Switzerland – August 2009

Burning a hole in the pocket in Bern

The Guinness

I’d only found one pub on the Internet that served Guinness in Bern, Mr Pickwick’s, so had taken the precaution of forewarning them of my arrival and making sure that they had Guinness in stock.  It took a little finding even with a map but turned out to be very pleasant and welcoming. I even got a complimentary pint of Guinness which I think is the first I’ve had when doing this caper.  Jonas kindly poured the beer and picked Andorra out as my next destination.

Jonas kindly pouring me a Guinness

And very nice it was too

Getting There and around

 Whatever happened to those cheap direct flights to Bern I seem to recall that existed at one time?  There were none to be found when I looked on the Internet so we plumbed instead to fly to Geneva from East Midlands.

We stayed in Geneva, Bern and Lauterbrunnen and used the very efficient Swiss railway system to get around with the tickets mainly purchased in advance in the internet. The odd cable car was also thrown in for good measure.   

Team Makeup

Fantastic. The crowds turned up for this one.  Margaret, Gareth and Penny travelled with me and Heidi, Nick, Sarah and Amy joined us in Bern. 

Team photo time

 Accommodation

We used Youth Hostels in Bern and Geneva and rented a chalet in Lauterbrunnen.

Food.

Muesli is a Swiss invention apparently. Judging by the muesli I sampled in Switzerland, the stuff on sale in UK has been adapted for our pallets i.e. lots of nice sugar and fruits added. The potato bread and Swiss wine are to be recommended as was the fresh cheese we got from a cheese factory near Mürren. We wondered why we never see Swiss wine on sale back home. Enjoying the full delights of Swiss cuisine in restaurants however was somewhat beyond our budget.

Bern Minster

Sightseeing highlights

The Zytglogge clock with its host of different faces giving all sorts of information. It’s a fascinating thing. The astronomical clock beneath the main face shows not only the hour of day, but also the day of the week and of the month, the month itself, the zodiac and the phases of the moon. When the bell rings out every full hour it is struck by a large clockwork-operated hammer of a figure in full harness moving its arm to strike it. The larger-than-life bearded figure is Chronos, the Greek personification of time, or known locally as Hans von Thann by the Bernese.

The Zytglogge clock

The cathedral or Minster itself is impressive. The first thing that greets you on the outside is a very impressive depiction of the Last Judgment over the main door which contains more than 200 carved wood and stone figures. The saved are on the left and the damned are on the right.  The carvings rather surprisingly survived the Reformation but apparently the graphic depictions of salvation and damnation appealed enough to the Reformers to spare it from destruction.  It’s a climb of 300 feet up the tower.  At least it has two advantages for those that are not too clever on their pins with heights.  First there is a rail all the way up and second there is one tower for people going up and another for those coming down. From the top there are good views across the city and down on all the red tiled roofs.

Quirky moments

The monument to the Universal postal Union which I thought was a trade union but then later found out it was the organisation where member countries guarantee to deliver post that originates in another country.  Its only when you think about these things do you realise that without such agreements the place would be chaos.

What on earth is going on here?

We were rather shocked to look out into the river at this stage to see a body floating downstream, then another, then another.  They turned out not to be dead after all but swimmers making the most of the strong current and floating downstream.  

Lasting Memories

The Alpine scenery of the Bernese Oberland. The train journeys and in particular the Zweisimmen to Montreux train with its glass topped carriages enabling travellers to view the wonderful scenery.

The Bernese Oberland

Lake Geneva and the Jet d’Eau. The jet spurts 140 meters into the air on one side, over the path and falls back down to the lake on the other side. The original jet was only 30 meters high and on River Rhone.  It was a relief valve when the local reservoir was being built.  When the time came to turn it off some wise people realised it had started to become a tourist attraction so had one built purposely further down into Lake Geneva itself.

Luxembourg – June 2009

Lank Luxembourg

The Guinness

I stumbled on Oscar Wilde’s Bar.  It didn’t take long for me to decide to go into the dry bar as I was getting pretty wet wandering around in the rain.  What a wise decision.  It was just five minutes before a rugby match started on the TV – the British Lions versus the Cheetahs (a great combination of team names!), one of their warm up matches on their tour of South Africa.  The Lions scraped a 24-22 win.  I sat at the bar and soon got talking to the Mark, man next to me, an ex-pat and ex-president of Luxembourg Rugby Club and a Northampton supporter.

 

He was kind enough to talk to me, even though my team, Cardiff, had beaten the Saints in the semi-final of the EDF energy cup which I had seen a month or two earlier at Coventry’s Ricoh arena.  It was a good couple of hours and at half time I explained to Jan, the owner, what I was up to and she poured me another Guinness and picked out the next destination – Berne, Switzerland.

Oscar Wilde's Irish Pub

Getting There and around

I calculated that this trip in total involved 34 legs of transport via six countries, all in search of a pint of Guinness!  I’d had business meetings in Gothenburg, Sweden and in Brussels Belgium and combined them with the trip to Luxembourg.  First I flew to Gothenburg, then took the train down to Brussels including an overnight leg from Copenhagen to Cologne.  After my meeting in Brussels I took a train down to Namur in southern Belgium and stayed there a night before going to Luxembourg.  I was away for some nine days and in Luxembourg for less than 24 hours.

The ups and downs of Luxembourg

Team Makeup

There was just me on the Luxembourg leg of the journey.

Accommodation

In Luxembourg I stayed in a large newly built youth hostel next to the river with a couple of hundred beds.  With lifts, Wi-Fi, a restaurant it had all the mod cons.  Even the shower worked.  They had been fully booked the previous night so I had had to stay in the Youth Hostel in Namur. 

Luxembourg City

Food

I’d eaten well in Sweden and Brussels but it was downhill from there.  In Namur I had to resort to chips from a chip shop followed by a bottle of Trappist beer back at the hostel.  In Luxembourg I ate in the hostel refectory; an appetizing salad, chicken dish and a banana for desert for €10

Sightseeing highlights

Not many if I was being honest.  For part of the afternoon I explored the lower parts of the city, the pretty areas in the ravines.  There was a row of street stalls with artists displaying their wares but in the rain I was the only visitor.  Later in the day I walked around the lank streets of the town but it wasn’t the weather for doing much sightseeing.

Quirky moments

That evening, in one of the city squares, a brass band played under an awning with no more than five people watching and sheltering under umbrellas.  A day’s rain wasn’t going to put them off.

Getting talking to Father Christmas, or a gentleman who looked just like him, at the bus stop at 6.30am the morning I was heading home.  He was off for a day’s walk and looking at the badges on his rucksack he’d had a lifetime of walking behind him. 

Lasting Memories

Wet feet – it rained most of the day I was in Luxembourg.  I can’t remember the last time my feet were this wet.  It wasn’t so much the fact that it was raining, I think it was the cobbled streets of Luxembourg that retained the water and squished it up into your shoes.

Yes, it was still raining!

Out of the City

Most of this trip was actually spent out of the city, just getting to Luxembourg.