September V

On friday, after having finished my work at Unilever, I went to town where Valentina already waited for me. We walked all the way down to the Rhine, bought some ice cream and sat on a bench in the sun. I was always wondering why the El Bertin Ice Cream Shop is that succesful (I have to wonder as food scientist)... With enough cash I'd buy the company and open some more stores in Zurich, Bern and Basel. Guess, it would be succesful? I mean the concept is simple: You need some fresh raw milk of the region, a good product presentation and good staff which is helpful and doesn't chat all the time. And indeed, they work all the time without chatting, and with the white uniform the staff looks very professional. And what you need is a perfect location! This is given in Schaffhausen, as people walking through town inevitably walk to the Rhine, passing by the shop! Today El Bertin closed and will re-open in March 2009.
Besides, Ben & Jerry's opened their first ice cream shop in Luzern this week. They started back in 1978 in the mountains of Vermont/USA, now belonging to Unilever. What success!

On friday I then went to Zurich with the 18.09 ICE from Schaffhausen. I attended the European Research Night located at Bellevue. The ETH, the university of Zurich, the ZHAW and some companies presented their projects to the public. The organization was great! There were boats from Bellevue to the Zurichhorn every 10 minutes, always with a small presentation.

Also, I walked past the Corso cinema where a big crowd in black was waiting around a red carpet. They were waiting for Sylvester Stallone, the US actor! He got the Golden Icon Award on the occasion of the 4th Zurich Film Festival. And at the Research Night I suddenly passed a man, who looked familiar. I then realized why: He was the swiss actor Hanspeter Müller-Drossaart, who played in TV-shows as well as some movies in cinema.