Your Email:

Friend's Email:

Note: (optional)

Subject:

Message: <br /><br /> If you are having trouble reading this email, you may view this article online at: http://www.jweekly.com/38027/full/38027/welcome-to-switzerland-schmuck/ <br /><br /> <b>Welcome to Switzerland, “Schmuck”</b> <br /> Friday, May 8, 2009 | by andy altman-ohr <br /><br /><p><img alt="geneva_shmuck_sign_640" height="331" src="/images/uploads/geneva_shmuck_sign_640.jpg" style="vertical-align: top;" title="geneva_shmuck_sign_640" width="413" /></p> <p><br /><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Courier New;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; font-family: Verdana;">So a week or so ago, I'm heading out of the office to start a vacation, and the boss drops the ol' blog reminder on me. Oh, just what everyone wants to read about, my one-week jaunt to Switzerland, France and Belgium. Moreover, the itinerary included NOTHING Jewish (nothing wrong with a J. break when you work at j. - right?).<br /></span></span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Courier New;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; font-family: Verdana;"></span></span></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Courier New;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; font-family: Verdana;">Anyway, after I get off the plane in Geneva, Switzerland and take a train to the center of town; I've got a few hours to kill before meeting up with my wife, who's on a business trip. I decide, OK, I'm not going to seek out anything Jewish, but if I do come across anything, what the heck, I'll snap a picture of it.</span></span></p> <span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Courier New;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; font-family: Verdana;"> <p><br />First thing I see after leaving the Central Station and crossing the street: the picture you see above. What a welcommen! (Schmuck apparently means "jewelry" in German, although "jewels" is an inch or two off of the Yiddish meaning we're most familiar with.) The sign was at a jewelry/watch store.</p> <p>Later on in my three-hour, stave-off-the-jet lag-trance walk, I just happened to stumble <img alt="geneva_sign_640" height="104" src="/images/uploads/geneva_sign_640.jpg" style="float: right;" title="geneva_sign_640" width="293" />upon Geneva's Grande Synagogue; some workers were painting the outside railing, but I couldn't get inside as it was a Wednesday morning at abo<span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Courier New;"><img alt="geneva_synagogue_640" height="336" src="/images/uploads/geneva_synagogue_640.jpg" style="float: left;" title="geneva_synagogue_640" width="449" /></span>ut 10 a.m.</p> <p>The structure was indeed grand, a Byzantine-Moorish structure designed by a Swiss architect and built in 150 years ago (and renovated in 1997).</p> <p>  On the rest of my trip (two days in France, four days in Belgium), I came across nothing Jewish. Sorry, boss; next year, in Jerusalem?</p> </span></span> <p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Courier New;"><span style="font-size: xx-small; font-family: Verdana;"></span></span></p> <p style="padding-left: 60px;"><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Courier New;"></span></p>

Please enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below: