Power Plant in Kublis

Now that I am idle at home on holidays I went on the hydroelectric plant tour of Kublis which is offered once a month. I was expecting it to be in German of course, but also was hoping to do a bit more walking around.... Unfortunately we spent almost 1.5 hours at the beginning standing around a map and looking at the computer control system.

However, even with my A2 limited German I could follow most of what was going on and learned about the tunnels through the mountains for the water and the annual filling of the lake in Davos. Throughout the winter they draw on the water in Davos lake for power and they must refill it every spring before the tourists arrive. They use some of the electricity to power the electric trains of the Graubunden canton (the RhB network).

I got to see a photo of the inlet at the bottom of the Davos lake, I was always wondering how bit it was... apparently the bars are about 3.5 cm apart to give you an idea of the scale.

There weren't a whole lot of machines in Kublis, they had a big empty room with two generators attached to two turbines each.

There were photos of the making of the turbines, they were carved from a single piece of .... steel?

At the end I had a slow walk back to the bus stop through the village, cute, small and friendly.

New buildings in Switzerland and Stock Photos

I learned something about new buildings here in Switzerland. I had previously wondered why sometimes at the top of a building as it was being constructed there was a small dead pine tree. I know that in some places in Switzerland when there is a birth they stick a small pine tree on the top of a tall pole, but the new building thing was new to me.

It turns out that after you have built the envelope of the house and everything is sealed up you have a house warming party for all the workers and put up the tree. I guess that's the birth of the house?

Also, apparently about once or twice a year I show up in the local Davos newspaper (Davoser Zeitung). A few years ago they did an article about my boss and took pictures of some of us in the lab (I had to wear a labcoat for that). There's a good one of Mattia and me looking at what appears to be a blank computer screen but actually we really did pull up data and discussed it and even figured out something new. But in the photo we are just pointing at a blank screen. After this article they kept the photos on stock and every time there is an article about science in Davos (we have a bunch of research centers up here) they pull out one of the photos of me in my labcoat (usually the one of my back while I work on the bench).