busy the last few weeks.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 11:08:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The existence of a land frontier to the Republic of Ireland was why I specified Great Britain rather than the United Kingdom, in my original post.
by Gary J on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 11:11:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Not a geographic designation that's very popular around here ...
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 11:17:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I am not sure what the objection is.

I appreciate that British Isles is a geographical term that is disapproved of by many Irish people (although British and Irish Isles is a rather clumsy term to describe the whole group).

As I understand it the largest island in the Isles is properly called Great Britain (at least as a political unit), although possibly just Britain as a geographic term.

All I can say is my geography teacher (35 or so years ago) took the view that England and Wales were Britain and England, Wales and Scotland were Great Britain.

by Gary J on Mon Aug 4th, 2008 at 10:07:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]
is an interesting place - especially if you work there, live in nearby Germany, and shop in nearby France...

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (jeromeguillet@yahoo.fr) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 10:14:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I just found out a few weeks ago, that I do not have to go to France for shopping. At least not for vegetables and fruits. A Farmer from the Alsaces comes twice a week in the mornign with his merchandise, to the village square. And currently he has just really great tomatoes.
by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 10:56:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I don't know, used to be one of the highlights of my distant youth, when on holiday in Germany to go to the Italian ice-cream shops.

Life should consist in at least fifty percent pure waste of time, and the rest doing what you please.
by ceebs (bunchofwankers (at) gmail (dot) com) on Thu Jul 31st, 2008 at 12:16:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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