IIHF ... Latvia vs. USA

German word of the day: Husnikhelmutheads.

The IIHF games are just like the NHL; great athletes, crazed fans, fatty food, bad beer (but, it's cheaper) and a final score which results in a national anthem... this time, it was the Star Spangled Banner.  FINAL SCORE 4-2.

Bern, capital city of Switzerland

Dear Homer,

We spent a day in the city of Bern... again lots of dogs around but even more bears.  The bear is the mascot on the flag of Bern. 

(It is not possible to talk of Bern without a brief Swiss culture commercial) 

 

Each of the 23 cantons of Switzerland(CH=Confederation Helvetica) has their own regional government and flag.  Bern is the name of the canton as well as the capital city, in which all of the central CH governing takes place.  For example, it was Bern that was so "timely" in issuing our visas to travel to and live in Switzerland.  

Bern is in a German speaking region of CH, therefore, we had to order our beers in Deutsch(don't ask) like this, "zwei biere."  As you probably already knew, there are three recognized languages in CH, and therefore, places often have three different names.  For example, what we might call Switzerland  is known as Schweiz or Suisse or Svizzera and Geneva is Geneve or Genf or Ginerva.  The swiss railroad company and its trains are also labeled accordingly thus SBB CFF FFS (Schweizer BundesBahn, Chemin de Fer Federal, Ferrocarril Federal de Svizzera) In addition, packages are often labeled in all three languages... imagine me trying to make heads or tails of food labels in a combination of German, French, and Italian. (Homer, you would probably benefit from some of my oopsies in the cuisine.)  There is one more language that exists in one of the eastern cantons.  Romansch is an ancient language mix of Romanian and Latin but is still spoken by a small population.

As I was saying , we were sitting at an outdoor cafe drinking zwei biere... but this wasn't the only reason we were in Bern.  No, we were in Bern for an IIHF championship hockey game... after all, H. was along on this adventure.  So, on this beautiful sunny afternoon strolling amidst markets and antique shops, I found myself in the midst of men drinking beer cheering on the USA against Latvia.  (kid alert: BTW, Viking, Twin Wild fans don't even hold a torch to the fanaticism and beer consumption of Austrians and Latvians... Daddy has confirmed this) 

Homer, if you were here I would have had an excuse to stay home but you know what they say about "when in Rome,"  well the same is true when in Bern.

Tasting Wine

Dear Homer, 

Not a dog in sight, last night

Tasting wine on Wednesday night.

When in Paris...

                  

Dear Homer, 

We had our first visitors to Switzerland.  Our cousins from Ohio, Tara and Michelle, came for 8 days.  Despite their youth(oh to be young and frivolous) they were excellent guests and their energy for new adventures was inspiring.   Therefore, H. and I decided to tag along with them to Paris for a few days.  

The last time that I saw Paris, I was about 17 and with my mom... don't remember much except the crowds, rude people, the stairs at Montmarte and the cute hotel we stayed in.  I'm fairly sure H. will remember the TGV(tren de gran vitesse) and riding the metros.  Perhaps he'll recall chasing pigeons and befriending a dog named Theo.  

After my second visit, I have a much greater appreciation of this beautiful city.  Here are some of the things I'll remember:

H. and I hoofing it down the Champs Elysses

Dinner with H.(the most handsome man in Paris) at the Brasserie Victor Hugo

Two awesome monuments

Friendly, helpful, smiling people (excluding the lady at the Gare and the cab driver)

Staying in the Neiully Sur Seine neighborhood.

Visiting the cleanest restroom in Paris, for only 3 Euros.

The Grand Palais and golden statues.

An art exhibit dedicated to graffiti artists.

Dogs that walk with their owners, along and across busy roads, without a leash!

Impossibly long lines to ride up the Tour Eiffel... we said NO so will have to return in the future.

That's all for now,  I'm working on our Paris slideshow but will attach a few photos for you to look at in the meantime.  

Rochers de Naye

 

 Remember Benji???  He was on our train.
 

Click on this photo to enlarge detail of warning sign.
 

Always celebrating something.
Dear Homer,

Remember how H. likes everything trains?  Well, we took him on his first Swiss train ride. The two car cog train we selected chugged up the 100 year old tracks for 50 minutes and dropped us on a mountaintop.  Once there, we realized we were dressed wrong... forgot our ski gear!  Fortunately, the sun was shining, the air was warm and H. discovered that you really don't need boots to go sledding.  On the sun deck, someone from Club Med recognized Greg and invited him for a yodeling lesson.  He passed his final exams and was sent on his way with a vin rouge.  I walked around enjoying the scenery and avoided falling off a cliff.  Of course, I thought of you with each dog we saw... we miss you Homie!

Boys day out - Skiing

d

Hommer....We did not see any canines on this outing. Sorry! For all other readers this is a ski area called "les diablerets" about 1 hour drive from Lausanne. We skied on the glacier this day. It is called glacier 3000 (meaning 3000 meters or 9800 ft). Take note of the multiperson gondola and the pics going down.

At least the sun was shining

Dear Homer,

Today, H. and I made our 3rd trip to "the commune" here within one week.  You see, all temporary residents of Switzerland need to apply for a permit to live in their local canton, even dogs!  Our first visit, I had forgotten to bring a passport, duh.  During the second trip, we were notified that we also had to supply a birth certificate for the petit garcon and a contract for our apt.  Today, after school, we made our 3rd and final trip, with all documentation in hand.  Here's how it went.

Madame at the commune says H. photos no good,

We go to photo booth for retake.

Not enough coin francs.

Trip to McDs to get change and feed the hungry kid.

Return to commune to take photo,

Photo booth freezes up while taking H's photo,

Wait in line to tell Madame about the broken machine and ask for refund of 8CHFs,

Madame calls someone to fix photo booth,

Madame gets my refund.

Back in line to wait for turn at photo booth,

Step out of line because H. has to go to the loo.

H. takes a doorknob to the forehead on his way out of the WC,

Kid crying and me feeding him chocolate and looking around for the hidden candid cameras,

Finally, take a non-smiling photo.

Back upstairs to a smiling Swiss man who says the photo is perfect and processes the paperwork,

Man laughs when H. and I give a high five,

Voila!  just 2 hours later we are done and can head home,

Walk to the Flon Metro station to see mobs of people waiting on the broken Metro.

At this moment, I remember that today is April 1st of course.

Well, at least the sun is shining and people are out walking their dogs,

We hop onto a #2 bus that delivers us to our street, safe and sound.

Just moments later, I'm on the terrace with a glass of vin rouge.

p.s. I'm sending all of our extra ID photos so you won't forget your family.